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Night of the Living
Dead (George A. Romero, 1968) and Jackie
Brown (Quentin Tarantino, 1997) both comment
upon race relations, with main character Ben and the
eponymous Jackie (along with the films' other black
characters, who are examined later), representing and
dictating attitudes towards racism in both films and
how they change over the three decades between the
films. Night of the Living Dead is a landmark
film for the reason that is was the first made to
feature a black actor in the leading role regardless
of the fact that he was black. Yet it remains that in
the construction of this media text, the film’s main
protagonist is still a black man; the connotations of
this cannot be underestimated or ignored. Night
of the Living Dead also relates itself to black
culture history, with the narrative of the film acting
as an allegory for black civil rights issues in
late-1960s America. In a similar fashion, Jackie
Brown is indebted to the history of black media
and the film genre of blaxploitation movies, with
blaxploitation actress Pam Grier playing the role of
Jackie. Both films are suited to this study as ‘there
are inevitable associations of white with light and
therefore safety, and black with dark and therefore
danger, and that this explains racism’ (Dyer, 1993,
p.142) as well as the use of race as a tool in cinema,
a visual medium constructed essentially of light and
dark and all the points in-between.
It is within the narratives of both films that we see the interaction, and distinction, between black and white characters; it is this that allows the films to make conclusions on issues of racism. Racism can be defined as ‘the belief that race accounts for differences in human character or ability and that a particular race is superior to others’.(Dictionary.com: http://www.dictionary.com/search?q=racism). We see difference in both race and individual characteristics within Night of the Living Dead and Jackie Brown but to what extent can these be seen to be related and do they amount to racism, a meaningful distinction between the races that changes at all over twenty-nine years? Night of the Living Dead enables us to make conclusions on the different representation of black and white by using a multitude of white characters but just one black character and their subsequently connoted characteristics. We see the white population of the film to be stubborn (Mr. Cooper), immature (Johnny), passive (Barbara), fatally sentimental (Judy) and murderously systematic (the zombies and the zombie lynch mobs, both exclusively white). As the film begins, when we see siblings Johnny and Barbara on a trip to visit their father’s grave, he proves himself to be cynical as to the sentimental and religious aspects of visiting his own father’s grave, childlike in asking Barbara for sweets and teasing her for being scared in a graveyard. Yet Barbara herself is passive and equally childlike in her interaction with Johnny. Both are dressed in overwhelmingly light clothes, starting the cinematic theme that makes the distinction between light and dark. Johnny and Barbara are the only two characters that we see in daylight (save for Ben, emerging into daylight at the end of the film, examined more later) and both are fatally flawed; Johnny is the first zombie victim that we see and later in the narrative, as zombies over-run the house, his zombie returns to claim Barbara. It is this action that links Barbara and Johnny with the Coopers, the white family that barricade themselves in the basement of the house and only emerge when they are sure there are no zombies in the house above. When we first meet Harry Cooper, he immediately attempts to reject Ben’s authority and his plans to survive, attempting to assume the position of dominance in their relationship. It is Harry that, opposing Ben’s plan to stay in the house, plans to return to the basement despite Ben and Tom’s insistence it will be impossible to escape from. Yet Harry returns down there, because he wants to and because Ben wants him to; we see a white character both willingly and forcibly subdued by a black character.
It is this intriguing relationship between the various white characters and Ben, the sole black character, that allows Night of the Living Dead to be the proficient text that it is. It is Ben that is constructed as both saviour and victim; he voluntarily retreats to the deserted house, where he is equally safe within and trapped within the house. We first meet Ben in the film when Barbara meets him; he arrives at the deserted farmhouse in the ethereal blaze of the truck headlights, descending from above into the frame, connoting him as a saviour from above. He is well dressed in overwhelmingly light clothes and he immediately takes charge of the house; his successes include gathering food, finding the nails and wood to board up the windows and doors, switching on the radio and finding the television, lighting fires to scare the zombies, finding a rifle and bullets and providing replacement shoes for those that Barbara lost in the graveyard. It is also Ben that turns on all the lights in the house, distinguishing ‘his’ territory from the dark territory of both Harry Cooper trapped in the dark basement and the zombies, trapped outside the house in the night. We see Ben as practical, using a car jack as a murder weapon to kill four zombies. Yet he is also a murderer, killing Harry. As the narrative concludes, we see all those people Ben had tried to protect, including himself, are dead.
