Following the blockbuster success of Train to Busan in 2016, Korean entertainment has been consistently praised for producing exceptional zombie films. From Kingdom, Happiness, Zombie Detective, and now, All Of Us Are Dead, viewers haven’t been disappointed with the zombie craze from these series.

In films, zombie infections are transmitted through getting bitten by a virus carrier. Meanwhile, since the COVID-19 virus is still prevalent, people are creating memes about the pandemic, envisioning a zombie apocalypse situation. This is in relation to the popularity of the Netflix Korean series All of Us Are Dead, which has been making the rounds on social media through various memes about schools resuming their limited face-to-face classes.

We’ve seen zombie movies set in trains, apartments, grocery stores, and alleys, but never in a school setting; this is where All of Us Are Dead felt more relatable to the youth. Have you considered perceiving the series through a different lens? What about life lessons we missed out because we were too preoccupied with the thrill? Here are life lessons you may learn from the series.

1. Surviving without Adults

Some students their age struggle to make their own decisions and are still dependent on the supervision of their parents and grownups around them. In a nutshell, this is an interesting representation of how the youth would handle crucial life decisions in the absence of adults.

Throughout the series, we’ve seen the diversity of student characteristics making important decisions. There were students who retained their calm in the midst of chaos, some let their emotions affect their behavior, and yet others braved up to lead their fight against zombies and survival. The majority of the series’ conflicts were triggered by other characters’ aggressive behaviors; allowing greed and selfishness to harm their relationships with one another.

Assume we are in their position, trapped in an apocalyptic circumstance with teenagers your age. Remaining composed is really commendable in this situation, considering that our thoughts and emotions are clashing with each other. Therefore, is remaining calm the wisest plan of action?

Right now, who would want to listen to someone who allows their emotions to affect their behavior right? This is why staying calm nor aggressive may not be the only choice you should consider when dealing with a dilemma. Why don’t we think about remaining calm when coming up with a solution or communicating our plans? That way, others will listen to you without being offended. We’ve seen characters in the series who are calm and mediate between tensions, they are most likely the characters who actually make sense when presenting their survival strategies. Remaining calm does not imply silence, rather, it is a healthy practice of managing a crisis without hurting anyone, especially when everyone is already anxious and confused by their emotions. Hence, remaining calm should be practiced in a proactive, rather than a passive manner.

This is where independence emerges, and it is here that an individual develops the courage to make logical decisions without the assistance of adults. We can’t deny that, throughout the early stages of puberty, we tend to make careless decisions since we were confident that the grownups would understand our innocence. In reality, no one cares whether you’re still a kid at heart; if you do something out of carelessness, people will consider it as negligence, not the other way around. So, in these kinds of situations, it is crucial that we learn at a young age how to make decisions on our own and, of course, assess the repercussions before carrying on with those decisions. Again, bearing responsibility, whether with an adult or not, is a major leap towards maturity.

2. Building Trust

Nowadays, it is hard to trust anybody, particularly if you are unfamiliar with them and suddenly found yourself in a circumstance with these people whom you have never been close to before. Giving someone your trust is a big step toward moving out of your comfort zone as it signifies you’re allowing them in your life and making decisions together. Where does trust belong in an apocalyptic situation where survival is your topmost priority?

It’s understandable why some people opt not to trust anyone in situations like this. It’s tough to lend your trust to someone if you don’t know whether you’ll have their back in times of struggle or if they’ll betray you without you knowing it. This is what transpired for certain characters in the series when they felt they could trust each other, and then betrayal emerges, complicating the situation. And, of course, when betrayal occurs, no matter how hard you try, people will not believe you, especially if chances were given and you chose to break them.

The character’s situation in the series is somewhat hopeless, as they were left all alone with zombies roaming outside. Hence, despite their differences and unfamiliarity with one another, they opted to stick together and survive by trusting one another.

Trust is not linear. You don’t make people trust you, yet on the other hand, you don’t even trust them. This was also one of the best life lessons we could pick up from the series. If we’re going to assess their zombie-escape strategies, they actually have a solid foundation of trust. Somebody must take the lead and propose their idea, and then brainstorming takes place, and in order for it to work, everyone must trust each other’s suggestions.

I doubt they’d be able to survive if they didn’t trust one another, specifically when it comes to escaping the zombies and protecting each other.

3. Leadership

The series’ apocalyptic survival, like academic group tasks, would not be practical without someone on the front line leading the whole plan. As they say, actions without a plan are chaotic; correspondingly, a plan without someone leading it is confusing. Hence, leadership is essential in teamwork, someone must oversee and weigh things before they get jumbled. Because if there is too much going on on a plate, we will miss out on choosing the best solution.

On the other hand, leadership without teamwork is also chaotic. In survival plans like this, you can’t rely on just one person to come up with solutions, everyone must cooperate and contribute to conceptualizing everything. Here’s where shared knowledge truly is power. In order to see the bigger picture, you must first obtain it from everyone’s perspective. Shared knowledge on teamwork will not only benefit the success of a plan but will also minimize major threats that may have been neglected throughout the process.

It is also important that team members do not just perform what the leader says. If you think the viewpoint contradicts yours, don’t be scared to speak out and resist it. Leadership, like trust, is not linear. Communication is an important aspect of this, which is why it is commendable about the series that they practiced fair opportunities to address each other’s perspectives through a voting system.

People seem to can’t get over the hype of the All Of Us Are Dead series, which has been in the top 10 most popular shows of Netflix Philippines for almost 2 weeks now since its initial release in the public. If you’re a fan of zombie series like this, you should also check out Kingdom, Zombie Detective, and Happiness.

Photo Credit: www.netflix.com/ph/