Women and Philosophy: Aristophanes

I would first like to apologize for the lack of any blog activity the last week and even this one I’m getting in right before the deadline. I would like to take this time to apologize for this as well as an appearance of lack of enthusiasm in the classroom and my two absences. I would like to explain this behavior as I am not a slacker or a lazy student and I pride myself in my work and want to do my best for my professors to show them the learning that is taking place. That being said, I do not want to give the impression that I am anything less than a serious student. I am about to explain this recent behavior—not excuse but explain. I have been going thru a rough time recently with a depressive episode and have been doing my very best to cope and to push forward and power thru my homework and classes trying my hardest to focus on my studies. At times, it is difficult to even read as I struggle with every word and feel illiterate. On the days, I have missed classes I was in very bad places and had I gone to class I would have not gotten anything out of it and I probably would have concerned the students around me and may have left in the middle of class anyway. On these days, I also felt I could not go to class, not just mentally, but I felt I physically could not move. Like with any severe illness I have good days and bad days and I am working with an on campus therapist to ease the burden of these feelings. This is mainly to apologize to my fellow students because the class is a discussion-based one, that includes the blogging, and when one person neglects this, the whole class suffers. My professors will receive a separate email explaining the situation in more detail. Thank you all for your understanding and I apologize again.

Now on to the blog:

This week I would like to talk about my SLAP since I did not get a chance to on Wed, however, the conversation that we did have was interesting indeed. I turn to the first paragraph on pg. 23. I disagree with her statement that the Platonic myths “take sexual differentiation for granted without attempting to explain it”. I admit that they may take it for granted but the myth she refers to does explain it in a sense. In addition, one could argue that if people did not really care that there was sexual differentiation, they might be more inclined to see the sexes as equal. The myth she refers to is a story that Aristophanes tells Plato to try to explain sexual intercourse. Beauvoir agrees with this but she feels it is only about sex while I interpret this story as being much more romantic than pure sex. One could interpret Aristophanes story to explain why people “make love” I thought of this when I remembered Robert Rowland Smith’s interpretation of the story in his book Breakfast with Socrates that I highly recommend. Smith gives a beautiful interpretation of the story as follows:

“Ever since [our bodies were cut in two], the severed individuals have been seeking to come back to their other half, defining sex—the gluing of fragments—as deep satisfaction of being once more complete. Aristophanes’s story holds no biological water, of course, but like many myths it makes up for it in psychological insight: it interprets the craving for sex as nostalgia, a desire for return to a lost paradise of wholeness and haleness, a site of familiarity and sameness. In tumbling into the exquisite comfort of a lover’s arms, you are seeking to repair your perforated soul.”

He puts it so poetically but I agree with him fully. I know that Beauvoir has a different agenda here, but she does wave her hand over this story of sex as if it does not do as much as it should or that the philosophers were not focusing on the real issue at hand—which may be true. Do not get me wrong, I agree with pretty much everything she has to say, which makes it difficult to make a SLAP being in such agreement.

However, shouldn’t this class talk at least a little bit about male and female relationships? Especially since most of the complaints of either sex are directed at the opposite one as a direct result of relationship problems. Most of the clichés and stereotypes and genders and sexes are based in the differences that cause problem in log term relationships—most sitcoms that deal with couples focus most of their attention on this subject such as Home Improvement and Everybody Loves Raymond, as well as others. The only problem here is that usually the issues refer back to straight couples, as does Aristophanes story, although he never specifically mentions that when the humans were split one-half looks male and the other female, it is almost certainly implied.

Moreover, since ALL types of relationships and gender\sex differences are equally valid, it may be a waste of time for our class to discuss these issues, which seem to be on a different level than our class. This was all just some food for thought and since that, it was these blogs are for I hope I sparked some thoughts about the nature of intercourse at the very least.

Women and Philosophy: Double Standards

I am extremely off my game today and I apologize in advance—it has been a long and strenuous week. Today I am doing a short post on double standards. Oh, how I hate double standards. Let’s start with the most obvious: sex.

