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Mansoor Farooq Professor Lynda Haas Writing 37 28 October 2013 A Zombie Funny Bone Horror is a genre that invokes fear either by shocking or scaring someone in a particular way. Horror has many sub-genres; including the zombie genre. Zombies are possessed evil monsters who feed on the human flesh. The zombie genre and the horror genre are set apart because in the horror genre, any kind of horror can be displayed to frighten somebody while zombies are the main theme in the zombie genre. In The Nature of Horror, the well-known scholar and philosopher Noel Carroll, explains that the elements that make horror frightening are its impurity, incompletion, and abnormality; Zombies, in the present and past movies all have had these types of attributes. Released in 2004, in the movie Shaun of the Dead, written by Simon Pegg and Edgar wright, zombies are used to portray a horror theme as well as tying in comedy to make it stand out. While Edgar Wright directs the film, Simon Pegg stars in their movie as the lead role, Shaun. The movie is about a lazy, unmotivated man named Shaun who spends his days working at a store similar to Best Buy and at nights, he wastes his time at a pub with his friend Ed. Ed who is an unemployed slob that spends his time playing video games all day just lives off of Shaun. Shaun tries to get his girlfriend back after she breaks up with him for not growing up. By trying to save the world from zombies Shaun risks his life for his friends and family. In the end, Shaun and his girlfriend Liz end up surviving and are rescued by the army while the rest have died off. The twist though, is the world is saved when society trains the zombies to be used for tools and entertainment.

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Normally when horror comes up, frightening things are thought of. Comedy is not usually mixed in with horrific films which is what makes Shaun of the Dead stand out. A genre convention used in the movie that follows the usual image of zombies is how they gather around in masses and attack the humans. One convention that does not follow the zombie convention is that the movie is a comedy of manners. Because it is a British movie, the directors had to change some words of it so the American audience could understand. The comedy of manners adds comedy to the movie which many horror/zombie movies do not have. One classic zombie convention followed by Shaun of the Dead is that zombies always chase after the humans in masses. When the zombies gather around the humans at the pub toward the ending of the movie, the viewer is in a state of concern for what is going to happen to the humans. Questions like, are they going to live, or, what will happen next, go through the mind. After the apocalypse has hit, Shaun gathers the family and decides to go to the pub because he thinks it will be a safe place to hide. As they are about to leave, they realize that the zombies are everywhere including around the pub. To get to the pub they need to disguise themselves. They decide to walk and act like zombies to walk across the road and get into the pub. When they perform this task, it works pretty well, however, once they make it to the pub, the door is locked and Shaun starts panicking. The zombies start to gather around them in one big mass at the front doors of the pub and start heading toward the humans. Shaun tries to be a hero and attracts attention towards him by standing on top of an object so the rest of the crew can get into the pub. This happens to work out and the zombies start chasing Shaun after he starts running away. In the scene, the way the camera is set up is,, it shows a camera angle from far away so the viewer can get an idea of the relative size difference between the humans and the zombies. Because it is day time, the screen is light, although as soon as they get it to the pub, it

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becomes dark. There is also a point where the camera zooms in on Shaun when he tries to attract the attention of the zombies so that way the viewer can also notice that Shaun was trying to create attention towards him. As the movie progresses into the next scene where the humans are in the pub waiting for Shaun, he appears out of nowhere and everybody is shocked that he made it alive. As they are waiting for Shaun to figure out a plan, Ed blasts the Karaoke machine and gives away the hide out to the zombies. The zombies start gathering around the pub trying to get in. As time goes on, people start dying away by either being bitten or attacked. At this point, Shaun and Liz are the only two alive and there are zombies in masses everywhere. This typical convention where the zombies are gathering around the two in masses is also similar to the movie Zombieland. In that movie, the two sisters are on the ride and they are stuck at the top while zombies gather around the area waiting for the ride to come back down so they can devour the two sisters. The zombies even try to climb up on top of the ride to attack them. Similarly, the zombies outside the pub in Shaun of the Dead try to get in the pub to eat Shauns group. The gathering around relates to so many people in the society. Shauns group is being sucked into the apocalypse that it has consumed everyone around them until they get caught in the midst of it too. Although it is a serious manner, the director actually makes fun of the fact that society is a bunch of sheep who follow the herd. The convention that the movie does not follow is that it is a comedy of manners. The movie is not just a horror but also a comedy because of the sarcastic tone used throughout the film. It sets itself apart from other zombie movies similar to it because of the manners used in it. Unlike in America, manners are well taught in Britain and Shaun of the Dead is a British movie. Although not everybody uses manners in Britain, they are used more than other countries

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because teaching manners is a part of the British culture. Because this is a British movie, Wright put in the characters using manners as part of the comedy. The scene when they are in the pub and zombies are starting to get through the windows, the mum gets bitten somehow but does not want to tell anybody. As Edelstein states in the article The importance of Being Undead, Penelope Wilton is the sweet, oblivious middle-class mum who didn't mention being bitten by a (highly contagious) ghoul because, she says meekly, I didn't want to be a bother. This convention is not found in similar movies like it which makes it so unique and unconventional. The group is still in the pub so it is dark. As the camera focuses on the mum, she is sitting in the corner trying to be polite as possible. Although the zombies are still trying to break in to the pub, time sort of stops to focus the attention Shauns mum because of her being bit. Shaun of the Dead is considered to be part of the zombie genre. It is more specifically in the parodic stage of genre development. The characters have to switch into survival mode and escape the zombies as they grow in masses. The horror part is still there with the blood and gore and zombies eating the flesh of humans. What sets Shaun of the Dead apart from other zombie movies is that it uses British humor. This genre convention is not used in other zombie movies because it mixes satire and horror together which is not seen in these zombie movies. Overall, the movie has similarities and differences between other zombie movies.

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Works cited Carroll, Noel. The Nature of Horror. The Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism. 46.1 (1987) 51-59. Web. Edelstein, David. "A Zombie Comedy of Manners." Slate Magazine. N.p., 23 Sept. 2004. Web. 28 Oct. 2013.