How does Edgar Wright use the audience’s intertextual knowledge to create comedy?
In this essay I will be analysing the from 00:03:26 to 00:08:19.
Edgar Wright is known for his precise use of subtle homages through microforms. In “Shaun of the Dead”, he uses cinematography, editing, diegetic sound and mise en scene to reference other films in an ironic, satirical and parodic way to create comedy.
Throughout “Shaun of the Dead”, Wright literally recreates shots from other films. The first example is just after the credits. We fade from the credits into a shot of the floor, Shaun’s feet walk into frame and the camera pans vertically, revealing Shaun. Although this shot is a direct recreation to a shot from George A. Romero’s “Day of the Dead”, the comedic effect comes from the unexpected nature of Shaun’s reveal. Instead of revealing the iconic zombie called Bub, we see Shaun, a relatable, 20-something loser. This idea of taking the extraordinary and replacing it with the ordinary is used throughout the film. Minutes later, Edgar Wright recreates a shot, from John Landis’ “An American Werewolf in London”. Shaun looks in the mirror of the medicine cabinet and adjusts his tie. Then he closes it completely, revealing Pete, Shaun’s housemate. Of course, in “An American Werewolf in London” it is the main character’s dead friend that is revealed. This makes the reference comedic in its total lack of substantial similarity. Instead of a semi-decomposed corpse, it is simply Pete, played by Peter Serafinowicz. “Spaced” fans will immediately recognize Serafinowicz as Duane Benzie, Tim’s (played by Simon Pegg) arch-enemy. This makes the comedy work on two different levels, both for the “Spaced” and “American Werewolf” fans. This method lets the audience “get” what the director is referencing and therefore become more involved in the film.
Later, there is an even more direct reference to Serafinowicz’s character in “Spaced”. As he leaves the room, revealing “I am a prick” sellotaped to his back, his phone rings. He answers, saying “Hi Dom”, an iconic quote that is used repeatedly throughout “Spaced”. Each time Simon Pegg’s character has a flashback to when Duane stole his girlfriend, we see him pick up the phone and say “Hi Dom, yeah it’s Duane Benzie”. Although this is a background use of sound that is overshadowed by the more obvious “I am a prick” joke, to the “Spaced” fans, this subtle use of dialogue will immediately be recognized. What is so clever is that the audience members that have not seen “Spaced” will not realise that they do not understand the joke, so the audience never feels distanced from the film. This is particularly necessary because during the making of this film, “Spaced” had not been exhibited or released outside the United Kingdom. It wasn’t until after the success of “Shaun of the Dead” that it did eventually get a release in America. Therefore, up until that point the humour created for the “Spaced” fans was exclusively for a British audience which, if handled less intelligently, could lose the American audience.
This subtle use of sound is featured in the film throughout. During the tracking shot, as Shaun goes to the shop, he walks past a road sweeper. The man is listening to a radio, and as Shaun walks past you can hear on the news that a space probe named “Omega 6” has broken apart in the southwest of England. This is a reference to Romero’s “Night of the Living Dead” in which a space probe causes the dead to rise. Although this doesn’t tie in with the plot, the people who know what the radio announcement is referencing will understand the comedy created by this subtle yet obvious use of microform.
Wright also references sound design techniques that create tension. Originating from Francis Ford Coppola’s “The Godfather”, the use of a kettle boiling is an effective tool to create tension, something Wright directly references in “Shaun of the Dead” when Shaun argues with his mother. Wright develops this idea further as Shaun and Pete have a heated discussion about Ed. As they argue, we can hear Ed playing “Timesplitters 2” in the living room and the battle sounds complement the faceoff between Shaun and Pete. This use of battle sounds to complement an argument is comparable with fellow British horror-movie maker, Neil Marshall’s short film, “Combat”, in which a group of friends go out to the pub, the twist being that all the audience can hear are battle sounds. In “Shaun of the Dead” the use of sound ironically complements the argument, especially since the argument is about the person who is making the battle sounds.
