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Shaun of the Dead (Edgar Wright, 2004)

Shaun of the Dead is much more than just your average horror spoof: this is a genuinely funny, well-made horror comedy with an introspective, relatable British spin.

Edgar Wright’s Shaun of the Dead presents us with the everyman character of Shaun (Simon Pegg). Living out his repetitive life of complacently; going to the same shop every morning, working his mundane job, and ending his day at the bottom of a pint glass. However, things began to change quickly, little to Shaun’s hilariously delayed realisation, with a zombie apocalypse brewing around him. Alongside his flatmate, best mate, and only mate, Ed (Nick Frost), Shaun devises his master plan: to rescue his mother, win back his girlfriend, and head to The Winchester, ‘to have a nice cold pint, and wait for all of this all to blow over’.

Upon revisiting this film in my adult years, it became apparent that I had previously viewed this film from a passive perspective, taking the film at face value and simply enjoying it for the great fun it is; a fantastic experience in itself. Shaun of the Deadcan be interpreted to carry a sub-textual critique of modern British society. Shaun already lives in a world of where the people have been zombified; where lifeless commuters head to work in their dull, repetitive jobs, where people are slaves to technology, mindlessly living through their televisions, phones and gaming consoles, living their life on autopilot. This world is a reflection of Shaun himself; he says he wants to make change in his life, yet he does nothing about it. It takes the literal onslaught of the undead to pull him out of the metaphorical zombified state he had been existing in for years. The visual comedy of seeing this apocalypse unfolding around Shaun as he continues his mundane life so nonchalantly is captivatingly amusing. He is blissfully unaware of the fact his fellow community members are becoming more than just figurative zombies. It takes a vinyl-throwing, mug-smashing fight to the death against zombies for Shaun and Ed to realise that something is not be right; mulling over the incident over a cup of tea and a cornetto whilst splattered with blood, as is a normal British Sunday. This sends a message drawing back to these modern societal issues, demonstrating that we are have been conditioned to be oblivious to our own zombification, like robots becoming aware of their artificial, automated existence.

Relatability is a constant in Shaun of the Dead . When the face of Channel Four’s, Krishnan Guru-Murthy, appears on the screen reporting the carnage, it feels like this could all be happening around the corner; proving that small details can make big impacts. The Britishness of the humour instantly identifiable, from self-deprecating jokes to offensive banter, Shaun of the Dead embodies the humour in the lived experienced of working - class Britain. Its comedic parodying of horror film conventions is witty and memorable. In the build up to Shaun and Ed discovering they are in the wake of Armageddon, they are in their local pub sipping their pints of lager after last orders. The lights are dim, the music stopped, and in a hushed voice, Ed is telling the tales of the enigmatic people around the bar. The atmosphere becomes mysterious and our attention focused. Ed concludes by noting that life could be worse and that it’s not the end of the world, which is followed by a timely loud bang on the window, with the silhouette of a zombie scratching at the glass, along with the familiar moan of the undead. The atmospheric tension is at its climax, we wait in anticipation to how our protagonists will react; will the scene continue on its intense, dramatic path? Nope. Instead, they innocently laugh and presume he’s just a fellow binge drinking Brit at the end of a night out. This hilarious presumption of theirs continues on their walk home, as they presume a zombie mauling a man’s neck to be a drunk couple getting too frisky, and become involved in a hilarious drunken sing off with a zombie, whom they assume simply to be extremely drunk and bad singer. British culture and stereotypes are also scoured, from binge drinking, such as in the scene above, to relatable scenarios, such as the British etiquette of not interrupting someone mid-sentence. Shaun, of course, takes this to a new height when he’s too polite to interrupt a female admirer of his, even though there are apocalyptic events occurring in the background.

Edgar Wright’s love of horror movies shines through in this outstandingly British horror comedy. As said by Edgar himself; “it is essentially a horror comedy more than a spoof, because the comedy is funny and the horror is horrible” (E. Wright quoted in Tribute.ca, 2004). All of the tropes you’d expect to find in a zombie horror movie are woven into the narrative, in perfect combination with comedy, an introspective subtext, and a masterclass in filmmaking. If you’re a fan of horror, watch it, if you’re a fan of comedy, watch it… if you’re British, watch it; this is cult classic that has stood strong in the test of time.

REFERENCES

Tribute.ca. (2004). EDGAR WRIGHT - SHAUN OF THE DEAD Interview (2004). [online] Available at: https://www.tribute.ca/interviews/edgar-wright-shaun-of-the-dead/director/9316/ [Accessed 6 Jan. 2019].

Shaun of the Dead . (2004). [DVD] Directed by E. Wright. United Kingdom: StudioCanal, Working Title Films.

