Gender Identity and the Zombie Apocalypse

Gender Identity and the Zombie Apocalypse

     Before I write much, I want y’all to know that this reflection is not what you might expect. I am not a zombie expert or gender therapist. I am just a lover of zapocalypse mythos and of my transgender child. Those of you who've followed me even a little bit online know that I'm obsessed with zombies.

     The fascination started not in 2010 when "The Walking Dead" started, but four years later when I started watching it.

     I don't like jumping into any series after it has started, so I went back on Netflix and watched from the beginning. I was not instantly hooked, but curiousity kept me coming back the first season. I was curious about why so many people loved it.

     And I got hooked.

     I was talking to a friend of mine about zombies once late in 2014 (a few months after "Z Nation" premiered on SyFy). He urged me to watch it, saying that it was "better" than "The Walking Dead."  Luckily, although it wasn't on Netflix, we had On Demand channels so I could go back and watch it from the start.

     Bada-boom, banda-bing, I loved it! There is no comparison of the two shows on the whole. In my opinion, neither is the better show. Each need to be looked at in different ways. "Z Nation," as the name implies, is more about the zombies than the people. Sure, characterization is important still, but the human characters involved are actually less important than the zombies themselves (at least at first). The show looks at  how the zombie virus reacts primarily. It is fun, escapist, with more comedy than drama. Most episodes in the first season can exist independently, as stand-alone stories. [I read an article that told that this is because they were each written as movies and then editted down to hour-long TV shows, but that fact is not pertinent to this post.]

     "The Walking Dead" is more about the survivors than the zombies themselves. Zombies (why they are never called "zombies" I don't understand) play an important role in the storyline, but less so than in "Z Nation." The show is more serious and dark. It is grittier. Escapist, yes, but in a very different way. There is much less comedy and more drama.

     When it comes down to it, nether of these shows is all that realistic, I feel. I mean, even if the zapocalypse happens, it won't be exactly the way these fictions portray it.

     Or will it? They both force viewers to ask the question "What if?"

     I could (and will, in other posts), write more about my thoughts on the ZA, but the point of this post is to tie it with the former thing in the title: gender identity. And not what the identity of survivors are, which may be the first thought upon seeing the title.

     Obviously, this is most about the love I have for my transgender child.

Born as a girl, Beck has for years been into binge-watchig shows. So, after I was three seasons into "The Walking Dead," Beck caught up with me in three days. Beck loved the show and watched it by my side quite a bit after that. Together, we watched seasons 1 and 2 of "Z Nation" (mine for the second, and in some cases, third time).

     We started saying things like, "That would be a great ZA vehicle" whenever we saw a truck with a steel cage on the front. Walking through Walmart, we'd point out random things and chat about how they could be used as weapons against zees. Through all of our "What if"s and conversation, we grew closer. We vowed to be partners if there ever were a zombie apocalypse.

     A couple months ago, Beck came out to us as transgender, as feeling that she should be a he.

My wife and I support and love our son. The pronoun transition has been difficult for us. And its hard to think about having a son when for fourteen and a half years we had a daughter.

     It's worth it for his happiness, though.

     And now, the point of this post: in relation to the ZA, gender identity doesn't mean much to me. Daughter or son, I stilll have a great ZA buddy. I will love and fight along my child, in any survivalist scenario, the unlikely zombie apocalypse or anything else that comes our way.