Shaun vs. Dawn
Zombie movies are a staple genre of recent pop culture, one that has spawned dozens upon dozens of videogames, movies, and television shows. Two icons of this genre are the aptly similarly named Shaun of the Dead and the Dawn of the Dead 2004 remake.[1] Both are sort of this distilled “zombie movie essence” that has been concentrated and produced into film, for parody and serious reasons respectively. In this, they are shockingly, almost scarily, similar and if it wasn't for Shaun coming out within three months of Dawn, I’d say it was a direct parody. But, in comparing the two to one another, in my opinion you can find that Shaun of the Dead is vastly superior, in terms of actual storytelling. Their similarities are just as important as their differences however, and you can look no further than the male and female leads of both movies.
The male leads of Shaun of the Dead and Dawn of Dead are Shaun and Michael respectively. As archetypes of zombie movie leads (which is done purposefully in Shaun to better illustrate the movie’s parody format) they share a great deal in common. Physically, they’re both Caucasian, in their mid-20s to early 30s, of medium height and weight, have a small amount of facial hair, wear similar outfits, and have light hair. Of course, as almost all movies do, the protagonist is meant to connect to a target audience, in this case middle-class white men. Even their back-stories are similar, with Shaun recently being dumped and Michael being a divorcee, and they both work as television salesmen. Hell, even their outfits are similar, generally being dirty khakis and a button-up shirt! They seem like carbon copies of each other, and it’s done to better cement that connection between the target audience and the characters on screen. But this technique is far better done with Shaun, but I’ll talk about that after…
Liz and Ana are the female leads for Shaun and Dawn, respectively. In the same manner of Shaun and Michael, they share almost disturbing similarities, and I swear that these movies did not interact during writing or filming in any way. They have short blonde hair, blue eyes, are in their mid-20s to early 30s, Caucasian, of medium height, skinny, and wear similar clothing (of which there seems to be a staggering amount of blue). And I’m not even kidding about the blue part. Both of them, throughout their respective movies, wear blue as part of every outfit they wear.
But, despite these similarities, Liz and Shaun are far better and far more relatable characters than Ana and Michael. This is because we actually take the time to get to know them as people. A good twenty minutes of Shaun of the Dead is just Shaun’s average day right before the zombies break loose. We get to see his likes, his dislikes, his little quirks, and intimate details about him as a person and the relationships he has with his peers. And while we don’t get the same amount of time with Liz, we see her through Shaun, and viewers get to experience a similar amount of familiarity with her as they do with him. In Dawn of the Dead, there is a strange kind of discord to this important back-story. Firstly, the intro to the film is through Ana, but it’s at most five minutes and mostly sets up foreshadowing for the zombie attack. Michael appears about five minutes later, and while the two share a similar amount of screen time, Michael arguably does more important things where the plot is concerned (such as executing infected survivors, stripping cars, and formulating plans) than Ana (who takes care of a pregnant woman that dies anyway, complaining, and generally being useless). Not only is this back-story disproportional to the roles they play in the film, it’s not enough for the audience to sympathize with them. We don’t care about them as people, because they've been thrown into danger before we even get to know them.
This is especially important because both movies have a romantic subplot around their two main characters. But with Shaun and Liz, we've actually seen them interact outside of zombie attacks, and even seen how they act with each other and how their relationship works. Near the end of Shaun of the Dead, Liz and Shaun are trapped in the basement of the Winchester Pub, boxed in my the ghouls that have recently devoured their closest friends. The two begin talking about committing suicide together rather than suffer like their loved ones did, it’s a heartbreaking moment because it’s a feeling of raw emotion and devastation in a movie that’s even still about comedy. When Michael is bit and commits suicide at the end of Dawn of the Dead, and he and Ana share a kiss, I feel nothing, and I expect the audience feels the same way. The suicide is of a man we never got to know, and the kiss feels like a formality. It’s bland. And it’s because we don’t care because the writers couldn't bother to write in more emotional and non-action sequences into the film. The moral of this story is; balance your back-story, deepen your characters, and if you have a romantic subplot, don’t make it trivial.
[1] If you ask me, the original from the 70s was far superior. But the original wasn't really a “zombie movie” because the genre didn't really exist yet, if that makes any sense.
