Ruthless Zombie Killers Can Be Ethical Too!

Columbus (left) and Tallahassee (right) team up

In the movie Zombieland (2009), four survivalists form an unlikely alliance. Initially, these characters do not even reveal their names to each other in order to keep their distances. Instead, they refer to each other as the name of their respective destinations. The narrator, Columbus, never had any close friends or family and survives by playing it safe and usually traveling alone. He meets up with Tallahassee, a man who last his son to the zombies. Tallahassee survives by vengefully killing zombies and not becoming attached to people. The two men eventually team up with sisters Wichita and Little Rock. These girls have never trusted anyone and made a living off of conning people. After spending some time together, they all start to form bonds. However, this causes Wichita to panic. So she and her sister ditch the guys and head to an amusement park. Columbus and Tallahassee go after them and reach the girls just in time. Wichita and Little Rock are stuck on a ride and zombies are clambering up after them. Tallahassee decides to use a blow horn and lure the many of the zombies in the opposite direction while Columbus goes to save the sisters. Tallahassee single-handedly takes on a horde of zombies. It seems to be a completely selfless act and his reasoning behind it can be ethically explored. Utilitarians would agree with his actions because he was minimizing the pain of others and maximizing the pleasure of the majority (though it may be a small majority). Kantians would also agree with Tallahassee because he does what is right not for his own sake, but to save the valuable lives of others.

Tallahassee at the final stand off

Utilitarianism focuses on the overall minimizing of pain and maximizing of pleasure. So, when one makes a decision, one should consider "both the short and long term consequences" when measuring the benefits of a situation (Salazar 1393). For Tallahassee, the short term consequences of letting the girls die would be he and Columbus would both be sad. This is not pleasurable. The long-term consequences include a lack of companionship. What if those girls were the only other people left on the planet? Their lives become that much more valuable. If Tallahassee had perished in his heroic act, there would have been three survivors in the best outcome: Columbus, Wichita, and Little Rock. Had Tallahassee and Columbus chosen to walk away, there would have been only two survivors. Three survivors would have been the most desirable long-term outcome when the apocalyptic human population is minimal and decreasing. Luckily, Tallahassee is a merciless and skilled killer, so all four of them survived.

Little Rock (left) and Wichita (right) stuck on the ride

Though it may seem unlikely, I believe Kantians would also agree with Tallahassee's decision. The Categorical Imperative of Kantianism insists that everyone should treat others as "equally worthy" (Salazar 1392). In the zombie apocalypse, this means treating everyone as equally worthy of saving. This is a very difficult thing to do in a desolate world where it is easy to survive only for one's own sake. Also, the Categorical Imperative "does not depend on our desires, only on pure rationality" (Salazar 3). It may seem irrational for Tallahassee to face almost certain death to save a couple of people. But when these people may literally be the only ones left on the planet, risking death becomes even more worth it than before. The whole meaning of humanity has dwindled down to just a few people; so every sacrifice is necessary if it promotes the life of even one person.

I believe that philosophical applications to ethical situations become altered in the zombie apocalypse. These ideals were created when the term "humanity" encompassed millions and billions of people. In a place like Zombieland, the population is constantly dwindling and the concept of humanity becomes more of a microcosm. You are no longer a part of something much larger than yourself. Survival of yourself and those around you essentially means the survival of humanity (what is left of it). Because of these differences, it becomes much trickier to apply traditional ways of thinking and acting, like Utilitarianism and Kantianism, to a non-traditional world setting.

Salazar, Heather. “Self-Interest,” The New Catholic Encyclopedia, Series on Ethics and Morality, ed. by Robert  Fastiggi. Gale Cengage Learning, 2013

Salazar, Heather.“Kantian Business Ethics,” in Business in Ethical Focus, ed. Fritz Allhoff and Anand J. Vaidya. Broadview Press, 2008