...The casting of Duane Jones for the role of Ben in the film, Night of the Living Dead, is thought of being profoundly evocative because the role his character plays in the film of being an African American taking control during extreme conditions can be reflected to the events that have occurred or are still occurring during the making and release of this film. Some historical background surrounding and during the time the Night of the Living Dead was released, many things were going on in the year 1968 (Many is an understatement). Some big events that were happening during this time was the Civil Rights Movement, the Vietnam War, and the 1968 Presidential Election. Although years prior to 1968, legislations were being passed that banned any...
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...For decades, the undead has been used as a metaphor to depict cultural and social issues. The period of 1960 was marked with assassinations of the leader, cold war, the Vietnam War, and civil right movement and these were among the American history’s most turbulent years. During these political churning, the modern zombie was born. In the midst of it all came a movie that entirely changed the zombie film: Night of the Living Dead. In the movie "Night of the living dead", Barbra and her brother, Johnny drove their car to a cemetery to offer prayers and flowers at the grave of their grandfather. In the graveyard, they encounter an unusual dead human who stumbles towards them. In their chase Barbra escapes the dead creature and finds refuge,...
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...years after the Zombie Craze began people are still fascinated with the dead rising and taking...
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...sisters survived. Night, narrated by Eliezer Wiesel, chronicles his experiences as a Jew during the Holocaust. His family is deported from Hungary, brought to Auschwitz, and experiences starvation, abuse, and death. In the preface of Night, Ellie explains. “And those words are: For the dead and the living, we must bear witness. Not only are we responsible for the memories of the dead, we are also responsible for what we are doing with those memories.” After reviewing...
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...Day of the Dead The day of Dead is a celebration in many Hispanic countries; Mexico is one of the countries that celebrate most this specific day. For them is a day in which the living remember their departed relatives. Is a beautiful ritual in which Mexican happily and lovingly remember their loved relatives that have died. This Celebration takes place on November 1st and 2nd and there are two very special places where this ritual is impressive: Mixquic (a small town in Mexico City, and Janitzio, a charming little island in the state of Michoacan). By the end of October Mexican families start preparing for the celebration, they decorate with cempasuchil (an orange marigold flower) many Mexican families growth their own cempasuchil, believing that doing so is more appropriate for their offerings. Other tradition is what they call Pan de Muerto (Day of the Dead bread) they used this bread as an offering to the dead relatives that they leave at their tombs in the graveyard. They also prepared the favorites dishes of their relative that they decorated with cempasuchil flowers and they also leave these dishes at their relative’s tombs. On November 1st the ceremony in honor of the Angelitos take place in the cemetery; is a ceremony for the little children that died and that could never experience the happiness and sorrow of adulthood. The way that they celebrate is that very early in the morning the church start ringing the bells calling for the children’s souls and their relatives...
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...A zombie (Haitian French: zombi, Haitian Creole: zonbi) is a fictional undead being created through the reanimation of a human corpse. Zombies are most commonly found in horror and fantasy genre works. The term comes from Haitian folklore, where a zombie is a dead body reanimated through various methods, most commonly magic. Modern depictions of zombies do not necessarily involve magic but often invoke science fictional methods such as radiation, mental diseases, viruses, scientific accidents, etc.[1][2] The English word "zombie" is first recorded in 1819, in a history of Brazil by the poet Robert Southey, in the form of "zombi".[3] The Oxford English Dictionary gives the origin of the word as West African, and compares it to the Kongo words nzambi (god) and zumbi (fetish). One of the first books to expose Western culture to the concept of the voodoo zombie was The Magic Island by W.B. Seabrook in 1929. This is the sensationalized account of a narrator who encounters voodoo cults in Haiti and their resurrected thralls. Time claimed that the book "introduced 'zombi' into U.S. speech".[4] Zombies have a complex literary heritage, with antecedents ranging from Richard Matheson and H. P. Lovecraft to Mary Shelley's Frankenstein drawing on European folklore of the undead. In 1932, Victor Halperin directed White Zombie, a horror film starring Bela Lugosi. Here zombies are depicted as mindless, unthinking henchmen under the spell of an evil magician. Zombies, often still using...
