Of Course, the Thing About a Zombie Apocalypse

Of course, the thing about a zombie apocalypse is that we’ve sort of had every opportunity to prepare. I’m not saying it’s not blatantly and universally tragic; I understand that a lot of people are dead. (A lot of people are also un-dead.)

I am not taking this lightly.

As a writer who, incidentally, does not have to go into the writers’ room today, I find myself impelled to write: to document the one-by-one dropoff of infrastructural perks, the ascendancy of survival-fueled solipsism, and the collapse of technological connectivity resembling some sort of Marshall McLuhan fever dream. I also find myself in that bizarrely favored demographic comprising (presumably) about 90% of survivors: those who have spent the last several years watching way too much TV. Of course, there’s an obvious irony here, insofar as the TV industry is basically over.

Once again, this is heavy stuff, to be sure. Hordes of writers will undoubtedly canvass the dangling limbs and missing relatives and existential crises. Blood in the streets, and so forth.

Still. There’s a kind of thin silver lining to such an infinitely rehearsed disaster. And with the rise and fall of all those screens, one can’t help being curious about the next apocalypse we’ll all be weirdly ready for. (Or not.)