Monsters have long been used to express an inner flaw or turmoil that is manifested in a particular society or an individual. We see this time and time again, from Little Red Riding Hood to the collection of Grimm’s Fairytales. Night of the Living Dead, the movie can be seen as a struggle or revolt against collectivism and consumer culture. When the Night of the Living Dead is looked at in comparison to the time it was created, a deeper meaning becomes much more transparent. NoTLD was filmed in the 60’s, a time known for its counter-cultural movements and revolutionaries. This generation was revolting against the traditional values of the 50’s and social norms of the time. Night of the Living Dead can be seen as the synthesis of the social turmoil of the period, as it was a way for the society to condense the fear it had into a concrete “enemy”, no longer dealing with abstractions.
The 50’s were very conservative compared to the 60’s. World War II had ended, and many middle class white families flocked to the suburbs. The suburbs were …show more content…
What made Ben’s role so significant was that he was an African American lead. Not only that he was African American, but he would argue with whites, have moral superiority over the white men characters, and gets the best of the white characters who oppose him. Ben makes this apparent when he says to Harry “Now get the hell down in the cellar. You can be the boss down there, but I 'm boss up here”(Night of the Living Dead). This would have been unheard of and even considered outrageous in the 50’s. This can clearly be seen as analogous to the Civil Rights movement of the 60’s. Ben represents the new “man” that emerged from the 60’s, and his job is to fight the man of the past, the man from the 50’s (represented as the zombie). This is just as much a war of ideas and belief systems as much as it is human vs
The 50’s were very conservative compared to the 60’s. World War II had ended, and many middle class white families flocked to the suburbs. The suburbs were …show more content…
What made Ben’s role so significant was that he was an African American lead. Not only that he was African American, but he would argue with whites, have moral superiority over the white men characters, and gets the best of the white characters who oppose him. Ben makes this apparent when he says to Harry “Now get the hell down in the cellar. You can be the boss down there, but I 'm boss up here”(Night of the Living Dead). This would have been unheard of and even considered outrageous in the 50’s. This can clearly be seen as analogous to the Civil Rights movement of the 60’s. Ben represents the new “man” that emerged from the 60’s, and his job is to fight the man of the past, the man from the 50’s (represented as the zombie). This is just as much a war of ideas and belief systems as much as it is human vs