Works Cited

Biography for Edgar Wright. 1990-2011. The Internet Movie Database. Web.  25 April 2011. Web.  8 May 2011

Edwards, Kim. "MORIBUNDITY, MUNDANITY AND MODERNITY: SHAUN OF THE DEAD."Screen Education 50 (2008): 99-103. Academic Search Complete. EBSCO.           .

Shaun of the Dead (2004). Jon Sandys. 2004. Movie Mistakes. Web. 1 May 2011.

Shaun of the Dead.  Jaskeerat. 2006. Zombie Creeping Flesh. Web. 4 May 2011.

Shaun of the Dead. Dir. Edgar Wright. Per. Simon Pegg, Nick Frost. Universal. 2004. Film.

Shaun of the Dead. 1990-2011. The Internet Movie Database. Web. 20 April 2011.

Edgar Wright: A Famous Film Writer

On April 18, 1974, in the small city of Poole of the United Kingdom, Edgar Wright was born. During his teen years Edgar would direct short films with an old camera he recieved from a close family member as a gift. As his love for the film industry grew, so did his name in the film industry. As a teen he entered in the Going Live film competition and won first place recieving a high end camcorder as a reward. From that moment forward his film life took off. In 1993 Edgar directed, wrote, produced, and even acted in his first big film, Dead Right. Two years after producing Dead Right, Edgar Wright produced A Fist Full of Fingers . In 2004, Edgar introduced the romantic zombie comedy, Shaun of the Dead. Edgar wrote, directed, and acted in this film that produced a total of $30,039,392 in box office reciepts. Total film magazine rated Shaun of the dead the 49th greatest British film of all time, and in 2005, the film was rated number three for best comedy of all time by a Channel 4 poll. Today, Edgar Wright continues his life as a film director and writer and plans to direct many more films throughout his career.

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Stranded

Isolation is one very strong theme presented thoughout Shaun of the Dead. The isolation begins with his girlfriend Liz leaving Shaun, leaving him with no one but his worthless "bum of a friend", Ed. To make it all worse the city gets taken over by zombies. Now it turns into a battle between a handful of humans, against a city of zombies. They have no communication with the outside world, and have no one to talk to but themselves. The situation gets so bad, that they begin to think that they are all that remains of the human population. Ed said to Shaun "who died and made you fucking king of the zombies?" when Shaun started acting like a leader in order to survive this disaster.

To the Winchester

Shaun of the Dead was filmed entirely in London, England. Life in London is very different then life in the United States, and the setting of this film is very important. The film focuses on the heavily populated city of London, and shows how the civilians would handle a zombie take over. Shaun is a frequent customer at The Winchester, and would meet up with friends daily to have a pint which is life in London. Past zombie movies star strong muscular men, armed with guns, and posses a "badass attitude", ending with taking a stand at the mall because it has everything you need to survive. Shaun of the Dead took the opposite direction. They took the hard working city man that wears a tie, who has never touched a gun, and certainly doesnt spend time in the gym, and put in him a Zombie apocalypse. Although this description of Shaun may not sound suitable for survival, he did indeed pull through after taking a stand at his reliable pub, The Winchester, which provided everything he personally needed for survival.

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Dawn of the Shaun

Shaun is the protagonist in the romantic-zombie-comedy film, Shaun of the Dead. Shaun is a man who simply struggles to be...a man. He sits on the couch with his unmotivated best friend and plays games day after day. He goes about his daily routine mindlessly and struggles with the same issues everyday. His relationship with his step father is complicated and he struggles to win him over as a father figure. Shaun's relationship with his girlfriend Liz is on the edge because she can see that Shaun is going no where in life, and has yet to prove himself as a man. When the people of the world turn into zombies, Shaun finally takes control for once in his life in order to survive. This captures Liz's attention and she begins to see Shaun may have finally grown up. In the process of "surviving", he also wins over his step fathers' love moments before he loses him. All these tragic events helped mold Shaun from a boy, into a man.

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Mindless

For this particular assignment I chose to write about the film Shaun of the Dead directed by Edgar Wright. I had watched this film once long ago as a child, but after watching it a second time as a college student I noticed how much it captured the typical lifestyle and my attention. This movie captured my interest because the themes and messages presented throughout the movie are so true, and in a way, relate to my life and to many of those I come across. Many of us wake up and do the same routine everyday, to the point where we can do our daily routines without even thinking, living a "mindless" life. I plan to explore and anaylze the characters and themes within this film, and show how these themes apply to our everyday lives.

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