September 2, 2025 • 52 mins
Summary
In this episode, Aaron and Brash explore the film Zombieland, focusing on its themes of personal growth, trauma, and the importance of connection. They discuss how the characters navigate their fears and vulnerabilities, ultimately forming a found family in a post-apocalyptic world. The hosts reflect on the lessons learned from the characters' journeys and how they relate to real-life coping mechanisms.
Theme Arc: Becoming your True Self
Takeaways
Breaking old habits is essential for personal growth.
Zombieland illustrates the importance of vulnerability.
Characters in Zombieland represent different coping mechanisms.
Humor can be a powerful tool for healing.
Found family is a recurring theme in post-apocalyptic narratives.
Trauma shapes character behavior and relationships.
Connection is vital in overcoming fear and isolation.
Bill Murray's cameo serves as a moment of respite.
The film balances comedy with emotional depth.
Personal growth often requires breaking free from rigid rules.
Chapters
00:00 Breaking Free from Old Habits
01:06 Overview of Zombieland
02:18 Character Dynamics and Growth
08:31 The Most Valuable Takeaway
09:03 Jesse Eisenberg's Performance
11:19 Columbus's Rules and Vulnerability
13:34 Trauma Responses in Characters
18:15 Tallahassee's Journey
23:15 Emotional Connections and Humor
27:55 Wichita's Character Development
33:23 The Quest for Normalcy
36:09 Character Growth and Vulnerability
39:51 Rebuilding Connections
44:58 Moments of Respite
49:28 Best Scenes and Quotes
Sound Bites
"You have to blow off some steam in Zombieland." - Columbus
"Who's Bill Murray?" - Little Rock
"That's the worst goodbye I've ever heard." - Columbus
Apple Tags
Zombieland, personal growth, trauma, vulnerability, found family, coping mechanisms, humor, Bill Murray, character development, emotional connection
Contact Us:
Website: https://www.fandomportalspodcast.com/
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@FandomPortals
Instagram: instagram.com/fandomportals/?locale=en
Threads: threads.net/@fandomportals
Email: fandomportals@gmail.com
Letterboxd: https://letterboxd.com/fandomportals
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
What if the rules you lived by, the ones that keep
you safe, are the very thingsthat are holding you back?
Does the arm of the onesprotected you now limit you to
who you want to be?
In this episode, you'll learnhow Zombieland from 2009 reveals
that sometimes, to become yourtrue self, you need to break the
(00:34):
habits that once kept.
Fandoms and film can help uslearn and grow.
I'm Aaron, a teacher and alifelong film fan, and each week
on the podcast, we explore thestories we love to learn more
about ourselves and the worldsthat shape us.
Today, as usual, I'm joined byBrash.
Hello everyone, I am Brash, bigtime nerd, and today we are
here to do Zombieland from 2009.
(00:55):
We're focusing specificallywith this movie on our
multi-themed arc on becomingyour true self, where we're
diving into the stories thatbreak us free from expectation,
silence and smallness, andstepping into the people we were
truly meant to be.
Whether it's dealing with griefor fear, as some of the
characters in Zombieland do, orit is showing us that coping
strategies that we developedwhile surviving really aren't
(01:16):
good for helping us in the longrun in living, we're going to
look at it all today.
Brash, do you want to give us abrief rundown of this movie
before we jump into bigdiscussion.
Speaker 2 (01:26):
Okay so Zombieland is set in a post-apocalyptic
America run by the undead.
Four unlikely survivors cometogether in search of safety and
belonging.
Columbus, a cautious andneurotic lover loner sorry, no,
a lover, he's a lover Survivesby clinging to his self-made
rules of survival, but secretlylongs for connection.
His path crosses withTallahassee, a tough, brash
(01:49):
drifter, masking grief andloneliness behind sarcasm and a
relentless quest for Twinkies.
Their uneasy partnership growsmore complicated when they meet
sisters Wichita and Little Rock,skilled con artists who trust
no one but each other.
Initially at odds, the groupnavigates portrayals, danger and
their own fears while travelingacross country.
Over time, they begin to letdown their defenses.
(02:09):
By the end, these strangersform a found family, realizing
that in a world of chaos, theonly way to truly live is to
stop running from each other andface the future together.
Speaker 1 (02:19):
That was beautiful.
Speaker 2 (02:20):
When I wrote that, I was like wow, I made this movie
sound good.
Oh, it was beautiful.
Speaker 1 (02:24):
When I wrote that, I was like wow, I made this movie
sound good, very true, I thinkthe other like.
We'll go to our thoughts now ofthis movie, because I think for
me it's not one that I wouldsay is one of my favorites,
that's for sure, I think.
When I watched this initiallyback in 2009, I thought it was
pretty cool.
It's obviously something thatwas coming out a lot during that
time with zombie movies, whichwe might get into a bit later
(02:46):
but I thought the dialogue wasclearly like it was definitely
made to be marketed and quotedand that line nut up or shut up
it's like that was meant to beon a poster.
It didn't sound sort ofauthentic or anything like that
For me.
I think that the zombie rulesthough that's in this movie is
probably what set it apart andthat's kind of become part of
zombie canon.
It's become part of everyzombie conversation that you
(03:07):
have with people now, and thereare obviously some found family
elements in this that are veryappealing, like you mentioned
too.
But what are your thoughts,brash, on this movie when you
first watched it way back in theday?
And spoiler alert to ouramazing fans and listeners Brash
doesn't like this one.
Speaker 2 (03:26):
No, when I first watched it I thought, oh yeah,
fun movie, it's all right, butto be honest, it's probably one
of my least favorite zombiemovies, like look at any of the
dawn of the deads or the 28 dayslater.
28 weeks later, the new, 28years later.
That's fucking amazing.
By the way and I just watchedthat recently even the resident
evils I didn't like as much as Ihated them because they didn't
follow the games.
They were still pretty decent.
(03:48):
This one was yeah.
This one was yeah.
It was like a whole bunch ofquips thrown into a like they
run into like, except for thebig horde at the end.
They run into like one or twozombies here and there.
Speaker 1 (04:00):
Yeah, it's definitely a post-apocalyptic setting in
that way.
It's very sparse, and one ofthe notes that I have for my
nitpicks later is that theydon't really meet any other
survivors.
I think they do later inZombieland at Double Tap, but
it's just the four that sort ofare the main characters here,
where they have those foundfamily kind of vibes, and, of
course, the cameo from BillMurray.
They see Bill Murray, who isnot a zombie.
(04:22):
This one here is directed byRuben Fleischer and it actually
was on a budget of $23 million.
It grossed $103 million, so itdid make some money, but it came
out in 2009, and, as we talkedabout before, there was a
plethora of zombie movies thatcame out during that time.
So there was obviously Shaun ofthe Dead in 2004, which is
awesome, the better comedyzombie movie, absolutely.
(04:45):
So this one, as well as shawnof the dead, mash up that comedy
, uh, horror genre, whichzombies movies do a lot of,
because and there's also likewarm bodies in 2013, which kind
of did the wrong conversion ofzombies, and then also there's
um.
Yeah, nicholas Holt is amazing,born to play a zombie.
Really that guy yeah yeah, andthen well yeah, brad Pitt's got
(05:10):
his World War Z as well, which?
Speaker 2 (05:12):
and even that that, even that I didn't actually mind
World War Z.
I thought it was pretty goodtoo.
Yeah, like because it was a bitof a sort of different sort of
take on on us, a little bit ofthis generalized zombie movie.
They fall on like crawling up,like they used each other to get
a lot smarter.
Speaker 1 (05:31):
Yeah, and I think that that movie was Brad Pitt's
highest grossing movie until F1sort of smashed it, so it's
definitely a favorite of many,and that zombie sort of genre
that we're talking about herewas really popular, I think,
post 9-11 and that recession era, because it gave everybody a
way to cope with socialanxieties and survival fears in
(05:52):
a fun and sort of flexible way,and they blended it, as we said,
with comedies and then actionand romance, so it was almost
like how they do Westerns orsuperhero movies.
It was a phase where the zombiemovie was the thing that you're
going to go and romance.
So it was almost like how theydo Westerns or superhero movies.
It was a phase where the zombiemovie was the thing that you're
going to go and watch.
This one, however, zombielandis the third highest grossing
(06:13):
zombie movie of all time,believe it or not.
Speaker 2 (06:15):
Do you know which one's the highest?
Speaker 1 (06:17):
Yes, I do, it's World War Z.
Oh, okay, and the second oneyou might believe is Hotel
Transylvania, which I don't knowif it's a zombie movie, but it
has a zombie in it, does itcount?
Speaker 2 (06:27):
Tell us in the comments.
Hotel Transylvania is like thefirst one.
Who's the zombie?
Speaker 1 (06:30):
The guy dresses up as a zombie.
He pretends to be a zombie tomarry Mabel.
It counts, it counts.
Speaker 2 (06:36):
I mean, I suppose, the director's undead, and so is
the mummy it's time?
Speaker 1 (06:40):
I guess absolutely.
If you disagree with thatfandom portal community, feel
free to comment.
Speaker 2 (06:45):
I wonder where 28 years is going to watch.
Speaker 1 (06:48):
I would say that's probably taken over it.
I think I did these statsbefore that one.
Speaker 2 (06:52):
Yeah, sort of dropped into the streaming that was 20
years later is amazing and likethere's, like now there's going
to be a second one.
Like 100%.
Speaker 1 (07:04):
Well, amazing and like there's.
Like now there's going to be asecond one.
Well, yeah, I think they weretalking about making that into a
new trilogy.
A trilogy, yeah, which I thinkis good, because they did go in
a completely different directionfrom the usual two.
I will confess, I've not seenany of them, so maybe they'll
appear on the podcast in thefuture.
We'll see how we go, they'rereally good.
The reason we picked this onewas because it does play off on
those themes of breaking the oldhabits that do hold you back in
(07:27):
our themed arc of becoming yourtrue self.
So in this movie we'll moveinto our most valuable takeaway.
The most valuable takeaway wekind of got from this movie was
that often, in order to protectourselves in situations, we
develop habits that then lateron they often outlive their
usefulness, and real growthbegins when we can kind of
(07:48):
recognize those patterns andfind out that we do have the
courage to break them, even ifthey sort of once kept us safe.
So sometimes the strongestarmor that we can have and the
strongest armor that we wear ismade from those habits, but then
later on they used to hide ourpain.
So obviously we're talking aboutthe character of Columbus
played by Jesse Eisenberg here.
(08:09):
He does develop a series ofrules that he uses as a very
habitual way to live his life.
Now, before we get into that, Ifeel like Brash, you have some
things to say about JesseEisenberg, so I'm going to give
you the floor.
How do you think he went inthis movie?
Speaker 2 (08:29):
What do you think of him just generally as an actor?
Spoiler alert fandom portalspeople, he has to be one of the
worst actors I've ever had thepleasure of watching.
Speaker 1 (08:34):
The pleasure of watching, pleasure watching.
Speaker 2 (08:36):
Yeah, I kind of agree like he just plays the same
character in every role.
He does just some weedy,know-it-all smart-ass prick who
is always jittering, alwayslooks like he's on the gear and
just creepy as always.
Just like has that creepy starethat creepy stare.
Speaker 1 (08:56):
Yes, I absolutely agree.
Speaker 2 (08:58):
Yeah, I think the only thing that I reckon he did
really well, or the onlycharacter I think he's played
really well, was his characterin the Social Network.
Yeah, mark.
Speaker 1 (09:10):
Zuckerberg.
Mark Zuckerberg, yeah, becauseMark Zuckerberg's also a dude.
Well, it's almost like he playsthose characters, because I
don't want to make assumptionsabout his personality because I
don't know him, but he seemsvery good at playing the same
type of character and ininterviews that I've seen him in
he is also showing those kindsof traits.
So, yeah, in this one he startsoff as a loner, as we said in
our synopsis and description,and he does this thing that's
(09:33):
called experiential avoidance,which is a psychological pattern
of evading uncomfortable truths, feelings or memories, and he
does that quite rigidly and hesort of sticks himself into
these routines that keep himsafe.
But it blocks him from growthand limits his flexibility.
So obviously some of these rulesinclude beware of bathrooms in
(09:53):
the apocalypse, which is kind oflogical, I guess, and very
survival orientated.
But then it also goes down fromas whimsical as that to
something like rule 17 of don'tbe a hero, which obviously he
ends up breaking in the long run.
But the don't be a hero, whichobviously he ends up breaking in
the long run.
