How “The Walking Dead” helps me to fall asleep

The zombie series has delivered its seventh season. Like many other people, I will finally sleep better.

I can not sleep. So to help me, I visualize comforting scenes. Like a perfect table, uniting my loved ones around a good meal, for example. But I have even better: I sometimes imagine myself in a world where the reign of man has ended, leaving room for that of the living dead.
That’s childish I know, but I’m in The Walking Dead . Without knowing why or how, an epidemic has transformed the majority of the world’s population into zombies eager for human flesh. Just be bitten or scratched to become one of them. The only way to stop them? A bullet, a blow of ax or bat to blow up their decaying brain. So, warm under the duvet, I imagine a slew of automatic weapons, just at the foot of my bed. There’s ammunition. I smiled, I yawned.

Since I’ve been watching this comedy series of the same name, it’s not only in my bed that I think about it. For like the hero Rick Grimes, former sheriff to the head of a faction of survivors in the series, no question that I let myself be crunched. So, to survive, I barricade myself. Wherever I am. On the first visit to my apartment, I noticed the solidity of the gate placed in front of the front door. The walkers could pass their arms, but no more. Another good point: the living room overlooks the garden of the neighbors. We could grow enough vegetables to grow. Outside, the area, away from the city center, is not overcrowded. In front of me, a small park is fenced by grids with points. My wise eye noticed that it is enough to sharpen them so that the zombies impale themselves. At the ends, palisades would be erected between grating and houses to block access. On the other side, several cars covered with branches would be stationed to carry out refueling missions. This is not the refuge city of Alexandria in the series, but it’s not bad. Then it will probably attract fewer jealousies.
Once reassured zombie side, remains to manage humans. Because the series makes us understand in season 3 that the worst enemies of Rick and his band are the other tribes of survivors. It will therefore be necessary to consider placing traps, but especially an alarm system, mounted with a series of bells to prevent the arrival of any invaders. On the top floor of the buildings on the street, snipers can take turns day and night.

I repeat all this in a loop, and, satisfied, I fall asleep.
Pistols under the pillow
As one particularly likes his cozy bed during a thunderstorm, one can be pleased to imagine his room as an oasis of comfort and safety in the hell of the world of the series. And I’m not alone in doing that.

On a post of the popular Americian Reddit forum on this issue, some Rakim_Allah777 reveals:
“Every time I go for a walk, I evaluate the defenses of every house I meet. I try to find the best and the means to strengthen others. ”
When asked if he feels “more secure, peaceful and happy” after the mentally fortified houses he replied: “Of course …”

Another element acts as an anxiolytic on the viewer: the group spirit. While it is rare to know his neighbors in our urban societies, Rick’s group is, as far as he is concerned. As in time, the small community becomes a large family, concentrated on the same ground. As a spectator, one feels pampered, protected, and it is this parameter that is the most attractive. That makes one likes to think about the series in a moment of vulnerability. One dimension that particularly appeals to Paola, 22 years old. In his imagination, a small Corsican village is transformed into a refuge.
“Suppose there is a threat which we must protect themselves as a community, I would go to Erbahjolu firmly assure the young student. First, because a real community already exists, then because it is in direct contact with nothing. There are only three roads to get there, two of which lead to the same entrance. I would build a wall around much of the town. ” More than crack skulls, is the idea of a self-managed society who seduces. “I like to tell myself that instead of having a stupid job my goal might be to ensure the survival of my community, that instead of earning money to buy what is needed, it should be produced. ”
We are all more vulnerable during sleep. It is in our nature to build walls, consciously or not, before sleeping
John Horgan, Professor of Psychology at Georgia State University
Professor of psychology at Georgia State University John Horgan is also a fan of the first hour of The Walking Dead . For him, my ritual of falling asleep is not so strange: “We are all vulnerable during sleep. It is in our nature to build walls, consciously or not, before sleeping. Some have rituals, such as prayer. Some stick to the loved one, others sleep with their phones lighted or with a gun under the pillow. ”
A gun, or more original. As for Rakim_Allah777, which uses “silent antipersonnel mines” in its mental fortification. If the detail ready to smile, this propensity to consider a weapon as a blanket is necessarily a little unhealthy. Not really enthusiastic about having a gun machine at home in real life, I can not help but find the reassuring concept as part of this bedtime ritual. Also an expert in the psychology of terrorism, Horgan considers that the phenomenon can be related to the rise of the obsession of the security questions in our society:
“What the series seizes so effectively is the threat posed by walkers and human factions. The show serves as a constant reminder against complacency. When the group goes down, horrible things happen. ”
Another Redditer, explains BransonBombshell also have “secured many places against the walkers” , particularly his home and his workplace. It provides further that it is only a “hobby” , ensuring that a Zombie Apocalypse is “very bottom” in his list of fears.
Zombies and terrorism
What is higher on this list? Terrorism would arrive second in the ranking of the main fears of the Americans in 2016, according to a study by Chapman University . Even finding in France, according to the National Crime Observatory .
Perhaps the impact of the series on its viewers is linked to a certain resonance of the actuality. Certainly few people live the terrorist threat as the hero of The walking dead react to zombies. If only the most anxious avoided transport and places too frequented, the States are forced to be vigilant without relent. “It reminds us that the series is that the total security does not exist , says Horgan. Whether in the series or with terrorism, death can come at any time and everyone can be killed simply by being in the wrong place at the wrong time. ”

What the series reminds us is that total security does not exist
John Horgan, Professor of Psychology at Georgia State University
Horgan even see a correlation between the storytelling in the series and that of terrorism made by “political and media uncritical” . He explains:
“The fear of terrorism is totally disproportionate when compared to the likelihood of being a victim of terrorism. But politicians manipulate the threat by making it swell. As “The Walking Dead” manipulates the anxieties of his fans. ”
The university continues: “This goes with a story of national security that terrorism poses an existential question. One could answer that by barricading, to keep the remote threat. ” The rhetoric used in the United States but also in Europe, where populist parties turn for example the refugee crisis in a calamity that must be protect. Notably by building walls, in Calais or in Hungary, as in the series which finds no better hideout than a prison. Yet, as can be the total shelter undead and human cruelty, John Horgan noted: “Everyone knows you can not be totally immune from terrorism.” But conversely the real danger, the Walking Dead is a fiction. And being able to control it, before going to bed, is necessarily reassuring.