NARRATIVE EQUILIBRIUM
The Equilibrium of this narrative is the setting of Shaun, living his normal, standard life. Visiting his local pub on the regular. He has to face ongoing issues with his girlfriend, as she is growing tired of the same, repetitive motion in their relationship. Shaun tries to amend the situation but fails miserably consistently.
The Significant Event of this narrative is where Britain goes through a zombie apocalypse. Shaun doesn't realize at the start, he instead keeps on going through his daily routine. He eventually realizes, after a collision with a pair of zombies in his back garden, that he really is in a zombie apocalypse.
The Disruption of this narrative causes Shaun into trying to rescue his girlfriend, who he has had ongoing issues with as stated before. He also tries to save his mother and, reluctantly, his stepdad in this process. The measures that Shaun goes into leads to a succession of obstacles that he must overcome to get safety, which he thinks is the Winchester Pub.
The Climax of this narrative is the fact that the people in Shaun's crew that are seeking help slowly, slowly become infected. This leads to a series of dramatic endings to family members & friends. Shaun then eventually manages to rescue himself & his girlfriend in the end.
The New Equilibrium of this narrative is Shaun & his girlfriend running into help from a previous acquaintance he ran into whilst searching for a safe zone. This rescue helps him & his girlfriend get through the apocalypse & eventually manages to live his life again, in different circumstances that are still being amended. He is back with Liz, and he also choose to keep his best friend Ed, still infected, in the shed in the back garden because he couldn't bear to leave him.
GENRE CONVENTIONS
Throughout Shaun Of The Dead, multiple genre conventions cross over to help the protagonist in his goals; win back Liz and survive the apocalypse. As soon as the genre shifts from a romantic comedy to a zombie movie, Shaun starts to succeed where he once failed. The Winchester is set up as the main cause for breakup in the prologue. Liz is sick of the same thing day in day out, and Shaun fails to act on his promise of change (Rom Genre). The Winchester then becomes vital to their survival (Zombie genre), although it turns out to be the cause of most of the problems within both genres.
London, the main setting of the movie, viewers are unsure what else lies beyond London as we don't really receive anything else besides from news reports at the start of the outbreak, possible refuge for survivors.
In Liz's flat was where scene of the breakup between Liz and Shaun took place. Before the breakup, Shaun attempted to climb the wall up to her Window and ultimately failed to make it up there. Shaun climbs the wall in an attempt to see if she is okay during the Zombie outbreak and to get her to safety (Zombie genre) and he successfully managed to get in to her flat.
Shaun's house is a key starting point for the Zombie horror genre of the film, Shaun first realizes he's in the middle of a zombie apocalypse whereas before he was completely oblivious to it all, the girl in his back garden is a key scene of that. Even though he was flicking through TV channels which were showing news reports of the outbreak, and the fact he walked his same route to the corner shop to get his usual drink which led to him interacting with multiple zombies along the way, it took a zombie to show up in his back garden for him to even realize anything was wrong.
The Opening Of The Film starts off with the romantic comedy and the zombie genre is just in the background. Set in a prologue style which is different to Dawn Of The Dead as you are not thrown straight into the zombie apocalypse but instead you are thrown into a relationship crisis. The audience are given information about the hero and heroine's relationship yet they do not hear how the zombie apocalypse starts. Both genres have a linear structure. Scenes from the romantic comedy genre are repeated in the zombie horror genre but with a zombified twist. ‘Shaun Of The Dead’ references many social and emotional themes that are covered as the film progresses. One of the main themes that we see is relationship. This is a key theme as it starts off the beginning of the film by Shaun and Liz’s relationship falling apart but over time throughout the film it starts to heal and piece itself back together again. Another key theme of ‘Shaun Of The Dead’ is friendship. Both Shaun and Liz’s friendship circles are holding the two apart in their relationship, as Shaun wants to please Pete, Ed and Liz while Liz wants to please Dianne, David and Shaun. The final key theme that is covered in ‘Shaun Of The Dead’ is Shaun’s family issues that are dealt with throughout the film when his step-dad becomes a zombie. Shaun’s issue with his step-dad is shown through the quote: “He’s not my dad, he’s my step-dad.”
The movie uses lots of varying props, such as cricket bats, garden shovels, typical British household items become weapons. Pool cues are used to hit the zombie bartender on the head. The gun that is taken from the shelf above the bar despite no one having any real experience with shooting one. The work pin badge often seen when Shaun is putting it on for work is now being seen when he takes it off during the zombie apocalypse lets the viewers know that he isn't going to work and this is not a Romantic Comedy film any more. The zombies and survivors have torn and blood stained clothes. Pete has a business suit to show his job status. Ed wears sloppy clothes as he is a slob and doesn't work. Shaun wears clothes that are somewhere in between Pete's and Ed's clothes. Within the movie most of the zombie related scenes in the pub have darker lighting to build up a tense atmosphere which relates to the scene. For example at the climax of the apocalypse there is a lot more threat, danger and the mood is a lot darker which makes it a proper zombie film. the camera focuses a lot on the hero and heroine's faces to show their emotional expressions, the scenes also have a lot of close-ups as it focuses as Shaun and Liz touch and look into each other's eyes a lot more as the movie progresses. Unrealistic use of sound used for drama and comedy. Sound of whistling kettle to add tension to the family arguments between Shaun and his mum. The use of the Queen song adds to the comedy effect of the scene where the characters where they are all hitting the zombified bartender with the pool cues.