But the don't be a hero andcheck the back seats and all
those kinds of things reallylimit his ability to connect
with other people in a worldthat's gone to hell, and also,
(10:15):
as we said in our synopsis, heis a character that seems to
yearn for that connection, andyou can see that when he meets
the character of Tallahassee onthe bridge and I do kind of like
that scene where he's scaredand hiding behind the motorbike
and eventually, from the shotgun, he just pulls out the thumb
like the hitchhiker's thumb andthen he's like, yeah, get in the
car.
But yeah, that was just areally great interaction between
those two characters.
(10:35):
And then as soon as he gets inthe car, you know Woody
Harrelson's Tallahassee's got.
He's like you know, I'm sensingthat, you know, you're a little
bit of a bitch, so here's therules that we're going to go by.
Speaker 2 (10:45):
Woody Harrelson saved this movie for me.
Yeah, the only reason why it'slike it's I reckon the only
reason why it's funny is becauseof Woody Harrelson and everyone
playing off of Woody Harrelson.
Speaker 1 (10:55):
Well, I saw in the director's commentary that the
characters well, the actors thatdecided to come into this movie
Woody Harrelson and JesseEisenberg they were drawn to the
script because, apart from itjust being like an action smash
zombie movie, they felt that thecharacters and their
interactions throughout actuallyshowed that they were having a
little bit of growth throughthat movie.
Which is kind of what I wantedto talk about in this podcast,
(11:19):
through this movie as well, wasbecause they do start off as
characters that have experienceda massive trauma in the form of
the world goingpost-apocalyptic and they have
both all of the characters themain four have kind of reacted
to that post-apocalypse in avery different way, but there
are also ways that has presentedin people's lives, in the real
world.
So, as we talked about,columbus is very rigid to his
(11:43):
routines and he's experiencingthat experiential avoidance.
Tallahassee does something thata lot of men do, I think, is
when you experience the traumaand his one is definitely a very
substantial trauma he gets veryloud and violent and masks in
ways that very showboaty youmight say, for lack of a better
word he's out there trying to dozombie kill of the week and
(12:04):
he's very outwardly aggressiveand he's firing guns everywhere.
It's very like masculine interms of his outward portrayal,
as opposed to him showing anykind of vulnerability, which
does come later.
And then, uh, witcher tar andlittle rock both go through the
same thing, where they've gotthat emotional detachment.
Whenever you see them gettingclose to somebody, either rob
them and steal their stuff orthey take off and they go before
(12:27):
they get close to anybody,which is probably the one that I
kind of relate to the most, ifI'm going to get a bit personal
about it.
But I do think that thesecharacters do go through a
particular journey through thismovie and, although it's
probably not the best one, itdoes exemplify that long-term
suffering that sometimes peoplego through when they've gone
through something hard andthey've developed really bad
habits that then end up overcontrolling who they are or
(12:52):
stopping them from committing toanything in the future, which
can be detrimental and can bevery hard to work through as
well.
So I think that thesecharacters do grow.
Do you see that growth toobrash?
Speaker 2 (13:01):
yeah, that's what I was watching, because I tried to
make sure I focused on watchingthem sort of grow, but like,
and as much as like they do showthose parts and they do get
better, like at the very end ofthe movie, like realistically,
all the jesse eisenberg'scharacter does at the end is
just add a new rule which islike every now and then enjoy
the little things enjoy thelittle things, that's.
(13:23):
He just added a rule, so he'salready long missed the rules.
Speaker 1 (13:27):
But he also breaks his rules.
That's the big thing he does aswell he does drive with a
seatbelt once yeah, and he alsobecomes a hero.
That's the big one that he sortof breaks in this one too, when
he goes and obviously rescuesthe girls from the ride and
leaves tallahassee basically togo to the theme park and follow
them after they've left, at thevery end of the movie.
Speaker 2 (13:47):
I mean, yeah, he's one that's like we have to go
help them.
Well, we have to go find them.
I guess, realistically, theydidn't know they were in trouble
until they got there and sawzombies.
And then we're like, oh shit,now we're talking about zombies.
But realistically I reckon theperson who's more heroic is
Tallahassee, because he's theone that draws pretty much the
almost the entire order ofzombies to him.
(14:09):
And then Jesse just has tofight off a couple and then that
clown which is overcoming hisown fear too because I fear
clowns, but still, like he does,like.
I don't think he to say that hebroke his rule of not being like
.
I don't think he to say that hebroke his rule of not being a
hero.
I don't think he did it Likesomething I would consider like
(14:30):
overly heroic, not so much likeputting himself in front of a
zombie and becoming a zombie ordying on the flat.
Speaker 1 (14:36):
No, I think Taylor Hasse does a lot more than Jesse
Eisenberg's character does.
Speaker 2 (14:42):
I would have liked maybe there would have been like
another, like another rule thathe had, but maybe if he was
wearing long sleeves orsomething like that, a long
sleeve shirt or something likethat you find out that
underneath he's got body armoron or something like that or
some sort of padding.
It could be like a rule whereyou protect the soft spots or
something.
Yeah, yeah, and he could havepushed which side of the way or
(15:02):
something like that and gottenbitten on the arm and someone
wanted him on a bitten arm andthen when they looked he's got
pain there to protect him.
But he still took that shot forher or something like that, did
something a bit overlygrandiose, because the whole
movie they've been going throughkilling zombies and at the end
for him to be heroic and savethe girls, he had to kill some
zombies.
Speaker 1 (15:23):
Yeah Well, actually in the commentary for this as
well, they tested this moviewith test audiences and
beforehand they didn't have manyof the scenes in where the four
main characters were sort ofconnecting on a personal level.
And after they did the testscreen or they did have them
actually, but then the directorwanted to remove a couple of the
sequences that involved themactually, you know, talking
(15:45):
together and building thatconnection and breaking down the
barriers.
But the audience actuallyreally responded well to the
fact that they were becomingcloser as a, as a sort of found
family that'll make the endingweird too.
Well, yeah, it would havechanged a lot of what sort of
happened toward the end and themactually coming back to save
the girls as well.
But with tallahassee, when heactually went and drew those
(16:07):
zombies away and shut himself inthat box and did that scene,
which was very cowboy, likebeforehand, he was actually
going through and you know,seeking out those zombies and
destroying them and veryaggressive and sort of what's
the word I'm looking for herelike macho kind of way, in this
sort of anger, workaholic,almost like he had to go out and
(16:27):
do it because he didn't want tosit for a moment and reflect on
what he'd lost.
The tracking down of theTwinkie as well can be sort of
mirrored in the reflection ofhim trying to find a sense of
normalcy.
That happened to him before thezombie apocalypse, when his son
was with him.
Speaker 2 (16:42):
Gives himself like a motivation or something to keep
going forward instead of justgiving up.
Speaker 1 (16:47):
Exactly Just like a tangible one.
But that moment that he drewthe zombies away from Columbus,
I think it's a bit subtle.
And in the director'scommentary Jesse Eisenberg also
says you know, this was thescene when he went and saw the
car in the river and Tallahasseedrew the zombies away.
He thought that that scene,jesse Eisenberg thought that
scene, wasn't very strong enoughto portray the message that
(17:08):
Tallahassee was actuallyperforming an element of
self-sacrifice there, where hewas drawing those zombies away
so Jesse could go and save thegirls.
Because in that moment hewasn't actually doing it out of
bravado, he was doing it out ofsacrifice, and I think that that
can get missed.
It sacrifice, and I think thatthat can get missed.
It's not as strong as it shouldbe, but that's a big moment for
that character too, because forthe first time in forever he'd
(17:30):
opened up about the fact that helost a son before and saying
that it was a dog, but then nowhe's willing to also put it all
on the line for these otherpeople that he had brought into
the fold as well.
And one of my favorite momentsof the movie between Tallahassee
was when he did tell them abouthis son Buck and how he lost
him to the zombies.
The very next scene after thatwas him starting to build more
(17:51):
of a connection with Little Rockwhen he was teaching him to
shoot.
That was probably one of thebetter scenes, and that's just
almost really subtle as well.
It's not like an intimateemotional where they're bonding
as father and surrogate daughter, it's just literally a routine
or a thing that they're doingtogether.
But then there's that slightcallback at the end where she
learns to exhale and calmherself down and she uses what
(18:14):
Tallahassee teaches her to savetheir lives.
So there is those small nods ofconnection which does sort of
draw it back to me to the factthat these guys are growing
throughout this movie andbreaking some of the habits that
they had previously had in avery sort of subtle way.
Speaker 2 (18:30):
Actually I was just thinking about it too Honestly.
You can take Jesse Eisenbergout of this movie and it'll
still be probably a better movieif it was just the girls and
Woody Harrelson, because heinstinct instinct sort of could
have kicked in.
That's why he softened up tolet them come with him and then
they robbed him.
So he gets angry, goes back andfinds them and then finds them
(18:51):
in trouble and helps them outagain and they're like look, we
can just help each other andthen I honestly think he's
included in the movie as wellfor the purposes of Wichita's
character.
Speaker 1 (19:01):
Wichita's yeah, when they cast that character it
wasn't initially going to beEmma Stone.
She was actually cast as 406,which was the role that went to
Amber Heard in this movie, andbecause she was so impressive,
they were just like, okay, we'llput her in as Wichita instead,
because she just blew the guysaway and for her and her growth,
she obviously had thatavoidance through any kind of
(19:22):
connection and survival instinctand she ended up opening
herself up to Jesse Eisenberg'scharacter and the thing that
they said was that his characterof Columbus was a hard sell for
audiences because they had tobelieve that he was so nerdy
that he would isolate himself tothe point of being that
reclusive and having these rulesand habits that are so
(19:44):
regimented.
But he also had to be smartenough to survive a zombie
apocalypse, which he does statehe's an unlikely survivor.
But he also had to be coolenough to be able to
charismatically become acharacter like Emma Stone's
Wichita yeah.
So that was like a big graspfor the audience to sort of get.
But I think his characterdefinitely played a part in her
growth, where she started tobecome more connected and less
(20:07):
distracted.
Speaker 2 (20:08):
Yeah, Do you know who would have been a great
Columbus?
Nicholas Holt?
See, that would have been goodtoo.
That would have been good.
I would have enjoyed that,because I can see him being the
dirty guy.
He's also fairly good looking,or really good looking.
I reckon he could have pulledit off.
Speaker 1 (20:24):
I think so too.
No-transcript system trying todo its job and protect the child
(20:51):
.
So when they have to adapt tostress that they can't control,
they create coping mechanisms,which is what a lot of these
characters have done, and theycan persist into adulthood too.
So, for example, we haveTallahassee, who's mirroring
violence through aggression anddefiance.
We have, you know, class clownbehavior as well, which
sometimes happens in classroomsand schools after a student's
(21:13):
gone through any kind of trauma,like they're that distracting
behavior which is like thetwinkie, the distraction of the
twinkie just like I'm hidingtrauma behind comedy and yep as
well yep, never connecting withanyone, always holding them at a
sort of face value becauseyou're, you're the, you're the
person that makes everybodylaugh, instead of them actually
seeing who you really are.
There's that emotionalwithdrawal and avoidance which
(21:35):
Wichita and Little Rock does, sothey don't want to get hurt by
anybody, so they don't make anyconnections or any friends in
the schoolyard or with anyadults or teachers or anything
like that.
And then there's also like arigid strictness to habits and
routines.
So if anything changes in aclassroom, you can see some
eruptions in behavioral episodesthat happen from that as well.
The classroom you can see someeruptions in behavioral episodes
that happen from that as well.
(21:55):
And what they do in this movieis they build a little bit of
emotional literacy and theycreate a really safe environment
between each other whereeverything's predictable towards
the end.
They have some consistentroutines through driving with
each other, staying up andkeeping watch, all that kind of
stuff.
But they also prioritizeconnecting with one another, as
they have that moment ofdowntime in Bill Murray's
(22:16):
mansion and they also build thatemotional literacy through
being able to talk to each otherabout the things that they've
gone through as well.
I mean there's a moment betweenColumbus and Wichita where they
get very close about some ofthe things that have happened in
their past and some of therejection that they've felt from
members of the opposite sexbefore as well.
And then obviously the big dropof Tallahassee and his son
(22:40):
occurs.
And then the thing that kind ofannoyed me about this movie,
but also I kind of liked, wasthe fact that they'd give a deep
drop like that and thenTallahassee would sort of say
something like I haven't criedthis much since Titanic and then
wipe his eyes with $100 bills.
So it balances that traumaticdiscussion with comedy as well.
Speaker 2 (23:00):
Yeah, it makes it so you can feel the surging issues,
but then in a lighter mood, soit doesn't put you just in a
downer mood.
Speaker 1 (23:10):
Yeah, it takes the emotional weight off you
basically.
So it's like here's the partyou need to connect with these
characters and to show thatthey're kind of growing and
getting closer.
