The other day while watching TV, I came across a show (I forget the name of it now) that followed around a few families who were in the process of building underground bunkers where they believed they could safely wait out a zombie apocalypse. Each of these families used the same bunker manufacturer to build their underground home, and each wanted something different out of it. One in particular stood out to me. They were a family of 4 (a mother, a father, a son and a daughter). The father was an ex cop I believe, and the children were very young. He had begun training them in physical combat as well as with guns. In the scenes in between the ones focused on their bunker, we followed them to a shooting range, where the young children were shooting at a picture of a zombie. The father and son even joked on camera about one time when the son accidentally shot his father in the back with a gun (some kind of gun that didn't do much damage obviously, though I am not sure what it was). I just found this whole scene, and show actually, very weird. I found it a little unnecessary to place handguns and shotguns in the hands of young children to teach themselves to protect against a zombie apocalypse. Taking it a step farther, one of the things the father wanted in his bunker was a training facility. They were prepared to stay in there for up to 6 months, which they believed would be "long enough to wait until everything on the surface of the earth settled down." During their wait, they planned on practicing even more with guns and fighting moves.
Around the same time I saw this TV show I also watched two children's movies that were just recently made. ParaNorman is a movie about a boy (obsessed with zombies) who can talk to the dead and see ghosts. In the beginning this makes him weird and a loner, but after he saves the town by helping and understanding the zombies, he is a hero. The other movie I watched was Frankenweenie. It begins with a similar character who has no friends with the exception of his dog and his family. His dog is killed by a car and the boy uses science to bring him back to life. This character is also seen as weird and crazy, until the end of the movie when he saves the town. The community then sees why he brought his dog back to life and they think it is sweet. Both of these movies take a similar approach to the idea of zombies. It is something that is usually thought of as scary, which leads the towns to try to stop them or kill. The moral of the stories though turn out to be understanding those that are different than us instead of jumping to conclusions.
These movies contrast with this TV show I saw in an interesting way. The show, made for adults, perpetuates the idea of violence as the answer. It shows that you need guns, you need to be trained in combat and killing. The adults on the show are teaching their children to kill and to look out only for themselves. It makes people afraid of what is to come. The movies, made for children, show that the people using violence are the people in the wrong. It shows the children hero's as peaceful hero's, who can look at everyone's view instead of just their own. I find it very interesting that when talking about the same popular topic (zombies) the adults are finding their pleasure through violence, while kids are seeing it as a way of accepting everyone.
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You make some extremely interesting points here. I agree that it is ridiculous to be putting guns in the hands of kids, or in the hands of anyone really, in the name of the zombie apocalypse, especially after all the violence we have seen recently. The idea of a zombie apocalypse really does change your perspective on all aspects of society. We joke about the way Carl has turned into a killing machine, but in today's society there are so many gun threats and tragic school shootings that it's something that is only acceptable to talk about when zombies are also in the picture.
I agree that many interesting points are brought up here, and see how Meg (the comment above me) can view this as negative in regards to all the recent violence. It is difficult to say whether or not guns should be used amongst kids in a post-apocalyptic world, although it is obvious that it does have major repercussions on children's fragile minds as Meg mentioned with Carl. However, I will say that teaching your child to protect themselves is definitely a necessary evil. In a world where there is no reasoning with zombies, I don't think it is so far-fetched that the father (especially one who is an ex-cop) would want to train his children from a young age. It almost similar to hunting dogs - if you don't get them when they are young puppies, and don't expose them to the sound of a gunshot at a young age, they can never be trained to be a hunting dog. Relating to children, if you don't train them from a young age to defend themselves in a world where they must, and instead train them to be in fear, it could lead to their death. However, the double-edged sword is that it does desensitize the children, which can lead to deeply rooted problems.
This is really interesting. It seems that every time I look around there is something new that has to do with zombies. Honestly, I'm not sure how I feel about the fathers take on protecting his children. For those who have seen through season two of The Walking Dead, we know that Carl (the son) is pretty crazy. He was a normal kid until the group decided that he should be able to use a gun. I'm not saying that these kids will go crazy, I'm just saying that we can't judge how it is going to affect them until they are forced into a situation where they may need the skill. It may be smart to prepare your children, but it is also important to be aware of the impacts that it will have on the kids. If I was in the fathers position, I definitely wouldn't let them use guns now, but if there was a zombie apocalypse, I would probably want to show them how to protect themselves.