NOTLD: Ben's death?

[_liam_]

Sorry if this has been done to death, but what do you think? i'm going with the racist thing. gives it a bit more power. even if anyone does survive this horrific event, hatred and the inability to cooperate will eventually be our downfall. i always figured that they saw he was holding a rifle etc, and just shot him cause they were racist rednecks etc. i think the points about the iconography of the civil rights struggle (barking attack dogs on leashes, big fat rednecks with guns etc, as discussed in that american nightmare documentary mentioned in another thread) being employed in this scene point to this conclusion.

[bassman]

I chose "zombie" because the whole racism commentary of the film is somewhat subtle and I don't think Romero would make it THAT racist. And don't the rednecks say something along the lines of "I hear one of those things in there. Yeah, there it is. Get it right between the eyes......theres another one for the fire!"?

[EvilNed]

I say Zombie. Of course it could be interpreted any other way, but they did it in such a casual way that I can only imagine that it was the end of a long zombie-hunting day and they just saw Ben as another zombie.

[coma]

He was only peeking out of the window so they would not have seen the rifle. I think the rednecks were supposed to be short sighted and more interested in shooting then helping, They didnt even bother to check first. They saw something moving and shot it, just like a hunting accident

[capncnut]

I say zombie because if it was all about racism then surely McClellan would hinted towards that. There's no indication whatsoever that he knew if the target was black or even alive.

[Danny]

He was only peeking out of the window so they would not have seen the rifle. I think the rednecks were supposed to be short sighted and more interested in shooting then helping, They didnt even bother to check first. They saw something moving and shot it, just like a hunting accident same here.

[Huescacho]

same here. I think that the answer is easy... I voted "zombi" because if you are shooting zombies, and you see a man (black, white or green) in a window, you shoot him!, no?. If Ben shout or spoke them, he could saves

[Yojimbo]

Agreed, Ben seen as Zombie. As stated previously, the sherrif would have made clear the racial overtone if it had existed. As it is, you have the vigilante member saying that he heard something over there, followed by the sherrif instructing to shoot in the head. Followed by a congratulatory outburst. Nowhere was there an epithet. Additionally, Romero had written the part of Ben as race neutral (that is, no race defined), and Ben ended up being African American only because the actor happened to be African American and he was the best actor of the group for the role. Therefore, there could not have been any racial overtone to Ben being shot in as far as the script is concerned.

[Huescacho]

Additionally, Romero had written the part of Ben as race neutral (that is, no race defined), and Ben ended up being African American only because the actor happened to be African American and he was the best actor of the group for the role. Therefore, there could not have been any racial overtone to Ben being shot in as far as the script is concerned.[/QUOTE] I agree with this... I think that in a zombi crissis, nobody will see the races, we will have enough troubles if this suced!.

[coma]

I agree with this... I think that in a zombi crissis, nobody will see the races, we will have enough troubles if this suced!. I am not so sure of that. Some will stand up, some will trancend their past deeds and somw ill sink to new lows. Happens in any crisi or war.

[Huescacho]

Yes, in a war yes, but it's a "normal" situation in the world (sadly), but a zombie crisis it's new, and the people will don't know how reaction...

[Klaang]

They'd been shooting Zombie's all evening, do you think they'd have the ability to distinguish between a zombie and someone who poked their head out of the door without even calling for help? -K

[Head Shotz]

Friendly Fire Folks! I don't think his shooting had any racial overtones. If you remeber Ben already showed that he knew how to handle Racist(and there entire family for that matter).

[MoonSylver]

I went zombie, cuz GAR has said in the past that the reason he wrote it this way it's to show what would happen in real rife. A bunch of gun happy citizens blasting at every thing that moves....accidents are gonna happen. What's cool about NOTLD is that even though GAR never wrote ANY part of it with race as an issue, there is enough subtext/room for interpretation that you can certianly take it that way/read that into it...and make a darn convincing case FOR it at that!

[Rottedfreak]

It's obviously a accident.