
What Makes ‘The Living Dead’ My Film of 1968 - prismatic
https://www.nybooks.com/daily/2018/09/04/what-makes-the-living-dead-my-film-of-1968/
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kiliantics
I don't remember where, but I had once heard that the film is a metaphor for
white flight and red-lining, where the zombies represent an influx of black
people to urban areas and the film shows the terror and anxiety that white
people felt over this. I hadn't realised this came out in '68, which makes a
lot of sense, with MLK and the Parisian and other rebellions posing a more
ominous threat to the privileged classes. The point made in the article about
the comfort and dependence the characters have with the television also makes
me wonder whether there is some allusion to the "Society of the Spectacle"
from Guy Debord, which was becoming a popular idea at the time.

Incidentally, I also recently read how 1968 was the year the Olympics were
held in Mexico and there were also massive protests against it, which were
violently suppressed (Tlatelolco massacre). Truly a climactic year for civil
unrest and people's power but ultimately a victory for brutal states and
entrenched power structures. Interesting as well, the point in the piece on
how no mainstream outlets at the time ever mentioned the war in relation to
their critiques - it suggests the film was indeed also perceived as a
challenge to the choices of those in power.

~~~
xsmasher
There's a great documentary 'Birth of the Living Dead' about the making of
that film that you might like.

It says the same thing that this article does though; while it could be READ
as a metaphor for white flight, Romero denies creating the film with that in
mind.

