1. Lauren Whyte
Zombieland (2009, USA)
Adventure, Comedy, Horror
1. Intro – up to travelling together
The film begins with a montage of the zombie outbreak happening, the audience can
see Columbus’s, one of the main characters, rules sprawled across the screen. These
rules enable the character to stay alive if he follows them. We meet Columbus for the
first time through his voiceover as he finds himself in a situation that shows off all of his
rules again.
2. Act 1 – meeting Tallahassee
Tallahassee is introduced to the audience, Columbus and Tallahassee are an extremely
mismatched couple, yet they decided to leave together on a geographical quest. The
audience learn the backstory about how crazy Tallahassee is. There are also some sorts
of suggestions about other quests and motivations for the men to follow. An example of
this could be for the men to find a family.
3. Act 2 – travelling together – introduced to Wichita and Little Rock
Columbus and Tallahassee decide to travel together to find Tallahassee a Twinkie. The
two characters go to visit a store to try and get a Twinkie, however, they are disturbed
by zombies. Fortunately, the characters are able to work together to kill all of the
zombies that are in their way. After the disruption of the zombies, the men are
introduced to Wichita who tells them that her little sister, Little Rock, has been attacked
and bitten by a zombie. This is not true; the girls play the male characters as Wichita
pretends to shoot her sister. The girls get away with Columbus and Tallahassee’s car and
steal their weapons.
4. Act 3 – Pacific Playland is introduced – a narrative is born
Wichita and Little Rock create their narrative by discussing their desperate need to get
to Pacific Playland. They express their need to getting their as they believe that this is
the only place that they will feel safe. At this point they are driving Columbus and
Tallahassee’s car. Fortunately, Columbus and Tallahassee find a yellow Hummer H2
loaded with weapons. They begin to drive this car when they bump into Little Rock and
Wichita again. The girls trick the male characters once again and steal their car again.
Flashbacks then come into play for the narrative as the audience learnt that Wichita and
Little Rock have been conning people for a while. The characters reach a store which
they decide to trash. Then, they continue the car journey.
5. Act 4 – Celebrities housing – Pacific Playlands car journey
The characters decide to stay at a celebrity’s home for the evening as they realize that
everyone has turned into a zombie. They chose to stay at Bill Murray’s house as they
believe that he has left. However, to their surprise they find that he is alive and still
living there. They share stories form previous life events and continue to bond together.
Bill Murray plays a prank on Columbus by pretending to be a zombie, however,
2. Lauren Whyte
Columbus doesn’t realize that Murray is joking and shoots him. Bill Murray then dies.
Wichita and Columbus share a drink together but end up getting too close for her liking.
As a result, Wichita decides she needs to leave, so Little Rock and her sister head to
Pacific Playland.
6. Act 5 – Pacific Playland – Zombie attack – Heroic saviors
Tallahassee and Columbus decided that the girls may be in danger at Pacific Playland.
They are correct. Wichita and Little Rock are surrounded by zombies and are struggling
to get away from them. The male characters decide to leave and come and save them.
Zombies are everywhere, trying to get to Wichita and Little Rock, they have to come up
with a plan to get away. Tallahassee and Columbus enter Pacific Playland, Tallahassee
decides to create a distraction and lures the zombies as Columbus goes to save the girls.
Little Rock and Wichita run out of bullets as Tallahassee kills the majority of zombies by
himself. Columbus must face his fear of clowns in order to save the girls. Wichita repays
Columbus by telling him that her name is Krista and kisses him. Tallahassee finally gets
his Twinkie.
Genre
Zombieland establishes its horror genre through the use of zombies and gore that are featured
in the film. During the film, zombies can be seen eating human flesh from both dead and alive
humans. Blood and guts are constantly being thrown around during Zombieland, creating an
extremely violent and scary mood for the film. All of these generic conventions contribute
towards establishing the horror genre.
Comedy is also portrayed throughout Zombieland. This genre is presented through the
character’s mannerisms, their playful banter and pranks played on one another. By
incorporating the comedy genre, Zombieland isn’t perceived as a serious horror film
throughout, that gives its viewers nightmares after watching it. This is due to the mood being
lightened and giving the audience a brief sense of security as the horrors of the film take a back
seat.
Furthermore, Zombieland establishes its adventure genre through the geographical quests that
the characters embark on. The characters in the film (Columbus, Tallahassee, Wichita and Little
Rock) all add elements of the adventure genre by their present actions and their previous
flashbacks. These characters spend a lot of time in the film travelling in order to stay alive and
therefore embark on the adventure to remain in one piece. They stay in different places, such
as Bill Murray’s home, and travel to convenience stores in a bid to find Tallahassee a Twinkie.
Purpose
3. Lauren Whyte
One of the main purposes of making Zombieland was to generate money for the company. By
generating money for the company through this film, they can continue to make various other
films in the future through their profit. Another main purpose of creating Zombieland was to
entertain the audience. Zombieland entertains its audience through its gripping and thrilling
narrative. The narrative of the film is able to scare the audience while also making them laugh.
Finally, Zombieland also has the purpose of trying to reinvent and reinvigorate the comedy
horror genre.
Audience
Zombieland’s audience would include genre fans. This would mean that anyone that enjoys
watching comedy horror films will enjoy watching Zombieland due to its generic conventions.
Furthermore, mainstreamers will also enjoy watching Zombieland too as it filers through a
variety of genres. I would predict that the typical age range for Zombieland’s audience would
be between 16-24 years old. This is because of the general age of the characters and the ability
for the audience to empathize with them. Zombieland will also attract an audience that
includes fans of the stars involved in the movie. These fans may follow the cast members and
watch all of the films that they are featured in, purely to see how they act and perform.
