American cinema contains a massive collection of political and controversial films spanning decades. Three films will be expressively discussed from the political point of view that can be found within each film. The films Night of the Living Dead, The Spook Who Sat by the Door, and They Live will each be broken down from politics, influence, and a societal approach. Each of these films spans roughly two decades of American film and politics. The reason behind choosing these specific films has little to do with their popularity, and everything to do with the representation of and within the films. The political controversies, traits, social trends, and events during the release of each movie will also be discussed in relation to the film’s significance in its message and perception of tone. Objectively, this discourse will focus on the political message within each of these American films.
Political films have increasingly grown throughout the past few decades due to a series of reasons such as: societal influence that should be addressed, cinematic plotting, and the need for informative/awakening films that depicts a historical narrative that is much needed. Films like They Live, Night of the Living Dead, and The Spook Who Sat by the Door piloted a path for film’s like Get Out, The Girl With All the Gifts, The Purge, BlacKkKlansman, and many more. The film They Live awakened a new desire for conspiracy inspired films such as Men in Black, whereas Night of the Living Dead created a demand for zombie films. The Spook Who Sat by the Door influenced racial politics to break barriers beyond informing, but by being bold and daring. Each of these films challenges and expressively addresses a different political message all pertaining to pertinent truths about the societal cultures of America. Night of the Living Dead contains an “unintended” political message that was coincidentally implicated through the sole black character. “It was quite clearly, to some extent a product of a particular social and historical context: from the fervid brew of 1960s radicalism and counterculture to the icy paranoia of the post-Watergate period.”1 The political and historical significance in this film is primarily attached to the character Ben, who is played by an African American man, whose status in the U.S. has drastically changed due to the Civil Rights Movement.2 The film depicts a direct and indirect narration of political racism. By this definition, it conveys the political tone of racism that relates back to the social state America was in, through the film’s commentary and the white characters’ actions. The film illustrates a single black man fighting to survive, only to be shot in the end, by the order of the chief of police. The historical background, when the film was released, is just after the Jim Crow Laws were “abolished”, which could have been perceived as a daring narrative for the filmmakers to illustrate.3 The character Ben, played by Duane Jones, was cast through a blind audition and was hired because of his talents and not his race. While this is great to cast based on merits, it also created a shift in the tone of the film’s message. “…because of that casting, and the role that Ben, a black man, takes on, the film is racially charged.”4
The historical tie to the films meaning supersedes the initial intent of the film, which gives the unintentional political component more depth. So many things were happening in America that influenced the outlook and takeaway of the racial indiscretions prevalent throughout the film, but most certainly in the final scene. There were many sociopolitical factors that occurred prior to, during, and after the release of the films, Night of the Living Dead and The Spook Who Sat by the Door. For example, The Civil Rights Movement (as previously stated) along with political/race riots, assassinations of the Kennedy brothers, MLK, mass shootings, gang violence, domestic and international war, and Nixon (Watergate).5 As a collective and individually, each of the political issues that occurred created a social background (atmosphere) and shift in American society. This could be both directly and indirectly (pervading through various mediums).6 “…there was a distinct sense of escalating violence, and at times absurdity, in the latter part of the decade.”7 The social climate of America inadvertently impacted the politics of Night of the Living Dead. The article by Hollywood Reporter: The Lingering Horror of “Night of the living Dead’ insists that, “Romero’s zombie film is driven by nihilism of the American variety.”8
The blatant political intent of The Spook Who Sat by the Door (Ivan Dixon, 1973), is prevalent and more dominantly portrayed than They Live for many reasons. This film was based off of a novel, entitled the same name, written by Sam Greenlee.9 The narrative is about the CIA trying to meet their affirmative action quota by recruiting a token black agent, Dan Freeman, who has an ulterior motive to utilize the CIA to further his agenda for a black revolution.10 “Freeman trains a group of Chicago Black youths in counterintelligence and guerilla warfare, molding the undisciplined Cobra gang into the masterful Chicago Black Freedom Fighters.”11 The Spook Who Sat by the Door was established to take place during the Black power period, the intent was to address the social-political racial controversies such as; “racialized oppression, Black middle-class hypocrisy, and the disingenuous racial tokenism of affirmative action programs.”12 This film purposefully exemplifies an instigated potential coup d’état, the film hyperbolizes, to be sweeping, “…the theme of African American freedom and equality being gained through a political consciousness of armed resistance.”13 The premise of the film is to give perspective of the black power, civil rights, black revolution. While it may have portrayed a more Malcom X approach, it was nonetheless essential to study to better gain insight into the struggles and politics of black America.