It seems that as long as forever, it is not only no surprise when a man sleeps around but it is also expected and usually encouraged. At the same time however, women are meant to “guard their flower” How do people expect this to work? If all the men are meant to be having sex with as many women as they can while simultaneously, women are supposed to save it for the right one or just for love or just for the one they marry. This is like the statistic about drivers I’m sure most have you have heard esp. if you have been in a statistics class: 80%\of all drivers report that they are better than the average driver—you see how this doesn’t work. Even when safe sex is involved, the stigmas and stereotypes are still there. If someone finds a condom in a guy’s wallet he is just being responsible and prepared, however, if someone find birth control in a girl’s purse, she is a slut. Even worse is when the religion gets involved. In both Christianity and Islam, it is widely considered a sin to have sex before marriage. However, if a guy does it he is just being a guy “boys will be boys”—it is still a sin, society just doesn’t care. If a girl has done it though, parents throw a huge fit. Even worse still in Islamic culture, if a girl has sex before marriage she is used goods and no lager fit to be anyone’s wife. Even if she was raped or she rode horses when she was, young it is still her fault and she is cast out. WTF?!\Logic? None to be seen. As i said it is still a sin for a guy to do it but there is no physical evidence of it afterwards so no one is the wiser, except the girl that he “ruined”. This explains why there is great popularity with one of the latest plastic surgeries: hymen reattachment.

There are many other double standards that affect women but what about the few that affect men? These problems are still technically about women and I was thinking on these today. The first is that whenever there is a couple fighting, usually the guy is always blamed even if the girl is the abusive one in the relationship, which does happen, if people get involved in the argument they usually side with the girl. Another one that people fairly think about is if a guy is watching children play, the first place a lot of people’s minds go is that he is a child-molester. However, a child is equally likely to be stolen by a woman. Woman who are infertile or lost a child may, in the right mind-set, steal someone else’s child and raise them as their own—but no o e ever thinks about that when a woman is watching children somewhere.

Film Reviews: Simon Pegg Week: Day 5: Run Fatboy Run

“Sorry. I went for a run this morning in my trunks...and I think I've got a bit of a rash...you know, down there in the, uh...scrotal zone.”

Yesterday with Paul, we lost Wright and today we lose Frost and Park. However, we still have a film co-written by Pegg. Run Fatboy Run is a fantastic serious romantic comedy that anyone can enjoy.

Pegg plays Dennis Doyle (“from downstairs”), a man who left his fiancé, Libby, pregnant at the alter—he just ran away for reasons later revealed. The plot of the film is Dennis trying to maintain his relationship with Libby and their son, Jake. However, things get more complicated when Dennis meets Libby’s new American boyfriend, Wit who right off, the audience can tell is not a nice guy (even though he acts like one). Dennis has always run away from all the uncomfortable situations in his life and has never finished anything he starts—he is a quitter. However, when he finds out the Wit is a marathon runner and is signed up for an up-coming race, he decides to show Libby that he can change and that he can finish something. Problems arise when he cannot find a way into the race since the dead line was several months ago. His good friends are there to support and to push him, motivate him, and essentially force him into running the race. Will it be enough? Can he change? Does Libby still love him? Is he running for the right reason?

There are so many things that I love about this film. First and foremost, the way it is set up and the flow and mood of the piece. On the surface it is just another romantic comedy but it is more serious than most of the one’s I have seen. It has a mood not unlike the film Definitely, Maybe that is funny but also serious. Run Fatboy Run is very hilarious but has a message and a theme to get across about facing ones fears and committing to ones responsibilities, which the film articulates wonderfully. The first time I saw this was in theaters when it first came out on a date with my first serious girlfriend. After seeing Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz, I just had to see this. When I did see this I laughed my arse off for most of the film but there were several moments when I teared-up and at one point cried. This film pulls at all the right heartstrings. Simon Pegg is a brilliant writer.

 In addition, writing for this film is Michael Ian Black who wrote the original story. I know him best for his comedic work on the short-lived television show, Stella. Directing Run Fatboy Run is David Schwimmer who most people know from Friends. Schwimmer and Pegg had co-starred together a year earlier in Big Nothing which formed their relationship and created this great film. However, I was not impressed at all with Big Nothing. In fact, I think it is by far the worst Pegg film there is. It is not the fault of Pegg or Schwimmer, the film just sucked and I have been debating on reviewing it or not.

Anyway, semi-co-starring in Run Fatboy Run is Dylan Moran who played David in Shaun of the Dead who is most known for his hit comedy show, Black Books which also starred Bill Bailey (Spaced, Hot Fuzz). Also, the voice of the television commentator towards the end of the film is none other than Peter Serafinowicz (Spaced, Shaun of the Dead).