Zombie movies are a staple genre of recent pop culture, one that has spawned dozens upon dozens of videogames, movies, and television shows. Two icons of this genre are the aptly similarly named Shaun of the Dead and the Dawn of the Dead 2004 remake.[1] Both are sort of this distilled “zombie movie essence” that has been concentrated and produced into film, for parody and serious reasons respectively. In this, they are shockingly, almost scarily, similar and if it wasn't for Shaun coming out within three months of Dawn, I’d say it was a direct parody. But, in comparing the two to one another, in my opinion you can find that Shaun of the Dead is vastly superior, in terms of actual storytelling. Their similarities are just as important as their differences however, and you can look no further than the male and female leads of both movies.
The male leads of Shaun of the Dead and Dawn of Dead are Shaun and Michael respectively. As archetypes of zombie movie leads (which is done purposefully in Shaun to better illustrate the movie’s parody format) they share a great deal in common. Physically, they’re both Caucasian, in their mid-20s to early 30s, of medium height and weight, have a small amount of facial hair, wear similar outfits, and have light hair. Of course, as almost all movies do, the protagonist is meant to connect to a target audience, in this case middle-class white men. Even their back-stories are similar, with Shaun recently being dumped and Michael being a divorcee, and they both work as television salesmen. Hell, even their outfits are similar, generally being dirty khakis and a button-up shirt! They seem like carbon copies of each other, and it’s done to better cement that connection between the target audience and the characters on screen. But this technique is far better done with Shaun, but I’ll talk about that after…
Liz and Ana are the female leads for Shaun and Dawn, respectively. In the same manner of Shaun and Michael, they share almost disturbing similarities, and I swear that these movies did not interact during writing or filming in any way. They have short blonde hair, blue eyes, are in their mid-20s to early 30s, Caucasian, of medium height, skinny, and wear similar clothing (of which there seems to be a staggering amount of blue). And I’m not even kidding about the blue part. Both of them, throughout their respective movies, wear blue as part of every outfit they wear.
But, despite these similarities, Liz and Shaun are far better and far more relatable characters than Ana and Michael. This is because we actually take the time to get to know them as people. A good twenty minutes of Shaun of the Dead is just Shaun’s average day right before the zombies break loose. We get to see his likes, his dislikes, his little quirks, and intimate details about him as a person and the relationships he has with his peers. And while we don’t get the same amount of time with Liz, we see her through Shaun, and viewers get to experience a similar amount of familiarity with her as they do with him. In Dawn of the Dead, there is a strange kind of discord to this important back-story. Firstly, the intro to the film is through Ana, but it’s at most five minutes and mostly sets up foreshadowing for the zombie attack. Michael appears about five minutes later, and while the two share a similar amount of screen time, Michael arguably does more important things where the plot is concerned (such as executing infected survivors, stripping cars, and formulating plans) than Ana (who takes care of a pregnant woman that dies anyway, complaining, and generally being useless). Not only is this back-story disproportional to the roles they play in the film, it’s not enough for the audience to sympathize with them. We don’t care about them as people, because they've been thrown into danger before we even get to know them.
This is especially important because both movies have a romantic subplot around their two main characters. But with Shaun and Liz, we've actually seen them interact outside of zombie attacks, and even seen how they act with each other and how their relationship works. Near the end of Shaun of the Dead, Liz and Shaun are trapped in the basement of the Winchester Pub, boxed in my the ghouls that have recently devoured their closest friends. The two begin talking about committing suicide together rather than suffer like their loved ones did, it’s a heartbreaking moment because it’s a feeling of raw emotion and devastation in a movie that’s even still about comedy. When Michael is bit and commits suicide at the end of Dawn of the Dead, and he and Ana share a kiss, I feel nothing, and I expect the audience feels the same way. The suicide is of a man we never got to know, and the kiss feels like a formality. It’s bland. And it’s because we don’t care because the writers couldn't bother to write in more emotional and non-action sequences into the film. The moral of this story is; balance your back-story, deepen your characters, and if you have a romantic subplot, don’t make it trivial.
[1] If you ask me, the original from the 70s was far superior. But the original wasn't really a “zombie movie” because the genre didn't really exist yet, if that makes any sense.