Why George Romero Changed Zombies Forever | Monstrum

[wayzim]

[Neil]

Nice little piece... Apart from the needless BLM angle thrown in (for NotLD). ie: Modern agenda/lenses used to view a 50yr old film. Romero stated there was no racial intent, and the script even being for a white character. Another thing seemingly needlessly racialised for the cult of woke.

[MinionZombie]

Nice little piece... Apart from the needless BLM angle thrown in (for NotLD). ie: Modern agenda/lenses used to view a 50yr old film. Romero stated there was no racial intent, and the script even being for a white character. Another thing seemingly needlessly racialised for the cult of woke. Night has been read that way for decades now, not just recently in the age of Twitter. Night certainly carries weight in the context against which the film was made, but it's a shame that the true reason for Jones getting cast (that he was the best actor they knew) doesn't get spoken about more. Intended or not, though, the film definitely speaks to a wider context ... but yeah, Night wasn't particularly intended to make a statement about race relations. Perhaps it makes numerous unconscious statements about the time in which they were living - certainly the Vietnam war and protesters getting beaten and hounded by dogs etc, all seen on the television as a matter of course at the time. In a way that's better. You're speaking of the time, and in a way about the time, but not in a really blunt "I must make a statement about this" kinda way that you're more likely to get these days. The way it's happened with Night is far more effective in the end. Really up-front stuff doesn't tend to have much subtext or layers to it. There's an element of subtlety missing from filmmaking all-too-often these days, like with American comedies so often being boiled down to "flatly stating the 'weird' thing that just happened, and that's the punchline".

[EvilNed]

Great video. While Duane Jones may have been cast as the protagonist because he was the best actor may be true, that does not negate anything else. Just because that was the primary reason does not mean that George did not intend for anything else that ended up on screen. I don't think Romero was dumb enough not to realize what an impact or what the consequences would be of that choice - regardless of the motive. So the argument still stands, and the film has to be judged based on what we see on the screen and not based on what Romero later claimed. People are unreliable narrators, all of us, yet the film obviously features a black protagonist during a time when that was seen as controversial.

[beat_truck]

Nice little piece... Apart from the needless BLM angle thrown in (for NotLD). ie: Modern agenda/lenses used to view a 50yr old film. Romero stated there was no racial intent, and the script even being for a white character. Another thing seemingly needlessly racialised for the cult of woke. Exactly As soon as they started with the BLM / racial shit, and it was evident that it was going to be a major point, I stopped watching. Typical PBS garbage.

[wayzim]

Nice little piece... Apart from the needless BLM angle thrown in (for NotLD). ie: Modern agenda/lenses used to view a 50yr old film. Romero stated there was no racial intent, and the script even being for a white character. Another thing seemingly needlessly racialised for the cult of woke. This is a good series for the most part. It's just that George's films tend evoke this kind of drama. I was less annoyed by Tananarive's continued insistence that there had to be an open agenda going on than having a good laugh. Despite the current woke propaganda; there were many more folks just stumbling through those times than not. Of course I was too busy being a kid in those days, the 70s was my woke decade. Still, Dr. Zarka did put forward Romero's POV where she could. Oh and do check out Monstrum's other videos on YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/pbsstoried?sub_confirmation=1

[Neil]

...yet the film obviously features a black protagonist during a time when that was seen as controversial. And wonderfully he [Duane] was cast in no reason due to his colour, and in no way due to any controversy it would have caused. He was cast in the most ideal, unracially motivated way possible. So why not simply accept that, rather than needlessly make a racial matter out of it? By all means state it was controversial at the time, but end of. No need to make a five minute issue out of it, when quite rightly to George, it was no issue at all. The day no one mentions the colour of people in anyway as a motive for treatment of them, is the day racism can be argued to be overcome. Yet here we are, thanks to BLM it seems, making the whole race issue front and center again, out of all proportion... It's creating needless division and problems, rather than solving them. Heck, quite rightly the all more obvious and intentional sexism on display in NotLD got just 10 seconds of attention. It was mentioned... Done... Why didn't it deserve five minutes of feminist commentary? In short, it's just more lazy BLM woke nonsense needlessly infecting stuff where it just should not. It's so extreme it's basically racism in itself. Anyhoo... The other three quarters of it was enjoyable.

[EvilNed]

And wonderfully he [Duane] was cast in no reason due to his colour, and in no way due to any controversy it would have caused. He was cast in the most ideal, unracially motivated way possible. So why not simply accept that, rather than needlessly make a racial matter out of it? By all means state it was controversial at the time, but end of. No need to make a five minute issue out of it, when quite rightly to George, it was no issue at all. Romero may have played it off as obliviousness, but as I said - I doubt he was that dumb not to realize the consequences of his actions. In any case - art has to stand on it's own merits. Whatever the artist may have intended is not always irrelevant. Especially since people are unreliable.

[Neil]

Romero may have played it off as obliviousness, but as I said - I doubt he was that dumb not to realize the consequences of his actions. In any case - art has to stand on it's own merits. Whatever the artist may have intended is not always irrelevant. Especially since people are unreliable. Maybe, but I suspect his only choice was to quite rightly choose the right man/actor for the role, and not fall into tired stereo types. Much like he did with a lead female in Day. Dedicating 25% of a documentary about Romero zombies then to basically a BLM cult narrative...? Hmmm...

[shootemindehead]

I think if Romero could have cast a white guy in the lead role in 'Night of the Living Dead' he would have. But time and money went against such "luxuries" and Duane was the best guy he had at hand. But it would be naive to think that George would have been completely oblivious to the impacts that such a move would make, especially when said black guy slaps a white woman. He wasn't a fool and he would have damn well known that that wouldn't have gone down well in certain parts of 1960's America. However, I also think George rode the coat tails of all the "Black guy" and "Vietnam" navel gazing that went on after the film was released. In much the same way that he rode the crest of a wave about 'Dawn of the Dead' being a keen social commentary on consumerism, when really the mall was just a great location that he could get, cos he knew the owner. He played up these angles in interviews and would have been stupid not to. But I don't believe that they were truly to the forefront of his thinking when he was actually making the movies.

[EvilNed]

Maybe, but I suspect his only choice was to quite rightly choose the right man/actor for the role, and not fall into tired stereo types. Much like he did with a lead female in Day. Dedicating 25% of a documentary about Romero zombies then to basically a BLM cult narrative...? Hmmm... But Romero did not choose a white man, he chose a black man. His reasons are his, and the narrative may have shifted over time. People and memories are unreliable. But Romero was no fool, he knew what he was doing.