You Let Our Child Watch What?!? Shaun of the Dead

Shaun of the Dead

Put away the pitch-forks for a minute.  Okay, several minutes.  Okay, just put them away completely.  Let me explain.  We’re doing "Bad-Dad" this month, anyway, right?  I originally showed this movie to Mrs. Geek, who is as squeamish as they come when it comes to gore and blood.  She loved it.  The humor was not at all lost on her.  Said humor more than softened the gore for her to the point that she was able to withstand it easily.  So when Mrs. Geek was out of town at a teacher’s conference…

So I watched the movie with my twelve year-old geek-pup with my hand on the remote.  What I found was that if my twelve year-old child could take the moderate blood and gore of this particular flick, and the bad language, what we were left with was a really funny and heart-warming story.

More after the jump…

Plot

Shaun’s a working guy in Britain who is unable to keep his girlfriend, his parents, or himself happy with the choices he’s made for himself.  Unbeknownst to him, a rash of zombie-fever (that’s my phrase!) is working its way through the local population.  This takes the form of people being a bit sick at first, but later more and more of the ambient proletariat begin moving slower… and thinking less… and wanting human flesh…  Mmm…  Human flesh…  Naturally, it takes Shaun several scenes before he begins to notice the Zombie Apocolypse (also mine!). Well, you know what the morning commute is like…

Anyhow, the Zombie Apocalypse actually helps Shaun sort out his life.  I don’t want to reveal too much, but let’s just say he moves beyond "surviving" (those who’ve seen it will catch the ref) with a minimum loss of life and limbs (plural intentional).  So let’s break it down…

Sex

While there is no nudity, there are a number of references to "sexual situations" as the ever-effectual MPAA calls it.  By this I mean that there’s an awful lot of naughty language.  F-words, s-words, as well as numerous references to the male reproductive organ (back me up, Z, self-censoring for GeekDad can be…  difficult) are made.  Other than that, the movie is Nautius minimus.

Horror and Violence

While hordes of the undead do stalk the United Kingdom, and a fair number of bodies are ripped to pieces, it’s not as bad as you’d think.  No, no, wait a second!  I mean it!  Like I said, I only watched this flick with the Pup because her mother, who is considerably more squeamish, watched it with me and loved it… Did I mention that Mrs Geek was out of town?  Anyway, the violence and gore factor for this movie is not for the uninitiated.  If you’re wondering how initiated, there is one scene where a man, in the background, has his neck chewed through to the point that his head falls off.  No blood.  There is another scene where a character, that no one watching the movie who is not a struggling college student in London will like, is torn apart (the character is not considered a great loss to the gene-pool within the story itself, just watch the DVD-extras).  Very little blood.  That’s the upper-limit of the gore.

Values

The film treats the concept of smoking, and selling, marijuana with a non-challance that some viewers might find offensive.  Essentially, the film equates being a stoner with being a loser, but not a sinister criminal.  Again, I leave the final judgement of whether that’s okay or not up to you.  Other than that, the only value statement that the movie makes is "do something with your life, mate!"

The Pup’s Response

"It was really funny!"

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