From Slaves to Braaaiiiins: Zombies in Hollywood
Zombies have evolved immensely in film since they were first depicted. In this post I will trace this evolution through three films: Ouanga (1936), Night of the Living Dead (1968), and The Girl with All the Gifts (2016). These films all portray vastly different kinds of zombies, and they all show the connection between black film history and zombies. From the beginning of their representation in Hollywood, zombies were associated with “voodoo” and created as a kind of slavery metaphor, but over time filmmakers like George Romero aided in flipping the narrative and giving power to black heroes.
Ouanga is a film about a Voodoo Queen using her powers to win over the rich white man who, honestly, isn’t worth her time. In this eventually damning quest, the main character creates two Zombies. They are dark skinned black men who obey her every command with no complaint or question, unrecognizable compared to today’s version of the zombie. These zombies are a clear slavery metaphor, giving the black woman unnatural power in order to circumvent white authority and privilege, and this was inherently scary to white viewers, creating a general fear of blackness using black zombies.
Cut to: 1968, the nation feels like it’s falling apart, technology is rapidly approaching science-fiction territory, and George Romero is about to completely reinvent the zombie for decades to come. The role of Ben, the protagonist, was not written for a black man but, famously, Duane Jones gave the best performance at auditions and Night of the Living Dead takes on a whole new thematic message. Whether the character was supposed to be black or not, this film was always supposed to be about fear of change and a representation of the way America felt at the time. The imagery of Ben protecting himself and his group from a horde of ghouls changed Hollywood zombies from a racist portrayal of Vodou to a science fiction dilemma, all while showing a black man killing dozens of white ghouls.
After ‘68, the zombie genre flourished, becoming many peoples’ favorite type of movie monster (including mine). Zombie movies are so common that filmmakers have had to rethink the whole idea of the mindless ghoul. Films like The Girl with All the Gifts introduce a generation of zombies that are intelligent, a new apex species to take over the world (this can also be glimpsed in the fantastically cheesy Netflix movie Army of the Dead). In this film a young black girl, Melanie, is the main character, and is part zombie, part human. In the end she becomes almost a queen-like figure, leading her kind into a new world. She represents the struggle of the young generation today that feels like we are suffering for the benefit of those who we will outlive, and she makes our position clear with one succinct line toward the end of the film: “WHy should it be us who sacrifice ourselves for you?” Zombies have evolved enormously in Hollywood since the Golden Age, with several gems in almost every genre in recent years (comedy, rom-com, adventure, etc.), and I’m excited to see where the genre leads next.