Speaker 2 (23:17):
But then also here's the laugh as well, but let's not
get down about it.
Speaker 1 (23:20):
Yeah, exactly, let's not linger on that for too long.
Yeah, I thought that one of thebest parts of this movie was
any of the time that they wereroad tripping, basically when
they were sitting in the carsand driving, and then it was the
smash cuts of them just movingseats, obviously showing the
passage of time, and they werejust sort of connecting as
people.
And Abigail Breslin I think hername is the one that plays
(23:43):
Little Rock just started talkingto Woody Harrelson about Hannah
Montana.
Apparently that was completelya genuine conversation as well
and they were just sort ofconnecting in that space, but it
worked for those two charactersas well sweet, she's that
character and that she's two.
Speaker 2 (23:57):
Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1 (23:57):
So any sort of interaction with woody harrison
and any other cast is probablylike my favorite interaction,
like it's just always genuinelyfunny and just yeah, I think
he's his timing and comedic sortof presence is really good for
the movie too, but he also hasthe range to go into spaces that
(24:18):
are pretty emotional as well.
So with him he's obviously hesaid let's talk about tahasi in
a couple of his scenes becausehe he kind of serves as that
group's muscle, he's, he's thecomic relief.
But he's also ravaged by theloss of his young son and he
talks about you, the dog that helost at first.
So he wants you can see thatit's all sort of on the edge,
(24:38):
like he wants to feel thatconnection, he wants to tell
people about it and I'm not sureif Columbus sort of acts as
like a best friend or a youngerbrother towards him, but he kind
of fills the role of like aconfidant, I guess.
Yeah, it's kind of hard to pickwhat that sort of, or friends.
Basically they just seem likevery two unlikely friends.
Speaker 2 (24:56):
Yeah, because I think that's what I would have liked
a bit more.
Because it seems like LittleRock became sort of like a
daughter and he sort of likesent some sort of father figure
to her and then even withWichita was like some sort of um
, like, maybe like uncle or evenlike brother sort of sort of
(25:19):
vibe between those two and thenwith but with for columbus it
was hard to pick whether it waslike.
Yeah, it was hard to pickwhether he was like sort of like
a father figure, or if he wassort of like a brother figure,
or if he was just a friend orlike the weird crazy uncle.
Speaker 1 (25:37):
Yeah, he definitely gave those vibes.
Speaker 2 (25:39):
It's sort of like he gave them all in one, yeah, yeah
, like.
At times he was sort of likeacting like the father figure.
And then there's other timeswhere it was more like a brother
, where he'd like make snidecomments and make fun of him and
shit like that, like a brotherwould.
And then there's other timeswhere he's like more of a friend
, where he like he was justthere to help him out.
Speaker 1 (25:57):
It was an undefined, wasn't it?
Yeah, yeah, because they talkabout like girls and things like
that, but then it's not liketrying to fill all the roles,
yeah, and he'd protect hisemotional vulnerabilities as
well, because you knowvulnerabilities as well.
Because when Columbus wasactually going back to Columbus
and Wichita was saying likethere's nothing there,
tallahassee sort of like tappedher on the shoulder and gave her
that look like, come on, whatare you doing?
(26:19):
You're going to actually breakhis heart here.
And then they both kind of italmost seemed like Wichita and
Tallahassee were emotionally asmature as each other and they
were kind of holding the othertwo together in that space as
well.
And I think that that was partof that connection and that
growing connection was a reallybig moment for them to start to
(26:39):
build trust and then break downthose barriers and ends up with
Tallahassee's firstunintentional step towards being
vulnerable at least was when hewas talking about the dog that
he lost with Columbus and theneventually it slips, it slips
later that he reveals that itwas his son.
So, yeah, I think that that andthe Pacific Playland shootout
(27:06):
scene was very big forTallahassee because he was
fighting earlier to just let offsteam, basically, and that
became one of Columbus's rulesas well.
Sometimes in Zombieland you'vegot to let off steam and you see
him like shooting bullets intothe sky or driving massive
hummers around and painting bigthrees on the cars that he finds
and things like that.
But then eventually he ends upfighting to protect.
And it's because, especially forlittle rock as well, because he
he's protective of that sort ofrelationship that he has, and
(27:30):
in the end Little Rock alsoreciprocates that by throwing
him the Twinkie that he'd beenlooking for so much and that to
me was kind of symbolic of howhe was always looking for that
Twinkie to get that sense ofnormalcy again and that sense of
what things were like before,whether it was like trying to
relive something from the past.
But he then sort of receivedsomething from someone that he
(27:50):
cares about.
After he thought he lost heragain as well because she was
driving away, and it kind offulfills that like emotional
need that it was.
It always represented a littlebit more for him, like the
twinkie represented connectionand and memory and sort of
family and he got that from heras well, but for her as well it
was good for him to get it fromher, because she was then sort
(28:11):
of thinking about somebody else,yeah, and besides her sister,
exactly besides her sister.
Yeah, perfect, because, yeah,it was just a very nebulous
relationship between those twobefore as well yeah, it was only
like she, she was only trustedher sister like didn't trust
anyone else.
Speaker 2 (28:29):
And yeah, and now is able to sort of trust and you
know, talk, go off with talasiand talk to him and do their own
thing.
Or go to the movies and watch amovie um columbus without her
sister there and stuff like thatand you know watch, watch
columbus fucking shoot billmurray and kill a legend.
Speaker 1 (28:46):
Another reason why hsd eisenberg kills bill murray
jesus absolutely you know, sidenote as well, when Woody
Harrelson was in the scenes withBill Murray like they're
obviously very close friends butapparently in the commentary he
was saying that he didn'treally have to act in the scene
where he was like geeking outover Bill Murray, because that's
all the things that he feelsabout him anyway, because he's
such a legend in the space.
(29:06):
So it was one take and he saideverything that he wanted to say
.
Speaker 2 (29:11):
Just got everything off his chest.
Speaker 1 (29:13):
Yeah, absolutely.
So.
Yeah, tallahassee kind of wentfrom.
He learns to make peace withthe fact that he had gone
through this big loss and he'sopen to the fact that he is
allowing himself to care again.
Does he have a long way to go?
Absolutely, but I think that heis on the path of becoming his
true self through, like healingthe pain of the past by
(29:34):
connecting with others anddropping the masculine bravado
that was sort of holding himback there, because, yeah, he
does definitely have that livingwithin him.
But, that being said, watchinghim kill a zombie with a banjo
was awesomely cool.
Yeah, yeah, 100%.
That was also Woody Harrelson'sidea to play the banjo and to
play the dueling banjo tune.
(29:56):
But as you entered the, theshopping center, that was woody
harrelson's idea and he actuallyhe pitched it and then the
director said that's a greatidea.
And then he goes okay, cool,now I'm gonna go learn the banjo
.
So he had to learn that actualpart for the movie, but I
thought that was good with witchguitar as well.
We'll move on to a little bit ofher.
She was kind of the.
She was emotionally distant.
We're never really sure of why.
(30:17):
We just know they've probablylost a lot of people, like,
obviously, little rock andwichita, and, yeah, they have
this habit of isolating eachother and that no longer serves
them, because when they isolatefor the last time, they go to
pacific playland, and I thinkWichita is trying to recapture
some youthful experiences forher sister and that's why they
make the really dumb decision togo and turn on all the lights
and the music at this theme park.
Speaker 2 (30:40):
Yeah, back when they were happy, because even before
the zombie apocalypse they werealone running scams because they
only had each other.
That's true.
Yeah, that's right, because Idon't think it actually says.
But you know, they must eitherlost their parents or their
parents abandoned beforehand andlike the adventure play park
was the like sort of last timethat they probably had, were
(31:02):
there with their family andprobably last time that they
were really like just normallynormal, happy kids, which I
think she says to the other guyswhy they're going there is to
give a sister some sort ofmemory of like bring back some
memory when they're happy,normal kids.
Speaker 1 (31:20):
Yeah, and together, and also for her, I think it
might have also been ahearkening back to a time when
she was having to be lessprotective of Little Rock in
that sort of protective role,because she was obviously a big
sister as well.
But raising her little sisterkind of made her become this
hyper-protective role model in avery lawless world and I think
(31:41):
her journey comes from herlearning that strength can also
include vulnerability.
For her, so obviously thatconnection was something that
she didn't really like and thehabit that she needed to break
was that she was just moving onfrom everything very, very
quickly and putting them indangerous situations where they
would only rely on each otherand never anybody else, which
they obviously break when theymeet Columbus and T.
(32:02):
With Columbus and reveals hername to be Krista because that's
what Tallahassee said at thestart of the movie he's like no,
we're not using real names.
Real names mean attachment, noway.
And she's the only characterthat reveals her real name as
(32:24):
being Krista.
And that's that connection andthat vulnerability she's showing
to Jesse Eisenberg to say youknow, I want you to get to know
me now, which is definitelysomething she wasn't doing
before, but she is now a personthat wants to be known, instead
of being a person who is analias, but also running at the
sign of every form of connectionthat they make, and it goes
(32:46):
back to that dream of normalcythat they're all chasing as well
and that sort of safe space ofconnection as well, which I
think they end up all learningthat they're all finding that
they're looking for the past in,like a Twinkie or a place, but
they end up finding the pastwithin each other, like within
the connection and the familythat they feel with each other.
(33:06):
So I guess comfort is thatfeeling that they're looking for
, as opposed to the things thatmake them feel comfortable in
their past, if that makes sense.
Speaker 2 (33:15):
Yeah, besides that one part where, like she didn't
like, cause I don't haveanything which time is really
one of the least exploredcharacters of all of them.
I feel like she gets less outof the whole entire thing than
all the others do.
Yeah, I agree.
Speaker 1 (33:34):
She gets a relationship with Jesse
Eisenberg, and that was what Iwas about to say.
She serves as a character'spurpose in terms of allowing
Jesse Eisenberg to feel thatconnection and break some of his
rules, obviously.
But she is very much seen as acharacter through his lens and
his eyes.
He always wants to brush thehair over her ears.
So she's like that attainablegoal of connection that he's
(33:54):
seeking.
But for her herself we don'treally know what her goals and
ambitions are beyond justprotecting her sister, wanting
to be seen and loved andvulnerable for who she is.
But yeah, I agree, it's veryovershadowed by a lot of other
things that we're looking at interms of her character.
So I liked that.
(34:15):
Her scene of enjoying thelittle things goes back to
tallahassee's mantra wherethey're sort of embracing that
joy and connection, wherethey're dancing with one another
with the wine as well.
Yeah, that was a good scenebetween those two that showed
that sort of budding connectionbetween and that was apparently
the test screen between jesseeisenberg and the female
characters that sort of came into play that role and they found
that Emma Stone was likeoutwitting Jesse Eisenberg and
(34:37):
being really sort of charismaticand they kind of wanted that
for her character, emma Stone'san amazing actress.
Speaker 2 (34:45):
She fits the Wichita role.
Don't know if I could reallypick anyone else who could play.
Was she 2009?
Yeah, 2009.
2009, back then, anyone elsewho could really, I would say,
play that role?
Speaker 1 (34:59):
Yeah, I definitely agree.
I think that she was definitelythe big sort of draw for this
movie as well.
I think Emma Stone becamereally big after this as well,
from 2009 onwards.
But yeah, I think Emma Stonebecame really big after this as
well, from 2009 onwards.
But yeah, I think the hardestthing to come to audiences was,
as we said before, believingthat Jesse Eisenberg's Columbus
(35:20):
would be charismatic enough tocharm an Emma Stone kind of
character in this space.
So, especially with hiscompulsiveness at the time, and
he kind of had to build himselfup or change himself to be able
to connect with these otherpeople, because he saw that
those routines that he wasmaking and those rules that he
was having was really playing apart in Distancing him,
(35:43):
absolutely Distancing himbetween him and his other
survivor friends at this point.
So he actually had to choose totake a risk over his rules to
then actually end up having himto believe in something else,
which was him breaking hishabits of control, which can be
tricky as well.
So with Little Rock, it alsocomes back to the fact that
(36:04):
she's looking she was acharacter that had to grow up
too fast as well, I feel.
Oh, 100%, even before thezombies, though.
Absolutely.
She had to learn to play again.
She had to learn to trust again.
She had to learn to have thatemotional safety again, which I
think is important for thosescenes where they are traveling
in the car and she gets to talkabout kids' stuff, or even when
they're smashing the shoptogether.
That's like she has the rightto be young.
(36:26):
In that space she can go andsmash some things around and
have some fun.
Speaker 2 (36:29):
And basically had to learn to be a kid again.
Speaker 1 (36:32):
Yeah, yeah, she had to build that confidence with
the people that she was with andshe was able to do that because
Tallahassee did sort of takethat sort of fathership figure
and that role of responsibilityfor her.