The Spook Who Sat by the Door holds just as much meaning in its title as it does in the film. The original title (containing a racial slur, for emphasis) was replaced with the word ‘Spook’, which is obtained from the “slang term spy”.14 The word also has multiple meanings (a double entendre), one of which rests on the theory that people with an African ancestry essentially have superstitions and a fear of spirits (ghosts). The greatest extent of the alternate interpretation is the underlying meaning that ‘spook’ describes the idea that Black (African American) people would uproar and take vengeance through acts of rebellion, revolt, or a number of other ways, this put fear within the US white supremacists community.15 Taking in each of these interpretations of the word ‘spook’. Freeman is the spook; he is a black man and a former Central Intelligence agent who creates a domestic terrorist group to explode America (deemable for the purpose of awakening Americans and rebuilding the U.S., theoretically, from the ground up).16 The Spook Who Sat by the Door was removed from theaters because the political message in the film brought fear to the FBI that it may be a cause of concern.17 This left only one copy that was brought to restoration decades later. The FBI used this film as a source to train for the possibility of a black revolution or a potential domestic terrorist attack. Freeman informs one of the members he was training that the reasoning behind the revolution was not done because they loathed white people, but because their freedom is worth going to war and sacrificing everything to obtain it.18
They Live (John Carpenter, 1988), in brief, highlights the ugly truths of American government and businesses using subliminal and disturbing tactics through media, ads, television, music, and everyday things. While this film is depicted through a fictional narrative, this is nonetheless a true representation, though exaggerated, of how Americans, especially those who believe in conspiracy theories, view the government. The government is seen to be the all mighty, all powerful, omnipresent entity that watches and knows everyone and everything. This film demonstrates and acknowledges the lack of awareness of how many subliminals are being embedded into people everyday. Steve Hyden from The Ringer quotes John Carpenter from an interview he did with Yahoo, which states, “You have to understand something he told Yahoo in 2015, It’s a documentary. Not a Science Fiction.”19 This mindset towards the film in regards to America is true to many. “They Live, meanwhile, sort of became reality. Drones in the sky, conspiracies in our heads, militarized police in the streets, economic inequality in every corner of society, media that seeks to control our mind: The terror of They Live is more tangible and primal in 2018 than a slasher movie could be.” This film offers a depiction of America that highlights, yet exaggerates, the dystopian society (that we live in) that is dysfunctional and clueless to the subliminal messages within everything around them. This is from a vantage point of a conspiracy theory that Hollywood has the luxury to freely depict within their cinematic productions.
Each of these films have significance because these are some of the issues that have been cyclically experienced throughout the course of several decades, some which are even relevant this past year. Politics in film speak to Americans in a better and more open tone than politicians have ever dared to discuss. Each film depicts realist ideals through theoretical into hyperbolic films. American cinema bestows the privilege of creating and imposing controversial, social awakening, culture shaking, thought provoking films that disrupt the ideals of conservative Americans. Night of the Living Dead subsequently created a subgenre, The Spook Who Sat by the Door embraced and represented a counterculture for the black community (ultimately setting off a wave of films that followed its footsteps), and They Live gave voice to the conspiracy theorists who are so commonly dismissed or thought to be crazy. The politics in each film ranges from racism (direct and indirect), blaxploitation, prejudice, capitalism, subliminality and many more that were not discussed but are ingrained and underlying throughout the mise-en-scène and narrative of the films.
Notes
1Geoff King, “New Hollywood Cinema : an Introduction.,” Find in a library with WorldCat (London : I.B. Tauris & Co., 2009), https://www.worldcat.org/title/new-hollywood-cinema-an-introduction/oclc/710975308.
2 Richard Newby, “The Lingering Horror of ‘Night of the Living Dead’,” The Hollywood Reporter, October 3, 2018, https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/heat-vision/why-night-living-dead-is-more-relevant-ever-1145708.
