What Makes ‘The Living Dead’ My Film of 1968

I don't remember where, but I had once heard that the film is a metaphor for white flight and red-lining, where the zombies represent an influx of black people to urban areas and the film shows the terror and anxiety that white people felt over this. I hadn't realised this came out in '68, which makes a lot of sense, with MLK and the Parisian and other rebellions posing a more ominous threat to the privileged classes. The point made in the article about the comfort and dependence the characters have with the television also makes me wonder whether there is some allusion to the "Society of the Spectacle" from Guy Debord, which was becoming a popular idea at the time.

Incidentally, I also recently read how 1968 was the year the Olympics were held in Mexico and there were also massive protests against it, which were violently suppressed (Tlatelolco massacre). Truly a climactic year for civil unrest and people's power but ultimately a victory for brutal states and entrenched power structures. Interesting as well, the point in the piece on how no mainstream outlets at the time ever mentioned the war in relation to their critiques - it suggests the film was indeed also perceived as a challenge to the choices of those in power.