Students at Central Michigan University can study a wide assortment of apocalyptic scenarios – including a zombie uprising – in a new class about the hypothetical end of the world, titled From Revelation to "The Walking Dead."
According to the online description, the course – which examines the apocalypse in literature, art, entertainment, religion and philosophy – was introduced by Philosophy & Religion teacher Kelly Murphy (pictured below), a self-professed fan of AMC's The Walking Dead. The curriculum will include clips from that series as well as from movies like Shaun of the Dead and 28 Days Later, and students will discuss “hypothetical ethical and theological problems that people could encounter in a post-apocalyptic world.”
“The prevalence of apocalyptic stories in various media gives us a window into what people are worrying about, what they hope for and how they imagine they would react in the face of a cataclysmic event," says Murphy in the course summary.
“In the first few weeks, we watched a lot of clips from zombie films and basically went through a history of zombies,” says senior Devon Wright, who said the zombie tales reveal a lot about human nature in an extreme crisis. “In The Walking Dead, I think you’re more afraid of the people than the zombies, because you don’t know who you can trust,” he says. “You’re more afraid of humanity than the undead.”
Still need to do your zombie homework? Then read about this high school teacher who uses The Walking Dead video game as a teaching aid!