ert

1. Hifsa Hussain Media A2
Compare 28 days later with Shaun of the dead,
commenting on the structuralism or post structuralism
qualities?
Shaun of the dead is a 2004 zombie comedy that was directed by Edgar Wright , he
also co wrote it alongside Simon Pegg. 28 Days later is a 2002 British zombie
horror film, which was directed by Danny Boyle.
Characters and the plot. In Shaun of the dead the story s based on a zombie
apocalypse, and in a normal horror the victims would normally fight back whereas
in Shaun of the dead they avoid fighting back with trying to escape, and blending in
with the rest of the zombies. Where as in 28 days later they are all trying to escape
a infection which is spreading and all trying to come out on top, this is a
structuralism part as many horror films other than this have the same pattern,
with the heroes. Both the men in 28 days later and in Shaun of the dead take the
‘masculine’ role by trying to save the group, a more modern and post structuralist
idea is that by the end the females survive alone and are the strongest. Both films
have the same villains which are the zombies, the difference are the way the
zombies act as in 28 days later are more scary and faster and are quick to become
zombies, where as in Shaun of the dead they are slow and they don’t move as quick,
this is shown as when he leaves his house he walks past 2/3 zombies and doesn’t
notice.
28 days later and Shaun of the dead are different when it comes to the props used,
as 28 days later uses the structuralist guns knives and axes, all weapons all slasher
weapons, this is classed as an horror paradigm. On the other hand in Shaun of the
dead they use normal items as weapons for example in one of the scenes they use
records and kitchen utensils, this is for comedy purposes, this is a post structuralist
idea, also in addition to this they also played ‘don’t stop me now’ queens, whilst

2. Hifsa Hussain Media A2
trying killing a zombie in a pub with a snooker cue. This proves it is more comedy
than 28 days later.
Mise-en-scene. The setting for both was in London however with 28 days later the
setting was on the outskirts of Manchester in the typical old churches and big
haunted looking mansions, whereas Shaun of the dead was filmed on the normal
streets of London +in ordinary house, this is what made the film scarier as it makes
it more realistic, making it seem as if something as this could happen to ordinary
people, this is a both post-structuralist and structuralist idea. The lighting in both
films are very different in the sense that 28 days later has shots of both day and
night, but shows that traveling during the day is more safest time to travel and the
night is more dangerous. Shaun of the dead is mainly filmed during the day, which
is very post-structuralist. The costumes for Shaun of the dead are very casual in
the way they dress as they are wearing clothing that normal people would wear
day to day this links back to my idea of the setting as it shows it can happen to
normal people. The zombies in both films are covered in blood, their mouths
showing they are killing people, there clothes are all ripped showing they have been
in a fight and are killing people, their eyes are rolled back and have body parts
missing. The Sound in Shaun of the dead is comedic, as the diegetic sound in the
pub scene was ‘Don’t stop me now’. ‘ ghost town’ could be seen as a structuralist as
it would make the scene more intense. The non-diegetic sound for 28 days is more
intense than Shaun of the dead.