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Lessons from the Screenplay
Shaun of the Dead — Why Comedy Needs Character
Shaun of the Dead — Why Comedy Needs Character
Lessons from the Screenplay
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10:47 · Oct 31, 2018
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Hi,
I’m
Michael.
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Hi, I’m Michael.
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This is Lessons from the Screenplay.
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When Edgar Wright directs a film,
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we can expect— among other things—no shortage of style.
0:12
“K.
0:12
O.!”
0:12
But what tends to make his films
0:14
so compelling is his equal focus on substance.
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When creating Shaun of the Dead,
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Edgar Wright and co-writer Simon Pegg made a point of keeping one foot in
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reality.
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“Even though it’s a zombie film,
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and it’s kind of like a fantasy, it’s almost plausible.
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If a zombie epidemic really did happen in this neighborhood,
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this might be quite a likely response.”
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But how do you keep any realism in a movie full of jokes… “Ed,
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just get her off me!”
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…stylized shots… …and zombies?
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In the case of an Edgar Wright and Simon Pegg film,
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it’s all about prioritizing character and the world of the story,
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and making sure everything else only serves to enhance those elements.
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So today, I want to explore how to make story elements grow from the
0:59
main character… To examine why building a world based on character is
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so important...
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And how the best comedy is often a direct product of these two elements.
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Let’s take a look at Shaun of the Dead.
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In his book The Anatomy of Story, John Truby writes: “In good stories,
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the characters come first,
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and the writer designs the world to be an infinitely detailed manifestation of those
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characters.”
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So if character comes first,
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that means that everything in Shaun of the Dead must begin with Shaun,
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and to understand Shaun,
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we need to look at the three basic elements of character: weakness, need,
1:41
and desire.
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Shaun is designed to be a kind of an everyman character.
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He goes to the same shop every morning,
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works an unfulfilling job during the day,
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and goes to the same pub every night.
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While it’s a fairly comfortable life,
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Shaun claims that he wants to get more out of it… “I got things
1:59
I want to do with my life.”
2:00
“When?”...but his character’s weakness is his unwillingness to make the effort to change,
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and his need is to take responsibility, grow up,
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and choose to truly live his life.
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So if this is the main struggle of his character,
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how does it influence the design of the world?
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Returning to Truby: “To create great characters,
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think of all your characters
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as part of a web in
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which each helps define the others.
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To put it another way,
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a character is often defined by who he is not.”
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Shaun’s roommates are designed to directly reflect his own struggles.
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Pete represents an extreme version of Sean’s need.
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He’s ambitious, responsible, and financially successful.
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And Ed, Shaun’s best friend, represents an extreme version of his weakness,
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expressing no ambition or responsibility whatsoever.
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Pete and Ed embody the opposing ways of life that Shaun is struggling with.
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And Sean would probably never change if everything stayed the same,
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so there has to be some element of the world
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that will force him to grow.
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“You promised you’d stop smoking when I did!
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You promised you’d go back to the gym!
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You promised you’d try drinking red wine instead of beer!”
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“Well--“ “You promised things would change!”
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Shaun’s girlfriend, Liz, feels held back by Shaun’s complacency,
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and eventually breaks up with him as a result.
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Liz’s relationship with Shaun serves to give him a clear, external desire.
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In this way, all the important people in his life are designed to help
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express his character.
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But it’s not just the supporting cast
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that should grow from the main character,
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in Shaun of the Dead, the story world is an expression of the protagonist.
3:36
Returning once more to The Anatomy of Story, Truby defines the story world as:
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“A complex and detailed web in
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which each element has story meaning
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and is in some way a physical expression of the character web
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and especially of the hero.”
3:50
In Shaun of the Dead, a key element of the story world is,
3:54
of course, zombies.
3:56
One of the most interesting aspects of the film is how they are slowly
4:00
revealed to the audience,
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and even more slowly to the main character.
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At first, we can’t tell who’s been affected by the virus
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and who’s just a bored commuter.
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“Shaun is sat on a bus crowded with blank passengers;
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a pasty guy listens to his walkman, an old man slowly nods off.
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On the street, he sees a young woman faint.”
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It’s not until the zombie outbreak has found its way into his back yard
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that Shaun notices that something is happening.
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“Excuse me.”
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While this slow reveal is done largely for comedic effect,
4:31
the zombies are not just a random,
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fun backdrop for the story… They’re also a physical expression of Shaun’s weakness— a
4:39
personification of the part of himself he needs to defeat.
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“You can read so much into zombies of like,
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oh they’re us being an automaton in the city, and being a commuter,
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or being a lazy boyfriend, or sitting there playing the Playstation everyday,
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Or just being on autopilot in your life.”
4:47
In the screenplay, Shaun is even introduced as being zombie-like.
4:48
“Bare feet shuffle into shot.
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Slowly we pan up to see- Shaun.
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Dead to the world.
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His face tired.
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He yawns.”
