"In a recent, revealing tweet, Walking Dead showrunner Glen Mazzara said that every writer on the series is required to read psychiatrist Viktor Frankl's legendary concentration camp narrative, Man's Search for Meaning. The connection between a true-life account of the Holocaust and a TV series about zombies may initially seem tenuous, or even crass. But it also shows that Mazzara and his writers are taking The Walking Dead's pulpy premise very, very seriously. Man's Search for Meaning chronicles Frankl's unimaginable philosophical journey: from shock, to apathy, to bitterness and despair, and eventually to purposefulness, after having survived one of the most dehumanizing experiences imaginable. " - Scott Meslow, The Atlantic
Fascinating.. that explains a lot about the show's direction and identity.
Honestly, people like what they like and dislike what they don't and I have no problem with that... I couldn't care less about who dislikes TWD or why, I really only posted this because it speaks to the context of the show's narrative. I find it intriguing that the show's writers were required to read Man's Search for Meaning and in an almost disjointed way the parallels work to a degree.
I don't find it crass at all. Fantasy/horror storytelling has always been a way to explore and confront the things we are all universally afraid of, and to tell a good story you have to draw from real life inspiration to make it resonate. There's Holocaust themes in everything from The Terminator to X-MEN. Even Toy Story 3 touched on the subject of the Holocaust with the daycare essentially being a concentration camp for toys.
^ I feel the same way, that critique was something I disagreed with but I loved how he explained the process in that last sentence and how well it relates to the series.
People can say what they want, I think the show's incrediably well-written. Take the first half of season 2, they spent so long talking about Sophia that we were just like 'come on get it over with' making the gut punch even bigger when they found her.