Dear SJWs: Negan = Communism
Fandoms are a flutter whenever a season reaches its pinnacle (or nadir, depending on your point of view). When Game of Thrones climaxed, dead dragons were hot off shocked lips. After Breaking Bad aired their final episode, the obvious outcome, Walter White's death, was the culmination of five season's worth of drama, leaving Jesse Pinkman's fate open. However, AMC's The Walking Dead has a way to go before all narratives of the post-apocalyptic horror cease. As with all film and TV, many themes underscore the storyline; pertinent to The Walking Dead are aspects of the human condition like savagery, mercy, politics and in the latter example, democracy versus autocracy. A prime example of a dictator in The Walking Dead is Negan, though most would liken his community - The Saviours - to exhibiting signs of Fascism (which it does), left-wing, elite media would ignore its obvious parallels with Communism.
Communist regimes have now existed for more than 100 years since the Bolsheviks overthrew Tsar Nicholas II in the October Revolution of 1917. In 2018, four nations remain that have an overtly Communist government: North Korea, Cuba, Venezuela and most notable of all, China. China is a flaming dragon's maw, belching the fire of the State, a flurry of capitalist pearls contained therein; blending free markets with Socialist Imperialism. President Xi Jinping recently declared himself Emperor of China for all intents and purposes, using a non-Imperialist term 'President,' to retain a sheen of democracy. Words are pivotal to maintaining control; akin to "President Xi Jinping," or "The Saviours."
The likenesses between The Saviours and Soviets/Khmer Rouge, take your pick of regimes, is staggering. By naming themselves The Saviours and their headquarters The Sanctuary, it implies a haven away from the dangers of the outside dystopia. But the peace of this oasis is enforced by brutality, coupled with a clear division of workers and warriors. More telling is their relationship with wider communities; demanding half of everything outside communities gather at the edge of a sword - or Lucille, Negan's bat - for the good of the State (government seizure of property by Chavez/Maduro in Venezuela). Such outposts of civilisation that fail to comply with these stringent rules are taught a harsh lesson (Abraham and Glen, or Oceanside and Simon's eradication of The Junkyard). The clearest demonstration of The Saviours being a regime, the State, is where every resident of The Sanctuary utters "I am Negan," by rote; not to mention the token group whistle.
It is worthy that Millennials, versed in Social Justice and told that Socialism is the best form of government, except for all others that have been tried (to paraphrase Churchill's democracy quote), should take note of the violence Communism evokes in people. Take Gregory, leader of Hilltop in season six; wishing to be free of his yoke with The Saviours, used Rick and his friends to wipe out what they thought was The Saviours but was an outpost. Those beneath the heel of oppression will seek to wriggle out from under it, by fair means or foul and the sole method of halting this is via brutal quelling of rebellion. We see this with Negan burning Alexandria to the ground; Gulags in the USSR or the Khmer Rouge killing anyone wearing glasses. It begins with trying to unpack the intellectual baggage of tradition, a wilderness of tabula rasa remains and attempts to rebuild democracy are shattered by Lucille... or Postmodernism.
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