George Romero is one of the most creative innovators of the zombie film genre and uses the

scary images of zombies feeding on human beings to depict a crumbling American society. The

America Romero focuses onfocused on by Romero is one where consumerism and racism have

become very rampant creating inequalities (Gagne, 1987). Romero does not explicitly show the

inequalities in the movies but he uses symbols to show the societies levels that perpetuate poverty,

often the poor African Americans. In his interview with the NY Times, Romero said that his

zombie movies are symbols of revolution, a generation consuming another. This paper will

discuss the theme of consumerism/consumption as portrayed in the Romero’s films in reference …show more content…
According to Paffenroth (2006) ‘the movie dawn of the dead’ shows how the normal world

has completely broken down leaving everyone to fend for himself ,the economical and racial

hierarchies are the only traditions that are intact demonstrating the profoundness of the

institutions in the society .By depicting a mall in complete disarray Romero tells us that living in

a society where we define ourselves by the material goods will lead to the collapse of social

responsibilities as people will attempt to accumulate as much wealth as possible disregarding

those that are less well off. By depicting such a world he has brought us to think of what has

exactly brought us to this brink of social collapse and destruction (Paffenroth, 2006). The literal

destruction that Romero’s focuses on symbolizes the consequences of the actions of the society

that he depicts. He shows the horrors of unequal social hierarchy through the oppressive power

they got over the marginal people in the society. The destruction depicted in the films is always …show more content…
For example at the scene in the housing project the zombies and the police attack

the poor minorities who cannot escape from their financial woes, it’s difficult for them to buy into

capitalist society and therefore cannot leave their poor state represented by their trapping in the

housing project.

Dawn of the dead opens a frenzied high-note in the zombie epidemic which shows that the

physical fatigue of what remains of the human race has all but obliterated any possibilities of

survival. According to scholars, the movie is a deep thrill of consumerism in the sense that

Romero portrays the last stand of humanity in a very harsh way. At one instance, Dr. Logan says

that their chance of survival is very minimal because the zombies have already out-numbered

them with a ratio of 400,000 to 1. This shows that the society is doomed to end with the rate of

undertakings being experienced and the changing views of the human race.

All the zombies depicted in the movie night of the dead are whites who come from the dead

to attack their family members or their neighbors, in the movie Ben who is black is shown in a

positive light doing everything in his power for the best interests of the group of humans trying