And I think Tallahassee alsotook that responsibility off
Wichita, which was good, becausethen it allowed her to play
less of that protective role forher sister and then become who
she was supposed to be as well.
(36:53):
So that connection isdefinitely foregrounded in
having them being able to tobuild those habits together and
she represents that rebuildingof the emotional structure
between all of the characters,because she's able to, you know,
have those moments of joy andfreedom and fun as a child and
(37:13):
then the other older characterssort of look at her experiencing
those emotions and are thenable to sort of believe in that
again in this space of, you know, a not so nice post-apocalyptic
zombie world.
And yeah, and she's not wrongfor wanting that kind of joy.
I think that she is definitely,she has a right to it.
But she also then doesn't knowwhat real support looks like in
(37:35):
terms of a family unit, fromwhat it seems like anyway.
But she does represent thatsort of lost innocence and
normalcy.
But she does get that back inthe end, which is good to see.
So I think they all do growbrash, even if it is just a
little bit, and you have to kindof look deeper sometimes to to
find it yeah, and so I said,like all grew, like all of them
(37:56):
had that growth, I suppose evencolumbus a little bit yeah I I
agree with you, though I thinkhis journey could have been a
little bit more represented ifthey were going for that message
, because through test audiencesthey did find that that
connection, that growth, waswhat they liked about this
zombie movie, as opposed to itbeing just a regular action
zombie flick.
So if they leaned into that alittle bit more and just sort of
(38:17):
showed how that main charactergrew that little bit more, I
think it would have landed alittle bit.
Speaker 2 (38:23):
Because I would have liked it for him to have,
instead of adding a few morerules that are meant to lighten
it up, he should have changedsome of his rules.
I would have found that moresignificant for him to actually
change the rules rather thanjust add a couple more that
allow himself to have a bit morefun.
Speaker 1 (38:42):
I think that would have been more reminiscent of
the fact that he's sort ofgetting rid of these habits that
no longer serve him, because Ithink he would very much still
believe in the fact that rulenumber one of Zombieland is
cardio.
He will always put his seatbelton when he drives a car.
He will always.
Apparently there was a rule aswell that was like keep
everything in Ziploc bags.
Speaker 2 (38:59):
That was one that kind of got deleted.
There's one here.
Rule two Ziploc bags.
You've got enough problems.
Moisture shouldn't be one ofthem.
Speaker 1 (39:07):
Exactly, and that's why actually they were going to
make that more prominent.
But in the commentary they saidthat they sort of scrapped that
one in favor of others.
But that's why at the end scene, when he's going to fight the
clown, you'll notice that hegoes to pull his bullets out of
his pocket and they're in aZiploc bag and he throws the
Ziploc bag away.
Speaker 2 (39:22):
I was actually wrong, though he did change one from
don't be a hero to somethingelse.
Speaker 1 (39:27):
To be a hero, yeah.
Speaker 2 (39:30):
He changed it from don't be a hero to be a hero.
Speaker 1 (39:33):
I think that needs a caveat on the end of it.
To be a hero to those thatmatter, kind of thing.
Yeah, you know, I think if hegoes in as a hero to everyone
that he finds, that's probablyjust as damaging in this
situation.
So the thing we haven'tmentioned as well is a lot of
the time.
If so, the thing we haven'tmentioned as well is a lot of
the time if you're talking aboutbreaking habits that no longer
serve you.
For people that are goingthrough these kinds of things,
(39:54):
usually the healing comes afterthe traumatic event, and these
characters are very much stillin a traumatic event.
So they're growing through atraumatic event, and I think
that the amounts of small growththey're doing can be
representative.
But it's also important to sortof know that it's very hard to
do either in the screen or inreal life.
So it's just a matter of reallydoing what's best for you in
(40:16):
the moment and then takingobviously account of where you
are in terms of your personalgrowth, I guess as well Actually
, I did want to talk about theBill Murray scene a little bit
more and just how much that sortof it gives them that moment of
respite, I guess you could say.
And I remember feeling this thefirst time when I was watching
Lord of the Rings with my dad inthe cinemas, right, and I know
(40:37):
it's weird to compare Zombielandto Lord of the Rings because
you know one's a masterpiece andthis is Zombieland, but the
first part of the movie, whenyou know Frodo and all them are
in the Shire, feel very safe andthen they leave the shire and I
actually felt terror for thefirst time in a movie cinema
ever in my life, like I wasgripping the seat, I was
actually really, really scaredand then, yep, absolutely.
(40:58):
And then in the middle of themovie, when he was at rivendell,
I had a moment to like, oh,like breathe, and I feel like
that's what this bill murraysort of scene was akin to.
It was that moment for all thecharacters to really show their
first real emotional exhale, youmight say, and the characters
could indulge in like fantasy ina post-apocalyptic world and
they could enjoy the things fromthe past, including
(41:18):
Ghostbusters and all thedifferent foods and Monopoly and
sleeping in a bed and wine anddancing, and it was a pause from
everything that was sort ofgoing on.
So that's akin to me to creatingthose really safe environments
for people to be able to beginto heal in.
And you can do that in yourlife or you can do that in the
classroom as well, but that'susually the very first thing
that we sort of go through asteachers is you've got to make
(41:38):
your classroom a really safespace, because then it allows
all watered and they feel likeyou're going to give them a good
crack.
So I think that it's definitelyone of those moments for them
in this movie.
When they're able to do that,they get that sort of moment to
(42:00):
build some awareness of what'ssort of going on and take
account from each other, becausethat's when all of those
connecting conversations sort ofhappen, you know.
Speaker 2 (42:09):
Yeah, and it's Bill Murray ofray.
Bill murray gives you a safespace to be who you want to be.
Speaker 1 (42:16):
That is, that is what bill murray encompasses yeah,
and obviously all of his moviesfrom the past can be comfort
movies for people as well.
But I I just love how, eveneven in that moment of safety,
they kind of still just reel itback to the fact that they're in
a post-apocalyptic worldbecause bill murray gets shot.
Death is still apparent.
They begin to feel that theoutside world sort of impressing
(42:36):
on them again.
But you know what was reallygood about that?
Tallahassee obviously met hishero, met his idol, and he is
shot by columbus, who he justmade a friend with.
And not once did anybodychastise columbus, not once they
tell him off, not once did theytell him he was an idiot.
They were just like you knowwhat.
That was probably really stupidof us to do.
But then that goes back to thatfact that it's connection over
(42:59):
correction.
They could have straight awaybroken that emotional bond and
be like what the heck are youdoing?
Columbus, you absolutely killeda legend, six people alive in
the world.
One of them's Bill Murray.
Speaker 2 (43:08):
Not anymore, yeah, but legend, six people alive in
the world one of them's, billmurray not anymore, yeah, but
but I think that was sort ofgood too.
I also do like the fact that,in a way, they made it seem like
bill murray is such a goodactor that he can dress up like
a zombie, yeah, and pass off azombie when realistically
thinnest line in the movierealistically, it's probably
(43:30):
like they probably can likesense that you're.
It's similar to the Shaun of theDead when they're in the Shaun
of the Dead, where they alwayspretend to be zombies it's like
they can sense a warm body orsomething you don't know, in
warm bodies, like at least hehad to wipe his own blood on her
so that so she didn't smellalive.
This is just like nah, he'sjust such a great actor.
(43:50):
He just puts some paint on someface paint on Creamy juice.
Creamy juice.
Yeah, and he can fool all thezombies, if anyone can do it.
Speaker 1 (43:58):
It's Bill Murray, all right.
So for me, best scene was BillMurray getting shot.
That was awesome, definitelygave a laugh to me.
But I also really loved anyscene and they were in the car
road tripping and because theywere able to riff off of each
other too.
What was your favorite scene?
Speaker 2 (44:13):
My favorite scene I think it had to be the grocery
store scene with Woody Harrelsonjust going ham on all the
zombies in the grocery store,and probably the end scene with
him as well, when he's doing thelast dance.
Speaker 1 (44:27):
Yeah lining up all these bullets.
Yeah, all the slow motion, allthe different gun poses.
Speaker 2 (44:32):
No, that's probably the two of my favorite things.
Speaker 1 (44:35):
Yeah, all right, I have two best quotes for me.
The first one was actually aColumbus quote, a Jesse
Eisenberg quote, whichapparently was ad-libbed, and he
said you almost knocked overyour alcohol with your knife
when he was first met him in thecar.
I just thought that's like athat's just what you know
imagine saying that in a reallife setting it just doesn't
happen.
So I thought that was reallygood.
(44:56):
Following that it was alsoad-libbed from jesse eisenberg,
where he was taking the shot andhe threw it out the window and
then continued to think it wasreally nice.
That was apparently just yeah,yeah.
I also like the quote where he'stalking about tallahassee and
he says Tallahassee firmlybelieves that you have to blow
off some steam in Zombieland orelse you'll lose what's left of
your mind.
And then it shows him smackingthe shit out of a car with the
(45:18):
bat or shooting bullets into thesky.
It's like, okay, or you'll losewhat's left of your mind.
Yeah right, he's obviously lostit a little bit there too.
Obviously lost it a little bitthere too.
Speaker 2 (45:29):
But I thought those two lines were really good.
What about yours?
My two favorite lines is onewith Tala.
Like both of them are to dowith Tala Hassid, because Tala
Hassid is just so quote all this.
But when he's talking to LittleRock and Little Rock's and
they're talking about BillMurray and Little Rock's like
who's Bill Murray?
I've never seen a kid before.
He's like asking who Gandhi is.
And then she's like who'sGandhi?
Yeah, I have to like walk awaybecause he's so angry.
(45:53):
And then, while he's walking toColumbus and when they're going
to go their separate ways andhe's like not great FOLs that'll
do pig.
Speaker 1 (46:06):
That's the worst goodbye I've ever seen and it
was from a different movie.
Speaker 2 (46:09):
Oh yeah that, that's the worst goodbye I've ever seen
and it was from a differentmovie.
Oh yeah, that was the worstgoodbye I've ever heard.
Speaker 1 (46:12):
You stole it from a movie.
I think that that quote showshe's like he doesn't want to
connect again.
You know he doesn't want toconnect and he's sort of doing
the yo-yo of being attached withand also pulling away.
I think they're two really goodquotes.
But can I just say that quoteyou said from Abigail Breslin,
little Rock, where she's likewho is Bill Murray and who is
Gandhi?
I probably go through that atleast three times a week in my
(46:36):
job because I'm at an age nowwhere I'm very disconnected from
what is quote marks in with thehip young generation.
So I'll say something as I'mteaching and I'll be like just
go straight over the head andI'll be like that would have
killed 10 years ago guys.
So yeah, I'm definitely feelingmy age there.
So let's rate it.
What'd you give this out offive stars, mr Brash?
Two, two.
Yeah, that's fair Solid two.
(46:57):
One for Woody Harrelson and theother one for his knife.
I give it two stars as well.
Brash, two stars.
I think that's very fair.
Let's see where it sits on ourleaderboard Okay.
It is tied last Makes sense.
So we've got at an average oftwo votes.
We've got red one and JerseyGirl, so I can sit above both of
(47:18):
those, below both of those orin the middle.
Speaker 2 (47:20):
What's currently lowest Red one.
Speaker 1 (47:24):
Jersey Girl is lowest .
I gave it two, you gave it 1.5.
And then red one.
I gave it it three and you gaveit one I should.
I reckon I can be above themboth okay, I think, anyway,
better than red one, but yeah,okay.
So it sits 23rd on our fandomportals on a board, which means
this is probably the last timewe're going to mention it ever
(47:45):
again.
Do you have any rules forzombie land that you would impl
Brash?
Because we got some from ourcommunity that I will read out
now.
Proto's account says thatcardio is a good one, checking
bathrooms is a good one.
A lot of the rules inZombieland are just dumb, though
, is what he said.
Dead Eye Duncan says you needwaterproof shoes and an extra
pair of socks.
That's some.
Speaker 2 (48:06):
Forrest Gump vibes there Must look after your feet.
Speaker 1 (48:08):
Ironic that Lieutenant Dan was the one that
said that and he lost his feet.
We have the.
I am the captain now who is onour threads.
Community said that body armor.
Why doesn't anyone put any bodyarmor on?
I'd be walking straight in likeHeath Ledger from A Knight's
Tale.
I'd be kitted up.
Speaker 2 (48:24):
I mean, I'll probably go that far because he needs a
dexterity well, yeah, it goesback to that cardio rule,
doesn't it?
Speaker 1 (48:30):
you need your cardio, but you also.
