Ben

Today after class I decided to look into different perceptions of Night of the Living Dead that we had just finished in class. The conversation about the possibilities of writing an essay on the movie were rather interesting to me. When I googled the movie title I came across a NPR article titled "Why Black Heros Make Zombie Stories More Interesting". 

http://www.npr.org/blogs/codeswitch/2013/09/30/227943197/why-black-heroes-make-zombie-stories-more-interesting

There's a part in the article that discusses the racial struggle during the filming of the movie. Most interesting is a comment from Romero that the day he finished editing the movie was the day he heard about the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr.  Seeing that it is Feburary, I can't help but think that our watching of the movie was convient timing or if it was planned. 

I found it interesting that Ben was not created to be casted as a black man, but they kept the casting because of the importance it would have on the social issues during the Civil Rights Movement. 

But as the article continues, the author brings in The Walking Dead and how the main character in the video game (which is hailed as the best recreation of the series) was black and how the change completely changed the atomsphere of the story. The story changes from a black  convicted murderer to a white cop with everyone willing to follow him. 

This article brings a lot of questions as to how main characters are cast and what differences it makes for the plot and overall meaning of the story.