George Romero, the movie god who invented the modern zombie, always cast ordinary people as the characters in his films. He wanted zombies to represent us in a world of problems so relentless, so savage and so violent that they threaten to literally eat us alive. He wanted a world without death, with no end to our suffering, where we become the monsters when we die. He wanted the brutality to be banal, familiar and up close, where a world isn't saved by handsome Brad Pitt in three hours of pointless CGI.
Everyone has problems, and that is why every country has zombie movies. In Romero's US, the zombies represent a population so self absorbed that they have lost track of what is important to them. Both the surviving humans and the zombies themselves seek refuge in a shopping center because consumerism has replaced idealism in this country, In Venezuela, the zombies represent the rapid disintegration after the madman who ruled the country dies. The Venezuelans who try to escape are killed by their own friends and neighbors. In Africa, the zombies are what happens when nature takes the land back from the humans who are trying to change it. In the UK, zombies make England's island isolation into a prison where escape seems impossible.
You all know the movies. If you are reading this review, you like zombies.
In Korea, zombies are about young people. Train to Busan is the story of a young girl who survives, but to what end? #Alive is about a young gamer. The Wailing is about the disintegration of a village.
Korea is rapidly changing. It becomes more Westernized and industrial every day. The generation that lives through the Korean War is dying, and the ancient culture that sustained the country for centuries is being replaced by a First World country with cutting edge technology. However, Korea still sits between China and Japan, and the threat of annihilation from the crazy man in North Korea is ever present.
To that end, this series is both the same old zombie by virus plot, but embedded in the daily horror of high school everyone faces. The bullies are nearly as awful as the zombies, the principal is an idiot, the teachers are a mix of caring and stupid, and the pressure to succeed is painful.
Zombies invade a high school through the idiocy of a teacher. There are massive casualties as the kids fight for their lives, Only when it is obvious to everyone that all hope is lost does a teacher admit what has happened and tell the kids to leave. Then it is still every person trying to save himself. The virus that causes the zombie infection is stronger than human connection.
Young Koreans face a world in which, no matter how hard they work or how much they care, they are not safe from monsters. Teachers don't care if they are bullied. Friends turn against them. And, everyday, they face oblivion.
But they are teenagers, and they try.
Romero would like this series.
