Zombie Cliché Lookout: Know Your Place
Individual people tend to be reasonable, intelligent, and perceptive. But as soon as you start gathering people into groups, things start getting wonky. They panic, they stop thinking, and the mob mentality takes over. Needless to say, that tends to be a bad thing. Mobs, in general, aren’t known for making reasoned, well thought through decisions. That’s why a good leader is so important. Every group needs order. A person or a group of people making high-level decisions, keeping people from infighting, and focusing the group properly.
The trouble with leaders, though, is that damn near everyone thinks they’d be good at it. I can’t tell you how many people I’ve met who have told me that they are “natural leaders”. Or, as a more appropriate example, how many people coming up with zombie-survival plans believe that they will be the person in charge of their group.
Of course, leadership isn’t really that easy. I’ve been in management for six years or so, overseeing a group of up to eleven people (currently six, damn economy). Not only do you need to keep people on task and make sure they’re doing that task correctly, you have to do all the unsexy things too. Like dealing with other people’s personal issues (and they’ll have a lot of them), managing ridiculously petty internal conflicts, and dealing with everyone’s notions of the way things should work. And if you think that’s no problem, well, just try it.
About this Episode:
In this episode I wanted to continue with the idea of playing with spacing and placement. Instead of Sam distancing himself in the frame, this time we see “Dad” crowding into Sam’s space. I can’t say whether this works like the way it does in my head, but I’m having fun with it.
Discussion Question: Casting the Movie
Here’s another fun one. Let’s say Bricks of the Dead is getting turned into a movie. Who is your perfect cast for the main characters?
Clint Eastwood as the old guy and the guy who plays Columbus in zombie land as Sam. Murphy would be Andrew Lincon (Rick from the walking dead)
Andrew Lincoln, eh? A Brit?
i fucking love zombieland
It was a pretty fun movie. Not in my top ten or anything, but I typically watch it when it comes on.
I noticed two typos in the cliché this time, Dave:
Individual people tends to be reasonable
and
you have to do all the unsexy things to.
Anyway, I like how you’re playing with deeper concepts in your photography and layout. What you might try is conveying Badass Dad’s (Dadass’s) imposing-ness over Sam within a single panel. That’d make it much more apparent, I think, when there’s no white box to separate the two. Directors/cinematographers think about this kind of stuff (power and relationships between characters) all the time when they’re deciding on camera angles.
Speaking of directors, I hear you on the whole “natural leader” thing. A lot of people seem to be under the impression that leadership is somehow a simple and easy task. As you know, I just directed an amateur film with a relatively small film crew. (Speaking of which, I sent you an email.) Anyway, it wasn’t easy, and I recognize that just because I pulled it off doesn’t mean I’m a good leader. In an apocalyptic situation, I probably would not be able to fill the role of group leader.
Fixed those typos.
Yep, got your email and watched the short this morning. Very cool. I’ll write up a proper response shortly.
This guy has a conflict of interest: He wants Sam to be safe yet he had him knocked unconscious and kidnapped. I wish he’d make up his mind! 😀
Possible typo spotted in “About this episode”: Crowing isn’t too good here, crowding would fit a bit better. 😉
Fixed that one too. Thanks.
I could not think of the entire cast but here are a few ideas for the main (alive) characters.
Stewart – Considering that he’s young, immature and annoying I would definitely pick Justin Bieber.
Cheryl – I dunno… Jennifer Garner?
Sam – he’s a bit of a “Hurley” so why not Jorge Garcia?
Murphy – Viggo Mortensen
Scottish Lord – no hesitation, Sean Connery (a bit younger though)
Daughter of the Scottish Lord – Nathalie Portman (yeah, I have a thing for her)
Viggo Mortensen you say? That’s a hell of an interesting pick. That guy is awesome.
Justin Beiber as a machete-wielding, near-sociopath?
He’d need a lot of makeup. 😉
Hah, I think Beiber’s got a machete freak-out or two in him, if push comes to shove.
Nice choices Yatkuu. What era would you pick Sean Connery from? ‘Last Crusade’ days or ‘Untouchables’?
Viggo does do mean and moody rather well. I was thinking Scarlett Johansson for the role of Cheryl.
Between your Scarlett Johansson and Bo’s Emma Stone, Cheryl is quite the hottie.
Comment Removed
Do you realize that you’re being rude to the man who was recognized personally by Edgar Wright and Simon Pegg (the director and lead actor of Shaun of the Dead) for his Lego version of The Winchester (the bar from that film)? Yatkuu is an incredible and well-recognized builder, and a respectable member of the BotD commenting community.
