The destruction of society’s morality and ethics always stems from when humanity faces a form of adversity. Throughout history the morals and ethics of human beings have been put to the test on whether humanity has this or not, an example of this would be seen through the events of slavery and the holocaust even during world war one when a nuclear bomb almost desiccated Hiroshima japan, in these events humanity had the chance to choose the most ethical way of handling the situation but due to the convenience the worst possible outcome occurred. Similarly shown in the two television shows The Walking Dead and Westworld, both these shows center their attention on the way human morals are put to the test and seem to even go to the extent of losing it.
Television shows are becoming very popular in the current world as entertainment platforms. Specific shows are drawing attention among viewers not only because they are exciting, but they are based on morals, as well. Some of such shows include The Walking Dead and Westworld. The Walking Dead, a TV program is considered to be one of the most famous horror series of all time. However, the series has been subject to lots of discussions based on ethical issues. Westworld, on the other hand, is a thriller program that involves a futuristic guest park and killing of visitors in the park.
Many directors and professionals in the film industry have refuted the claims of the films being morally unethical. The analyses of whether television shows are morally ethical or not can be analyzed based on plots, imageries, visualization and themes among others. The analysis can then be compared to what different ethical sources enshrine as being ethically appropriate in films. This paper is an argumentative paper that seeks to explore how television programs such as The Walking Dead and Westworld are morally unethical.
The Walking Dead a post-apocalyptic series throughout the show completely shows how the characters battling with whether they should discard their morals by not killing needlessly or by becoming immoral and begin to kill people in cold blood to survive. It’s one thing to avoid killing people in cold blood, but it’s another to let people go who have already has the intent and is willing to kill you and everyone you hold dear. This is the mindset Rick had in the beginning of the episode “Pretty Much Dead Already” and even prior to prior episode. It wasn’t till the end of the episode where Shane was willing to let everyone be killed by the walkers in the shed by releasing them is when Rick realized that sometimes you must discard your ethics and your morals to survive in a world that you are not familiar with any more.
Most of the television shows currently televised for all ages does not have an excellent moral storyline. The main themes of these films are plotted in the best interest of the continuity of the film, but without consideration of the moral effects, they might come along with. Taking the focus of the television shows, The Walking Dead and Westworld, the themes and continuity of the films are not ethical.
In order to create continuity in the show the walking dead, human beings, who have survived being transformed into zombies are forced to live in a hopeless world. At one point characters realize they are all bound to die as there is no hope (McGowan, Adalet, Andrews & Millot 56). This is unethical, according to the arguments of psychologists, a good film or show should go beyond being an entertainer to a platform for life encouragement and positivity. The Walking Dead storyline continuity simply does the opposite.
The films Westworld, on the other hand, is against successful daily living marred by taking risks. For John Blade, a first-time visitor to the park expects a lifetime experience at the park. His expectations are not realized as he is forced to fight to the death for his survival (Telotte 23). There is no inclusion of a fight to death battle in the film, but this is one of the things, which many people find unethical, especially, if a young audience is watching the show. These two shows are just typical examples among other ones, which inconsistent themes do not augur well with ethics.
Many television shows can also be faulted for their sexual portrayals. Issues surrounding sex in television shows have been a common subject to immorality. Ethics provides a proper depiction of sexual acts such as not revealing the nakedness of the character and using the scenes positively as a build up to the plot. The usage of such scenes should also be very minimal; otherwise, the show can be rendered immoral.
The Westworld show has been criticized having fallen short of its sexual portrayal. In the film, the guest gets to indulge in any adventure of their choice with a payment of $10,000 per day (Telotte 24). One of the adventure visitors is provided with is sexual encounters. Many of the visitors of the park are involved in a sexual encounter, which makes sexual scenes in the TV show to be way above the average number. It, therefore, makes the show immoral. The nature of the sexual portrayal in the film is also not appropriate and cannot be watched by children.
There are also other television films that depict people’s dehumanized nature. Human beings have skills, intelligence, and capability that are way beyond other beings such as animals. Television shows, therefore, ought to have an improved depiction of the human beings’ nature as compared to their dehumanized portrayal. The transformation of humans to zombies is dehumanizing and cannot be ethically justified.
Based on this, many people have argued that the film should have developed a different version of walking dead such as non-transformation of people and focusing on long-dead people raised (McGowan, Adalet, Andrews & Millot 56). The behaviors of the zombies and their survival tactics coupled with how they are portrayed in the film are dehumanizing and are therefore also unethical. Dehumanization is also seen in the show, Westworld, through the robotic killings, gunslingers, the rattlesnake bites and the sex slaves in the park used to entertain the visitors during their adventures (Telotte 24).
Morality and ethics are also built on the beliefs that are held by different people. Religion plays a vital role in how such moral and ethical beliefs are built. Television shows may be rendered unethical or immoral if they go against the moral and ethical beliefs of different people. Transformation of people to zombies through an infection inflicted simply through a bite is against the beliefs of many religions, such as Christianity and Muslim (McGowan, Adalet, Andrews & Millot 56). The kind of killings and the motives for the killings as seen in the case of the Westworld film can also be argued to be against the beliefs of specific religions. Other people, however, argue that the extent to which the films are morally right or wrong based on beliefs can, depend on specific individuals. There are communities who believe in violence and extremism such as the Jihad community.
The visualization and imagery of television shows is also a subject of discussion. Film genres as horror and action are filled with visuals and images that are not ethical and can be considered immoral. While many can argue that it is difficult to avoid imaging of blood in such films, there are ways that such images can be depicted ethically and morally. The nature in which the two films used as a reference for discussion employs it visuals and imagery are not ethical and can have long term effects on frequent viewers (Sevenhuijsen, 202). Take the example of the survival tactic of the survivors in the show The Walking Dead; it involves the merciless killing of the zombies which in this case is showed to include chopping off the body parts of the zombies. The film does not censor any of these images leaving behind several ethical questions on the minds of the viewers and analysts.
Moral behaviors of characters in the film should be shown in a way that encourages humanity. Some television shows have assigned characters a specific role that does not come along with good morals which also makes television shows prone to immorality. Immorality does not only center on sexual aspects of films but also on moral characters such as being trustworthy, being reliable and even kind.
For example, based on this, we can use the analysis a prisoner named Randal who having witnessed Rick his close associate being killed by a group of people is aware of their hideout and finds himself confused whether to lead the zombies to their hideout. Randall goes against the moral nature of human beings to show compassion and sympathy and leads the Zombie to the group of people in their hideouts. Good films should be able to have moral teachings able to improve on the personalities of human beings (Sevenhuijsen 456). When films like these do not have any moral teachings and themes in their plots, then it gets difficult to establish the extent to which they are morally structured.
However, strong support for television shows as being justified ethically. Many people argue that television shows have the sole role of entertaining their viewers and their moral arguments depend on the motive behind the film. It is, however, important to note that there has not been a proper laying of laws that can strictly control the kind of audience for these films. The films should, therefore, have some bit of morals having in mind the audience of such films is wide.
Television shows have continued to be an important part of the entertainment industry. Although they are meant to entertain us, they can also have adverse effects on viewers. These effects can be in the form of moral deterioration. Two of such shows that have raised morals questions as analyzed in this paper include The Walking Dead and Westworld. The two films are a depiction of how many television shows lack morals should have the inclusion of ethics when filming them.
