Blog Task 13

Detailed Essay plan

"Who died and made you fucking king of the zombies?" Ed (Nick Frost)
How does British zombie film ‘Shaun of the Dead’ follow the codes and conventions of the zombie genre?

Inspired by the ‘Dead’ series by George Romero ‘Shaun of the Dead’ is a contemporary text that is a good example of conveying not only the codes and conventions of the zombie genre but also hybrid texts, inter-textuality and post-modernism. My independent study will look at all these aspects of the zombie genre and also the genre theory itself, the opposing argument of genre, auteur, will also be discussed in my study. [G]

Other texts that will be useful for my study is of course the films by Romero; ‘Night of the Living Dead’, ‘Dawn of the Dead’, ‘Land of the Dead’, and also other zombie films that were a part of “the modern horror-film movement” that the mid-1970s audience enjoyed like 'Rosemary's Baby' by Roman Polanski and finally another contemporary British zombie film ‘28 Days Later’ by Danny Boyle. Similarity most of the texts I have chosen are all conventionally created on a low-budget and are on an independent label and can be identified as a form that critics say are amied at the ‘youth market’ or ‘adolescents of whatever age’ as theorists Evans, Kapsis and Wood referred to it as. [H, A, E, I]

Much of the inter-textuality in ‘Shaun’ comes from Romero’s second film ‘Land of the Dead’. The title Shaun of the Dead is also both an obvious parody of and homage to the title Dawn of the Dead. Numerous lines, scenes and background details also directly refer to the Romero movies. Also both ‘Shaun’ and Romero have a social backdrop within their films some of which are the Vietnam War in ‘Night…’ and consumerism in ‘Dawn…’ [S, H, P]


Codes
Stock Characters
The conventional characters that are found in every film and the 8 characters identified by Propp; the protagonist, the helper (Ed), the princess (Liz Shaun’s girlfriend) and the villain (zombies). In the case of the zombie genre some stock characters are often a jock, clown, bimbo, and a detective/priest, ‘Shaun’ subverts the jock and detective/priest character, however, the ‘bimbo’ character can be seen in most of the character as the film is also a comedy. The vulnerable character can be seen in both ‘Shaun’ and Romero’s films, in ‘Shaun’ it is Barbara (Shaun’s mother) and similarly in ‘Night…’ Barbara is also the vulnerable character. [G, R]

Stock Plots
The theory of Todorov can be argued here, most zombie films such as the 2004 ‘Land of the Dead’ begins with the disequilibrium and the enigma (Barthes) is not solved until mid-way through the film, this can also be seen in ‘Night…’ but in ‘Shaun’ the audience slowly see the transition of a normal human to a society full off the “living dead”. There is a social backdrop of society now beginning to turn into the ‘living dead’ as their lifestyle is routine. The social backdrop is a common in Romero’s works. The “ending is spot-on, avoiding the usual "twist" that Hollywood is so fond of” this can be said for both ‘Shaun’ however, this post-modernism means that the film doesn’t follow generic conventions. [S, H, G, N]

Conventions
Iconography
The setting of a big isolated house is a conventional icon of the zombie genre and reinforced the monolithic problem of genre outlined by Robert Stam. Costume is a common stereotype that allows the audience to easily identify the zombies as zombies. Props or weapons used against the evil, antagonist is also a convention in ‘Night…’ we see Ben using fire and a crow-bar, ‘Shaun’ as a parody uses a cricket bat. Finally media language; the use of certain shots are visible in horror films one that is common is the directors use of reflection and point of view shot. [M, R, G, A]
‘Since we are dealing with a visual medium we ought surely to look for out defining criteria at what we actually see on the screen…’
“By iconography Buscombe meant recurrent images, including the physical attributes and dress of the actors, the setting…”

Themes
Isolation, trapped, in malls/pubs is a common theme in horror films.
Consumerism/Capitalism, zombies walking around like humans in malls, represent mindless shoppers, ‘shop till you drop’
Chaos, civilization is breaking down; and there a two types of people in this situation
People who maintain humanity
People who become animals/zombies

It is common for Romero’s films to have the social backdrop of political events during the making of the film, ‘Shaun’ does this in a implicit way, Simon Pegg states that after September 11th he realized ‘the little problems in your life don't go away’ and this is represented in the film as Shaun struggles with his love-life as well as the struggle of ‘surviving’.

Themes, at least, seem inadequate as a basis for defining genres since, as David Bordwell notes, 'any theme may appear in any genre' (Bordwell 1989, 147). However, is can be argued that horror and zombies films will always have the conventional theme of isolation and being trapped. Shaun of the Dead has a theme of surviving, as do many other zombie films. [R, Id, N]

Theorists
Steve Neale
Genres can be seen as 'a means of controlling demand' (Neale 1980, 55) [E]

Theory
Genre Theory

genre theory to continually re-define itself according to the technology, the audience, the political message among many other variables.

Robert Stam identifies four key problems with generic labels in film:
Extension (the narrowness of labels);
Normativism (having preconceived ideas of criteria for genre);
Monolithic definitions (as if an item belonged to only one genre);
Biologism (a kind of essentialism in which genres are seen as evolving through a standardized life cycle) (Stam 2000, 128-129).

Normativism
This could be the idea of sequels; however, Romero doesn’t see his films as sequels and in some cases the characters slowly being killed off one by one, which is present in ‘Night…’
Monolithic
Iconography of zombie films fit into this sub-heading, such as the big isolated area that is seen in ’28 Days Later’ as well as the ‘Dead’ films.

Sub-genre of horror
‘The horror of personality’ e.g. Psycho
‘The horror of Armageddon’
‘Normal aspects of nature that turns abnormal’, resulting in ‘a struggle that is obviously ultimate, mythical and soul-rendering’

Auteur Theory
“Auteurism emphasizes the uniqueness of a film, whereas the genre study emphasizes the similarities that exist between a group of films...”
Romero can be seen as an auteur as he began the zombie genre and the use of the genre to portray an implicit social backdrop to the audience, almost educating the ‘whatever age’ audience. However, Romero and most horror film Directors cannot be seen as auteur, because “Of all the genres, the horror film shows the least connection with American history” and therefore directors cannot escape the negative ideas associated with them of cultism and therefore fail to “win acclaim as auteur of the cinema” [S, G, A]


Books:
Edward Buscombe, ‘The idea of genre in the American cinema’, Screen 2(2), March/April 1970

Charles Derry, Dark Dreams: A Psychological History of the Modern Horror Film, London, Thomas Yoseloff, 1977

Walter Evans ‘Monster movies: a sexual theory’, Journal of Popular Film 2(4), autumn 1973

Robert E. Kapsis, ‘Dressed to kill’, American Film no.5, March 1982

Robin Wood, ‘Introduction’, in Britton, Lippe, Williams, Wood (eds), American Nightmare: essays on the horror film, Toronto, Festivals, 1979

Rubin, Martin (1999): Thrillers. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.

Buckland, Warren (2003): Teach Yourself Film Studies. Euston Road, London: Hodder Headline Plc.

Cook, Pam; Bernink, Mieke (2003): The Cinema Book. Stephen Street, London: British Film Insistitute.

Website:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shaun_of_the_Dead#References
http://www.aber.ac.uk/media/Documents/intgenre/intgenre1.html
http://www.combustiblecelluloid.com/2004/shaundead.shtml
http://www.timeout.com/film/news/631.html