Despite the fact that
Ben is the only member of the house that survives
the night and in spite of his success against white
zombies, he is killed quickly and cleanly by the
living white, the zombie lynch mob, as he emerges
into daylight. We see the uprising instigated by Ben
against the mass of white zombies to be supported by
incompetent, selfish and stupid white characters and
doomed to failure. Despite Ben being brave and
intelligent, he is ultimately subdued and killed by
the living white that we see ‘represents not only
rigidity but death’ (Dyer, 1993, p. 145) and against
whom Ben stands no chance of survival. Jackie Brown makes the further distinction between black characters (Jackie, Ordell) and white characters (Louis, Max, Melanie, Ray), effectively a more complex study that reflects how race interaction has developed in the thirty years since Night of the Living Dead. What remains consistent is that we are presented with a black hero, this time a woman, in Jackie. What is different is that she is now surrounded by both white and black ‘zombies’. We see Jackie engage in power struggles with Ordell and with Ray, an illegal gun dealer and an FBI agent, as well as engaging in the film’s most meaningful relationship with Max. Jackie Brown does make a definite distinction between black and white characters, and their inherent qualities that reflect on the film’s communicated message about racism. We see white characters to be sexually inadequate (Louis), drug addicts (Melanie) and, to a certain extent, institutionally racist law officials (Ray). We can see black characters to be violent (Ordell and Winston) and stupid (Beaumont, tricked into being killed by Ordell). What marks the difference between the colours is that the film places white characters as suffering from afflictions, whilst it places black characters as causing their own afflictions. Whether this means that Jackie Brown is a racist text is a complex issue due to the multitude of characters both black and white. We see that some black characters are successful and some fail, some white characters are successful and some fail.
The other main black character, Ordell, is more distinguished and similarly flawed, more so than Jackie. Whilst we see Jackie to frequent black bars and listen to black music groups, we see Ordell surround himself with white people, such as girlfriend Melanie and his henchman Louis. When we first see Ordell, he is dressed in white clothes in his overwhelmingly light apartment, showing Louis (dressed in overwhelmingly dark clothes) a video named Chicks with Guns, featuring solely white women). However, we also see Ordell retreat to his black identity at various points in the film, dressing in dark clothes when he kills Beaumont and attempts to kill Jackie. We see him inhabit dark spaces, sitting in darkened cars although still departed from his black identity by listening to country music. We see him enter Jackie’s lit apartment, only to switch off all the lights, plunging it into darkness. It is Ordell’s ultimate failure that he does not receive his money and that he is killed. The only other character that we see to make exceptions for his colour as Ordell did, is Max; as we see Ordell at his ‘best’ moments, Max inhabits light and open spaces. His office has a large window and the crucial bag swap takes place in the shopping mall, very much Max’s space. Max, again like Ordell, engages in truly meaningful, cross-colour relationships. Unlike the subordination that Melanie suffers at the hands of Ordell, Max and Jackie become a couple, albeit briefly, based on equal terms and mutual respect. If anything, we can see that Max serves Jackie, taking her money from the mall and returning it to her later. It is also Max that, this time like Ordell, works with a black assistant Winston, where Ordell has Louis. In a similar way to the fact that Ordell listens to country music, Max makes exceptions for his whiteness by buying a Delfonics tape after he hears Jackie listening to it.
