Representation
Shaun is represented as a stereotypical white working class male. He is single and is struggling in his relationship with girlfriend Liz. Shaun passes time in the local pub with his friend and flat mate Ed.
The character of Shaun is common and males in the audience can identify with him and his problems in life. Audiences of the opposite sex can also identify with girlfriend Liz or even Shaun as he is stuck in a dead end job.
Language and Form
The setting conforms to the zombie genre conventions as the pub is big, isolated and has the essentials for survival. However, this also mocks the zombie genre and reinforces the comedy aspects as the pub is the last place Liz wants to go, it’s the preferred location of Ed.
The soundtrack shifts between contrapuntal and parallel this works with the text. The contrapuntal lyrics emphasises the comedy genre. ‘The Specials’ – Ghost Town reinforces the zombie genre and the idea of survival in a big empty city.
Iconography of the zombie’s is pale faced, ripped clothes with a lot of blood. There is a phrase that is continuously used in the film to Shaun “You’ve got red on you”; the phrase reinforces the blood and gore of the zombie genre.
The camerawork of the film varies and engages the audience. The off-center composition allows more to fit onto the screen and doesn’t focus on the one character in the shot. The use of over-the-shoulder shots gives the audience the feeling that they are part of the situation and so does the handheld camerawork, as it makes the situation more realistic.
Narrative
The narrative of ‘Shaun of the Dead’ follows the Todorov theory. It doesn’t follow the conventional Hollywood zombie ending, where the zombies die or the film is left open for a sequel. The audience is often directly involved as Shaun in one or two scenes’ directly looks at the camera. The handheld camerawork allows the audience to escape into the film as it makes it more realistic.
Audience can gain identification through characters, the audience can either see themselves as a character or have friends similar to characters in ‘Shaun of the Dead’. As the film is British there is a possible alienation from other regions as audiences are unable to under certain jokes.
Shaun begins as the anti-hero who is reluctant to go out and fight the zombies, but his friend Ed (Propp’s ‘helper’ character) tells him he needs to save his mother.
The music used is ‘Shaun of the Dead’ is often parallel to situations. The soundtrack features The Specials ‘Ghost Town’ this is used in the opening and gives the audience an insight to what the film is going to be about. In another scene as Liz, Ed and Shaun are beating a zombie with pool sticks a jukebox plays Queen ‘Don’t Stop Me Now’, this can be seen as ironic as the lyrics to the song mocks the situation.
Genre
The text falls in to a hybrid of genres ‘Shaun of the Dead’ is known as a rom, zom, com. A romantic, zombie comedy.
The stock character of Ed, as the joker, allows the film to be comical. Shaun’s relationship with Liz is the romantic side to the film, there is also romance as Shaun is acting as the hero to save both his girlfriend and mother, this is the only reason he goes from the reluctant hero to protagonist of the film. The living dead, zombies, reinforces the ‘zom’ in the hybrid genre.
The iconic features of the zombie genre are firstly, the living un-dead. The zombie’s costumes are always ripped and they are shown to be pale with mutated faces and blood. These features allow the audience to identify the film as a film from the zombie genre. The general theme of the film is survival like many other zombie films.
Institution
‘Shaun of the Dead’ is a Universal Pictures production, the company is well known to produce films starring big American stars directed by even bigger directors like Peter Jackson. The company also produces big American films such as ‘Land of the Living Dead’ (2003).
However, ‘Shaun of the Dead’ stars British actors, Simon Pegg, and was directed by Edgar Wright.
Audience’s who are familiar with Wright, Pegg or even Nick Frost would expect the film to be funny as these actor’s are associated with comedies, Wright is associated with writing comedies.
‘Shaun of the Dead’ clashed with the release of the ‘Dawn of the Dead’ (2003) remake, due to the similarity of the names Universal pushed back the release by two weeks. The similar titles allow audiences to identify both films to be of a similar genre.
Values and Ideology
Zombie film ideologies are often the idea of surviving; ‘Shaun of the Dead’ also has the ideology but also has others. Family values are shown too as Shaun constantly reminds other characters that Phillip (Bill Nighy) is not his father, he is shown to dislike his step-dad reinforcing the “evil” step-parent stereotype. Most of the film is set in the Winchester pub as it is a safe place. This mocks society as Britain is known for drinking, especially amongst under-aged teenagers.
Media Audience
‘Shaun of the Dead’ is a film popular amongst fans of the TV Series ‘Spaced’ as it was written by Wright and has Pegg in it too. The target audience would be males, as the film is very male dominated and has the values of saving the female’s from the zombies. However, the audience wouldn’t be too big as it is a British film and doesn’t star big stars. The film would be read as a general mock towards Romero’s living dead films, but many people may not see it that way as they might not have seen any of Romero’s films.
