George A. Romero began his acclaimed Dead series in 1968 with his groundbreaking film Night of the Living Dead. Night totally revolutionized horror films, ending the domination of Gothic horror films that preceded it, and creating the zombie apocalypse style horror film. Night has been described by many as a critique of 1960’s American culture and it is undoubtedly loaded with social commentary about race, consumerism, and the American family.
Set in the 1960’s, a volatile period of race relations in America’s history, Night has a great deal to say about race. Early in the film the audience is introduced to who is to become the film’s hero, Ben. Played by Duane Jones, this was the first time an African American had a starring role in a horror film, a fact of significant social importance. It should also be noted that Jones portrayed his character against the initial ideas of Romero, who intended the character to be low class and poorly educated. Stephen Harper, the senior lecturer of Media Studies at the University of Portsmouth draws similarities between social concerns in the 1960s, when to many people, it seemed as though there might be a race war in America, and Night of the Living Dead. Harper states that the zombies in the film are a metaphor for oppressed racial minorities in America.
To many people, it seemed as though there might be a race war in America. Conservative, reactionary discussions of this possibility often focused — as they sometimes do today — on the possibility that "we" might soon be outnumbered by "them." The line in Night of the Living Dead "we don't know how many of them there are" highlights this racist concern with numbers and the fear of being outnumbered or "swamped."
In this quote Harper explains the hidden message of the film’s zombie apocalypse as a metaphor for racial unrest in 1960’s American. The end of the film perhaps best solidifies this metaphor, as stereotypical ‘rednecks’ roam the countryside hunting zombies, defeated zombies are shown hanging from trees – totally reminiscent of lynching culture. The death of the hero Ben at the end of the film at the hands of a white man would have certainly reminded audiences of the deaths of civil rights activists Malcolm X in 1965 and Martin Luther King Jr. earlier in 1968.
There is a point in the film where there is a disagreement in the house about where they should. Ben is steadfast about remaining upstairs, while Mr. Cooper is adamant about hiding in the basement. After deciding that they will hide separately the two realize that there is only one radio, and Ben even threatens to kill Mr. Cooper in order to keep the radio. This is a common theme in all of Romero’s film, that our consumerist culture has taught us to value our “stuff” above all us and how this attitude prevents us from working together.
The Cooper family in Night of the Living Dead is the only traditional family unit, and provides insight on Romero’s opinion of the “nuclear family” of the 1950s and ‘60s. The family is first depicted as the “nuclear family” archetype in their choice of hiding spot. The basement was a key idea of protection for families in this era, it was supposed to protect them from Soviet bombing should the Cold War heat up. The Coopers are hiding in the basement of the farmhouse for evidently a significant amount of time before revealing themselves to Ben and Barbara above. The Cooper family unit is failing, Mr. and Mrs. Cooper openly discuss their dismal marriage and their daughter is infected. The family ends up imploding, as Karen literally eats her father. Through the Coopers Romero creates his idea of the deterioration of the “nuclear family.
Dawn of the Dead, the sequel to Night has been accepted as a metaphor for the dangers of consumerism but also briefly touches on media and race as well. The film opens with a statement on the integrity of news media. As people scramble in the studio there is a debate over the posting of outdated and potentially dangerous information about aid stations. The station manager insists that the inaccurate information be posted so that viewers will remain on his broadcast, so the station can get higher ratings.
The next scene of the film takes the audience to a housing project where a SWAT team waits to storm the building. One of the officers is making frequent racially charged remarks about the “lowlifes” in the building, the same officer fires on both live and undead people in the building without discretion. This racial discrimination by law enforcement has become a common theme in popular culture.
The messages on consumerism begin with the setting in which the protagonists spend most of the film, a shopping mall. The characters are living out a consumerist fantasy of being able to run amuck through a mall and take anything their heart desires. At the same time Romero shows zombies wandering around the mall as campy mall music plays the background and the loudspeaker announces deals and incentives in the stores, comparing the regular mall shopper to a mindless zombie. At one point a zombie is even taking change from a fountain the in mall, the message is far from subtle. As the characters discuss why the zombies are swarming to the mall Peter says, “…what they used to do. This was an important place in their lives”, signifying the importance of the shopping mall in consumerist culture.
The protagonists immediately begin to indulge in the consumerist fantasy, as soon as they arrive at the mall the characters reveal their consumerist minded priorities with the quote “Get the stuff we need! I’ll get a television and a radio”, as if TV and radio are more important than securing the mall, or getting food. After finally securing the mall there is a montage of the characters looting the store, taking food and luxuries, trying on clothes, all the while a cash register keeps a total of the cost as the protagonists live out the fantasy. After their fun there is a discussion about the zombies between Francine and Peter, Francine asks, “What the hell are they?” to which Peter replies “They’re us, that’s all. There’s no more room in hell”. Here Romero solidifies the comparison of the shopping mall consumer to a mindless zombie, and condemns the culture.
At the climax of the film a gang of marauding bikers finds the mall and decide to set their sights on it. As Stephen says, “This is ours. We took it. It’s ours”, a battle between the protagonists and the bikers unfolds inside the mall over the ‘stuff’ inside. Even as Stephen and Peter kill their fellow marauders, the bikers are shown looting the stores; one even takes a TV, and stealing from the zombies in the mall. At one point a group of bikers hold down a zombie and remove her jewelry as another takes the wallet from a zombie’s back pocket. Romero shows that even when these no longer hold the arbitrary value our society has applied to them; our consumerist mentalities drive us to take them anyway as if they hold value.
For most when the word zombie comes to mind, it is not often followed by the idea of social commentary or social justice. But this genre of films owes its popularity to a series of more serious films, where beyond the carnage and horror more important messages about our society lay hidden. Unfortunately the genre has strayed from its roots, and is often viewed like a ‘red-headed stepchild’ by critics.
Works Cited
Hardman, K. (Producer) & Romero, G. (Director). Night of the Living Dead. [Motion
Picture]. United States: Image Ten.
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