Run Fatboy Run also has a phenomenal British soundtrack. Seriously, check it out. Each song works perfectly with the scenes they are behind. The film is also a great look at areas in London such as Canary Wharf and Hamsterheath Park.

There are a few things to point out. One is that in the scene when Dennis is snogging his reflection in his mirror, if you look closely, you can see the crew reflected in the television screen on the left. Schwimmer was aware of this but since they were on a time restraint and it really was the best take, he used it anyway. However, the scene is so engaging that I did not notice it until I watched the DVD commentary and he pointed it out. Also, the flashback scene when Dennis is on the bus was never scripted and was added much later. It is a wonderful and important scene and I am glad they decided to add it.

In the scene where Wit is intimidating Dennis with his penis, he is really powdering his balls—talk about a method actor.

Finally, something that blows my mind is how great of an actor they have to play Jake. Matthew Fenton is a brilliant child-actor and he never forgot a line not even once. He makes the film that much more believable.

Run Fatboy Run truly is a gem. It has many hilarious moments juxtaposed with very serious content, the acting and writing is brilliant, and the theme of the film is great. I was going to give it 4.9 out of 5 because I do slightly enjoy Shaun and Fuzz more but since the difference is negligible, I might as well give Run Fatboy Run 5 out of 5 stars.

Film Reviews: Simon Pegg Week: Day 4: Paul

“This is America. Kidnapping a Christian is worse than harboring a fugitive”

Alright. He we are: Day 4. The last film to be made by Simon Pegg and co. After this, all that are left are simply films he has starred in.

Paul is the third film made with Pegg, Frost acting, and Park producing. Edgar Wright wasn’t on-board this time which may explain why this is my least favorite out of the three films—it is certainly one of the funniest but it just doesn’t have the Wright feel to it (and yes, that pun was indented). Instead, this film was co-written by Pegg and Frost instead of Pegg and Wright and it was directed by Greg Mottola who directed Superbad—this might explain further, why I was not that impressed by Paul—I did not really like Superbad all that much.

Pegg goes back into a nerd-dork role that is even more dorky and nerdy than Tim from Spaced. However, he does take-up Tim’s old carrier of graphic artist so there is some reference to Spaced. If you pay attention, there are a few more nods to this. For example, the guys (Jim and Jason) that did all of Tim’s drawings in Spaced also did Graeme’s drawings in Paul. While on the subject of art, you may, notice that the t-shirt the Ruth is wearing has a comic that is drawn by the same guy (Oscar Rights) who did Danny’s flip-book cartoon in Hot Fuzz and the art for the continuity holes for Shaun of the Dead on the DVD.

Graeme (Pegg) and Clive (Frost) are on holiday from England to go to comic-con in San Diego and then take a road trip down the Extraterrestrial Highway to visit all the alien paranormal hotspots such as Area 51, the Black Mailbox, and Roswell.

The film starts with a spaceship landing on a little girl’s dog named Paul in Wyoming in 1947 (1947 was also the year of the Roswell crash and the year Pegg’s mom was born). We then cut to comic-con (not the actual comic-con). The Orcs in the street are actually the real Orc costumes borrowed from Peter Jackson (Pegg makes friends everywhere he goes).

While on their road trip, driving one night a car starts to speed up behind them blaring its horn and flashing its headlights. They think it is couple of rednecks they pissed off back at a diner but it turns out to be just someone in a hurry. Once the car passes them, the driver loses control and the car flips off the road. When Graeme and Clive go to investigate, it turns out to be an alien called Paul.

Paul is being chased by secret agents done up to look like “men in black” and the film essentially becomes a “road-trip’ movie with aliens. It’s mostly a comedy but does have action and suspense. I guess the best way to describe it is a cross between Race with the Devil, E. T, and National Lampoon’s: Vacation.

Just a couple of side-notes. While the filming of Paul was taking place, Park was also producing Scott Pilgrim and Pegg became a father.

Paul, like Spaced, references tons of science-fiction films and Steven Spielberg films in general. There are references and nods to Star Wars, Star Trek, Alien, Aliens, Predator, Back to the Future, E. T, Close Encounters of the Third Kind, Jaws, etc. One of more subtle but great references to look out for is the scene at the bar and the bluegrass band is playing the cantina theme from Star Wars. At one point Paul talks to Spielberg on the phone and it really is Spielberg talking.

