I watched the 1968 Night of the Living Dead with my older son recently. It was the first time I saw the whole movie, but I had read about it more than once.
The general consensus of everything that I have read is the Ben, the male lead, takes charge of a small group of survivors and tries to get them to safety, against the wishes Harry who first took shelter in the house and who is presented as a coward for wanting to hide out in the barricaded cellar. Ben is the hero of the movie until
he is shot by by posse who mistakes him for a ghoul/zombie
But there is a big problem with that summary. Ben’s plan is totally wrong and gets everyone killed. he only survives till morning by doing the exact thing he reviled Harry for wanting to do. If everyone had listened to Harry, they only one who would have died was the young girl who was already infected.
I understand Ben’s motives in the moment, but why do viewers think he was right. He got them all killed. As the movie went along, I sided more and more with Harry.
Is this a view point bias (agreeing with the character whose view point is presented)?
Is it because Harry comes off as cowardly?
Am I way off base?
I would say you have a very good understanding of the film, but apparently not enough confidence in your analysis. The whole story comes down to: attic or cellar? Ben chooses poorly, needlessly gets others killed and pays the price himself. Harry may be a dick, but he is correct.
When the next zombie attack comes, I hope you will have more confidence in the lesson of the film and apply it accordingly.
Honestly, it was a crap shoot as to which one would be best. At the time, they didn’t have enough information. If the ghouls were going to be worse in the morning, then Ben would have been right. He was only wrong because the posse came and put down the ghouls the next morning.
I think the Mist ended similarly. They would have been better off staying in the store until the military showed up
My main confusion is why most stories and review treat it as if Ben was the hero instead of the guy who got them all killed.
Ben made a sound argument, while they have control of the house they have options in that they can retreat upstairs, to the basement, or even from the house itself. But in the basement they’re completely trapped and if the ghouls get in there’s nowhere for them to run. Harry’s plan was to hunker down a wait things out even though his daughter Karen was in need of medical attention. After hearing about rescue centers on the television, Ben devises a plan to fuel up the truck and get the group to one of them, in part, so Karen can get medical attention. Harry doesn’t help and when Ben retreats from the botched attempt to get fuel he finds that Harry has locked the door and refuses to let him in.
Was Harry right? No, Harry was a coward who wanted to stick his head in the sand while his daughter was dying. And might I say, the fact that we’re talking about a fifty year old B movie is really indicative of just how influential it really was.
Not sure about that. What happens when Harry’s daughter reanimates and starts to attack them? I bet another internal brawl and someone else getting killed.
I don’t think looking at what plan would have happened to work out better is the right way to think about that movie. The primary ethos of Romero zombie movies is that things fall apart.
Ben is the hero because he’s the natural leader and a collectivist. He’s trying to save all of them. Harry is the villain because he’s a selfish asshole. If he had spent some time in the cellar looking for the key to the gas pumps instead of yelling at his wife they might have all gotten out of there.
I wouldn’t lay all the blame on everybody getting waxed on Ben. He boarded up the place as best he could (with damn little help) and didn’t decide to make a break for it until he got more information and was told by the news folks that the rescue centers were where they should be.
Ben was the ‘Hero’ by default, because Cooper was just a plain dick.
The real question in my mind about the movie is, “Did the shooter know Ben wasn’t a Zombie?”. I’ve always been bothered by the look on his face as he makes the shot. That opens up a whole 'nuther can of worms.
Who has seen the alternate ending with the little girl slowing walking off down the road?
This brings up a question: What are filmmakers trying to convey when they show that the “good guy” is wrong and the “bad guy” is right when every thing they tell us before hand points the other way. Not like in Black Panther, where the villain is right from the beginning, but are pursuing the right out come by the wrong methods. Rather the hero is doing what the movie shows us is the right thing, but they don’t just fail, they would have been much better off listening to the “bad guy” instead.
Ben was right based upon the available information he had at the time. Harry was selfish and wrong based upon his available information.
Due to information unknown to either, it turns out that Harry was “right.” You don’t (shouldn’t) get credit for being lucky because of unknown circumstances.