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The Last Airbender (M. Night Shyamalan, 2010)

Avatar: The Last Airbender was a phenomenal animated series that I have, and always will, be fond of. My childhood was filled with days where I lost my self in the show’s immersive plot, characters, and animation; I wanted to be part of this world. However, M. Night Shyamalan’s attempt to create a live-action film adaptation of this series, unfortunately, feels like just that… an attempt. 

Shyamalan’s The Last Airbender did a poor job of drawing from its source material, and fell short of capturing its essence in tone, characters, and action. However, back in 2010, an easily pleased, naive 11-year-old me, went to see this film in cinemas and enjoyed it thoroughly, blissfully unaware of the torture I had just subjected my parents to.

The Last Airbender is an epic tale set in a world divided into the Fire, Water, Earth and Air nations; with the people of these nations holding the ability to manipulate their elements. After awakening from 100 years of dormancy, a young boy named Aang reawakens to find the world in peril at the hands of the destructive, domineering fire nation. Aang is no ordinary boy however, it turns out, he is the avatar; the one being who can master all four elements and restore peace and balance to their world.

The actors deployed in the film are all skilled in their craft, however, their performances were unconvincing, feeling at times as if you watching the rehearsal of an amateur production, scripts in hands. This was a major drawback to the film overall, coming from an adult’s perspective, with this weak dialogue repeatedly reminding you that this is a film with the uncritical audience of children. In addition to this abysmal delivery of lines, the casting of these characters is not what should be expected. Aang, the protagonist child monk, was portrayed by white American actor, Noah Ringer, and the characters of Sokka and Katara, are also played by white American actors, Jackson Rathbone and Nicola Peltz. These white protagonists look rather out of place among the rest of the cast, who are portrayed by people within the ethnic culture of their original characters, being Inuit or East Asian. Not only were the characters too white, they were also two dimensional. Scandals revolving around live-action adaptations of anime’s being whitewashed have been commonplace in Hollywood over the last few decades. Unfortunately, this is still happening today, with films like Ghost in the Shell (Rupert Sanders, 2017, USA) casting white actors such as Scarlett Johannsen to play Asian character roles, frustrating fans all over the world who expect to see an interesting adaptation of the beautiful Asian artform, not a whitewashed Hollywood version.

A prominent theme that originated in the animated series is that of unity and collectively in the face of an oppressive evil. The fire nation represents the militaristic imperialism that can come with rapid advancements in industrialisation. This is demonstrated in one scene, when Aang, Sokka and Katara travelled to an Earth Nation village enslaved by the Fire Nation. They were told of the initial foot battle won by these earthbenders against their attackers, however then Fire Nation “came with their machines. Huge machines made out of metal. There was nothing we could do”. This is representative of many historical events in human history, where more advanced nations have used their technological superiority to attack and oppress those who are less developed. Our protagonists then worked together with the people of the village to fight back against their oppressors, liberating themselves in the process. This would not have been successful without the teamwork and cooperation employed by the different nations under attack from the fire nation, being water, ground, and air, which is an inspiring way to teach children importance and effectiveness of unity and teamwork.

This adaptation did a poor job of drawing from its source material, carrying an overly serious atmosphere and with a gaping hole left where the film fails to emulate that perfect balance of comedy and serious dramatics that the series did so well. One of the best things about the animated series is its intense, fast paced action scenes, where the elements are used regularly and impressively in combat. The movie, however, had a serious issue with its use of special effects and pacing in these action scenes; with ridiculously bad yet humorous timing in fight choreography, and a noticeably delayed pace of editing when fighting with the elements, this film does not match the smooth, fast mechanics of the animation.

The Last Airbender did not live up to expectations, kids may love this film, but it is doubtful any adults will be adding it to their top 10 list; which cannot be said about its animated source material. Although this film has a relatively fun plot and is simple to understand, there are more successful kids films out there that speak to both children and adults alike. Evidently, this story is one designed to prosper in the realm of animation, and has not translated into live action as successfully as Shyamalan could have hoped. There were moments of cinematographic beauty, where hope and potential shone through, however, disappointingly, these were rudely interrupted by the poor delivery of a disastrous script. Unfortunately, Shyamalan’s directive style did not translate effectively into this film; neglecting to adapt his trademark techniques, such as the inapt use of awkward close-ups and emotionally distant characters, resulting in a film that feels more like a distant cousin than a close relative to its lovable, animated counterpart, not doing it the justice it deserves.  

REFERENCES

The Last Airbender. (2010). [DVD] Directed by M. Shyamalan. Hollywood: Paramount Pictures.