A few location shots are also references back to great movies. For example, the town the group stops in where Paul is dressed as a cowboy (at this point it is not a CGI Paul but the stunt-coordinators son dressed up in a Paul costume) is a very famous location. The town is Las Vegas, New Mexico and on the very block, that Paul is filmed is the diner from the scene in Easy Rider when Jack Nicolson is first introduced. In addition, it is where the car is blown up outside a pharmacy in No Country for Old Men. There is a scene from Red Dawn that is shot here also.

The movie also features a very famous cast and the film is very well acted.

However, it still was a letdown after seeing Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz. Paul does not have the clever blend that gave the other films humor. Paul mostly relies on running gags, references, and essentially, for lack of a better term, ‘potty-mouth’ humor. It is a hilarious film, I will give it that, but I feel it could have been so much better had Edgar Wright been working with them like the last two times. Perhaps it also had something to do with the fact that this time it was intended more for an American audience, I really can’t say why it wasn’t such a hit with me as the his previous works. However, that is not to say that films starring Simon Pegg are always worse without all his friends working on it as well, for example, Run, Fatboy, Run is a great movie and it has only Pegg and no Wright, Frost, or Park.

I like the movies pace and I like how it accesses more than just laughter from the audience. The film does have intense and serious moments as well as a few adrenaline fueled scenes that seem to be out of an action movie, but overall, it is just not as great as the movies that came before. Paul gets  4 out of 5 from me.

I will say one fantastic thing about this film is Paul himself. The detailed CGI animation is the most realistic I have seen in many films. It is brilliantly animated and I bow down to the huge animation team that made this possible. Watch the film, the look of Paul is really spectacular and I truly admire the work of these animators. The film gets an extra .5 stars just for the work that went into the CGI for Paul. That doesn’t seem like much, but that is a huge percentage of quality to dedicate to only one aspect of an entire film. So with the work on Paul, the film gets 4.5 out of 5

 

*!SPOILER ALERT!*

I thought I would throw this in here because of something in Nerd Do Well. Throughout the movie, there is the mystery of who plays the boss of the secret agency. We know she is female from her voice. Now most of the super-sci-fi fans will probably pick up on the voice and figure out who it is. The people who like to feck with surprises will check imdb. I am assuming those of you reading this part knows whom it is. In Pegg’s book he talks about how when he was a kid he had a huge crush of Diane Keaton and at one point fell in love with another actress for a brief time. He wrote poems when he was younger and wrote one for Diane Keaton and one for the other actress. Here is that poem: it can be found on pg.263 of Simon Pegg’s book Nerd Do Well published by Gotham Books in June, 2011:

Sigourney

You make me feel…

Like countless innuendo

You drive me round the bend

Oh Sig!

What will I tell Diane?



Women and Philosophy 2: Self-Reliance

I wouldn’t care if i lost the ability to use my phone. I have never been big into the “nonsense news craze” by this i mean that people are constantly telling other people everything they do of do every minute of every day

When I left class yesterday, I began having several musings, which I plan to put into blog posts in the next several days. I will start with Self-Reliance.

Self-Reliance is a very old concept but really was discussed in detail as an important part of life when R. W. Emerson wrote an essay on it. I really love Emerson and I especially love this essay. Even though he is mostly referred to as an essayist, I see him as a philosopher.

Yes, his language is dated and so when he talks of people in general and humanity as a whole he uses the terms “man”, “men’s”, and “mankind”. However, it is easy to look past this.

Most people know what it means to be self-reliant. For those who do not know, to sum up, it means one must be able to take care of oneself without the help or aid of anyone else. Now for Emerson’s friend Thoreau, he took this literally, believing that everyone should go off on his\her own, which is what he did. However, Emerson was not against relationships as much as Thoreau was. In fact, Emerson believed relationships were important and that it is okay to be co-dependent or interdependent, so long as, that, at the end of the day, if that other person were to disappear, one could still take care of oneself. This philosophy obviously gets rid of the problem of slaves quiet easily. However, what does this all have to do with women?

I believe is self-reliance and its core message and at its core it focuses on egalitarianism (if you really think about what Emerson says). The best way to explain is to focus on marriage.