I think that would play intoyour a bit of padding, wouldn't
go astray, it'd go into yourpreserved, ending there with
where you said that he shouldhave taken a bite to prove his
sacrificial loyalty.
You know it says from currentevents.
134 says only stay in buildingsor rooms with doors that open
outward instead of openinginward.
(48:51):
So I think that's a verylogical move.
Speaker 2 (48:54):
Yeah, I mean it'll protect you for a little while
at least, because you have yourdoor jam, you have your doorstop
all on the inside.
Speaker 1 (49:03):
And there's another one here from Captain Maticus,
which I think is pretty logicaland the one we're going to end
on.
But he says more people need touse bikes in a zombie
apocalypse, like push bikes, abicycle and have a repair kit.
He says most of the rules inthis movie were good, but I
don't know why people never usebikes in a zombie apocalypse.
They're either relying onwalking or finding a horse or
finding a vehicle that works,but bikes are quiet and they're
much faster than walking orrunning and they're fairly
(49:25):
utilitarian as well.
So I think there's some meritto that.
We need a kids on bikes movie,but with zombies.
I did say that was the last one, but this one's too good to
pass up because we have KarokasaRorschach that says rule number
one should be just pop down tothe pub and wait for this thing
to just blow over.
Speaker 2 (49:43):
Yes, sure, dead reference.
Yep yes, of Dead Revenants.
Yep yes, love it.
Speaker 1 (49:47):
So that's exactly what you should do is go to the
pub, go to the Winchester andwait for this thing to all blow
over.
All right, let's get into whatwe're doing next week.
Oh yeah, next week we are doingChef.
Speaker 2 (49:57):
Yes, we are.
Speaker 1 (49:58):
Next week we are cooking up a fantastic episode.
See, what I did there with JonFavreau's is going to be the
next one that we do on our arcof becoming your true self, and
we'll explore how following yourpassions and building community
in the process can lead to youbecoming who you're truly meant
to be.
I don't know if this one's verywidely seen, but I do recommend
, if you're listening to this,go and give it a watch, guys.
(50:19):
It's a feel-good movie, it's acomfort movie, and I undervalued
it until I watched it a fewtimes before and I think it's
really great.
So definitely go and check thatout and if you are a fan of
what we do, make sure you go andfollow us on social medias.
We are everywhere at FandomPortals.
We are also now on YouTube andwe hope to see you and connect
with you guys there as well.
(50:40):
We have some things coming outon our newsletter as well, so
you can find that atwwwfandomportalspodcastcom and
you can join our mailing list.
We only send you one email amonth.
We're not overbearing like that, so that's all you'll get, but
it does do a great deal forkeeping us and you guys informed
of everything that's happeningin the Phantom Portals podcast.
(51:00):
Do you have any gratitudes,brash, for this week?
Speaker 2 (51:04):
before we sign off oh yeah, we haven't done anything
this week except for work.
Speaker 1 (51:10):
I know that you're grateful that your lawn grows
and then dies and then doesn'thave to be mowed by itself.
Speaker 2 (51:14):
Yeah, that's true, that's something good.
I'll still get it mowed, but atthe moment it doesn't look long
.
Maybe it'll have to be monthssince I've mowed it.
Speaker 1 (51:22):
Yeah, my gratitude is late-night conversations with
Kalia.
It's always fun On the latenight conversations I mean like
10 because we're parents andthat's late, but it's nice
before bed.
So it's very good.
That's mine, and sometimes ithappens and sometimes it doesn't
, because we both just crash orschedules do not align, but when
(51:42):
it does, I'm grateful for it,right?
So, guys, that is it for thisepisode of the fandom portals
podcast.
Keep learning, keep growing andkeep loving fandoms.
We'll see you next week.
Thank you very much, bye thankyou until next time.
Speaker 2 (51:53):
Remember cardio seat belts and this really has
nothing to do with anything buta little sunscreen never hurt
anybody.
I'm brash from zombie landsaying good night, tuning out
bye.
What if the rules you lived by, the ones that keep
you safe, are the very thingsthat are holding you back?
Does the arm of the onesprotected you now limit you to
who you want to be?
In this episode, you'll learnhow Zombieland from 2009 reveals
that sometimes, to become yourtrue self, you need to break the
(00:34):
habits that once kept.
Fandoms and film can help uslearn and grow.
I'm Aaron, a teacher and alifelong film fan, and each week
on the podcast, we explore thestories we love to learn more
about ourselves and the worldsthat shape us.
Today, as usual, I'm joined byBrash.
Hello everyone, I am Brash, bigtime nerd, and today we are
here to do Zombieland from 2009.
(00:55):
We're focusing specificallywith this movie on our
multi-themed arc on becomingyour true self, where we're
diving into the stories thatbreak us free from expectation,
silence and smallness, andstepping into the people we were
truly meant to be.
Whether it's dealing with griefor fear, as some of the
characters in Zombieland do, orit is showing us that coping
strategies that we developedwhile surviving really aren't
(01:16):
good for helping us in the longrun in living, we're going to
look at it all today.
Brash, do you want to give us abrief rundown of this movie
before we jump into bigdiscussion.
Speaker 2 (01:26):
Okay so Zombieland is set in a post-apocalyptic
America run by the undead.
Four unlikely survivors cometogether in search of safety and
belonging.
Columbus, a cautious andneurotic lover loner sorry, no,
a lover, he's a lover Survivesby clinging to his self-made
rules of survival, but secretlylongs for connection.
His path crosses withTallahassee, a tough, brash
(01:49):
drifter, masking grief andloneliness behind sarcasm and a
relentless quest for Twinkies.
Their uneasy partnership growsmore complicated when they meet
sisters Wichita and Little Rock,skilled con artists who trust
no one but each other.
Initially at odds, the groupnavigates portrayals, danger and
their own fears while travelingacross country.
Over time, they begin to letdown their defenses.
(02:09):
By the end, these strangersform a found family, realizing
that in a world of chaos, theonly way to truly live is to
stop running from each other andface the future together.
Speaker 1 (02:19):
That was beautiful.
Speaker 2 (02:20):
When I wrote that, I was like wow, I made this movie
sound good.
Oh, it was beautiful.
Speaker 1 (02:24):
When I wrote that, I was like wow, I made this movie
sound good, very true, I thinkthe other like.
We'll go to our thoughts now ofthis movie, because I think for
me it's not one that I wouldsay is one of my favorites,
that's for sure, I think.
When I watched this initiallyback in 2009, I thought it was
pretty cool.
It's obviously something thatwas coming out a lot during that
time with zombie movies, whichwe might get into a bit later
(02:46):
but I thought the dialogue wasclearly like it was definitely
made to be marketed and quotedand that line nut up or shut up
it's like that was meant to beon a poster.
It didn't sound sort ofauthentic or anything like that
For me.
I think that the zombie rulesthough that's in this movie is
probably what set it apart andthat's kind of become part of
zombie canon.
It's become part of everyzombie conversation that you
(03:07):
have with people now, and thereare obviously some found family
elements in this that are veryappealing, like you mentioned
too.
But what are your thoughts,brash, on this movie when you
first watched it way back in theday?
And spoiler alert to ouramazing fans and listeners Brash
doesn't like this one.
Speaker 2 (03:26):
No, when I first watched it I thought, oh yeah,
fun movie, it's all right, butto be honest, it's probably one
of my least favorite zombiemovies, like look at any of the
dawn of the deads or the 28 dayslater.
28 weeks later, the new, 28years later.
That's fucking amazing.
By the way and I just watchedthat recently even the resident
evils I didn't like as much as Ihated them because they didn't
follow the games.
They were still pretty decent.
(03:48):
This one was yeah.
This one was yeah.
It was like a whole bunch ofquips thrown into a like they
run into like, except for thebig horde at the end.
They run into like one or twozombies here and there.
Speaker 1 (04:00):
Yeah, it's definitely a post-apocalyptic setting in
that way.
It's very sparse, and one ofthe notes that I have for my
nitpicks later is that theydon't really meet any other
survivors.
I think they do later inZombieland at Double Tap, but
it's just the four that sort ofare the main characters here,
where they have those foundfamily kind of vibes, and, of
course, the cameo from BillMurray.
They see Bill Murray, who isnot a zombie.
(04:22):
This one here is directed byRuben Fleischer and it actually
was on a budget of $23 million.
It grossed $103 million, so itdid make some money, but it came
out in 2009, and, as we talkedabout before, there was a
plethora of zombie movies thatcame out during that time.
So there was obviously Shaun ofthe Dead in 2004, which is
awesome, the better comedyzombie movie, absolutely.
(04:45):
So this one, as well as shawnof the dead, mash up that comedy
, uh, horror genre, whichzombies movies do a lot of,
because and there's also likewarm bodies in 2013, which kind
of did the wrong conversion ofzombies, and then also there's
um.
Yeah, nicholas Holt is amazing,born to play a zombie.
Really that guy yeah yeah, andthen well yeah, brad Pitt's got
(05:10):
his World War Z as well, which?
Speaker 2 (05:12):
and even that that, even that I didn't actually mind
World War Z.
I thought it was pretty goodtoo.
Yeah, like because it was a bitof a sort of different sort of
take on on us, a little bit ofthis generalized zombie movie.
They fall on like crawling up,like they used each other to get
a lot smarter.
Speaker 1 (05:31):
Yeah, and I think that that movie was Brad Pitt's
highest grossing movie until F1sort of smashed it, so it's
definitely a favorite of many,and that zombie sort of genre
that we're talking about herewas really popular, I think,
post 9-11 and that recession era, because it gave everybody a
way to cope with socialanxieties and survival fears in
(05:52):
a fun and sort of flexible way,and they blended it, as we said,
with comedies and then actionand romance, so it was almost
like how they do Westerns orsuperhero movies.
It was a phase where the zombiemovie was the thing that you're
going to go and romance.
So it was almost like how theydo Westerns or superhero movies.
It was a phase where the zombiemovie was the thing that you're
going to go and watch.
This one, however, zombielandis the third highest grossing
(06:13):
zombie movie of all time,believe it or not.
Speaker 2 (06:15):
Do you know which one's the highest?
Speaker 1 (06:17):
Yes, I do, it's World War Z.
Oh, okay, and the second oneyou might believe is Hotel
Transylvania, which I don't knowif it's a zombie movie, but it
has a zombie in it, does itcount?
Speaker 2 (06:27):
Tell us in the comments.
Hotel Transylvania is like thefirst one.
Who's the zombie?
Speaker 1 (06:30):
The guy dresses up as a zombie.
He pretends to be a zombie tomarry Mabel.
It counts, it counts.
Speaker 2 (06:36):
I mean, I suppose, the director's undead, and so is
the mummy it's time?
Speaker 1 (06:40):
I guess absolutely.
If you disagree with thatfandom portal community, feel
free to comment.
Speaker 2 (06:45):
I wonder where 28 years is going to watch.
Speaker 1 (06:48):
I would say that's probably taken over it.
I think I did these statsbefore that one.
Speaker 2 (06:52):
Yeah, sort of dropped into the streaming that was 20
years later is amazing and likethere's, like now there's going
to be a second one.
Like 100%.
Speaker 1 (07:04):
Well, amazing and like there's.
Like now there's going to be asecond one.
Well, yeah, I think they weretalking about making that into a
new trilogy.
A trilogy, yeah, which I thinkis good, because they did go in
a completely different directionfrom the usual two.
I will confess, I've not seenany of them, so maybe they'll
appear on the podcast in thefuture.
We'll see how we go, they'rereally good.
The reason we picked this onewas because it does play off on
those themes of breaking the oldhabits that do hold you back in
(07:27):
our themed arc of becoming yourtrue self.
So in this movie we'll moveinto our most valuable takeaway.
The most valuable takeaway wekind of got from this movie was
that often, in order to protectourselves in situations, we
develop habits that then lateron they often outlive their
usefulness, and real growthbegins when we can kind of
(07:48):
recognize those patterns andfind out that we do have the
courage to break them, even ifthey sort of once kept us safe.
So sometimes the strongestarmor that we can have and the
strongest armor that we wear ismade from those habits, but then
later on they used to hide ourpain.
So obviously we're talking aboutthe character of Columbus
played by Jesse Eisenberg here.
(08:09):
He does develop a series ofrules that he uses as a very
habitual way to live his life.
Now, before we get into that, Ifeel like Brash, you have some
things to say about JesseEisenberg, so I'm going to give
you the floor.
How do you think he went inthis movie?
Speaker 2 (08:29):
What do you think of him just generally as an actor?
Spoiler alert fandom portalspeople, he has to be one of the
worst actors I've ever had thepleasure of watching.
Speaker 1 (08:34):
The pleasure of watching, pleasure watching.
Speaker 2 (08:36):
Yeah, I kind of agree like he just plays the same
character in every role.