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...Not Living Dead If there is one thing that has remained true throughout the time of all human existence, it is that we all must die. However, there are sometimes moments in our lives when we encounter people who are perfectly alive, but could also be characteristically described as dead. In James Joyce’s “The Dead”, we encounter Gabriel who has an epiphany that is considered gloomy on a night that has historically always been “a great affair” (178). In reading about Gabriel’s epiphany, it has served as a sort of warning to me personally, that it is important to take the time out to really enjoy the ununiformed parts of life. The lesson is a warning against working so hard that I wake up one day to find myself dead inside, thus becoming a part of the living dead. Gabriel is a man who considers himself intelligent, in fact, more intelligent than the other guests at the party, and this is further evidenced, as he studied his speech and considered changing parts of it to accommodate those who may not understand his Robert Browning references. “He was undecided about the lines from Robert Browning for he feared they would be above the heads of his hearers” (180). The setting of the story begins at an annual party that his aunts and cousin host, and then veers off to a lonely night in a hotel room. The contrast of the settings is interesting because at the party, Gabriel appears to be this intelligent, comedic guy who his aunts deem important as they felt that he was the perfect...
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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...
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...barely function. Since they have no money to go to the hospital, doctors refuse to pay Torio a household visit even though he is on his death bed. Torio and Carding end up explaining to Marina the business they had devised and how they have been supporting themselves. They inform Marina about how they were forced to resorte to stealing from the tombs and graves of the dead in the cemetery in order to earn money. Torio goes on to explain how it was easier to rob from the deceased then from the living, because the chances of getting caught were smaller. "Rich people are always being buried with something valuable on them. Rings, earrings, necklaces-even gold teeth! Why let these things rot under the ground while above that ground people like us are starving!" Torio claims how he was resentful towards the elite because they were buried with jewels and their expensive belongings. The dead will not need these treasures in the afterlife and here he was, struggling to get by. Torio died because of being wounded from the corpse in the cemetery, and they have the beliefs that when you get hurt or get wounded from the dead you will be the next one who will die. Evaluation: The CADAVER play shows the audience how people in the slums in the urban Philippines live and how they face their problems. The play is set in a dirty home on the edge of a graveyard, where a man lies on his bed, unable to move because of his sickness. The play revolves around a day...
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...a term with Buddhist origins). Ghosts may attack human beings to prompt them to meet the ghosts' needs or at least to draw attention to their plight. Ghosts receive the most attentions during Ghost Month, the seventh month in the Chinese lunar year, and especially during the Ghost Festival on the fifteenth day. The Hungry Ghost Festival has its roots in the Buddhist festival Ullambana, and also in Daoist culture. In the Tang Dynasty, the Buddhist festival Ullambana and its traditional festivities were mixed and celebrated on one day. Thus, the Ghost Festival has a special meaning for all Buddhists. The Chinese believe that the dead become ghosts who roam between Heaven and Earth on the day of their death. Spirits without descendants to make offerings to them are fed during the ghost festival, so that they may not cause trouble to the living. This custom, an extension of the traditional Chinese notion of 'universal love', was started after the legend "Mulien Saving his Mother from Hades", giving Ghost festival a dimension of filial piety. Traditionally, ancestor worship was an important part of the festivals. with activities including preparing ritualistic offerings of food, and burning ghost money and bags containing cloth to...
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...idea of living a life instead of just coasting along. It is very hard to explain what living a life means because it is different for everyone. Not living a life is what Richie, Ed, Marv, Milla, and many other characters in the book were doing, they were barely surviving, barely paying attention and not enjoying everything around them. The idea of living is based on happiness on a sense of purpose, this is why people turn to religion, politics and even crime. It is because they want to have an...
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...A Christmas Carole is about Ebenezer scrooge who’s a man who doesn’t understand the meaning of Christmas. He doesn’t care about other people, he just cares about money. The night before Christmas Eve, the ghost of his dead friend visits him, his friend was just like him, loved money and didn’t care about anyone but himself. But now he came to warn Ebenezer. He says that he will be haunted by three spirits: the spirit of Christmas past, the spirit of Christmas present and the spirit of Christmas yet to come. Every night one. The first night Ebenezer is visited by the ghost of the Christmas past. He takes him to Ebenezer’s childhood, from when he was a little boy and Ebenezer felt the hopes, joys and cares long, long forgotten but they also went to the time that Ebenezer was engaged, to Belle, she broke op with him because of his greediness for money. He was devastated....
