Terrence Zhang, Period 1, 6/3/2022

Terrence Zhang
Period 1
6/3/2022
Modern Mythology

• Literacy & Learning
• Write about your thoughts regarding any of the fiction or nonfiction covered in class.
• Reflect on any new information you have learned in English class by considering how that learning influences your critical perception.
• How is what you’re learning applied to any other classes/the world around you?

    One of my most favorite themes during our unit on zombies is the questioning of human morality in the face of danger. In perilous times, why would you risk saving others when just staying alive is already challenging and dangerous by itself? The zombie apocalypse has forced many to view reality in a much harsher light, with the ethics and morals of the old world proving rather ineffective in this new world in which the only goal is to survive. In such a world, is there truly such a thing as selfishness if it is what has to be done in order to see another day?

    Perhaps one of the best examples of this is the train scene in the movie “Train to Busan.” Prior to the scene, the protagonist along with other characters courageously fought their way through multiple carts in order to rescue his daughter and other survivors stuck in the midst of zombies. However, just as they were about to reunite with the original group of other survivors in the safe part of the train, those survivors decided to shut them out in fear of them already being infected. During this whole exchange between the protagonist and the other survivors, the audience was rooting for the protagonist and scorning the survivors for being cowards. When the protagonist is finally able to reach a safe area of the train, one of the survivors sees her sister amongst the zombies trying to get in, and proceeds to open the door, causing the zombies to flood the cart and all the survivors to be bitten to death. While the audience was cheering when this occurred, I wasn’t. In my eyes, that woman who opened the door for the zombies was perhaps the most selfish person there. For her own petty reasons, she caused dozens of people to die horrifically. Yes, those people were selfish, I agree with that, but were they truly at fault? Who wouldn’t be scared of the possibility of sealing their own fate by bringing in a group of people who could be infected? Generally speaking, most of the audience would probably have done the same thing in such a scenario. Yet, what was that woman’s reason? Just because she wanted to reunite with her sister after seeing her undead body, she directly caused the deaths of so many. And that who the audience cheered for. However, this is why this scene is one of the best examples of that theme. In such a situation, who truly is at fault? In my eyes, it was the woman, but to the rest of the audience, it was the fearful survivors.

    This idea of moral ambiguity influences my critical perception of the world around me. In real life, there is almost never a case of someone being absolutely correct or wrong. Just like the survivors in the train, people act with a reason, and only by thoroughly looking through all those reasons can I make a judgment. Therefore, I have to become more open minded when approaching problems. This can also be applied to real-world racism and stereotypes. Stereotypes occur when someone holds a generalized belief about another person based on their race. Most of the time, this is caused by narrow minded thinking and not paying enough attention to the actual person. Therefore, I can stop myself from developing stereotypes by becoming more open minded and paying attention to more than just a person’s skin color or race.