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George Romero

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Submitted By powerforward77
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Question #2: George A. Romero’s Night of the Living Dead (1968) was initially poorly received, but is now regarded as a landmark film. Please discuss some of Romero’s aesthetic choices (lighting, camera work, casting) and the ways in which they reflect the reallife horrors of the time. Night of the Living Dead (1968) by George A. Romero was heavily criticized at the time of release for its uncensored content, but it revolutionized the horror film genre while influencing many horror directors. When this transitional film first premiered in 1968, renowned film critic, Roger Ebert found it as “an expression of acute nausea”. Ebert was disgusted and wondered how someone could make such as horrifying movie (Hoberman and Rosenbaum, 1991, p. 123). In 1960’s, the scary monsters or evil villains such as the Frankenstein were typical in the horror films but this Romero cut has been associated with the term of “splatter film” used to describe horror genres that depict graphic violence and gore for many years (Williams, 2003, p.21).
After the end of Civil War, 1968 was the most violent year in American history (Hoberman and Rosenbaum, p.125). It was in a time of very high tensions in both international Cold War politics and social turmoil; domestic racism, gender stereotypes and patriarchal nuclear family. Also the civil rights movement was beginning to blossom along with the protestation of the Vietnam War, which many believed was unnecessary and entirely avoidable.
Romero has successfully delivered a “message” in this political film, highlighting the frustration, anger and attitude of the late 1960’s American society by employing chiaroscuro lighting, hand-held camera work and many hidden symbols to indicate the fate of his characters (Hoberman and Rosenbaum, 1991, p. 121).
In order to emphasize humanity’s nightmare alienation from itself, Romero shot this film in

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