World War Z Would Have Benefited From the Docu-Series Format – CBR – Comic Book Resources

The 2006 novel World War Z told through personal accounts of the zombie apocalypse was made to be a series, not a movie.

Docu-series have been growing in popularity in recenttimesas several different series, such as Tiger King and The Last Dance, have risen to the top of our collective "recently watched" lists.Alongside docu-series, the mocku-series genre is likely to follow suit and may soon see a resurgence as well.

The 2006 novelWorld War Z: An Oral History of the Zombie Warwould havebeen a perfect fit for the docu-series format as a mocku-series. While the novel eventually became an action film in 2013 starring Brad Pitt, the novel should be adaptedto a mocku-series that stays more true to the source material.

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The original novel by Max Brookstold numerous personal accounts of the zombie apocalypse from a variety of people from around the world. Each chapter of the novel features a short story told from the first-person perspectives of peopleinvaryingcircumstances at different stages of the zombie war. The overarching story is told through glimpses into the lives of medical professionals, army personnel, and regular people who have survived to tell their tales from international locations such as the United States, Japan, and Israel. The humanistic nature of the novelsets it apart from other zombie apocalypse properties that debuted around the same period due to the fact that the survivors have not been stripped back to basics. The people in World War Z continued to live realistic liveswith modern infrastructures still in place, albeit altered for the sake ofbattling a common undead enemy.

In contrast, the 2013 film by Marc Foster is toldin a more traditional linear style. The film follows Brad Pitt's character, a former United Nations investigator, as he works with government organizations to figure out how to end the zombie outbreak. Ultimately finding a tidy solution to beat the zombie plague, whereas the characters in the bookwere forced toadapt their world to fit the forever-changed reality. At face value, the film isan entirely different take on a fight between the living and the undead. The two propertiesonly sharetheir titles. Converting the original novel to a docuseries would enable it tomaintain the original short stories and do justice to the realism that grounds the otherwise unworldly situation.

The novel illustrates thezombiewar with a narrative that is strongly rooted in reality despite its fictional circumstances. The people in the novel behave as regular humans in the same situation would and while not everything works out for the best, situations develop logically. The Hollywood film did not keepthe same tone of realism and is nowhere near presented in amethod that suggestsfactual events.

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World War Z: An Oral History of the Zombie War iswritten with each chapter being a stand-alone story taking place in the same universe. The format of this storytelling style is perfectly suitable for beingconvertedon-screen in the form of a documentary television seriessince it followsevents sharinga consistent throughlineover the course of a designated period of time.The subtitle of the novelcharacterizing its contents asan "oral history"alsoindicatesthat the dialogue, as well as the narrative of the novel overall,are primedto be easilytranslated inthe audiovisual format of a mocku-series that could feature theuse of individualinterviews to recount plot points.

Despite being written in 2006, the novel's relationship with a viral zombieoutbreak would providean escapist proxy while overlapping in relevancy to the current state of the world; much like the influx of people watchingContagion during thebeginning of social distancing measures due to COVID-19. The novel touches on relevant subjects such as vaccine development and global health organizations and governments working together towards a common threat that knows no borders.Converting the zombie pandemic of World War Zinto a new series would offer aunique typeof mediationfor reflecting on the pandemic we are currently living through.

Mocku-series producerscandraw inspiration fromNetflix'sAmerican Vandalwhich gained acclaim for its fully realistic tone despite following an entirely fictitious andfarcical subject matter. While a zombie apocalypse would not be considered a farce, presenting a zombie war in adocumentary styleis likely toreach a level of ridiculousness that fans of mockumentaries wouldnaturally gravitate towards, ensuring its success in viewership. Since most mocku-series, such asThe Office andParks and Recreation, are comedies, a grim and hyperrealistic mocku-series would be a breath of fresh air for the genre thatwould havethe added benefit offinally do the best-selling novel justice.

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Nancy is a TV, movies, and fashion enthusiast based out of Vancouver, BC who grew up watching movies and TV shows that she was way too young to watch. She is a recent graduate of Queens University where she studied English Literature and Media Studies.She spends her free time dreaming up her own TV/film premises and planning her next holiday. She loves coffee, Dax Shepard's Armchair Expert podcast, and all fuzzy animals (including Jason Momoa).

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World War Z Would Have Benefited From the Docu-Series Format - CBR - Comic Book Resources

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