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Quick Thoughts About “All Of Us Are Dead”
Teaching and parenting in a zombie emergency
All of Us Are Dead is a South Korean zombie thriller on Netflix that mostly takes place in a school, with a band of surviving teenage students moving from one classroom to the next (science lab, art room, gym, etc.), dodging and locking out zombie classmates along the way. For what may seem like a popcorn movie at first, there are very strong parenting and education subtexts that I would like to make quick mental notes of, as a parent-teacher myself.
There are teachers, there are parents — two distinct and oftentimes contrasting roles. But what if you’re a teacher-parent?
As I watched the series with my 9-year-old daughter (whose idea it was for us to watch it — with popcorn, yes), a parallel film plays in my head: what if I were teaching at my school when a zombie apocalypse broke out? Would I have shepherded students as the selfless teacher I’m supposed to be, or would I have completely abandoned them, and like the parents who are not teachers (Cheong-san’s mom, On-jo’s dad), dropped everything to rush to my children? Would I have been able to run, climb walls, defend and attack as I pushed my way through zombie-infested roads, evading soldiers and checkpoints, to…