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Not only does the zombie epidemic literally bring Shaun face to face with his
4:48
weakness,
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it’s also the perfect catalyst to force characters into making powerful choices
4:48
that they may not have made in any other situation.
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When Shaun’s stepfather, Philip, has been bitten and is about to turn,
4:48
he finally confesses why he was so hard on Shaun.
4:48
“I just wanted you to be strong, and I always loved you, Shaun.
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There’s a good boy.”
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And later, when Shaun’s mom is also bitten
4:48
and will become a zombie at any moment,
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Shaun must do something he never would have done in any other context— take
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responsibility and make an impossibly hard decision.
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“Shaun takes the rifle from David and points it at her.
4:50
His hands shake, his eyes fill with tears.
4:50
His finger tenses.”
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“I’m sorry, Mum.”
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“Zombie Barbara hisses and lunges forward.”
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A zombie outbreak is exactly what Shaun needs to grow,
4:50
it’s there to serve the character first and foremost.
4:50
But, of course, the movie isn’t all drama and traumatic choices.
4:50
In fact, it’s a comedy, and even here,
4:50
screenwriters Simon Pegg and Edgar Wright have made sure that the comedy enhances character.
4:50
Comedy is largely subjective, but as with most elements of a story,
4:50
it’s usually best if it is used to reveal character.
4:50
While Shaun of the Dead has some funny,
4:50
isolated moments that teach us about the characters,
4:50
the main source the humor comes from how the characters react to the story
4:50
world. - “Purple Rain.” - “No.” - “Sign of the Times.” - “Definitely not.”
4:50
- “The Batman soundtrack.” - “Throw it.”
4:50
“Oh!”
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One of the ways Edgar Wright
4:50
and Simon Pegg master this is with callback humor.
4:50
A character will say
4:50
or experience something early in the film
4:51
which helps define them,
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like when Shaun rounds out an already-embarrassing work meeting with his pen leaking ink
4:51
in his pocket… “You’ve got red on you.”
4:51
…which then is referenced
4:51
and re-contextualized by the events of the story world later on.
4:51
“You’ve got red on you.”
4:51
Another example is when Shaun gives Ed advice
4:51
while he’s playing a video game early in the film… “Um,
4:51
oh…top left… I was just going to say...reload.”
4:51
“I’m on it.” “…since...ooh nice shot.”
4:51
“Thanks.” …which Ed then repeats to Shaun at the end of the movie
4:51
when he’s killing zombies.
4:51
“Top left!” - “Reload!” - “I’m on it!”
4:51
“Nice shot.”
4:51
But perhaps the most effect example of callback in Shaun of the Dead comes
4:51
about as a result of this joke:
4:51
“I’m sorry Shaun.”
4:51
“It’s alright.”
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“No no, I’m sorry Shaun.”
4:51
“Shaun puzzles, before his expression turns to disgust.”
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“Oh my god that’s rotten!”
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“ I’ll stop doing them when you stop laughing.”
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“I am not laughing, I’m going.”
4:51
It’s a brief interaction early in the film
4:51
that serves to illustrate their relationship,
4:51
but it’s brought back at the end of the film in an entirely different
4:51
context.
4:51
Ed has been bitten,
4:51
and offers to stay behind in the basement of the pub in order to
4:51
help Shaun and Liz escape.
4:51
As Shaun is hit with the gravity of losing his best friend,
4:51
he apologizes to Ed for having shouted at him, to which Ed replies:
4:51
“I’m sorry too.”
4:51
“It’s okay.”
4:51
“No no, I’m sorry Shaun.”
4:51
“Shaun puzzles, before his expression turns to disgust.”
4:51
“Oh god.
4:51
That’s not funny.”
4:51
“I’ll stop doing them when you stop laughing.”
4:51
“I’m not laughing.”
4:51
This is the culmination of everything Shaun of the Dead does so well.
4:51
A bit of humor that expresses character,
4:51
reframed by the context of the story world in a way
4:51
that affects us emotionally.
4:51
If you strip away the outer layers of the movie,
4:51
it has the foundation of a simple drama about a man who needs to
4:51
change his life in order to save his relationship.
4:51
Add in zombies, and you have a drama-slash-horror film where the protagonist will die
4:51
unless he finds the courage to transform the way he lives his life.
4:51
And finally, add comedy into the mix
4:51
and you have a “zomromcom,” where the humor,
4:51
characters, and story world all emerge organically from the hero of Shaun of the
4:51
Dead.
4:51
In reality, the imminent zombie invasion is no laughing matter.
4:51
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4:51
that will help you rebuild society after surviving the zombie apocalypse—you should check out
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Thanks to Skillshare for sponsoring this video.
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Hey guys, hope you enjoyed the video.
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If you want to follow me
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as I do various creative experiments like try to learn more about photography,
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you can check out my Instagram @michaeltuckerla.
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Thank you as always to patrons on Patreon
4:51
and supporters here on YouTube for making this channel possible.
4:51
Thanks for watching, and I’ll see you next time.
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