He does just some weedy,know-it-all smart-ass prick who
is always jittering, alwayslooks like he's on the gear and
just creepy as always.
Just like has that creepy starethat creepy stare.
Speaker 1 (08:56):
Yes, I absolutely agree.
Speaker 2 (08:58):
Yeah, I think the only thing that I reckon he did
really well, or the onlycharacter I think he's played
really well, was his characterin the Social Network.
Yeah, mark.
Speaker 1 (09:10):
Zuckerberg.
Mark Zuckerberg, yeah, becauseMark Zuckerberg's also a dude.
Well, it's almost like he playsthose characters, because I
don't want to make assumptionsabout his personality because I
don't know him, but he seemsvery good at playing the same
type of character and ininterviews that I've seen him in
he is also showing those kindsof traits.
So, yeah, in this one he startsoff as a loner, as we said in
our synopsis and description,and he does this thing that's
(09:33):
called experiential avoidance,which is a psychological pattern
of evading uncomfortable truths, feelings or memories, and he
does that quite rigidly and hesort of sticks himself into
these routines that keep himsafe.
But it blocks him from growthand limits his flexibility.
So obviously some of these rulesinclude beware of bathrooms in
(09:53):
the apocalypse, which is kind oflogical, I guess, and very
survival orientated.
But then it also goes down fromas whimsical as that to
something like rule 17 of don'tbe a hero, which obviously he
ends up breaking in the long run.
But the don't be a hero, whichobviously he ends up breaking in
the long run.
But the don't be a hero andcheck the back seats and all
those kinds of things reallylimit his ability to connect
with other people in a worldthat's gone to hell, and also,
(10:15):
as we said in our synopsis, heis a character that seems to
yearn for that connection, andyou can see that when he meets
the character of Tallahassee onthe bridge and I do kind of like
that scene where he's scaredand hiding behind the motorbike
and eventually, from the shotgun, he just pulls out the thumb
like the hitchhiker's thumb andthen he's like, yeah, get in the
car.
But yeah, that was just areally great interaction between
those two characters.
(10:35):
And then as soon as he gets inthe car, you know Woody
Harrelson's Tallahassee's got.
He's like you know, I'm sensingthat, you know, you're a little
bit of a bitch, so here's therules that we're going to go by.
Speaker 2 (10:45):
Woody Harrelson saved this movie for me.
Yeah, the only reason why it'slike it's I reckon the only
reason why it's funny is becauseof Woody Harrelson and everyone
playing off of Woody Harrelson.
Speaker 1 (10:55):
Well, I saw in the director's commentary that the
characters well, the actors thatdecided to come into this movie
Woody Harrelson and JesseEisenberg they were drawn to the
script because, apart from itjust being like an action smash
zombie movie, they felt that thecharacters and their
interactions throughout actuallyshowed that they were having a
little bit of growth throughthat movie.
Which is kind of what I wantedto talk about in this podcast,
(11:19):
through this movie as well, wasbecause they do start off as
characters that have experienceda massive trauma in the form of
the world goingpost-apocalyptic and they have
both all of the characters themain four have kind of reacted
to that post-apocalypse in avery different way, but there
are also ways that has presentedin people's lives, in the real
world.
So, as we talked about,columbus is very rigid to his
(11:43):
routines and he's experiencingthat experiential avoidance.
Tallahassee does something thata lot of men do, I think, is
when you experience the traumaand his one is definitely a very
substantial trauma he gets veryloud and violent and masks in
ways that very showboaty youmight say, for lack of a better
word he's out there trying to dozombie kill of the week and
(12:04):
he's very outwardly aggressiveand he's firing guns everywhere.
It's very like masculine interms of his outward portrayal,
as opposed to him showing anykind of vulnerability, which
does come later.
And then, uh, witcher tar andlittle rock both go through the
same thing, where they've gotthat emotional detachment.
Whenever you see them gettingclose to somebody, either rob
them and steal their stuff orthey take off and they go before
(12:27):
they get close to anybody,which is probably the one that I
kind of relate to the most, ifI'm going to get a bit personal
about it.
But I do think that thesecharacters do go through a
particular journey through thismovie and, although it's
probably not the best one, itdoes exemplify that long-term
suffering that sometimes peoplego through when they've gone
through something hard andthey've developed really bad
habits that then end up overcontrolling who they are or
(12:52):
stopping them from committing toanything in the future, which
can be detrimental and can bevery hard to work through as
well.
So I think that thesecharacters do grow.
Do you see that growth toobrash?
Speaker 2 (13:01):
yeah, that's what I was watching, because I tried to
make sure I focused on watchingthem sort of grow, but like,
and as much as like they do showthose parts and they do get
better, like at the very end ofthe movie, like realistically,
all the jesse eisenberg'scharacter does at the end is
just add a new rule which islike every now and then enjoy
the little things enjoy thelittle things, that's.
(13:23):
He just added a rule, so he'salready long missed the rules.
Speaker 1 (13:27):
But he also breaks his rules.
That's the big thing he does aswell he does drive with a
seatbelt once yeah, and he alsobecomes a hero.
That's the big one that he sortof breaks in this one too, when
he goes and obviously rescuesthe girls from the ride and
leaves tallahassee basically togo to the theme park and follow
them after they've left, at thevery end of the movie.
Speaker 2 (13:47):
I mean, yeah, he's one that's like we have to go
help them.
Well, we have to go find them.
I guess, realistically, theydidn't know they were in trouble
until they got there and sawzombies.
And then we're like, oh shit,now we're talking about zombies.
But realistically I reckon theperson who's more heroic is
Tallahassee, because he's theone that draws pretty much the
almost the entire order ofzombies to him.
(14:09):
And then Jesse just has tofight off a couple and then that
clown which is overcoming hisown fear too because I fear
clowns, but still, like he does,like.
I don't think he to say that hebroke his rule of not being like
.
I don't think he to say that hebroke his rule of not being a
hero.
I don't think he did it Likesomething I would consider like
(14:30):
overly heroic, not so much likeputting himself in front of a
zombie and becoming a zombie ordying on the flat.
Speaker 1 (14:36):
No, I think Taylor Hasse does a lot more than Jesse
Eisenberg's character does.
Speaker 2 (14:42):
I would have liked maybe there would have been like
another, like another rule thathe had, but maybe if he was
wearing long sleeves orsomething like that, a long
sleeve shirt or something likethat you find out that
underneath he's got body armoron or something like that or
some sort of padding.
It could be like a rule whereyou protect the soft spots or
something.
Yeah, yeah, and he could havepushed which side of the way or
(15:02):
something like that and gottenbitten on the arm and someone
wanted him on a bitten arm andthen when they looked he's got
pain there to protect him.
But he still took that shot forher or something like that, did
something a bit overlygrandiose, because the whole
movie they've been going throughkilling zombies and at the end
for him to be heroic and savethe girls, he had to kill some
zombies.
Speaker 1 (15:23):
Yeah Well, actually in the commentary for this as
well, they tested this moviewith test audiences and
beforehand they didn't have manyof the scenes in where the four
main characters were sort ofconnecting on a personal level.
And after they did the testscreen or they did have them
actually, but then the directorwanted to remove a couple of the
sequences that involved themactually, you know, talking
(15:45):
together and building thatconnection and breaking down the
barriers.
But the audience actuallyreally responded well to the
fact that they were becomingcloser as a, as a sort of found
family that'll make the endingweird too.
Well, yeah, it would havechanged a lot of what sort of
happened toward the end and themactually coming back to save
the girls as well.
But with tallahassee, when heactually went and drew those
(16:07):
zombies away and shut himself inthat box and did that scene,
which was very cowboy, likebeforehand, he was actually
going through and you know,seeking out those zombies and
destroying them and veryaggressive and sort of what's
the word I'm looking for herelike macho kind of way, in this
sort of anger, workaholic,almost like he had to go out and
(16:27):
do it because he didn't want tosit for a moment and reflect on
what he'd lost.
The tracking down of theTwinkie as well can be sort of
mirrored in the reflection ofhim trying to find a sense of
normalcy.
That happened to him before thezombie apocalypse, when his son
was with him.
Speaker 2 (16:42):
Gives himself like a motivation or something to keep
going forward instead of justgiving up.
Speaker 1 (16:47):
Exactly Just like a tangible one.
But that moment that he drewthe zombies away from Columbus,
I think it's a bit subtle.
And in the director'scommentary Jesse Eisenberg also
says you know, this was thescene when he went and saw the
car in the river and Tallahasseedrew the zombies away.
He thought that that scene,jesse Eisenberg thought that
scene, wasn't very strong enoughto portray the message that
(17:08):
Tallahassee was actuallyperforming an element of
self-sacrifice there, where hewas drawing those zombies away
so Jesse could go and save thegirls.
Because in that moment hewasn't actually doing it out of
bravado, he was doing it out ofsacrifice, and I think that that
can get missed.
It sacrifice, and I think thatthat can get missed.
It's not as strong as it shouldbe, but that's a big moment for
that character too, because forthe first time in forever he'd
(17:30):
opened up about the fact that helost a son before and saying
that it was a dog, but then nowhe's willing to also put it all
on the line for these otherpeople that he had brought into
the fold as well.
And one of my favorite momentsof the movie between Tallahassee
was when he did tell them abouthis son Buck and how he lost
him to the zombies.
The very next scene after thatwas him starting to build more
(17:51):
of a connection with Little Rockwhen he was teaching him to
shoot.
That was probably one of thebetter scenes, and that's just
almost really subtle as well.
It's not like an intimateemotional where they're bonding
as father and surrogate daughter, it's just literally a routine
or a thing that they're doingtogether.
But then there's that slightcallback at the end where she
learns to exhale and calmherself down and she uses what
(18:14):
Tallahassee teaches her to savetheir lives.
So there is those small nods ofconnection which does sort of
draw it back to me to the factthat these guys are growing
throughout this movie andbreaking some of the habits that
they had previously had in avery sort of subtle way.
Speaker 2 (18:30):
Actually I was just thinking about it too Honestly.
You can take Jesse Eisenbergout of this movie and it'll
still be probably a better movieif it was just the girls and
Woody Harrelson, because heinstinct instinct sort of could
have kicked in.
That's why he softened up tolet them come with him and then
they robbed him.
So he gets angry, goes back andfinds them and then finds them
(18:51):
in trouble and helps them outagain and they're like look, we
can just help each other andthen I honestly think he's
included in the movie as wellfor the purposes of Wichita's
character.
Speaker 1 (19:01):
Wichita's yeah, when they cast that character it
wasn't initially going to beEmma Stone.
She was actually cast as 406,which was the role that went to
Amber Heard in this movie, andbecause she was so impressive,
they were just like, okay, we'llput her in as Wichita instead,
because she just blew the guysaway and for her and her growth,
she obviously had thatavoidance through any kind of
(19:22):
connection and survival instinctand she ended up opening
herself up to Jesse Eisenberg'scharacter and the thing that
they said was that his characterof Columbus was a hard sell for
audiences because they had tobelieve that he was so nerdy
that he would isolate himself tothe point of being that
reclusive and having these rulesand habits that are so
(19:44):
regimented.
But he also had to be smartenough to survive a zombie
apocalypse, which he does statehe's an unlikely survivor.
But he also had to be coolenough to be able to
charismatically become acharacter like Emma Stone's
Wichita yeah.
So that was like a big graspfor the audience to sort of get.
But I think his characterdefinitely played a part in her
growth, where she started tobecome more connected and less
(20:07):
distracted.
Speaker 2 (20:08):
Yeah, Do you know who would have been a great
Columbus?
Nicholas Holt?
See, that would have been goodtoo.
That would have been good.
I would have enjoyed that,because I can see him being the
dirty guy.
He's also fairly good looking,or really good looking.
I reckon he could have pulledit off.
Speaker 1 (20:24):
I think so too.
No-transcript system trying todo its job and protect the child
(20:51):
.
So when they have to adapt tostress that they can't control,
they create coping mechanisms,which is what a lot of these
characters have done, and theycan persist into adulthood too.
So, for example, we haveTallahassee, who's mirroring
violence through aggression anddefiance.
We have, you know, class clownbehavior as well, which
sometimes happens in classroomsand schools after a student's
(21:13):
gone through any kind of trauma,like they're that distracting
behavior which is like thetwinkie, the distraction of the
twinkie just like I'm hidingtrauma behind comedy and yep as
well yep, never connecting withanyone, always holding them at a
sort of face value becauseyou're, you're the, you're the
person that makes everybodylaugh, instead of them actually
seeing who you really are.
There's that emotionalwithdrawal and avoidance which
(21:35):
Wichita and Little Rock does, sothey don't want to get hurt by
anybody, so they don't make anyconnections or any friends in
the schoolyard or with anyadults or teachers or anything
like that.
