'The Walking Dead' vs. 'Breaking Bad': Comparison isn't fair

REARVIEW

There is little doubt over the fact that 'Breaking Bad' is one of the best written shows on television in recent history. However I feel that we have been spoilt due to the perfection of it all. Fan hostilities towards anything else on AMC that is not 'Breaking Bad' is well known. 'The Walking Dead' is in many ways a victim of that phenomenon. Those who ignore the show will probably never know how good it really is.

When I began watching 'The Walking Dead' I was trying to fill the void left by 'Breaking Bad'. One must realize that almost anything will seem average after you watch 'Breaking Bad'. 'The Walking Dead' is not just a great show; it is a very very good drama. For once in a Zombie Apocalypse, the Zombies are not the primary focus, but the drama of it all. They've taken a few liberties from the original comic. It is definitely not a 'Breaking Bad' and it stands on its own. Earlier I had complained that the show wasn't engaging enough. That was probably because my scales were all wrong. I was trying to feel for the characters that died or were barely alive in a world full of the undead. But that has never the intention of the show itself.

Rick Grimes: Then and now.
He has almost a Harry Potter like predictable presence
when he debuts. The viewer actually enjoys his
slow unnerving downfall into the cruelty of the apocalypse.

The complete and utter apathy of the viewer, towards perfectly good individuals who are forced to do bad things is quite a phenomenal achievement for writers who have rewritten the comic for television making it unpredictable. It's something that is very different from 'Breaking Bad'. There you had only one person driven to bad things first as a necessity and then as an obsession.

The Governor is one of the best written roles
for the screen, on the the show. Originally a
Hispanic character, the Governor has been
turned into a Southern Caucasian male. The role
is so masterfully portrayed by David Morrissey,
you will forget he's actually British.
However, he's no Gustavo Fring.

Walter White's world was a sane one where life gave him a chance as every corner. It was he who did not take it. 'Breaking Bad' has imperfect people, proving their imperfections every step of the way. Here you see perfect people, monotonous people content with their mere existence, whether good or bad. Rick Grimes has almost a Harry Potter like predictable presence when he debuts. He wakes up in a cruel world, untouched by evil. He has clear definitions of good and evil, right and wrong and initially it makes the show very annoying. He's a cop and (seemingly) a cowboy, pretty slick with a gun. Nothing can hurt him. But with every episode there are subtle transformations, in not just Rick but everyone who comprises his survivalist group. These changes are so subtle that you do not realize the changes till say, 10 episodes have passed and a good amount of narrative progression has taken place.

Of all the transformations on the show,
Carol's is the most shocking.

You're uncomfortable because you are apathetic. You don't care who lives or dies no matter how long they've had their presence on the show. In fact you secretly wish for some perfectly fine people to die for no reason at all. The show gives you an illusion that it is unengaging. By the second season one of two things will happen. Either your annoyance (with yourself) will provoke you to quit watching it, or you'd be annoyed but still choose to go with the flow. There is a subtextual message to the connoisseurs and haters. I imagine it to be something like this: "Only those who are really interested are allowed to go beyond this point. The rest can scram!"

A cross universe fan-art making a statement.

It is ironic at many levels because the real joys of the show are beyond that point of peak annoyance. Perhaps this is the only thing 'The Walking Dead' and 'Breaking Bad' have in common. It is a horror-drama which will not surprise you, shock you, make you laugh, make you sad or afraid. So where is the horror and where is the drama, some may ask. The real horror and the real drama are within you. Your apathy will scare you.

I made the mistake of asking a colleague an awkward question about 'Breaking Bad' while binge watching the first season. "This is boring. Does it get better?" I said. He said "I don't care what you think. I watch it for the complicated characters and plot." That is also the case with 'The Walking Dead' in a certain regard. There is no well defined moment or episode or a three-episode event that takes the show off. It happens for different people at different places.

The question is, whether you really want to watch, perhaps a five season long show about a Zombie apocalypse. My answer is yes, you do. This February the second half of the fourth season will premiere on AMC. I, an absolute hater before, am now hooked and want more.

-End of Log-

~The RED Indian~

A Request to all Men's Rights Activists

OPEN LETTER

Dear fellow MRAs,

For a very long time I have been a skeptic and critic of the Jan Lokpal Movement or Anna Movement or Aam Aadmi movement. I personally feel that the first two versions were non-viable on their own. I was right. In fact 2 years ago I wrote an editorial for a friend's website (which has since become one of India's most popular online counter-culture youth magazines). You can find the link below.

MRA Pune protesting against the government to
rollback IrBM in June 2013.

In the light of the recent events and AAP's victory in Delhi, I urge you to reconsider some of our prospects. While we know that any political party especially AAP will not back down completely from the feminized and hollow patchwork agenda of "women empowerment", it is up to us to present our arguments and reasoning to the AAP because from hereon we know that for Delhi atleast they are a force to reckon with. They have been elected on the agenda of representing the oppressed common man, so the least they can do is atleast listen to the reasoning and argument of the common 'man'. 

It will be very unproductive and unhealthy if we deem Kejriwal and the lot as misandrist and not meet the party heads without presenting our views to them. In the light of the false allegation against Dharmendra Koli, this is the right time to strike. Of those of us who have lived in Delhi at some point or another, I think we all agree that Delhi is unsafe for both men and women, and women are infact more vulnerable there. But how Marital Rape bill, and capital punishment will help in empowerment is something to be questioned. We have all at some point or the other have expressed that we as men would also like equal empowerment with women. 

Fathers 4 Justice, UK members dressed up as superheroes
while protesting in favour of Father's rights in the UK.

So it would be only appropriate that members and activists in Delhi atleast hold a meeting with AAP, explaining our perspective. We have never wanted to take anyone else's rights, we just want our own! This sort of false empowerment of women is also teaching them to beg and demand things and choices that aren't necessarily theirs to make. It affects us men in all the wrong ways. MRAs who have been harassed and exploited themselves, know this pain. 

CRISP Bangalore used a similar strategy when
Manpreet Bhandari dressed up as Superman
protesting in favour of vistitation rights for
divorced fathers. 

Once again I urge activists in Delhi and nearby areas to hold an informal meeting with AAP, because other than gender issues they are raising all those issues that all of us do have a problem with. Inflation, minimization of corruption, law and order, education etc. We push for IrBM again and again, but should we not explore this avenue again and again too? We may have our individual opinions and differences in nitty-gritties over these issues but considering that AAP is the only party in Delhi state assembly with enough guts to speak against issues BJP and INC will not dare to speak for the fear of losing their seats, we must atleast put our opinions out to AAP. This is a party who is now planning to enter the Lok Sabha. One MP can change the course of history or atleast the way the nation thinks. We have witnessed it time and time again. For the first time in the history of this country, issue based politics is taking shape. This is not the politics of caste, religion, secularism, communalism, blamegame, "bayaanbaazi", corporate robbery etc.

The Aam Aadmi is truly angry. And in Delhi it has been proved that if you give us one viable option which is not a choice between Congress and BJP, UPA and NDA, we will take it! This is an opportune moment. We should atleast attempt to ride this wave, for our own sake, for a world where differences between the genders are acknowledged as equality in different contexts. 

Regards,

Rishabh Kumar, 23

Member/Online promoter

Men's Rights Association, Pune 

[LINK]: Fighting Others' Battles - Youth e-Magazine Dfuse.in

NOTE: This is not the official or collective view of Men's Rights Association, Pune. The views expressed here are solely those of the author in his private capacity.

-End of Log-

~The RED Indian~