Even in Emerson’s time (late 19^th-early 20^th century), we all know that marriage was still important and expected—more so in the case of women. Let’s look at a hypothetical:

Let’s say you are a woman, and you have been nurtured to be prissy and ditzy. What happens if you don’t or can’t get married and can’t rely on daddy’s money any more (this scenario is taking place in Emerson’s time just to be clear)? Can you split a log? Provide for yourself? Manage your finances? Etc. Let’s now assume you are a man in this situation. Can you sew your coat or shirt back together? Can you prepare a meal that is not just some camping\cowboy feast of grits and beans? Etc.

I know I am playing with real obvious stereotypes her but you get the point. Take this to the modern world: regardless of your sex or gender, you should be able to (get ready for more stereotypes) fix a flat tire, check the oil in the car, chop wood, mow the lawn, start a fire, and stitch\sew, clean dishes, do laundry, cook\bake a multitude of things, talk to your son and\or daughter about sex and their body changes. You should be able to put up a fight and defend yourself and also be there to comfort and console the people close to you.

In addition, today the best and most obvious examples of people who are in situations in which they are self-reliant in several of these ways are single parents.

The logical conclusion from this experiment is that all the tasks I listed are things one can learn which means they are not gender or sex exclusive one way or another.

Therefore, these stereotypes are fully unfounded and that the sexes and genders are equal obviously. (That is where the egalitarianism comes in).

I know this all seems rather obvious but as I said, I am a big fan of being self-reliant. Ask yourselves if you are self-reliant. I mean this not judgmentally, but that for one reason or another that do not necessarily relate to sex or gender, you may not be skilled in all the areas I listed. For example, I cannot sew and I plan to learn. It is not because I am male that I never learned, I just never needed to because I always had someone to do it for me.

Film Reviews: Simon Pegg Week: Day 3: Hot Fuzz

"I may not be a man of God, Reverend, but I know right, and I know wrong, and I have the good grace to know which is which."

Today I review the second movie made by the knock out team of Edgar Wright (director\writer), Simon Pegg (writer\actor), Nick Frost (actor), and Nira Park (producer): Hot Fuzz.

Hot Fuzz is a brilliant film—just look at the trailer. Hot Fuzz follows the character of police officer Nicholas Angel. Angel is play of those action flicks that have the ‘ultimate character’ the quintessential ‘infallible character’. This character is a staple in the old westerns but also seen in action films, the perfect soldier, the greatest sheriff, etc. These characters excel in every area of their field. Angel is the perfect cop. However, the movie’s plot is centered on the theme of what if you throw a character like this into a more real-life world. The answer is no one wants to deal with him. Essentially, he is go great he is like Batman if he patrolled the city with the lowest crime rate. Angel is making all the other cobs look bad so the chief inspector (played by Bill Nighy who played Shaun’s stepdad) has him promoted to Sergeant of a small-town with a record for having the lowest crime rate in all of England.

It looks like Angel is going to be pretty bored and the film plays with the old theme of “country-mouse-city-mouse”—having a character totally out of his\her element. However, strange accidents start occurring and the film enters the territory of mystery\thriller. The film over all is an Action-crime drama-mystery-suspense-gore film, which is fecking amazing.

Angel eventually seems to figure out what is going on and fits all the pieces together to form a very diabolical plan that boils down to money which is the typical goal of most antagonists in actions and crime dramas. However, it turns out that the truth is far more sinister and psychotic pulling the film deeper into the thriller and ‘actionsploitation’ genre (the few scenes of heavy gore help with this also.

Hot Fuzz brings in elements from all sorts of action films. There are guns, guts, explosions, chases, and even a scene that is a parody of a ‘giant-monster battle’—I’m not joking. Also, let’s not forget that Hot Fuzz also adds in that age-old joke of action films of taking the supposed peaceful character and turning him\her into a violent person, like the derringer-totting priest (this is also seen in Machete).

The film also draws on elements from Shaun of the Dead and shows us the emerging style of Wright and Pegg. Like Shaun of the Dead, Hot Fuzz uses the clever blend of foreshadowing, puns, and irony as the vehicle for most of the humor. Hot Fuzz even references back to the ‘short-cut’ scene from S.o.t.D. In addition, if you notice, the same arcade machine is in the village tavern that was in the Winchester.

Though the film is playing on the action-crime genre, it also tries to go for an element of realism, which just adds to the laughs. There is a fast-paced-adrenaline fueled montage about paper work! Paper work! Hot Fuzz relies more on these montage scenes that Shaun of the Dead did as it pertains more to the style of action than horror.

