dlon

brief analysis of

searching hidden messages

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First scene of the movie: - the country - a desert road - some bare trees - a fence - some telephoneposts - some houses in the distance

first 5 minutes of George Romero’s “Night of the Living Dead” (1968)

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Maybe one of the sponsors was the Pontiac plant (car in the picture).

In the first scenes the car is filmed from different angles.

first 5 minutes of George Romero’s “Night of the Living Dead” (1968)

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The word “night” is not filled, but there’s only the contour.

We can see through it: and enter the other side (the hidden dimension).

first 5 minutes of George Romero’s “Night of the Living Dead” (1968)

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“Latent” means something that is covered (but can be revealed).

This is the aim of the photography: to show what is hidden.

first 5 minutes of George Romero’s “Night of the Living Dead” (1968)

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The road sign says “Cemetery Entrance”.

A metaphoric message: they are entering a dead zone.

first 5 minutes of George Romero’s “Night of the Living Dead” (1968)

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The U.S. flag says that the story concerns American life.

first 5 minutes of George Romero’s “Night of the Living Dead” (1968)

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A beautiful shot of the car.

Maybe the factory sold a lot of pieces after the movie.

first 5 minutes of George Romero’s “Night of the Living Dead” (1968)

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End of the run.

A good car: 100 miles, gone without engine failures.

first 5 minutes of George Romero’s “Night of the Living Dead” (1968)

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first 5 minutes of George Romero’s “Night of the Living Dead” (1968)

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Barbra - They ought to make the day the time changes the first day

of Summer.

Johnny - What?

Barbra - Well, it’s eight o’clock, and it’s still light.

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Barbra says (between the lines) that she wants to stay there more time (to pray on the family vault).

Johnny understands her purpose and rejects the request with an irritated tone of voice (“What?”).

Therefore we may say that they are living dead: - living (they speak and do things) - dead (they keep still and don’t grow)

This dialogue shows that they both “plot underground” against the other: - she doesn’t express her purpose clearly - he doesn’t reveal his project (to come back home asap) The relation between them is a reciprocal exchange of cryptic messages.

This is not a honest relation.

first 5 minutes of George Romero’s “Night of the Living Dead” (1968)

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Johnny - How the good the extra daylight does us! You know, we

still got a three hour drive back. We’re not going to be home until after midnight.

Barbra - Oh, if it really bugged you, Johnny, you wouldn’t do it.

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As we can see in the picture (red arrow) he has the wedding ring.

He’s married.

So we may presume that he’s able to cultivate a relationship.

But it’s not so.

In fact, he has no pity on his sister.

His worry is to get back.

He only cares in his needs, and not in those of other people.

This is the result of a failed marriage.

She has been injured, and reacts with aggressiveness.

As children do.

She is not grown because she has not a constructive relationship with her mate.

The answer of his sister reveals a low level of maturity (“Oh, if it really bugged you”).

first 5 minutes of George Romero’s “Night of the Living Dead” (1968)

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Johnny - Do you think I wanna blow Sunday on a scene like this?

You know, I figure we’re either going to have to move mother out here, or move the grave in the Pittsburgh.

Barbra - She can’t make a trip like this.

Johnny - Oh, rather she can’t ...

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They are young (around 25). That means that probably their mother is around 50.

Barbra says “she can’t make a trip like this”: but she is young enough to travel. So (we may guess) she has a health disability.

He doesn’t have compassion on her.

We may say that his heart is switched off (dead).

Johnny is annoyed to do a favor to her mother.

So he plans on moving her (in that town) or, on the contrary, the grave in their town.

He says (inonically) “rather she can’t”: he implies that she prefers to stay at home.

first 5 minutes of George Romero’s “Night of the Living Dead” (1968)

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Johnny - Is there any of that candy left?

Barbra - No ...

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He has done the trip eating candy (and also smoking: see pag.10).

This reveals an inclination to satisfy his gluttony (one of the 7 capital sins).

The whole movie is a sequence of bad behaviors.

She replays saying “no” in a tone of voice that expresses sadness (because her brother cannot continue to satisfy himself).

In the same time, she doesn’t try to correct him (saying, for example “Don’t eat candy: they are not good for your health”).

