Edgar Wright is one of the cleverest directors today for putting music to film, and it’s a pair of Queen songs that tie together his 2004 masterpiece Shaun of the Dead.
It’s a rare coming-of-age-at-29 story, and Wright and fellow screenwriter Simon Pegg tell the tale of Shaun, a young man who’s stuck in a rut. Shaun maintains a dead-end job, resents his step-dad of 17 years, spends too much time at the bar with his more-of-a-loser-than-him friend Ed, and can’t commit to investing in his long-term relationship with girlfriend Liz.
Shaun shows all the signs of a man not yet matured from boyhood: He’d rather play video games than go to work, and his idea of a romantic nightspot and an impenetrable fortress are the same thing (the Winchester Pub). His is a self-involved lifestyle with no outlook toward his future. Naturally, Liz is dissatisfied and dumps him. While Shaun and his friends have to survive a zombie (“don’t say that!”) apocalypse, it’s ultimately his mission to grow up for his sake and for the sake of his relationship with Liz (and Ed too).
In a now iconic scene, Shaun, Liz, and Ed fend off a zombie bartender in the Winchester, a symbol of Shaun’s stunted growth. The power comes back on in the building and, playing on random, the jukebox chooses Queen’s “Don’t Stop Me Now” to accompany the group’s fight for survival. A song recently crowned by an experimental psychologist “the happiest song ever”.
Typical of Wright’s films and their musical flourishes, the scene is written with the song in mind. “Don’t Stop Me Now” is diegetic sound – the characters can hear it just as the audience can – and so it’s every bit as incongruous to us as it is to them to hear a show tune during a zombie fight. It’s visual comedy meets musical theatre: characters smack pool cues against the zombie to the song’s beat, others bob with the song’s rhythm, while another struggles with the pub’s fuse box, creating a concert-like atmosphere with strobing lights, while an audience of zombies look on from outside. It’s almost as electric as a live Queen performance.
But the song’s lyrics say a lot about Shaun himself. Prior to his evolution as a character, Shaun is telling the important people in his life, Don’t stop me now ‘cause I’m having a good time. Don’t ask me to kick out my best friend and roommate Ed, he’s saying, don’t ask me to commit to my long-term relationship, don’t make me reconcile my poor relationship with my step-dad, and don’t make me abandon my favourite pub, my security blanket. He’s been floating around in ecstasy for too long and it’s going to take something catastrophic to force a change. Like maybe a zombie apocalypse. And the scene truly does feel like a good time but Shaun is about to go through his most profound transformation here.
His step-dad died but not before they did in fact reconcile, he’ll soon be forced to shoot his mom-turned-zombie in the head, while Ed gets bitten and he too will have to be left behind. This is the old Shaun’s last gasp, a supersonic and heroic moment in his beloved Winchester where he’s still the centre of his own universe. But as the song tells us, he’s a rocket ship on [its] way to Mars on a collision course. It’s no way for Shaun or any man to live. His personal growth is essential to his survival. And while the song and the scene are triumphant, both end with a stark realization that things are still going to get worse before they get better. That’s the unfortunate reality of transformation, it bloody hurts. And that’s where another Queen song can come in and help wrap up the story, by resolving this character’s evolution.
With the zombies defeated and Shaun and Liz having renewed and revived their relationship, the couple sit on the couch planning a very grown-up Sunday afternoon. Shaun says he’ll be in the garden for a few moments, and we find Ed has survived as a zombie and the two will occasionally play video games together in the back shed. As the film fades to credits, Queen’s “You’re My Best Friend” plays. It reads as a sweet ode, both to his former best friend – whom he still keeps alive, you could say, through his imagination – as well as to his true best friend, Liz.
In the first verse, the lyrics suggest Shaun could be singing to Ed, as well as to his former lifestyle. It’s not important that he let go completely his old friend and life but that it’s important to maybe place them at the side so that his delayed maturity can finally take place:
Ooh, you’re the best friend that I ever had
I’ve been with you such a long time
You’re my sunshine and I want you to know
That my feelings are true
I really love you
Oh, you’re my best friend
And the second verse sounds like Shaun singing to Liz:
Ooh, I’ve been wandering around
But I still come back to you
In rain or shine
You’ve stood by me girl
I’m happy at home
You’re my best friend
Before, Shaun was floating around in ecstasy – or – wandering around. Now he’s happy at home, having chosen the friend he wants to grow old with and plan wonderful Sunday afternoons. Whereas “Don’t Stop Me Now” is about Shaun – about me – “You’re My Best Friend” is about Liz and Ed, and the old and new Shaun. They’re both his best friends but only one represents his future.
He’s survived the apocalypse of transformation, and like “Don’t Stop Me Now”, it’s a happy ending to a movie that uses the happiest songs to tell a sincere story about growing up.
And like Shaun’s more successful friend Yvonne says, we’re glad somebody made it.
Tune Spotting 
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