It is in both films that we see our heroes, Jackie and Ben, as deserving of their status and unable to truly savour it; despite the fact that Ben survives the night of the living dead, he is killed in the morning by the living. Despite the fact that Jackie outsmarts both black and white characters, she is still denied the companionship of Max. These experiences communicate that, regardless of colour, all characters can achieve success or suffer failure, especially for Jackie and Ben. Yet the very fact that both protagonists are black shows that, ‘in the relative absence of black images, those which are available take on iconic dimensions, signifying in one constructed image, the complex of diverse and heterogeneous communities.’ (Ross, 1996, p. xxii). This is the role of Jackie and Ben; regardless of their success or failure, they represent a black existence that is as flawed as a white existence. Ben dies at the hands of a white man, Ordell dies at the hands of a white man. Harry Cooper dies at the hands of a black man, Louis dies at the hands of a black man. Both films share similar connotation of black existence. They make the same differentiations and the same, simultaneous conclusions. Existence that is defined by colour leads to segregation and it is this segregation that we see in the films, between Ben and Harry’s spaces, between Max and Ordell’s. It is also this segregation that results in racial distinctions but not necessarily racist conclusions in the films. Whilst the difference between race is appreciated, it is not blamed for the failures that we see, this is more due to the individual characteristics of Jackie, Ben, Harry and Max. Racism becomes a mark of distinction, not conclusion. It is the lack of changes over time that is notable; we see success and failure of both black and white characters, in 1997 as well as 1968, shared by both films. Bibliography Books Corrigan, T. (2001) A Short Guide to Writing About Film. Addison Wesley Longman: New York, NY. Dyer, R. (1993) The Matter of Images: Essays on Representations. Routledge: London. Maltby, R. (1995) Hollywood Cinema. Blackwell: Oxford. Mast, G. & Kawin, B. F. (2000) A Short History of the Movies. Allyn & Bacon: Needham Heights, MA. Mercer, K. (1994) Welcome to the Jungle: New Positions in Black Cultural Studies. Routledge: London. Reid, M. A. (1993) Redefining Black Film. University of California Press: Oxford. Ross, K. (1996) Black and White Media: Black Images in Popular Film and Television. Polity Press: Cambridge. Web Internet Movie Database. Dictionary.com. http://www.dictionary.com
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Despite this, he soon
re-emerges at the insistence of Tom and finds
himself taking orders from Ben in an attempt to
refuel the truck. Throughout the narrative, Ben is
placed above Harry in terms of significance, as it
is Ben that ‘possesses’ the house but Harry has the
basement. This hierarchy of their relationship is
also epitomised by the fact that Harry leaves Ben
locked outside the house in a vain attempt to assume
power inside the house. Ben breaks his way back in
and reasserts his power over Harry first by beating
him up and later by killing him. Ben then has to
kill his zombie too, essentially robbing Harry of
life twice. 
It is Ben’s relationship with
Barbara that sees him constructed as far more of a
success than Johnny; whilst Johnny antagonised his
sister, Ben protects her. Or rather, as we see her
act rationally (trying to phone the police from the
farmhouse) before Ben arrives but quickly become
almost comatose when he does so, Barbara seems to be
allowing Ben to protect; she takes care of herself
until she has someone to do it for her, at which
point she chooses Ben. He finds her new shoes, he
protects her from Harry Cooper and from the zombie
that silently staggers into the house. Yet he cannot
save her from herself; it is her unwillingness to
admit Johnny is dead that allows his zombie to drag
her out the house to her death. 
In terms of a hierarchy, we
again see Jackie place herself above both Ordell and
Ray, black and white, by deceiving them both. Ordell
does not get the $500,000 he is promised and is
killed by Ray; Ray does not get to arrest Ordell for
his crimes but murders him. It is Jackie that
constructs both relationships for her own benefit
and is pro-active in the way that we saw Ben to be;
she steals Max’s gun, pre-empting Ordell’s attempt
on her life. She adapts her plans to steal the money
with each new development, such as the death of
Melanie at the hands of Louis, who is in turn
himself killed by Ordell, and, as the narrative
concludes, Jackie is the only character who is truly
victorious. 
It is this trio of Jackie,
Max and Ordell that allows us to make the most
definitive conclusions of the messages that Jackie
Brown presents to us about race; we see the success
of these relationships to vary, with Ordell and
Jackie’s relationship failing and Max and Jackie’s
successful but ultimately futile, as Jackie leaves
to move to Spain. It is also Max and Ordell’s
relationship, different from the equality of Max and
Jackie, that sees the struggle between black and
white to gain power. It is Max, as the rich, white
and intelligent bail bondsman, that is placed above
Ordell, as it is Max that deduces Jackie’s scheme
long before Ordell does. Yet it is Ordell that
attempts to place himself above Max, interrogating
him at gunpoint whilst sitting above, resting on the
back of a chair. This desire of Ordell’s to defy the
constructed power hierarchy, much like the same
desire of Harry in Night of the Living Dead,
is Ordell’s fatal flaw.