Shaun in Shawn of the Dead Character Analysis

1. Shaun of the Dead
Shaun Riley played by Simon Pegg
BY DANIEL BALL

2. General
 Shaun Riley is a man in his late 20’s slack about who lived with best
friend Ed and former college roommate Pete.
 Despite holding down a day job as a sales advisor at a local electronics
store, Shaun suffered from a serious unwillingness to take initiative and
do things, preferring instead to drink at his local pub.
 Girlfriend Liz saw this, she eventually dumped Shaun after he failed to
book a table for them at a local restaurant.
 Shaun and his step dad’s relationship had been nothing but
antagonistic since Philip arrived, prompting Shaun to avoid his mother
as often as possible, and "failing" to introduce Liz to her.

3. Relating to Horror
 He was also a very protective person, almost big brother figure to
Ed, who constantly humiliates Shaun. This relates to a lot of people in
horror films as usually they have to stand up for other people and
due to the survival of the fittest most horror movies have the weak
die early on.
 However this Zombie invasion is enough for Shaun to realise that he
can do something in life and this gives him the motivation to help
people and survive for as long as he does.
 This contradicts the usual story line for such a movie as the weak
people die first but Shaun is unique and maybe that is why this is a
comedy as it is an unlikely story compared to other horrors.

4. How He Evolved
 He and Ed awakened in the middle of a full-scale zombie epidemic.
He then thought he only had one thing to live for and that was to
ensure Liz's safety, and that of his mother, before finding a place to
hide everyone until the situation "all blows over".
 This shows that he is positively charged to deal with the current
situation but he hasn’t changed enough to plan out his actions too
much as in to like it all blow over as he says.
 He turned from Shaun Riley, mild-mannered appliance salesman, to
Shaun of the Dead, zombie fighter... well, almost.

5. Comedy Horror and How He Fits In
 Comedy horror is usually based on other films but poking holes in it
and a wise guy joke here and there. In this case Shaun of the Dead
is taking the mick out of Dawn of the Dead.
 Shaun fits in because of his average Joe background leaving room
for him to joke about himself as he doesn’t take himself seriously and
neither did anyone else till the outbreak.
 His devotion to make sure that his ex girlfriend is okay tells me that
he doesn’t care about much in his life other than her and he is stuck
in the past.
 As most horrors there is always someone who doesn’t want to
accept the truth and he is one of them.