What if World War Z was Real?
Hello and welcome back to Life’s Biggest Questions, I’m Ron McKenzie-Lefurgey.
If you watched our video entitled “What if The Walking Dead was real,” you’ll
know that a world of zombies would be rather different from the one we know now.
But not all zombies are the slow, ambling ones we see in Walking Dead; if they were
faster like in World War Z, it would be a whole different ball game.
In this video, I’ll discuss how a World War Z world would differ from our own, and
how it would differ from that of The Walking Dead.
If you want more crazy what if videos, check out our “Biggest What If” Playlist on
the channel!
Now get ready, it’s time to ask the question: What if World War Z was Real?
Now, right off the back we’re hit with a bit of a quandary.
World War Z was originally a book, and was then made into a film.
And the book and the film are incredibly different from each other, to the point where some reviewers
say that “The only similarity between them is the title.”
For this reason, I’ll focus on just the movie version, not because it’s superior,
but just because it’s better known by more people.
If you’re interested, definitely check out the book.
And while you’re at it, check out the I Am Legend book which is ALSO quite different
from the movie.
If you’ve seen World War Z, you’ll know that the zombies in the film were a far-cry
from your classic slow zombie.
These were very quick, and able to work together to a terrifying degree.
The wall-climbing scene should be enough to scare the daylights out of anyone.
This would change up the tactics of the survivors a good deal, since you wouldn’t be able
to deal with them nearly as easily, and there would be fewer safe places to hide and defend.
This means that humanity would need a good deal of cooperation and weaponry to deal with
the zombie threat.
Another big difference is the time it takes to turn into a zombie.
In The Walking Dead, it can take hours or days for a person to die and turn into a zombie.
This leads to some pretty tense moments, and tearful goodbyes.
In World War Z, however, it takes just 12 seconds.
No time for a real goodbye, barely enough time to end one’s life before turning.
This can be both beneficial and harmful to survivors.
When in the midst of a large fight, the short incubation period would make it incredibly
difficult to remain aware of where your enemies are.
It could be that the guy beside you who was fine 30 seconds ago will suddenly turn around
and bite you in the neck.
On the other hand, the short incubation period makes it near-impossible for someone to hide
the fact that they were bitten, and infiltrate a secure area.
So you wouldn’t have to worry about the incredibly common trope in zombie films of
someone hiding their bite, only to later turn and attack their friends.
I hate that trope, so much.
There is one further quirk that the World War Z zombies had that is incredibly important
to the survival of mankind: they don’t attack the sick or injured.
This was because the virus wanted to prioritize hosts that would be better fit to spread it.
This is something that was hinted at throughout the film, like when the zombies ignored the
drunken homeless man, and the soldier with the bum leg, and by the end was found to be
the ultimate solution.
A vaccine was created that could be administered to the population, which infected them with
a disease that caused the zombies to become non-aggressive to them.
This seems to be the best option for us if this was to become real, as it would allow
us to collect ourselves and regroup.
The cleanup and aftermath following the Zombie War would also be very different in World
War Z compared to Walking Dead.
In the last video, I discussed how life would likely be very different forever.
In Walking Dead, everyone is already infected, so people can turn even when all the zombies
were gone.
In World War Z, however, infection requires some sort of attack from a zombie, so if humanity
managed to exterminate all the zombies, life could begin to return to normal.
Well, slightly more normal.
And now we return to our question: What if World War Z was Real?
Well, these faster and more cooperative zombies would take a hell of a lot more firepower
and coordination to take out in the short term.
Big crowds would be terrifying, as the horde would grow very quickly with the 12 second
incubation period.
Eventually, if we learned that they didn’t attack the sick, we could create a vaccine
that could allow us to more easily exterminate the zombie menace, and try to rebuild society.
Thank you for watching Life’s Biggest Questions, I hope this was interesting and informative,
and maybe even inspired you to look into it further on your own.
If you liked this video, please thumbs up and subscribe to the channel down below.
While you’re down there, let me know where YOU would want to live if there was a zombie
apocalypse.
Until next time, I’m Ron McKenzie-Lefurgey with Life’s Biggest Questions, wishing you
the best of luck, on your quest for answers.