And then there's also like arigid strictness to habits and
routines.
So if anything changes in aclassroom, you can see some
eruptions in behavioral episodesthat happen from that as well.
The classroom you can see someeruptions in behavioral episodes
that happen from that as well.
(21:55):
And what they do in this movieis they build a little bit of
emotional literacy and theycreate a really safe environment
between each other whereeverything's predictable towards
the end.
They have some consistentroutines through driving with
each other, staying up andkeeping watch, all that kind of
stuff.
But they also prioritizeconnecting with one another, as
they have that moment ofdowntime in Bill Murray's
(22:16):
mansion and they also build thatemotional literacy through
being able to talk to each otherabout the things that they've
gone through as well.
I mean there's a moment betweenColumbus and Wichita where they
get very close about some ofthe things that have happened in
their past and some of therejection that they've felt from
members of the opposite sexbefore as well.
And then obviously the big dropof Tallahassee and his son
(22:40):
occurs.
And then the thing that kind ofannoyed me about this movie,
but also I kind of liked, wasthe fact that they'd give a deep
drop like that and thenTallahassee would sort of say
something like I haven't criedthis much since Titanic and then
wipe his eyes with $100 bills.
So it balances that traumaticdiscussion with comedy as well.
Speaker 2 (23:00):
Yeah, it makes it so you can feel the surging issues,
but then in a lighter mood, soit doesn't put you just in a
downer mood.
Speaker 1 (23:10):
Yeah, it takes the emotional weight off you
basically.
So it's like here's the partyou need to connect with these
characters and to show thatthey're kind of growing and
getting closer.
Speaker 2 (23:17):
But then also here's the laugh as well, but let's not
get down about it.
Speaker 1 (23:20):
Yeah, exactly, let's not linger on that for too long.
Yeah, I thought that one of thebest parts of this movie was
any of the time that they wereroad tripping, basically when
they were sitting in the carsand driving, and then it was the
smash cuts of them just movingseats, obviously showing the
passage of time, and they werejust sort of connecting as
people.
And Abigail Breslin I think hername is the one that plays
(23:43):
Little Rock just started talkingto Woody Harrelson about Hannah
Montana.
Apparently that was completelya genuine conversation as well
and they were just sort ofconnecting in that space, but it
worked for those two charactersas well sweet, she's that
character and that she's two.
Speaker 2 (23:57):
Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1 (23:57):
So any sort of interaction with woody harrison
and any other cast is probablylike my favorite interaction,
like it's just always genuinelyfunny and just yeah, I think
he's his timing and comedic sortof presence is really good for
the movie too, but he also hasthe range to go into spaces that
(24:18):
are pretty emotional as well.
So with him he's obviously hesaid let's talk about tahasi in
a couple of his scenes becausehe he kind of serves as that
group's muscle, he's, he's thecomic relief.
But he's also ravaged by theloss of his young son and he
talks about you, the dog that helost at first.
So he wants you can see thatit's all sort of on the edge,
(24:38):
like he wants to feel thatconnection, he wants to tell
people about it and I'm not sureif Columbus sort of acts as
like a best friend or a youngerbrother towards him, but he kind
of fills the role of like aconfidant, I guess.
Yeah, it's kind of hard to pickwhat that sort of, or friends.
Basically they just seem likevery two unlikely friends.
Speaker 2 (24:56):
Yeah, because I think that's what I would have liked
a bit more.
Because it seems like LittleRock became sort of like a
daughter and he sort of likesent some sort of father figure
to her and then even withWichita was like some sort of um
, like, maybe like uncle or evenlike brother sort of sort of
(25:19):
vibe between those two and thenwith but with for columbus it
was hard to pick whether it waslike.
Yeah, it was hard to pickwhether he was like sort of like
a father figure, or if he wassort of like a brother figure,
or if he was just a friend orlike the weird crazy uncle.
Speaker 1 (25:37):
Yeah, he definitely gave those vibes.
Speaker 2 (25:39):
It's sort of like he gave them all in one, yeah, yeah
, like.
At times he was sort of likeacting like the father figure.
And then there's other timeswhere it was more like a brother
, where he'd like make snidecomments and make fun of him and
shit like that, like a brotherwould.
And then there's other timeswhere he's like more of a friend
, where he like he was justthere to help him out.
Speaker 1 (25:57):
It was an undefined, wasn't it?
Yeah, yeah, because they talkabout like girls and things like
that, but then it's not liketrying to fill all the roles,
yeah, and he'd protect hisemotional vulnerabilities as
well, because you knowvulnerabilities as well.
Because when Columbus wasactually going back to Columbus
and Wichita was saying likethere's nothing there,
tallahassee sort of like tappedher on the shoulder and gave her
that look like, come on, whatare you doing?
(26:19):
You're going to actually breakhis heart here.
And then they both kind of italmost seemed like Wichita and
Tallahassee were emotionally asmature as each other and they
were kind of holding the othertwo together in that space as
well.
And I think that that was partof that connection and that
growing connection was a reallybig moment for them to start to
(26:39):
build trust and then break downthose barriers and ends up with
Tallahassee's firstunintentional step towards being
vulnerable at least was when hewas talking about the dog that
he lost with Columbus and theneventually it slips, it slips
later that he reveals that itwas his son.
So, yeah, I think that that andthe Pacific Playland shootout
(27:06):
scene was very big forTallahassee because he was
fighting earlier to just let offsteam, basically, and that
became one of Columbus's rulesas well.
Sometimes in Zombieland you'vegot to let off steam and you see
him like shooting bullets intothe sky or driving massive
hummers around and painting bigthrees on the cars that he finds
and things like that.
But then eventually he ends upfighting to protect.
And it's because, especially forlittle rock as well, because he
he's protective of that sort ofrelationship that he has, and
(27:30):
in the end Little Rock alsoreciprocates that by throwing
him the Twinkie that he'd beenlooking for so much and that to
me was kind of symbolic of howhe was always looking for that
Twinkie to get that sense ofnormalcy again and that sense of
what things were like before,whether it was like trying to
relive something from the past.
But he then sort of receivedsomething from someone that he
(27:50):
cares about.
After he thought he lost heragain as well because she was
driving away, and it kind offulfills that like emotional
need that it was.
It always represented a littlebit more for him, like the
twinkie represented connectionand and memory and sort of
family and he got that from heras well, but for her as well it
was good for him to get it fromher, because she was then sort
(28:11):
of thinking about somebody else,yeah, and besides her sister,
exactly besides her sister.
Yeah, perfect, because, yeah,it was just a very nebulous
relationship between those twobefore as well yeah, it was only
like she, she was only trustedher sister like didn't trust
anyone else.
Speaker 2 (28:29):
And yeah, and now is able to sort of trust and you
know, talk, go off with talasiand talk to him and do their own
thing.
Or go to the movies and watch amovie um columbus without her
sister there and stuff like thatand you know watch, watch
columbus fucking shoot billmurray and kill a legend.
Speaker 1 (28:46):
Another reason why hsd eisenberg kills bill murray
jesus absolutely you know, sidenote as well, when Woody
Harrelson was in the scenes withBill Murray like they're
obviously very close friends butapparently in the commentary he
was saying that he didn'treally have to act in the scene
where he was like geeking outover Bill Murray, because that's
all the things that he feelsabout him anyway, because he's
such a legend in the space.
(29:06):
So it was one take and he saideverything that he wanted to say
.
Speaker 2 (29:11):
Just got everything off his chest.
Speaker 1 (29:13):
Yeah, absolutely.
So.
Yeah, tallahassee kind of wentfrom.
He learns to make peace withthe fact that he had gone
through this big loss and he'sopen to the fact that he is
allowing himself to care again.
Does he have a long way to go?
Absolutely, but I think that heis on the path of becoming his
true self through, like healingthe pain of the past by
(29:34):
connecting with others anddropping the masculine bravado
that was sort of holding himback there, because, yeah, he
does definitely have that livingwithin him.
But, that being said, watchinghim kill a zombie with a banjo
was awesomely cool.
Yeah, yeah, 100%.
That was also Woody Harrelson'sidea to play the banjo and to
play the dueling banjo tune.
(29:56):
But as you entered the, theshopping center, that was woody
harrelson's idea and he actuallyhe pitched it and then the
director said that's a greatidea.
And then he goes okay, cool,now I'm gonna go learn the banjo
.
So he had to learn that actualpart for the movie, but I
thought that was good with witchguitar as well.
We'll move on to a little bit ofher.
She was kind of the.
She was emotionally distant.
We're never really sure of why.
(30:17):
We just know they've probablylost a lot of people, like,
obviously, little rock andwichita, and, yeah, they have
this habit of isolating eachother and that no longer serves
them, because when they isolatefor the last time, they go to
pacific playland, and I thinkWichita is trying to recapture
some youthful experiences forher sister and that's why they
make the really dumb decision togo and turn on all the lights
and the music at this theme park.
Speaker 2 (30:40):
Yeah, back when they were happy, because even before
the zombie apocalypse they werealone running scams because they
only had each other.
That's true.
Yeah, that's right, because Idon't think it actually says.
But you know, they must eitherlost their parents or their
parents abandoned beforehand andlike the adventure play park
was the like sort of last timethat they probably had, were
(31:02):
there with their family andprobably last time that they
were really like just normallynormal, happy kids, which I
think she says to the other guyswhy they're going there is to
give a sister some sort ofmemory of like bring back some
memory when they're happy,normal kids.
Speaker 1 (31:20):
Yeah, and together, and also for her, I think it
might have also been ahearkening back to a time when
she was having to be lessprotective of Little Rock in
that sort of protective role,because she was obviously a big
sister as well.
But raising her little sisterkind of made her become this
hyper-protective role model in avery lawless world and I think
(31:41):
her journey comes from herlearning that strength can also
include vulnerability.
For her, so obviously thatconnection was something that
she didn't really like and thehabit that she needed to break
was that she was just moving onfrom everything very, very
quickly and putting them indangerous situations where they
would only rely on each otherand never anybody else, which
they obviously break when theymeet Columbus and T.
(32:02):
With Columbus and reveals hername to be Krista because that's
what Tallahassee said at thestart of the movie he's like no,
we're not using real names.
Real names mean attachment, noway.
And she's the only characterthat reveals her real name as
(32:24):
being Krista.
And that's that connection andthat vulnerability she's showing
to Jesse Eisenberg to say youknow, I want you to get to know
me now, which is definitelysomething she wasn't doing
before, but she is now a personthat wants to be known, instead
of being a person who is analias, but also running at the
sign of every form of connectionthat they make, and it goes
(32:46):
back to that dream of normalcythat they're all chasing as well
and that sort of safe space ofconnection as well, which I
think they end up all learningthat they're all finding that
they're looking for the past in,like a Twinkie or a place, but
they end up finding the pastwithin each other, like within
the connection and the familythat they feel with each other.
(33:06):
So I guess comfort is thatfeeling that they're looking for
, as opposed to the things thatmake them feel comfortable in
their past, if that makes sense.
Speaker 2 (33:15):
Yeah, besides that one part where, like she didn't
like, cause I don't haveanything which time is really
one of the least exploredcharacters of all of them.
I feel like she gets less outof the whole entire thing than
all the others do.
Yeah, I agree.
Speaker 1 (33:34):
She gets a relationship with Jesse
Eisenberg, and that was what Iwas about to say.
She serves as a character'spurpose in terms of allowing
Jesse Eisenberg to feel thatconnection and break some of his
rules, obviously.
But she is very much seen as acharacter through his lens and
his eyes.
He always wants to brush thehair over her ears.
So she's like that attainablegoal of connection that he's
(33:54):
seeking.
But for her herself we don'treally know what her goals and
ambitions are beyond justprotecting her sister, wanting
to be seen and loved andvulnerable for who she is.
But yeah, I agree, it's veryovershadowed by a lot of other
things that we're looking at interms of her character.
So I liked that.
(34:15):
Her scene of enjoying thelittle things goes back to
tallahassee's mantra wherethey're sort of embracing that
joy and connection, wherethey're dancing with one another
with the wine as well.
Yeah, that was a good scenebetween those two that showed
that sort of budding connectionbetween and that was apparently
the test screen between jesseeisenberg and the female
characters that sort of came into play that role and they found
that Emma Stone was likeoutwitting Jesse Eisenberg and
(34:37):
being really sort of charismaticand they kind of wanted that
for her character, emma Stone'san amazing actress.
Speaker 2 (34:45):
She fits the Wichita role.
Don't know if I could reallypick anyone else who could play.
Was she 2009?
Yeah, 2009.
