In both of the films, I Walked with a Zombie from 1943 and George Romero’s Night of the Living Dead from 1968, race and Vodou play a large factor in creating the elements that compose the zombies of the stories. I Walked with a Zombie addressed the complications of white power by representing slaves working in the sugar industry as nothing more than mindless zombies, being manipulated by the white race to conform to their will. Night of the Living Dead also incorporated a wide range of racially motivated interactions, and was released shortly after the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. Each of the movies use the cinematography to create an image of zombie to address the racial tensions, serving as a message to the people, mimicking the worries racial inclusion had on societies’ social order. In I Walked with a Zombie, Jessica is taken to the Vodou ceremony and as he is left alone one of the locals stabs her in the arm. The scene focuses solely on the visual sense
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When the zombies are walking up to the house they are filmed using a high-angle shot. This makes them seem like the weaker subservient characters in comparison to the humans. However, unlike the humans the zombies are able to work together as a team, and despite being shown in a lesser position their combined force is threatening. For some of the shots the camera incorporates a slight tilt which helps to add a sense of mystery or uneasiness to the part. This mirrored societies thought of the time involving the African rights movement, and showed the fear that as a collective unit they would be able to gain power while the opposition crumbled as they fought amongst themselves. Similar to the Haitian Black Republic the white community feared of losing their authority and dominance to a unified
When the zombies are walking up to the house they are filmed using a high-angle shot. This makes them seem like the weaker subservient characters in comparison to the humans. However, unlike the humans the zombies are able to work together as a team, and despite being shown in a lesser position their combined force is threatening. For some of the shots the camera incorporates a slight tilt which helps to add a sense of mystery or uneasiness to the part. This mirrored societies thought of the time involving the African rights movement, and showed the fear that as a collective unit they would be able to gain power while the opposition crumbled as they fought amongst themselves. Similar to the Haitian Black Republic the white community feared of losing their authority and dominance to a unified