Shaun is represented as a stereotypical white working class male. He is single and is struggling in his relationship with girlfriend Liz. Shaun passes time in the local pub with his friend and flat mate Ed.
The character of Shaun is common and males in the audience can identify with him and his problems in life. Audiences of the opposite sex can also identify with girlfriend Liz or even Shaun as he is stuck in a dead end job.
Language and Form
The setting conforms to the zombie genre conventions as the pub is big, isolated and has the essentials for survival. However, this also mocks the zombie genre and reinforces the comedy aspects as the pub is the last place Liz wants to go, it’s the preferred location of Ed.
The soundtrack shifts between contrapuntal and parallel this works with the text. The contrapuntal lyrics emphasises the comedy genre. ‘The Specials’ – Ghost Town reinforces the zombie genre and the idea of survival in a big empty city.
Iconography of the zombie’s is pale faced, ripped clothes with a lot of blood. There is a phrase that is continuously used in the film to Shaun “You’ve got red on you”; the phrase reinforces the blood and gore of the zombie genre.
The camerawork of the film varies and engages the audience. The off-center composition allows more to fit onto the screen and doesn’t focus on the one character in the shot. The use of over-the-shoulder shots gives the audience the feeling that they are part of the situation and so does the handheld camerawork, as it makes the situation more realistic.
Narrative
The narrative of ‘Shaun of the Dead’ follows the Todorov theory. It doesn’t follow the conventional Hollywood zombie ending, where the zombies die or the film is left open for a sequel. The audience is often directly involved as Shaun in one or two scenes’ directly looks at the camera. The handheld camerawork allows the audience to escape into the film as it makes it more realistic.
Audience can gain identification through characters, the audience can either see themselves as a character or have friends similar to characters in ‘Shaun of the Dead’. As the film is British there is a possible alienation from other regions as audiences are unable to under certain jokes.
Shaun begins as the anti-hero who is reluctant to go out and fight the zombies, but his friend Ed (Propp’s ‘helper’ character) tells him he needs to save his mother.
The music used is ‘Shaun of the Dead’ is often parallel to situations. The soundtrack features The Specials ‘Ghost Town’ this is used in the opening and gives the audience an insight to what the film is going to be about. In another scene as Liz, Ed and Shaun are beating a zombie with pool sticks a jukebox plays Queen ‘Don’t Stop Me Now’, this can be seen as ironic as the lyrics to the song mocks the situation.
Genre
The text falls in to a hybrid of genres ‘Shaun of the Dead’ is known as a rom, zom, com. A romantic, zombie comedy.
The stock character of Ed, as the joker, allows the film to be comical. Shaun’s relationship with Liz is the romantic side to the film, there is also romance as Shaun is acting as the hero to save both his girlfriend and mother, this is the only reason he goes from the reluctant hero to protagonist of the film. The living dead, zombies, reinforces the ‘zom’ in the hybrid genre.
The iconic features of the zombie genre are firstly, the living un-dead. The zombie’s costumes are always ripped and they are shown to be pale with mutated faces and blood. These features allow the audience to identify the film as a film from the zombie genre. The general theme of the film is survival like many other zombie films.
Institution
‘Shaun of the Dead’ is a Universal Pictures production, the company is well known to produce films starring big American stars directed by even bigger directors like Peter Jackson. The company also produces big American films such as ‘Land of the Living Dead’ (2003).
However, ‘Shaun of the Dead’ stars British actors, Simon Pegg, and was directed by Edgar Wright.
Audience’s who are familiar with Wright, Pegg or even Nick Frost would expect the film to be funny as these actor’s are associated with comedies, Wright is associated with writing comedies.
‘Shaun of the Dead’ clashed with the release of the ‘Dawn of the Dead’ (2003) remake, due to the similarity of the names Universal pushed back the release by two weeks. The similar titles allow audiences to identify both films to be of a similar genre.
Values and Ideology
Zombie film ideologies are often the idea of surviving; ‘Shaun of the Dead’ also has the ideology but also has others. Family values are shown too as Shaun constantly reminds other characters that Phillip (Bill Nighy) is not his father, he is shown to dislike his step-dad reinforcing the “evil” step-parent stereotype. Most of the film is set in the Winchester pub as it is a safe place. This mocks society as Britain is known for drinking, especially amongst under-aged teenagers.
Media Audience
‘Shaun of the Dead’ is a film popular amongst fans of the TV Series ‘Spaced’ as it was written by Wright and has Pegg in it too. The target audience would be males, as the film is very male dominated and has the values of saving the female’s from the zombies. However, the audience wouldn’t be too big as it is a British film and doesn’t star big stars. The film would be read as a general mock towards Romero’s living dead films, but many people may not see it that way as they might not have seen any of Romero’s films.
posted by Jaskeerat at 5:17 PM
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