Unit 6 Night of the Living Dead

There were many political implications that could have come from the Night of the Living Dead. For starters this film cast an African American as the main character, and given the turbulent racism exhibited by many Americans of the time, this probably was a major issue. I know the Civil Rights movement was starting to gain steam and casting an African American man, as the lead in a movie would no doubt hasten the cause of this. Another scene from the film that could have violent political implications was the scene where Barbara smacks Ben, and then he punches her in the face. If this were real life and this had taken place somewhere in the South, Ben would most likely have been lynched. However, Ben just like any person is standing up for himself in self-defense, and fights back. Although, he shouldn't have hit Barbara because she's a woman and that still isn't culturally acceptable, in any society. Another thing the film started that had political implications was the fact that many leads in American movies started to die more frequently in the end, movies were no longer meant to be happily, ever after. They were meant to be real, still somewhat escapist and depressing, generating a genuine human experience of being in a zombie apocalypse. Another trend this film most likely inadvertently started with the trend of African American actors always getting killed off in horror movies, a trend that still continues today and is still really racist.