Night of the Living Dead Film Review Paper Essay Example

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You still have a movie in a time of extreme turbulence between the races, depicting an African American male as the brightest and most capable. Per an article written by Steven Russell of talkingpix. co. uk “Night of the Living Dead is a landmark film for the reason that is was the first made to feature a black actor in the leading role regardless of the fact that he was black. Yet it remains that in the construction of this media text, the film’s main protagonist is still a black man; the connotations of this cannot be underestimated or ignored. Whatever the reason this man was chosen to play this role, the implications were still strong.

The most powerful point to many in this film when it comes to racism is the number of Caucasians in the film and that they all died, only to be survived by this African American male. All the great plans and attempts of all the “white” characters fail. There are several scenes that they might have made it out alive, had the “overly emotional white girl” not ruined their efforts. Ben’s character is met with distrust and resistance. Stephen Harper of www. rightlightsfilm. com agreed in saying “However, Barbra's clear mistrust of Ben — she positions the knife on the fridge ambiguously, so that the audience is unsure whether she wishes to use it against the zombies or against Ben — suggests that, for all her docile domesticity, she has been affected by the racism of the world outside. Barbra, after all, she is not perfect. ” Even the white males in the film seem to be far too arrogant

or led by emotions. No one is able to keep a level, unemotional and rational head on their shoulders except Ben.

In the end Ben is the sole survivor. The police and cavalry come in to save the day and upon seeing Ben shoot him. He lives all the way through the night only to be shot dead by a non-zombie white man. To say this is a movie about race lines is silly. This is a horror movie that is full of suspense and a little gore. That doesn’t mean that it didn’t have an affect on society though. It doesn’t mean the young impressionable teens watching this film weren’t made to see the resourceful and intelligent traits of a man with a darker skin tone.

People in this time weren’t often forced to think of “blacks” as equals or superiors. In this movie this African American male was strong-minded and takes charge. He gave the orders and those that didn’t listen often died by their own foolish choices. It had an effect on society and I dare wager to claim that it may have had some slight change on people’s perspectives in respect to the racial lines of the time. Not bad for a zombie movie.

Works Cited

1. IMDB The Internet Movie Database. “Trivia For Night Of The Living Dead. ” IMDb. com, Inc. 990-2008. www. imdb. com
2. Bright Light Films. ”Night of the Living Dead Reappraising an Undead Classic. ” Stephen Harper. Issue 50. November 2005. http://www. brightlightsfilm. com/50/night. htm
3. Talkingpix. co. uk. “The Development of Racism Within Night of the Living Dead and Jackie Brown. ” Steven Russell. http://www. talkingpix. co. uk/ArticleNightoflivingdead. html