There's a Zombie in my Shed

                Imagine coming home from work after a dreary day as a cable TV salesman. Fumbling with your keys to unlock your front door, you walk through the house to the fridge, and traipse over to a place of solace. But you bypass the couch, the bedroom door, and walk out the back door to a humble tool shed. You open the door to find your best friend chained to a sofa, jumping and slobbering all over the place like a typical man’s bests friend. You might be picturing some kind of massive Great Dane locked up in the shed, an image that screams animal cruelty. However, the best friend portrayed in this image is your human best friend named Ed, rather in zombie form. It is evident that Ed is nothing more than a flesh-eating pet or plaything. And he’s trying to gnaw your ear off.

                In the movie Shaun of the Dead directed by Edgar Wright, the protagonist Shaun and his two companions Liz and Ed set off on a quest to kill as many zombies as they can in the midst of a zombie apocalypse. Shaun and Liz are faced with a tough decision after Ed is bitten in combat by one of these zombies and the duo chooses to spare Ed’s life. Ed, the token dunce throughout the movie, is savagely bitten by an infected person meaning that he will soon become infected himself, doomed to forever roam the streets of London living in his cannibalistic ways. Knowing that he will soon turn over to the dark side after being bitten, Ed encourages Shaun and Liz to leave him behind. He accepts his fate of becoming a zombie and eventually being killed by either a civilian or military personnel. Later on in the movie, Liz and Shaun and other characters from the movie travel back to the spot where they originally left Ed and “rescue” him. After the zombie apocalypse winds down, Shaun and Ed play video games in Shaun’s shed with a fully infected Ed. Shaun swats Ed’s zombie face away as he tries to take a chunk out of Shaun’s face. But was it necessarily ethical for Shaun to "save" Ed? Was he obligated to backtrack and find Ed? 

                The flaw in Shaun’s judgment after going back to help Ed was that Ed had already wanted to be left alone to die. He originally did not want to turn into a zombie and stay that way for all of eternity. This was not a very ethical move on Shaun’s part as Shaun should have respected the wishes of his infected friend and left Ed to become a zombie, which was his original choice. Keeping Ed as a cannibal pet when he clearly expressed an interest in being left alone is cruel and unusual, almost punishment. In the instant that Ed was bitten, he accepted his fate of zombification and was ready to be on his own—snatching pigeons out of the air and eating them raw—not to be locked in a shed for the rest of his life. The rest of the zombies in London were killed during the downfall of their reign over London. Though Ed is still walking around as one of the undead, he is not living his life to his full potential. His quality of life has severely decreased because he does not have the freedom to do what a zombie truly wants to do: feast on the flesh of the living.

                This argument is a branch off of "Do Not Resuscitate" agreements at hospitals. A person could be terminally ill and undergo a procedure that may result in a vegetative state or pass away as a result. This person is given the opportunity to not be brought back to life if these circumstances were to occur. DNR agreements could be classified as a utilitarian viewpoint as they are considered to be for the happiness of all (the person does not have to suffer, resources are saved, etc.). Though a utilitarian viewpoint is not always the most ethical or moral thing to abide by, in the case of a zombie apocalypse it is the most logical. A person is given the option to decline medical attention if there is a possibility of their quality of life to not be as free or as healthy as it was before. Similarly, if there is an infected person who says their friends should leave them alone or kill them, they should respect the wishes of their friend as their decision is one that they are prepared to deal with by themselves. A team of physicians would not try to resuscitate a person who already agreed to decline medical treatment. In a way, Ed declined medical treatment and Shaun breached Ed's comparative DNR agreement. During a zombie apocalypse where it is "every man for himself," utilitarian viewpoints can be thought of as necessary to save resources and promote the common good in a place where this might be hard to find. This was unethical behavior on Shaun's part as the utilitarian viewpoint was not used and ended up not being beneficial for all parties involved. 

                Overall, Shaun’s disregard of Ed’s decision to be left alone after being infected was not a very ethical decision as it limits the quality of life for Ed. If Ed wanted to turn into a zombie and be left alone, Shaun should have respected that wish. Because of this, Ed is now chained up in a shed in Shaun’s tool shed living a life not meant for a zombie.