Hot Fuzz also has a kick-arse soundtrack! It is flipping fantastic and each song works cleverly with what is going on in the film. It is mostly a rock-based soundtrack but has a few exceptions. Also, the movie has its own theme song! This was seen with detective movies of the 70’s and 80’s and with monster movies of the 60’s, most notably The Blob.

There is also a great use of images for metaphors. When Angel loads up with all the guns and has the shotguns sticking out of his backpack, they look a bit like wings, which plays on the character name, Angel.

The cinematography is also quiet effective.

The relationship between Danny (Nick Frost) and Angel has some sexual\romantic subtext that like with Shaun and Ed and even with Tim and Mike, seems like a joke. Pegg, talks about this in his book, Nerd Do Well. With Shaun and Ed, it is more of a joke and both Shaun and Ed are to be considered straight. However, in regards to Angel and Danny, it is more hinting at sexual tension and less like a joke. If any time Pegg and Frost’s characters had potential for a relationship between each other, it is in Hot Fuzz.

Another character from Spaced has a role in this film, Bilbo (Bill Bailey), Tim’s boss at the comic shop, is one of the cops at the front desk in the small town. It is also worth mentioning that both him and Timothy Dalton (Mr. Skinner), most known for his brief carnation as James Bond, have appeared in Doctor Who, like almost everyone who works with Pegg.

And if you want to talk about six degrees of separation, Martin Freeman and Bill Nighy were both in Shaun of the Dead together and are also both in Hot Fuzz as Angels superiors inn London. What is funny about this is between Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz, both Martin Freeman and Bill Nighy both starred in The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy. Even more amusing is that the whale in THG2TG is voiced by none other than Bill Bailey, who we know was in both Spaced and Hot Fuzz with Simon Pegg! Furthermore, all of them have appeared in Doctor Who except for Martin Freeman.

Hot Fuzz is another flawless production by Simon Pegg and co. Again, I have to give it 5 out of 5 stars. These guys really know what they are doing.

Also check out the disc art on the DVD, it is done exactly like the art of the Point Break DVD seen in the film or at least my copy looks that way.

This is last film made with Wright, Pegg, Frost, and Park all working together. They did make a fake movie trailer for when Grindhouse came out for a movie called “Don’t” which is a play on the whole ‘don’t’ horror-movie-sub-genre. I would love it if this film got made. Everyone keep their fingers crossed and write in or tweet to Pegg and\or Wright requesting it get made. You can see the trailer here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3VLe8sVRumw

 

Zombie Movie Review (28) of the Week: Simon Pegg Week: Day 2: Shaun of the Dead

“How’s that for a slice of fried-gold?”

Shaun of the Dead. To put it simply, this is a fecking masterpiece! There are those out there that think Pegg made this film to make fun of Romero movies. Quite the contrary. I admit that it is a parody and a satire but to paraphrase the great Mel Brooks “to truly parody something you must love it” And Simon Pegg loves George Romero and especially loves Dawn of the Dead (1978). He even has several chapters in his book Nerd Do Well mostly about zombies and Romero.

Shaun of the Dead is about a slacker and his companions trying to survive a zombie infested London. Shaun is for all intents and purposes essentially the same character as Tim from Spaced. In fact, he could have easily written the movie as part of the show with all the same character. The film is produced, directed, and for the most part, stars, the same people who produced, directed, and starred in Spaced. Shaun=Tim, Ed=Mike, Yvonne=Daisy, Pete=Dwayne. Peter Serafinowicz is just great at playing dicks. His words, not mine, but I have to agree with him. He does a great job as Dwayne and Pete.

Shaun is not having the greatest of days. His girlfriend of five years as just left him, his best friend only holds him back and is usually the cause of all Shaun’s problems, and he is stuck at a dead-end job.

The film uses a clever blend of irony, foreshadowing, and puns to give the film a nice circular feel and comedy about it. For example, the night before the shit really hits the fan, Shaun writes down all the things he needs to do the next day which are to go visit his mom, get his girlfriend (Liz) back, and sort out his life. Funny enough, because of the zombies, he accomplishes all these things; mostly protect the ones he cares about. Also part of this blend relies heavily on dialogue; lines certain characters said to another are used in reverse later in several situations.

