Resident Evil 5: Further Readings
"I Walked With a Zombie" and other politically charged undead moments in pop culture.
3/23/2009 9:25 PM | 1 Comments | Page 2 of 2
"Night of the Living Dead" star Duane Jones
Lastly, I want to point back to what Americans consider to be the daddy of the contemporary zombie,
"Night of the Living Dead" (
Netflix). The movie isn't political on the surface, but there are many ways to read George Romero's take on the zombie. The most popular takes a slightly libertarian bent, pitting the slavering masses of society against the free man. It's notable that Romero chose
Duane Jones to play this man. "Night of the Living Dead" was the first American movie to star a black actor as a non-ethnic lead. When "Night of the Living Dead" rose from obscure horror film to cult status, this subversive casting was a big part of its appeal. Watching a black man defend himself against hordes of shambling white monsters at the tail end of the civil rights movement must have been something else. Why should it be a surprise that the sight of the inverse, a white man assailed by blacks, would be any less impactful?
