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Shaun Of The Dead

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Shaun of the Dead is a horror-comedy film in which Shaun’s boring life with his girlfriend Liz, best friend and roommate Ed, and favorite pub the Winchester, is interrupted by the appearance of zombies. To summarize, Shaun is dumped by Liz and on the next day is confronted by zombies with Ed. In the course of the day, they pick up Liz and her roommates, Shaun’s mother and stepfatherstep-father, and travel to the Winchester for safety after leaving Shaun’s zombified stepfather on the way. At the Winchester, Liz’s roommates, Shaun’s mother, and Ed are all either zombified, killed, or both. Shaun and Liz escape the Winchester, and emerge to find the British Army exterminating the rest of the zombies. In Shaun of the Dead, how people think about,…show more content…
Those who are bitten by a zombie and those who have recently died are reanimated as a zombie. They retain the ability to move and, as seen at the end of the film, some “primal instincts” like working at the grocery store or playing video games. The zombies are not dead. They are alive and can only be killed by “removing the head, or destroying the brain,” as is said by a newscaster on television (Wright 2004). Death is then seen not as transcendence or a soul being separated from a body, it is simply the destruction of the brain. This is supported by a scene in which Shaun’s step-dad dies in the car; Shaun says he’s dead, but his mother turns to look back and says “no he isn’t,” seeing his zombified body moving, head and brain fully intact. Scenes common in other zombie movies of dismembered arms continuing to move are absent; even after zombification, separation from the brain or destruction of it is…show more content…
When Shaun’s estranged step-dad is dying in the car, he shares his regrets and his love for Shaun and with a great effort places his hand on Shaun’s shoulder. Only Shaun and his step-dad are in frame as this exchange takes place, highlighting its importance as Shaun begins to cry. Shaun later has to deal with his mother’s zombification and death. As it is revealed that she was bitten, all crowd around her and Shaun moves to hold her, bringing her head close in to his chest. “It’s been a funny sort of day” she says just before she dies (Wright 2004). This shows the importance of touch as his mother passes and comments on the nature of all the death caused by the zombies: unusual and
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