“Another One for the Fire” by Linnie Blake considers the philosophy of George A. Romero’s films of the seventies in the context of the time and from the sociological perspective. The author dwells on three Romero’s films of the period – “The Crazies” (1973),”Martin” (1976), and “Dawn of the Dead” (1978). Blake asserts that all three films by this director have similar peculiarities as well as similar main ideas due to the tendencies which were in the American society of the time and as a result of the changes which had taken place just before the beginning of the decade.
Linnie Blake starts her reflections with a reference to John Winthrop’s sermon given in 1630 to immigrants coming to America in the hope of building a better community. Then John Winthrop said that a successful construction of a new society should be based on people’s understanding that they were “members of the same body” (Blake, 2002, p. 151). Otherwise, they would be consumed. In “Another One for the Fire” Linnie Blake claims that this is what actually happened to the American society in the 1970s. They lost their sense of community and lost their belief in honest uncorrupted leaders, which made American artists, film-makers and writers think that the American society was being destroyed from within. These ideas found reflection in their various works of art.
George A. Romero’s films of that period were not an exception. All three of them, viz. “The Crazies”, “Martin”, and “Dawn of the Dead”, depict contemporary consumer capitalism, civil liberties violation, and corrupted governments. The movies underline that if such tendencies continue to prevail, the American society has no future because its present is blighted. Judy from “The Crazies” is a perfect symbol of the idea. She is a protagonist’s pregnant girl-friend who is shot along with her unborn child. It seems to be an illustration of the American society being killed before it has come to life. And Linnie Blake says that the plot of Romero’s film suggests that the society is killed by its own government which ‘poisons’ its citizens, gives them guns, and sends them to fight. But as a result people actually fight against themselves, ruining themselves and their country.
Another theme covered in Romero’s films of the seventies is militarism. This theme was topical at the time due to the events in Vietnam. As Blake puts it, Romero depicts “America’s ongoing love-affair with the gun” (Blake, 2002, p. 155). The director shows children playing with machine guns and toy soldiers, photos of their fathers in military uniforms, gun cabinets, etc. Both in “The Crazies” and “Dawn of the Dead” the protagonists are Vietnam veterans experienced, though against their will, in killing. In such a way Romero emphasizes how deeply militarized the American society is and that weaponry has become a common thing for American people.
There is another idea which can be considered an important one in Romero’s films. This is consumerism of the American society where individual interests prevail over the interests of the community, which leads to the destruction of the society as a whole. This is where Winthrop’s ideas come to mind again. Having forgotten about the benefits of their community, Americans strive for enriching themselves, strive for individual power and control. In that fight, weaker strata of the society suffer the most. Romero’s films depict social stratification and economic stagnation which are both the result of people’s individualism.
Thus, Linnie Blake’s analysis reveals the core ideas of George A. Romero’s films. His films are horror ones, which means they are basically aimed at entertainment. But deeper insights into their themes show the director’s attempts to convey more serious meanings about the society in which his contemporaries live.
References
Blake, L. (2002). Another one for the fire: George A. Romero’s American theology of the flesh. In Xavier Mendik (Ed.), Shocking Cinema of the Seventies (pp. 151-165). Hereford: Noir Publishing.
