"Warm Bodies", Jonathan Levine 2013
Synopsis:
The film ‘Warm Bodies’ is set in a post-apocalyptic time, where humans and zombies are at war. The storyline emerges when Julie’s boyfriend is killed and eaten by a zombie named R. After eating Julie’s boyfriend’s brains and seeing his past with Julie, R becomes infatuated by her. As R and Julie get closer their forbidden love blossoms. This poses a problem as Julie’s father leads the fight against the zombies. As their love continues to grow R begins to change, becoming more and more human, his eyes become human, his skins is bright with life and his heart begins to beat. The race is on to save R and the other zombies not only from themselves but also by the military and the boneys (zombies that are too far gone to save).
Reflection:
Warm Bodies enriches the exploration of ‘The story of Tom Brennan’ through the many similarities it has with the text. Flashbacks are utilized in this film similarly to the way they are used in the prescribed text. This allows the students to make a connection between the two texts and recognize the way flashbacks create a unique sense of emotion. Differentially, The story of Tom Brennan uses flashbacks for the majority of the text whereas in Warm Bodies the flashbacks are used as an accompaniment in assisting the story line. This enables students to recognize how this slight difference can impact the tone and setting of the texts. Warm bodies is a great text to use as it directly relates to the elective description where it requires the text to portray how “individuals experience transitions into new phases of life and social context” (Board of Studies English Stage 6 Prescriptions, 2014). The transitions that we see R, Julie and even Julie’s father go through gives the students a great understanding of transitions in social contexts. We see throughout the film, Julie having to act like a zombie in their environment in order to survive, she is also continuously conflicted by what she herself feels and what her father and her friends think in their different social context. R directly goes through new phases of life and social contexts as he transitions from a zombie back to being human. This personal transitions links R and Julie to Tom and Daniel in the prescribed text. The idea of characters past and future being conflicted is another way that Warm bodies can compliment this idea of overcoming your past that is so present within the story of Tom Brennan. This relationship between texts links to outcome 2: A student demonstrates understanding of the relationships among texts. (Board of Studies English Stage 6 Syllabus 2009) It is also a contemporary text which, enables students to easily connect with the humor and storyline it presents whilst also enjoying the text.
Synopsis:
The film ‘Warm Bodies’ is set in a post-apocalyptic time, where humans and zombies are at war. The storyline emerges when Julie’s boyfriend is killed and eaten by a zombie named R. After eating Julie’s boyfriend’s brains and seeing his past with Julie, R becomes infatuated by her. As R and Julie get closer their forbidden love blossoms. This poses a problem as Julie’s father leads the fight against the zombies. As their love continues to grow R begins to change, becoming more and more human, his eyes become human, his skins is bright with life and his heart begins to beat. The race is on to save R and the other zombies not only from themselves but also by the military and the boneys (zombies that are too far gone to save).
Reflection:
Warm Bodies enriches the exploration of ‘The story of Tom Brennan’ through the many similarities it has with the text. Flashbacks are utilized in this film similarly to the way they are used in the prescribed text. This allows the students to make a connection between the two texts and recognize the way flashbacks create a unique sense of emotion. Differentially, The story of Tom Brennan uses flashbacks for the majority of the text whereas in Warm Bodies the flashbacks are used as an accompaniment in assisting the story line. This enables students to recognize how this slight difference can impact the tone and setting of the texts. Warm bodies is a great text to use as it directly relates to the elective description where it requires the text to portray how “individuals experience transitions into new phases of life and social context” (Board of Studies English Stage 6 Prescriptions, 2014). The transitions that we see R, Julie and even Julie’s father go through gives the students a great understanding of transitions in social contexts. We see throughout the film, Julie having to act like a zombie in their environment in order to survive, she is also continuously conflicted by what she herself feels and what her father and her friends think in their different social context. R directly goes through new phases of life and social contexts as he transitions from a zombie back to being human. This personal transitions links R and Julie to Tom and Daniel in the prescribed text. The idea of characters past and future being conflicted is another way that Warm bodies can compliment this idea of overcoming your past that is so present within the story of Tom Brennan. This relationship between texts links to outcome 2: A student demonstrates understanding of the relationships among texts. (Board of Studies English Stage 6 Syllabus 2009) It is also a contemporary text which, enables students to easily connect with the humor and storyline it presents whilst also enjoying the text.
Some other films that you could use include:
- Mean Girls (2004) Directed by Mark Waters
- Edward Scissorhands (1990) Directed by Tim Burton
- Shrek (2001) Directed by Vicky Jenson and Andrew Adamson
- She's The Man (2006) Directed by Andy Fickman
- Bend it Like Beckham (2002) Gurinder Chadha