I don’t think a comment about Justin Bieber deserves such a harsh reaction. I’m sure Dave doesn’t want to see this kind of angry commenting.
Anyway, I think Bieber might be overkill, but I’d consider Anton Yelchin (that guy who played Chekov in the new Star Trek, Brewster in the new Fright Night, and Kyle Reese in Terminator: Salvation). He might not be tough enough, though.
I like Yelchin for the role, actually. Stewart isn’t supposed to be a hardass. He’s a kid. Yelchin sounds pretty close to the mark.
look im sorry, i had a rough day
Happens to the best of us.
Yeah, I can’t have that. For discussion to work, things have to be civil. I’m sure you were just joking around, but not everyone is going to pick up on that sort of thing.
Off the top of my head:
Liam Neeson as Col. Angus McBadass above.
Jeremy Renner as Murphy.
Emma Stone as Cheryl.
Stu is the unknown. I don’t know any teeny-bopper actors.
Will Ferrell as Ted (Rod Burgundy?)
Zach Galifianakis as Sam? (the mid-forties fat guy?)
I like Eric Bana for Murphy, too (think Hoot from Blackhawk Down: “Y’know what I think? Don’t really matter what I think…
Eric Bana or Jeremy Renner… tough call. I think I’d go with Renner, just because he’s more of a normal-looking guy. Nice choices all around though.
Finally watched Dead Set. Really impressed. Really emphasises how you need group cooperation to survive. 😀
I really need to check that out. People have been talking about it for years. Is it available in the states?
So his first order to Sam will be “hands off my daughter.”?
He’ll probably want to put on his kilt for that.
Come on Dave………stick the Laird in his kilt!!!
Hah
Is he really worried about an overweight, mid-forties cube-dweller stealing his nubile daughter?
I thought this was a zombie apocalypse story, not a mid-life crisis fantasy. 😉
Why can’t it be both?
Also, Sam just bought a motorcycle.
The secret to suspending disbelief is to keep everything else as realistic as possible, methinks.
Invaders from Mars?
Totally believable.
Jonah Hill at his fattest with Kaley Cuoco?
Dream on.
If Pops is nuts, he jus’ may don his kilt and be tellin’ Sam Laddie he best be layin’ hands off his daughter.
I resemble that remark (crazy kilt-wearer).
look im not sure if sam buying a motercycle is something that fans have been waiting for, you might want to take that out, i mean you dont have to, its just a suggestion
Don’t worry, just a joke.
Nicholas Cage could be everyone.
I second this.
Haha…
Yeah, his indistinct personality could pass for any nonchalant guy. 😉
That sounds like quite the avante garde version of Bricks of he Dead, Nikolai. I love it!
(Whoops, used the wrong email address just a moment ago.)
Haha…
Yeah, his indistinct personality could pass for any nonchalant guy. 😉
No worries.
Cool
I would say Harrison Ford for Murphy and Clint Eastwood for Admiral muttuon-chops here.
Harrison Ford is getting pretty old for a Murphy kind of role. Clint Eastwood is always awesome.
Maybe Air Force One era Harrison Ford. Like, more Jack Ryan than Han Solo or these old guys roles he gets now.
Okay, that I can definitely see.
Jeff Bridges for Scottish Snake Plissken?
Jeff Bridges for Scottish Snake Plissken?
I could definitely see that… although personally, I think Sean Connery would still be better.
I like Jeff Bridges here too. That guy’s great.
Personally, I’m picturing Kris Kristopherson.
i might describe the dad in the hazardous suit as that general on avatar
I can kind of see that.
hell im getting a guy who represents me for my guy
Among LEGO fans, we call that a “SigFig”.
by the way, was i one of the first people to get my comment removed?
Third, I believe. It doesn’t happen very often.
I tend to agree with Dadass here. They’re still in extremely dire straights, and if you fuck up in combat, typically people die. Hesitation is a very bad thing. In my group, I would make it quite clear that there is one good reason for disobeying orders and one alone; if you know something I don’t, informing me of it is more important than obeying orders. I hope that in time people would learn to respect me and trust my orders on that basis, but until that trust is built, I’m going to have to keep control by force of personality.
Speaking of such, I’m in the position of being bad at being a good leader; I’ve found I can handle people pretty well when I step up, but I don’t do that often because I don’t like the stress of being responsible for a group. Maybe I’ll get better about that with experience, I don’t know. I think in the case of an outbreak, I’d step up if nobody else seemed to be able to handle the job, or help the leader if someone capable takes the role.