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...Halloween: The gate between the living and the spirit world opens Holly A. Moran Keuka College COM320.355 Abstract Halloween is a magical and superstitious time of year. It is a time when the spirits, fairies, goblins and witches come out to join the living. Not so long ago people believed that, and some still do, that the spirit world is closer on the night of Halloween. It is a night when you can talk with your deceased loved ones, find out who is going to die before the next Halloween or find your mate. Though we no longer hold sacrifices to the Lord of the Dead, we still celebrate with a lot of the same traditions that took place hundreds of years ago. Of all the festivals and celebrations that we observe today, few have a tale stranger than Halloween, also known as the eve of Allhallows – or Hallowmas or All Saints’ Day. All Saints’ Day is one of the gloomiest festivals of the church, while at the same time it observes the supernatural ceremonies with which the church has always been at war. This, after all, is the night when ghosts walk and fairies and goblins are astray. (Linton, 1950) Druids held the earliest celebrations in honor of Samhain, Lord of the Dead, whose festival actually fell on November 1. November 1 was also the Celtic New Year’s Day, the beginning of winter and the time known as “the light that loses, the night that wins.”(Linton, 1950 pg. 4) Halloween (Hallowe’en) is one of the world’s oldest...
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...job including his wife. One night when he and his wife are enjoying an award from mayor a very upset expatient Vincent who gets sick because his parent divorce. The ex-patient loses control and shoot Crowe then he commits suicide. The next year, Crowe begins working with another patient, eight year old Cole Sear, whose case is similar to Vincent’s. After severals communication the boy tells him he can sees dead people which always makes him feel scare. Crowe tells him not to afraid but to listen and help them. Cole at first does not want to since the ghosts terrify him, but he finally decides to give it a shot. After he helps a dead little girl he stops feeling afraid and finally is able to have a normal life. At the last time they meet, the boy tells Crowe it is a good way to communicate with people in their dream. When Crowe gets home he sees his wife is sleeping on the sofa and in the TV their wedding radio is playing. Suddenly he sees his wedding ring which he discovers he has not been wearing falls down from his wife’s hand and he just realizes he has dead on the night that Vincent visited. Recalling Cole’s advice, he sits next to his wife and lightly tells her he never put her second and he will always love her… ! The sixth sense is absolutely the warmest horror film I have ever seen and with no doubt it is the milestone of horror film. In other movies, people always see ghosts as evil but in this movie they are not. They come back to living world just because their unfinished...
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...Richard Le Gallienne (Jan. 20, 1866 - Sept. 15, 1947) Richard Le Gallienne was born January 20th, 1866 in Liverpool, England. His writing career began with the publication of My Ladies’ Sonnets in 1887, and expanded to contribute to The Star newspaper, The Yellow Book, and several other works of literature. Le Gallienne was part of a generation known as the “Lost Generation”, born in the wake of the first world war, which heavily influenced the subject and style of most of his writing. Richard Le Gallienne, in his poems “Soldier Going To The War” and “Ad Cimmerios”, conveys the Romantic ideal of nationalism, a Lost Generation focus on wartime and its aftermath, a Gothic preoccupation with death and tones of hopefulness and pride through the use of tense changes, figurative language, repetitive structure, allusion and apostrophe. “Soldier Going To The War” elucidates both Lost Generation influences with its focus on war, and Romantic influences with its nationalistic theme. Le Gallienne offers parallel hopeful and prideful tones in this poem along with its parallel structure. The first two stanzas address a soldier who is “going to” the war, while the last two shift to address a soldier who is “coming from” the war. This structure creates a sense of completion and victory that the reader can follow through the poem. The first two stanzas are effective in creating a hopeful tone through rhetorical questioning; the narrator asks if the soldier will “take [their] heart with...
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