Shaun is not actually a hero. Well, he is and he is not. He would have been more successful if Ed did not keep fecking up everything, and really most of the causes of death can be related back to some of Ed’s earlier selfish actions. Even Pegg says it in his book, that Shaun is not a hero per se, just a guy, trying to do the best he can with what he has and trying to protect the ones he loves. He is not the smartest guy, and he is certainly not the strongest or trained in any field of survival of combat and yes, by this description, Shaun is not a Hollywood action or horror hero. However, to my mind, all the qualities make him a true hero because even though by all rights he could have been killed at any time, he tried his hardest and did some very brave things.

Shaun of the Dead also has a really nice look to it. Wright is great with directing. The film uses quick montages as in close up flashes of related things such as getting ready in the morning, giving it an action movie feel.

Despite it being primarily a comedy, the movie is still a horror film. Now most people will not be ‘horrified’ as such by the film but (!SPOILER!) likable characters do die and the zombies are really fecking realistic esp. compared to other zombie films that came out around the same time. In fact, I would go so far as to say that I prefer the look of the Shaun of the Dead zombies to the look of the zombies in Romero’s Land of the Dead, and Pegg’s zombies are based right off Romero zombies.

This is why this film is more of homage to Romero rather than an insult. This is essentially Pegg’s love letter to Romero. The zombies are only ever as fast as Bill Hinzman (the cemetery zombie) is in the original Night of the Living Dead, which is also the rule that The Walking Dead uses. The make-up in Shaun is fecking fantastic! These are some of the best zombies I have ever seen next to The Walking Dead zombies.

The film also references Romero’s films constantly, taking elements from Night, Dawn, Day, and the 90’ remake of N.o.t.L.D. The music that opens the film before the camera cuts to the pub is from the scene in Dawn of the Dead where they land the helicopter at the airfield. Shaun’s mother is named Barbra and when Shaun and Ed call her to tell her they are on their way and she argues with them, Ed yells into the phone “We’re coming to get you Barbra” referencing that famous line from Night of the Living Dead (1968). The music that plays during Shaun’s rescue-run-through is the fighting music from Dawn of the Dead. Later when Shaun and Ed start throwing stuff at the zombies in their yard, the end credits music from Night of the Living Dead (1990) plays in the background. Then towards the end climax of the film when they all are acting like zombies, Shaun acts like ‘Bub’ from Day of the Dead, which is in fact his favorite zombie ever. Finally, at the end of the film when Shaun is flipping thru the channels and gets to the game show about zombies trying to grab meat, the game music is mimicking the Gonk music that is from Dawn of the Dead.

There is also a reference to Spaced when they are running from the apartment; the music playing was used several times in Spaced. Of course, that could just be because they already had the rights to the music.

When Pegg was growing up he loved movies, and he still does. When he first saw Dawn of the Dead, he fell in love with it. It was the European cut version so there was not much gore but he would later see the U.S version as well as Romero’s other films.

Romero clearly appreciates the film that Pegg and Wright made. Although he was not aware that they might cameo in Land of the Dead, when asked at a press conference if he was considering it he just said something like “sure, I guess, why not?” Which goes to the laid back nature of Romero who is always open to suggestion for his films—he loves input. So, the nest time you watch Land of the Dead look out for Pegg and Wright. They are the zombies a person can get their picture taken with and Pegg got to use the mold that made Bub’s mask which made him ecstatic. In addition, Romero had Pegg do a voice cameo in my personal favorite of his zombie films, Diary of the Dead; listen closely to all the various newscasters throughout the film and you will spot him.

The Winchester pub is actually based off the tavern Pegg used to always hang out at and formed a relationship with the owners whose names were John and Bernie which are the names for the characters who own the Winchester. Shaun also mentions the pubs weekly quiz in the film, which is also taken from the real-life pub

Coldplay has a cameo in the movie as the band that is working with “Zomb-Aid” and in fact, Pegg did work with Coldplay for a little while.

Finally, there is a great message in the film. The film goes back to one of Romero’s old messages about how we are essentially zombies anyway. Watch the beginning of the film and look at all the people you see. They all end up as zombies you see later on but it is filmed in a way that they already look or act like zombies. The famous line from the 90’ remake of N.o.t.L.D “they’re us and we’re them” or the whole monologue in Dawn about how people are drawn to a mall. So, this horror-comedy comes with a philosophical message which makes it even more awesome

I give Shaun of the Dead 5 out of 5 stars. This movie turned me on to Pegg and kick-started my journey into zombie obsession.