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Richard Campitelli
Doulgas Dow
GOVT 2301
October 31, 2012
Night of the Living Dead and the Zombie Genre
Political texts are just as they sound: texts. Texts, as such, are read with the expectation of
rhetorical analysis (or in this case, theatrical analysis, from the acting to the script itself. Night
of the Living Dead, then, would not be an exemption. Arguably, every small detail presented in
the movie, from the location of the cemetery at the beginning to the space probe from Venus to
the gardening trowel, is a symbol of some deeper meaning. Out of context, the gardening trowel
could be a statement on agricultural economy, and the space probean argument against space
travel and research. These analyses are subjective, of course, and vary in meaning and
significance per person. Thus, there really is no limit on analysis of any given piece, including
Night of the Living Dead.
Through this process of thought, however, it is also understood that correct and
incorrect follow rules of subjectivity as well. For the sake of agreeable objectivity, it would be
assumed that a common and reasonable logic must be followed to understand the thematic
undertones of a piece. For this film, it would be easiest to look at choices: for the garden trowel,
quite a few different tools were around, considering the location was the cellar of a farmhouse
there could have just as easily been a pitchfork or a saw, or Karen could have killed her mother
Helen by consumption, as the zombies or ghouls were expected to. If there were so many
choices for Karen, why was the garden trowel decided upon? In contrast, the space probe can be
taken either as a symbol or not. The mysterious source of radioactivity from space is ridiculous

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enough to be accepted as the cause for an equally ridiculous event, such as the reanimation of
corpses. It could also be assumed that a motif or a (well-known) symbol that is taken the time to
explain in great detail (for instance, a fictional tool could take a while to describe the usage of,
considering it is a fictional tool and not be scrutinized as a symbol). For instance, the cellar
under the farmhouse (called a deathtrap by some) was brought up multiple times and often
became the center of many arguments. As such, it could be construed that either the cellar or the
arguments centered on the cellar are symbols requiring deeper thought.
In terms of choice, the actor of Ben was questioned and criticized, though director
Romero claimed that Duane Jones was simply the best actor at auditions. Choice comes into
play hereany other race or gender or whatever could have been chosen to play Ben, but it was
specifically an African American male. Placing a black actor as the main character amongst a
cast of white folk will always give way for understanding as a statement for civil rights. It would
be improbable (if not impossible) for Romero to not have noticed the statement that would be
portrayed to use Jones in an era of fighting for civil rights. In this case, Ben was shown as the
one voice of reason in the household amongst the survivors, not to mention the only one to
survive the night. While Harry portrays cowardice and Tom and Judy depict foolishness, Ben
becomes the light of sound logic during an apocalyptic situation. The cellar is a great example
for this: Harry is determined that the cellar is the safest place, while Ben states that if the dead
reach the cellar, escape would be impossible. Realistically, the cellar is no safer than other parts
of the house, and has only one route of escape (arguably, as a farmhouse there would probably be
a door directly to the outside as well). This could depict the similar levels of intelligence in mind
of Ben and Harry, and thus in blacks and whites in America during the era. The fight over the
gun near the end of the movie would then show the result of a struggle for dominance. If any

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one group, majority or minority, were to continue arguing and denying each other of
understanding and credibility (in this case, locking Ben out of the house), it could easily turn
violent in nature. Perhaps it just so happens that, as the protagonist, Ben had to survive to the
end, and so Harry fell.
Romero also shows a failure of government in his movie. While the national government
seemingly fails as the tragedy sweeps across the east coast, a band of rednecks with guns join
together to take order as, essentially, the new governmenta rise of anarchy, until an assembly
of white trash take up arms and journey out to save the world. Arguably, this new government is
not much better, considering they (quite literally) sped down the countryside on horseback
shooting down whatever moved. Ben died at the hands of these fools, as they had considering
him one of the living dead and shot him on the spot. This, however, does not help the argument
of authorityhad the Redneck Army not shown up, Ben would have likely sat in the cellar for
quite some time, until the pains of hunger or water or even fear forced him out.
The given sources claim that zombies are used as an outlet for violence or for fear of the
poor and numerous (a Republicans greatest nightmare). Personally, though, Dresner seems to
makes the most sense. While any one group can claim that the zombie concept represents the
opposition (brainless, self-serving, etc.), neither is particularly more true than any other claim.
If anything, it seems that the zombie concept represents politics as whole, instead of
conservatives versus liberals or Republicans versus Democrats. No; from personal observations,
the newest generation is an arrogant and cynical onea generation of men and women who
search and argue for equality for the sake of arguing equality, who decide that they must outthink their peers. This can be done through a cataclysmal eventsay, a zombie apocalypse.
Many of this generation, no matter their level of passion for such a discussion, would argue their

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survival and combat tactics, attempting to outwit each other, one-upping their opponents with
knowledge and processes of thought. This all stems from a fairly well-spread distrust of
authority, as many of the generation believe the government cannot accomplish anything or that
the system will support a group that simply is not them (be it Wall Street or racial minorities,
etc.). The spread of popularity of the zombie genre is merely a fairly childish battle of ideas,
personified in thoughts such as hiding in a Wal-Mart, fighting with either a melee weapon or a
shotgun, or which mode of transportation would be best.