Artistic Significance: Skillsets are relative to the situation

Most teenage dramas feature the classic layout of rival cliches — jocks, cheerleaders, theater nerds, band, 4-H, etc.
However, Netflix’s series “Daybreak” takes it to a whole other, post-apocalyptic level.
In a world where a chemical agent either wiped out all adults or turned them into zombies, the high school divides became citywide divides.
The story follows Josh as he weeds his way through a Glendale, California, overrun by high school cliches turned into “Mad Max” style gangs as he searches for his girlfriend, Sam Dean.
Frankly, from my perspective, Josh has the least interesting story, but it has an important message.
See, Josh was a C student who was just getting by in life before the apocalypse. He had Sam and a mom who worked all day.
As far as the world was concerned, he didn’t have any discernible skills yet. He had time still to develop them, but they weren’t there yet.
In the apocalypse, he thrived.
He lived as one of the few people getting by without a big group around him, moving from place to place and basically staying out of everybody else’s hair. Josh was able to hoard supplies where nobody else would find it and hide places nobody expected.
This isn’t a coming-of-age story about finding true love or self-realization, although there are bits of that throughout it.
Right off the bat, we’re taught one important thing that doesn’t get said very often, skills are circumstantial.
“I can hunt and fish and rig solar panels and purify water from my own urine, which is grosser than it sounds,” Josh says several times throughout the 10-episode series.
Living in modern day L.A., he didn’t need to rig solar panels or purify something to drink.
However, when the apocalypse hits and everything is a matter of survival, those are the skills, which allow him to survive on his own.
Obviously, this is an extreme example, but it can apply to anything.
Years ago, people thought video games were just entertainment and wouldn’t really help you in life. There are still people who say video games feed violent behavior even though there’s very little evidence of that.
Now, with YouTube, Twitch and eSports tournaments, people can make a very good living playing video games.
That skill set didn’t use to have merit and now it does.
Josh’s story tells us to learn everything you can about activities or people because you never know when it’s going to be helpful after the situation changes.