3 Cole Paquet, “Examining the Socio-Political Influences behind Night of the Living Dead,” The Concordian, October 29, 2019, http://theconcordian.com/2019/10/influence-behind-night-of-the-living-dead/.
4 Richard Newby, “The Lingering Horror of ‘Night of the Living Dead’,” The Hollywood Reporter, October 3, 2018, https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/heat-vision/why-night-living-dead-is-more-relevant-ever-1145708.
5Geoff King, “New Hollywood Cinema : an Introduction.,” Find in a library with WorldCat (London : I.B. Tauris & Co., 2009), https://www.worldcat.org/title/new-hollywood-cinema-an-introduction/oclc/710975308.
6Geoff King, “New Hollywood Cinema : an Introduction.,” Find in a library with WorldCat (London : I.B. Tauris & Co., 2009), https://www.worldcat.org/title/new-hollywood-cinema-an-introduction/oclc/710975308.
7Geoff King, “New Hollywood Cinema : an Introduction.,” Find in a library with WorldCat (London : I.B. Tauris & Co., 2009), https://www.worldcat.org/title/new-hollywood-cinema-an-introduction/oclc/710975308.
8 Richard Newby, “The Lingering Horror of ‘Night of the Living Dead’,” The Hollywood Reporter, October 3, 2018, https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/heat-vision/why-night-living-dead-is-more-relevant-ever-1145708.
9 Samantha N. Sheppard, “Persistently Displaced: Situated Knowledges and Interrelated Histories in The Spook Who Sat by the Door,” Cinema Journal (Michigan Publishing, January 30, 2013), https://muse.jhu.edu/article/496309.
10 Samantha N. Sheppard, “Persistently Displaced: Situated Knowledges and Interrelated Histories in The Spook Who Sat by the Door,” Cinema Journal (Michigan Publishing, January 30, 2013), https://muse.jhu.edu/article/496309.
11 Samantha N. Sheppard, “Persistently Displaced: Situated Knowledges and Interrelated Histories in The Spook Who Sat by the Door,” Cinema Journal (Michigan Publishing, January 30, 2013), https://muse.jhu.edu/article/496309.
12 Samantha N. Sheppard, “Persistently Displaced: Situated Knowledges and Interrelated Histories in The Spook Who Sat by the Door,” Cinema Journal (Michigan Publishing, January 30, 2013), https://muse.jhu.edu/article/496309.
13 Samantha N. Sheppard, “Persistently Displaced: Situated Knowledges and Interrelated Histories in The Spook Who Sat by the Door,” Cinema Journal (Michigan Publishing, January 30, 2013), https://muse.jhu.edu/article/496309.
14 David Somerset, “The Battle of Chicago: The Spook Who Sat by the Door,” British Film Institute, June 3, 2020, https://www2.bfi.org.uk/news-opinion/sight-sound-magazine/features/battle-chicago-spook-who-sat-door.
15 David Somerset, “The Battle of Chicago: The Spook Who Sat by the Door,” British Film Institute, June 3, 2020, https://www2.bfi.org.uk/news-opinion/sight-sound-magazine/features/battle-chicago-spook-who-sat-door.
16 Allyson Nadia Field, Jan-Christopher Horak, and Jacqueline Najuma Stewart, “L.A. Rebellion: Creating a New Black Cinema,” JSTOR (University of California Press, 2015), https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.1525/j.ctt19631zg.
17 Allyson Nadia Field, Jan-Christopher Horak, and Jacqueline Najuma Stewart, “L.A. Rebellion: Creating a New Black Cinema,” JSTOR (University of California Press, 2015), https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.1525/j.ctt19631zg.
18 David Somerset, “The Battle of Chicago: The Spook Who Sat by the Door,” British Film Institute, June 3, 2020, https://www2.bfi.org.uk/news-opinion/sight-sound-magazine/features/battle-chicago-spook-who-sat-door.
19 Steven Hyden, “John Carpenter’s ‘They Live’ Was Supposed to Be a Warning. We Didn’t Heed It. We Didn’t Even Understand It.,” The Ringer (The Ringer, October 4, 2018), https://www.theringer.com/movies/2018/10/4/17933020/they-live-john-carpenter-america-donald-trump.