A less direct but more obvious reference to genre films that Wright uses is the crash-zoom sequences that run throughout the film. Edgar Wright claims “It’s kind of a nod to James Cameron and Sam Raimi, that idea of having really stylized tooling up sequences”. However, what Wright has done is take these sequences and base them in a relatable world, so instead of Bruce Campbell attaching a chainsaw to the end of his severed arm, we see Shaun doing daily activities, brushing his teeth and going to the toilet. Of course, with the initial target audience being British, these sequences are reminiscent of Danny Boyle’s overly stylized sequences in the likes of “Shallow Grave” and “Trainspotting”. The comedy is created because content of the sequence is so entirely different from these films or the likes of “The Terminator” and “Evil Dead II: Dead by Dawn”, but it is executed in the same way, which is ironic.
Edgar Wright is a huge Martin Scorsese, Brian DePalma and Paul Thomas Anderson fan and it is clear that the lengthy tracking shot of Shaun walking to the shop is a nod to these directors’ styles. The way the camera follows the character as they encounter a number of different people is an obviousreference to the famous tracking shots in the likes of “Goodfellas”, “Carrie” and “Boogie Nights” in which main characters encounter a number of other people. What is different is that instead of encountering gangsters, porn stars or horrific high-school bullies, Shaun encounters homeless people, road sweepers and fun-runners. This idea of the mundane been shot in the same way as the extraordinary continually makes the film comedic.
As with the tracking shot, the people shown during the opening credits are represented as normal, working people. They act like zombies in their day to day life, doing the same thing day in, day out, without a single thought put into the process. Mary at the checkout mindlessly scans items, the business men thoughtlessly check their mobile phones simultaneously and the hung-over ravers walk and nod their heads in time with the music. This idea of using zombie movies as a basis of giving a social commentary is taken from George A. Romero’s “Living Dead” series, although unlike these films it is not the focus of “Shaun of the Dead”. Edgar Wright has stated that “Dawn of the Dead” is one of his favourite films, and clearly the metaphor in “Dawn of the Dead” (Romero’s satirical take on consumerism) has inspired the zombie-like state of the characters in the film before the zombie outbreak has even happened. This is funny because most people should be able to see an aspect of themselves in the mindless people, like they do in the zombies mindlessly walking around the shopping centre in “Dawn of the Dead”. This joke is ironic in its approach and both parodic and satirical in its content.
The use of mise en scene in the film hints at the British romantic comedy genre. One of the ways “Shaun of the Dead” was promoted was as a “rom-zom-com”, a romantic zombie comedy. “Love Actually”, “About a Boy” and “Bridget Jones’ Diary” were all released whilst the film was in production, so clearly the London based romance films were popular at the time, and inevitably the “Shaun of the Dead” audience would be familiar with the genre, although they probably wouldn’t be fans of it. “Shaun of the Dead “continually pokes fun at the genre, in a less loving way than it does with zombie films. In the tracking shot as Shaun walks to the shop, we see the working class people living their lives, rather than the middle to upper-class, Hugh Grant types of “Notting Hill” and “Four Weddings and a Funeral”. We see a homeless man asking for change, a litter-picker listening to the radio and an Asian corner-shop owner, all aspects of Britain which the idealistic London-based rom-coms usually skip over. As the audience are not used to seeing this realistic representation of London in a comedy film, it is ironic to see it portrayed in such a way. This is especially funny for a British audience, who would find it relatable as well as ironic.
What Edgar Wright has chosen to do is take recognizable uses of microforms from genre cinema and put them in a contemporary British setting whilst simultaneously tipping the modern British rom-com on its head. Since, in recent times, British cinema is based around social-realism films, idealistic London based rom-coms and heritage films; this clever mix of British and American genres creates a style of its own, whilst also working on the level of a simple rom-com with zombies. Wright has continually taken the ordinary and shot them in the same fashion as films about the extraordinary, creating an ironic edge to the film. All of this makes the film popular with a wide range of audience and continually hilarious to all, even if they’re laughing at different jokes.
