The Walking Dead Get LOST.

Karl Marx was my biggest enemy back in 2004. I was just a baby, freshman in high school and Marx’s philosophies on society, class and labor had me all confused and distraught. Over the last 8 years I’ve gained a better grasp of his general ideas, and he is no longer my biggest enemy. But for some reason while talking about Marx the other day, I began to think of ways to challenge his ideas, and I thought up the concept of a classless society.

Even though America does not have a rigid caste system like some other countries of the world, and our class system can be beat, it is still quite obvious that class inequalities are institutionalized in American society. If born into a poor family, the chances of that child remaining poor their entire life are much higher than that child one day becoming a member of the upper class. I’m not saying it’s impossible by any means, but for the most part, class stays somewhat consistent throughout a person’s life. Then the idea of a classless society popped into my head and I instantly thought of AMC’s The Walking Dead, and ABC’s LOST.

In both shows, a tragedy of some sort has occurred that has brought groups of random strangers together to live in a “newly created society” brought on by disaster. In The Walking Dead, an apocalyptic tragedy occurred and very few humans survived the zombie infestation. In LOST a tragic plane crash occurred stranding the plane passengers on a beautiful yet mysterious and dangerous island. In both shows, these groups of strangers live together, trying to survive in the unfamiliar environments they now live in. Class is almost entirely wiped out in both shows. Class is no longer an issue when your main goal each day is to survive. When you’re running from zombies it doesn’t matter what class you were a member of in your “old life”. In both shows, only one class seems to exist, that class being survivors.