There’s no cooperation between them: he doesn’t care to smoke inside the car, and she doesn’t care to make him grow.

first 5 minutes of George Romero’s “Night of the Living Dead” (1968)

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Johnny - Look at this thing “We still remember”. I don’t. You know,

I don’t even remember what the man looks like.

Barbra - Johnny, it takes you 5 minutes.

Johnny - Yeah! 5 minutes to put the wreath on the grave, and 6 hours to drive back and forth. Mother wants to remember, so we trot 2 hundred miles into the country, and she stays at home.

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“We still remember” is a wrong sentence: Johnny has not known his father (he was still a baby). But, in spite of that, his mother has interpreted his feelings.

This is an incorrect behavior. For that reason he is angry: the mother takes his place, and so annules his personality (the task of a mother, instead, is to give voice to the inner world of the son).

Barbra replies annoyed (she hasn’t understood the situation).

This happens because Barb’ hasn’t reached a sufficient grade of maturity.

Her mother is a widow (no husband): a woman without a man cannot grow, and so she can’t teach to her children the right way to communicate with the other people.

first 5 minutes of George Romero’s “Night of the Living Dead” (1968)

Johnny is worried about the time he is losing (“6 hours to drive back and forth”): he thinks only for himself.

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Barbra - Well, we’re here, John, all right?

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The voice of Barbra is trembling: she has been hurt (“all right?”).

She doesn’t want to leave that place: she needs to meet her father (because she miss him).

That means that he was able to love her.

And this happens when there’s a good (honest) relationship between mother and father.

first 5 minutes of George Romero’s “Night of the Living Dead” (1968)

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radio - Pro test ... dot hone ... oh!

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She is annoyed (because of her brother’s answer) and gets out of the car slamming the door in his face.

The radio speaker is tuning the channel.

first 5 minutes of George Romero’s “Night of the Living Dead” (1968)

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radio - Ah! ... Ladies and Gentleman ...

Johnny - Hey, wait! radio - We are coming back on the air after an interruption due to

technical problems ...

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The interruption is not due to “technical problems”, but by something that was crossing the sky (and then fell on the earth).

Maybe is the “fallen angel”: Lucifer was turned away from Heaven because he committed the sin of pride [superiority].

This fact explains the bad behaviors of the protagonists: they have absorbed the spell strewed in the air.

And now they are unable of humility: which is the salvation of human relationships.

Note: another advertisement concerning the car (the name “Pontiac” on the radio).

Missing that, the dead bodies rise from the grave and eat the living people (that is their nourishment).

first 5 minutes of George Romero’s “Night of the Living Dead” (1968)

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They walk alone.

She doesn’t wait for him.

first 5 minutes of George Romero’s “Night of the Living Dead” (1968)

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Johnny - There’s nothing wrong with the radio. Must have been the

station.

Barbra - Which road is it is?

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She doesn’t answer (she is sad).

first 5 minutes of George Romero’s “Night of the Living Dead” (1968)

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Johnny - Why there is no one around here?

Barbra - ’Cause it’s late. You’d gotten up earlier.

Johnny - Oh, look! I already lost an hour of sleep on the time change.

Barbra - I think you complain just to hear yourself talk. There it is!

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His sole worry is the “hour of sleep” that he has lost.

He doesn’t care about his father.

And, also, there are leaves on the ground: it’s Fall, not “the first day of Summer” (pag.10).

---Maybe there’s a mistake (in the script dialogs).

It’s Sunday (pag.12). After 3 hours of journey (pag.14), they arrive at 8:00 PM (pag.10). So, presumably, they left at 5:00 PM. He got up late: but it’s improbable that he woke up after 12:00 AM. So he had at least 5 hours to leave.

first 5 minutes of George Romero’s “Night of the Living Dead” (1968)

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He brings the wreath: he already knows that he will not find the one left the past year.

He doesn’t trust in his fellow men.

first 5 minutes of George Romero’s “Night of the Living Dead” (1968)

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Johnny - I wonder what happened to the one from last year. Each

year we spend good money on this things. We come out here, and the one from last year’s gone.

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He has no compassion: the poor don’t have money (for this reason they steal the flowers).

first 5 minutes of George Romero’s “Night of the Living Dead” (1968)

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Barbra - All the flowers die, and the caretaker or somebody takes

them away.

