Shaun as a Hero

Everybody is obsessed with the Zombie Apocalypse these days. Bumper stickers reading “My zombie ate your honor student” and television documentaries about “preppers” who are ready for the zombies to come; even Law agencies placing their officers in specially designed zombie apocalypse training courses. The result of all of this zombie hype is that everybody wants to test themselves—to be the one who survives and saves mankind. Joseph Campbell’s monomyth of the hero’s journey is widely accepted as the basis for most, if not all heroic tales. Campbell relates that the hero begins ordinarily and is then called to the adventure, usually with the help of somebody. The hero must cross a threshold into danger and during the quest he/she faces trials and tests. Finally the hero meets the ultimate challenge; afterward returning home with some elixir or knowledge that betters themselves or human kind (). The role of the hero is one that appeals to anyone from elite soldiers to ordinary civilians—and Shaun is an ordinary man. More ordinary, perhaps, than anybody has ever known, but like so many people today aspire to be, he survives a zombie outbreak and ultimately becomes the hero in the movie Shaun of The Dead, written and directed by Edgar Wright.

As an electronics salesman in his late twenties, Shaun doesn’t have much to brag about in life. He drinks at the same pub everyday with the same friend and has the same relationship issues with his girlfriend that they’ve had for years. In the early scenes of the film, Shaun fails to maintain this relationship and Liz dumps him. He then ends up at his local pub and again, drinks himself under the table. Shaun’s character represents the status quo that so many people are a part of; t...

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...s. So humankind gains a workforce that enables them to relax more and work less.

Shaun of The Dead portrays many aspects of Campbell’s monomyth. Its hero, Shaun, starts in the status quo and has a call to adventure which requires him to cross many thresholds. Along the journey he is tested and finds help from his companions who fight alongside him in the final and strongest battle. Shaun as the hero gets the reward and returns home with it as well as something that improves the lives of mankind. Though slightly unorthodox, Shaun is a reflection of the hero in us all. He is the hero who likes to drink a bit too much and who can’t always satisfy the people in his life. He is like so many people today who feel like they are going nowhere with their job or relationships, but he overcomes his problems when duty calls and saves the day.