The Social and Cultural environment portrayed in Shaun of the Dead

In Shaun of the dead, the main Protagonist, Shaun, and the love interest, Liz, both embark on a journey of social class. From the beginning Liz has many expectations for the relationship that are influenced by her upper middle-class friends, Diane and David. Liz appears unhappy because she wants Shaun to grow up a little bit and "want to live a little". For her this means going out to nice restaurants instead of pubs, drinking wine instead of beer, giving up smoking and going on holidays. Her friends suggest activities such as going to see listed buildings or going to the theatre. Evidently these are all upper middle-class  social expectations on how to live life as a mature adult and how to measure success. On the other end of the spectrum, Shaun's friend Ed enjoys his time playing video games, lazing round unemployed and spending most of his time as the pub drinking and playing on the slot machines. Occasionally he sells weed...

From the beginning it can be seen that each Shuan and Liz's friends seem to represent their class and expectations. They're the main influences on Shaun and Liz and represent them at an extreme. Shaun works at an electrical shop as assistant manager yet although he is referred to as a "senior staff member", he appears to be at the same level as his seventeen year old co-workers. None of them respect him and they all do the same work. To Shaun, his workplace is exhibited as a dull and boring environment. When Shaun claims he has plans for his future his co-worker bluntly asks "when?". Shaun's problem with his work ethic is he is unmotivated and maybe even lazy. We are told Liz is an english teacher; although she may not be earning an upper middle-class salary, she still has a more reputable job than Shaun and we get the impression she may still be working her way up. She is definitely characterised as more ambitious than Shaun when it comes to the world of work. Each character represents a different approach and opinion on the world of work and subsequently a different class.

Shaun can be seen trying to grow up as the film moves forward- he reaches for a diet coke instead of a coke when he visits the corner shop, he applies himself and manages to climb up to Liz's window and takes charge and attempts to lead the zombies away from the Winchester when the gang becomes crowded by them. Additionally repeated lines of dialogue help to convey this progression and character development. For example, when Shaun fails to book the fancy restaurant that "does all the fish", the dialogue is "You didn't book it did you Shaun?" "no...". This causes a serious strait on the relationship. After Shaun gives Liz a bouquet of flowers, Liz realises they say "to a wonderful mum". Liz asks "these are for your mum aren't they?" and Shaun replies "yeah...". This causes Liz to break up with him. However near the end Liz asks Shaun "I thought you said you gave them the slip" referring to the zombies which Shaun failed to lead away, he replies with "yeah..." yet this time Liz comes up with a solution: "we'll just have to be extra quiet then won't we?". Evidently this displays Liz's willingness to compromise. This is significant because Shaun isn't displayed as a macho man who always does the right thing and makes the right moves. He's a flawed character which the audience can relate to. This is why when Liz seems to become more accepting of this, she's also beginning to realise her upper-middle class expectations, influenced by possibly her social background; but definitely her social environment, aren't as important as she once made them out to be.

However, it becomes a little more complicated once we meet Ed's mum, Barbara. she seems to fit into the middle-class category. She has a nice home, her husband drives a Jag and she stereotypically "closes the curtain" on a problem in hopes it will disappear. However, at the beginning of the movie this does not seem to represent Shaun. Shaun is seemingly not a product of the environment he was brought up and raised in just yet. His resentment towards his step-father could possibly be the reason he resists this lifestyle, as well as Ed admittedly holding him back.
As the film progresses, Shaun mends his relationship with his step-father and possibly begins to realise he's a nice guy after all. Maybe his step-father, Diane the "failed actress" and Davs the "twat" were symbolically representing the middle class for Shaun and this led to negative connotations so he resisted the expectations of the upper middle-class. Or maybe the negative connotations were subconscious. Or maybe he was simply too lazy and complacent. Nonetheless, after his family relationships were mended and unfortunately Ed, Davs and Diane were out of the picture, Shaun and Liz were able to make a compromise. Ed moves out to the Shed and although Shaun still makes time for him, that time is reduced. His home is a visual improvement in terms of mise-en-scene- a touch of pink has been added to the colour palette, it has very clearly been cleaned and there has been some throws and fabrics added to the couches. It looks a lot more middle-class in comparison to the beginning of the film, yet it still looks comfortable and lived in- not snobby and unreasonably decorated and clean. Furthermore there is an audible compromise from Liz's side. Her plans for the day now consist of going to the Winchester to "veg out", wander home, watch a bit of telly and then go to bed.

To summarise, Shaun and Liz, at the beginning of the film were a product of their social environment which led to certain expectations. Yet by the end they seemingly dragged each other back from the extremes to meet in the middle; Liz has been led astray from her upper-middle class expectations and Shaun is no longer complacent in his working class ones. They now land in middle class.