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This seems an allegory: the flowers are the Mankind, and the “caretaker” is God (that comes on the Earth to pick up what belongs to him).

first 5 minutes of George Romero’s “Night of the Living Dead” (1968)

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Johnny - Yeah, a little spit-and-polish you can clean this up. Sell it

next year. I wonder how many times we bought the same one.

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Johnny is angry because he has been swindled.

He is not able to understand the situation of necessity of poor people.

And so regrets the money given to those “sellers”.

The 2nd capital sin is Avarice.

Johnny hasn’t noticed that the shape of the wreath is a “Christian Cross” (pag.22).

first 5 minutes of George Romero’s “Night of the Living Dead” (1968)

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Johnny - Hey, come on, Barb. Church was this morning, ah!

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Barbra wants to pray, but he tries to stop her.

first 5 minutes of George Romero’s “Night of the Living Dead” (1968)

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The thunder represents the mood of God: he deprecates the things said by Johnny.

Looking up, he admits that God is in a superior position.

first 5 minutes of George Romero’s “Night of the Living Dead” (1968)

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In that moment, arrives a Zombie: to destroy the Mankind.

He represents God (the thunder, pag.26) but also Lucifer (the radio interruption, pag.17).

first 5 minutes of George Romero’s “Night of the Living Dead” (1968)

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Johnny - Hey, I mean: praying is for church, ah! Come on!

Barbra - I haven’t seen you in church, lately.

Johnny - Well, there’s not much sense in my going in the church.

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She reproaches him that he’s not a practising Catholic (“I haven’t seen you in church”).

And he admits that he doesn’t believe in God (“there’s not much sense”).

This explains many of his behaviors.

first 5 minutes of George Romero’s “Night of the Living Dead” (1968)

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Johnny - Do you remember one time, when we were small? We were

out here. It was from right over there. I jumped out at you from behind the tree, and grandpa got all excited, and shook his fist at me and said “Boy, you’ll be damned to hell!”. Eh! Remember that? Right over there. Boy! You used to really be scared here.

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When they were small, he jumped out.

That joke is normal (when we are children).

But, if done in adulthood, reveals immaturity (as he will show in the next scenes).

He refuses to go in church: so he doesn’t receive good education.

first 5 minutes of George Romero’s “Night of the Living Dead” (1968)

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Barbra - Johnny!

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But, also Barbra is not well educated.

She speaks with acrimony (to express she’s offended).

This is a childish attitude.

The right way is, instead, to speak clearly.

For example “Please, don’t remind me that episode: it makes me feel sad”.

first 5 minutes of George Romero’s “Night of the Living Dead” (1968)

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Johnny - You’re still afraid ...

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She is scared.

But Johnny doesn’t stop: he takes advantage of the opportunity to treat her badly (he doesn’t have compassion).

first 5 minutes of George Romero’s “Night of the Living Dead” (1968)

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Barbra - Stop it, now! I mean it!

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She’s still afraid: she refuses things regarding Death.

first 5 minutes of George Romero’s “Night of the Living Dead” (1968)

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Johnny - They’re coming to get you, Barbra!

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He thinks to be joking.

But he is hurting his sister.

first 5 minutes of George Romero’s “Night of the Living Dead” (1968)

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Barbra - Stop it! You’re ignorant!

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“You’re ignorant”.

That’s correct: Johnny ignores what he is doing.

He has no respect for her, and for the unknown realities.

first 5 minutes of George Romero’s “Night of the Living Dead” (1968)

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Johnny - They’re coming for you, Barbra!

Barbra - Stop it! You’re acting like a child!

Johnny - They’re coming for you!

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He continues, even if she asks to stop.

His behavior prevents any form of dialogue (and growth).

first 5 minutes of George Romero’s “Night of the Living Dead” (1968)

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Johnny - Look: there comes one of them, now!

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Sometimes people joke, but they say the truth.

first 5 minutes of George Romero’s “Night of the Living Dead” (1968)

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Barbra - He’ll hear you!

Johnny - Here he comes now. I’m getting out of here!

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She has a good heart: she doesn’t want to offend that man (“he’ll hear you”).

Another wrong behavior of Johnny: he escapes (and lets her alone).

first 5 minutes of George Romero’s “Night of the Living Dead” (1968)

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first 5 minutes of George Romero’s “Night of the Living Dead” (1968)

pag. 38

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