The Dyer Article

In the syllabus I wrote:

·         The examples from this article are three older films: Simba, Jezebel, and Night of the Living Dead. What larger points is Dyer trying to make? What can you take away from this article if you haven’t seen the films?

·         What examples from more recent or current films prove or disprove Dyer’s thesis?

I haven't seen any of these movies either so I did some digging.

Simba's movie poster: pretty dang racist.

Simba is available on Amazon, at least the first two minutes. The IMDB comments aren't particularly enlightening, although one reviewer writes, "its hard not to be somewhat appalled by a movie that poses the question -- do the native Kenyans who were part of the Mau Mau deserve to be regarded as men, or simply as savages. While, fortunately, it does feel like the movie makers are making the case for thinking of the Kenyans as humans, it's a bit of a close issue, as the lead farmer is allowed to rant about savages, and the police commissioner trying desperately to keep order, seems to have ill-concealed contempt for the natives revolting against his authority." What's the main point we can take away from Dyer's analysis?

Some enterprising pirate uploaded the entirety of Jezebel to YouTube. 

Finally, I assume we have all seen enough zombie movies to recognize the themes in Night of the Living Dead. Regardless, the whole film is on Google Video!

So hopefully this will allow some context.. we might watch some clips tomorrow.