2009, back then, anyone elsewho could really, I would say,
play that role?
Speaker 1 (34:59):
Yeah, I definitely agree.
I think that she was definitelythe big sort of draw for this
movie as well.
I think Emma Stone becamereally big after this as well,
from 2009 onwards.
But yeah, I think Emma Stonebecame really big after this as
well, from 2009 onwards.
But yeah, I think the hardestthing to come to audiences was,
as we said before, believingthat Jesse Eisenberg's Columbus
(35:20):
would be charismatic enough tocharm an Emma Stone kind of
character in this space.
So, especially with hiscompulsiveness at the time, and
he kind of had to build himselfup or change himself to be able
to connect with these otherpeople, because he saw that
those routines that he wasmaking and those rules that he
was having was really playing apart in Distancing him,
(35:43):
absolutely Distancing himbetween him and his other
survivor friends at this point.
So he actually had to choose totake a risk over his rules to
then actually end up having himto believe in something else,
which was him breaking hishabits of control, which can be
tricky as well.
So with Little Rock, it alsocomes back to the fact that
(36:04):
she's looking she was acharacter that had to grow up
too fast as well, I feel.
Oh, 100%, even before thezombies, though.
Absolutely.
She had to learn to play again.
She had to learn to trust again.
She had to learn to have thatemotional safety again, which I
think is important for thosescenes where they are traveling
in the car and she gets to talkabout kids' stuff, or even when
they're smashing the shoptogether.
That's like she has the rightto be young.
(36:26):
In that space she can go andsmash some things around and
have some fun.
Speaker 2 (36:29):
And basically had to learn to be a kid again.
Speaker 1 (36:32):
Yeah, yeah, she had to build that confidence with
the people that she was with andshe was able to do that because
Tallahassee did sort of takethat sort of fathership figure
and that role of responsibilityfor her.
And I think Tallahassee alsotook that responsibility off
Wichita, which was good, becausethen it allowed her to play
less of that protective role forher sister and then become who
she was supposed to be as well.
(36:53):
So that connection isdefinitely foregrounded in
having them being able to tobuild those habits together and
she represents that rebuildingof the emotional structure
between all of the characters,because she's able to, you know,
have those moments of joy andfreedom and fun as a child and
(37:13):
then the other older characterssort of look at her experiencing
those emotions and are thenable to sort of believe in that
again in this space of, you know, a not so nice post-apocalyptic
zombie world.
And yeah, and she's not wrongfor wanting that kind of joy.
I think that she is definitely,she has a right to it.
But she also then doesn't knowwhat real support looks like in
(37:35):
terms of a family unit, fromwhat it seems like anyway.
But she does represent thatsort of lost innocence and
normalcy.
But she does get that back inthe end, which is good to see.
So I think they all do growbrash, even if it is just a
little bit, and you have to kindof look deeper sometimes to to
find it yeah, and so I said,like all grew, like all of them
(37:56):
had that growth, I suppose evencolumbus a little bit yeah I I
agree with you, though I thinkhis journey could have been a
little bit more represented ifthey were going for that message
, because through test audiencesthey did find that that
connection, that growth, waswhat they liked about this
zombie movie, as opposed to itbeing just a regular action
zombie flick.
So if they leaned into that alittle bit more and just sort of
(38:17):
showed how that main charactergrew that little bit more, I
think it would have landed alittle bit.
Speaker 2 (38:23):
Because I would have liked it for him to have,
instead of adding a few morerules that are meant to lighten
it up, he should have changedsome of his rules.
I would have found that moresignificant for him to actually
change the rules rather thanjust add a couple more that
allow himself to have a bit morefun.
Speaker 1 (38:42):
I think that would have been more reminiscent of
the fact that he's sort ofgetting rid of these habits that
no longer serve him, because Ithink he would very much still
believe in the fact that rulenumber one of Zombieland is
cardio.
He will always put his seatbelton when he drives a car.
He will always.
Apparently there was a rule aswell that was like keep
everything in Ziploc bags.
Speaker 2 (38:59):
That was one that kind of got deleted.
There's one here.
Rule two Ziploc bags.
You've got enough problems.
Moisture shouldn't be one ofthem.
Speaker 1 (39:07):
Exactly, and that's why actually they were going to
make that more prominent.
But in the commentary they saidthat they sort of scrapped that
one in favor of others.
But that's why at the end scene, when he's going to fight the
clown, you'll notice that hegoes to pull his bullets out of
his pocket and they're in aZiploc bag and he throws the
Ziploc bag away.
Speaker 2 (39:22):
I was actually wrong, though he did change one from
don't be a hero to somethingelse.
Speaker 1 (39:27):
To be a hero, yeah.
Speaker 2 (39:30):
He changed it from don't be a hero to be a hero.
Speaker 1 (39:33):
I think that needs a caveat on the end of it.
To be a hero to those thatmatter, kind of thing.
Yeah, you know, I think if hegoes in as a hero to everyone
that he finds, that's probablyjust as damaging in this
situation.
So the thing we haven'tmentioned as well is a lot of
the time.
If so, the thing we haven'tmentioned as well is a lot of
the time if you're talking aboutbreaking habits that no longer
serve you.
For people that are goingthrough these kinds of things,
(39:54):
usually the healing comes afterthe traumatic event, and these
characters are very much stillin a traumatic event.
So they're growing through atraumatic event, and I think
that the amounts of small growththey're doing can be
representative.
But it's also important to sortof know that it's very hard to
do either in the screen or inreal life.
So it's just a matter of reallydoing what's best for you in
(40:16):
the moment and then takingobviously account of where you
are in terms of your personalgrowth, I guess as well Actually
, I did want to talk about theBill Murray scene a little bit
more and just how much that sortof it gives them that moment of
respite, I guess you could say.
And I remember feeling this thefirst time when I was watching
Lord of the Rings with my dad inthe cinemas, right, and I know
(40:37):
it's weird to compare Zombielandto Lord of the Rings because
you know one's a masterpiece andthis is Zombieland, but the
first part of the movie, whenyou know Frodo and all them are
in the Shire, feel very safe andthen they leave the shire and I
actually felt terror for thefirst time in a movie cinema
ever in my life, like I wasgripping the seat, I was
actually really, really scaredand then, yep, absolutely.
(40:58):
And then in the middle of themovie, when he was at rivendell,
I had a moment to like, oh,like breathe, and I feel like
that's what this bill murraysort of scene was akin to.
It was that moment for all thecharacters to really show their
first real emotional exhale, youmight say, and the characters
could indulge in like fantasy ina post-apocalyptic world and
they could enjoy the things fromthe past, including
(41:18):
Ghostbusters and all thedifferent foods and Monopoly and
sleeping in a bed and wine anddancing, and it was a pause from
everything that was sort ofgoing on.
So that's akin to me to creatingthose really safe environments
for people to be able to beginto heal in.
And you can do that in yourlife or you can do that in the
classroom as well, but that'susually the very first thing
that we sort of go through asteachers is you've got to make
(41:38):
your classroom a really safespace, because then it allows
all watered and they feel likeyou're going to give them a good
crack.
So I think that it's definitelyone of those moments for them
in this movie.
When they're able to do that,they get that sort of moment to
(42:00):
build some awareness of what'ssort of going on and take
account from each other, becausethat's when all of those
connecting conversations sort ofhappen, you know.
Speaker 2 (42:09):
Yeah, and it's Bill Murray ofray.
Bill murray gives you a safespace to be who you want to be.
Speaker 1 (42:16):
That is, that is what bill murray encompasses yeah,
and obviously all of his moviesfrom the past can be comfort
movies for people as well.
But I I just love how, eveneven in that moment of safety,
they kind of still just reel itback to the fact that they're in
a post-apocalyptic worldbecause bill murray gets shot.
Death is still apparent.
They begin to feel that theoutside world sort of impressing
(42:36):
on them again.
But you know what was reallygood about that?
Tallahassee obviously met hishero, met his idol, and he is
shot by columbus, who he justmade a friend with.
And not once did anybodychastise columbus, not once they
tell him off, not once did theytell him he was an idiot.
They were just like you knowwhat.
That was probably really stupidof us to do.
But then that goes back to thatfact that it's connection over
(42:59):
correction.
They could have straight awaybroken that emotional bond and
be like what the heck are youdoing?
Columbus, you absolutely killeda legend, six people alive in
the world.
One of them's Bill Murray.
Speaker 2 (43:08):
Not anymore, yeah, but legend, six people alive in
the world one of them's, billmurray not anymore, yeah, but
but I think that was sort ofgood too.
I also do like the fact that,in a way, they made it seem like
bill murray is such a goodactor that he can dress up like
a zombie, yeah, and pass off azombie when realistically
thinnest line in the movierealistically, it's probably
(43:30):
like they probably can likesense that you're.
It's similar to the Shaun of theDead when they're in the Shaun
of the Dead, where they alwayspretend to be zombies it's like
they can sense a warm body orsomething you don't know, in
warm bodies, like at least hehad to wipe his own blood on her
so that so she didn't smellalive.
This is just like nah, he'sjust such a great actor.
(43:50):
He just puts some paint on someface paint on Creamy juice.
Creamy juice.
Yeah, and he can fool all thezombies, if anyone can do it.
Speaker 1 (43:58):
It's Bill Murray, all right.
So for me, best scene was BillMurray getting shot.
That was awesome, definitelygave a laugh to me.
But I also really loved anyscene and they were in the car
road tripping and because theywere able to riff off of each
other too.
What was your favorite scene?
Speaker 2 (44:13):
My favorite scene I think it had to be the grocery
store scene with Woody Harrelsonjust going ham on all the
zombies in the grocery store,and probably the end scene with
him as well, when he's doing thelast dance.
Speaker 1 (44:27):
Yeah lining up all these bullets.
Yeah, all the slow motion, allthe different gun poses.
Speaker 2 (44:32):
No, that's probably the two of my favorite things.
Speaker 1 (44:35):
Yeah, all right, I have two best quotes for me.
The first one was actually aColumbus quote, a Jesse
Eisenberg quote, whichapparently was ad-libbed, and he
said you almost knocked overyour alcohol with your knife
when he was first met him in thecar.
I just thought that's like athat's just what you know
imagine saying that in a reallife setting it just doesn't
happen.
So I thought that was reallygood.
(44:56):
Following that it was alsoad-libbed from jesse eisenberg,
where he was taking the shot andhe threw it out the window and
then continued to think it wasreally nice.
That was apparently just yeah,yeah.
I also like the quote where he'stalking about tallahassee and
he says Tallahassee firmlybelieves that you have to blow
off some steam in Zombieland orelse you'll lose what's left of
your mind.
And then it shows him smackingthe shit out of a car with the
(45:18):
bat or shooting bullets into thesky.
It's like, okay, or you'll losewhat's left of your mind.
Yeah right, he's obviously lostit a little bit there too.
Obviously lost it a little bitthere too.
Speaker 2 (45:29):
But I thought those two lines were really good.
What about yours?
My two favorite lines is onewith Tala.
Like both of them are to dowith Tala Hassid, because Tala
Hassid is just so quote all this.
But when he's talking to LittleRock and Little Rock's and
they're talking about BillMurray and Little Rock's like
who's Bill Murray?
I've never seen a kid before.
He's like asking who Gandhi is.
And then she's like who'sGandhi?
Yeah, I have to like walk awaybecause he's so angry.
(45:53):
And then, while he's walking toColumbus and when they're going
to go their separate ways andhe's like not great FOLs that'll
do pig.
Speaker 1 (46:06):
That's the worst goodbye I've ever seen and it
was from a different movie.
Speaker 2 (46:09):
Oh yeah that, that's the worst goodbye I've ever seen
and it was from a differentmovie.
Oh yeah, that was the worstgoodbye I've ever heard.
Speaker 1 (46:12):
You stole it from a movie.
I think that that quote showshe's like he doesn't want to
connect again.
You know he doesn't want toconnect and he's sort of doing
the yo-yo of being attached withand also pulling away.
I think they're two really goodquotes.
But can I just say that quoteyou said from Abigail Breslin,
little Rock, where she's likewho is Bill Murray and who is
Gandhi?
I probably go through that atleast three times a week in my
(46:36):
job because I'm at an age nowwhere I'm very disconnected from
what is quote marks in with thehip young generation.
So I'll say something as I'mteaching and I'll be like just
go straight over the head andI'll be like that would have
killed 10 years ago guys.
So yeah, I'm definitely feelingmy age there.
So let's rate it.
What'd you give this out offive stars, mr Brash?
Two, two.
Yeah, that's fair Solid two.
(46:57):
One for Woody Harrelson and theother one for his knife.
I give it two stars as well.
Brash, two stars.
I think that's very fair.
Let's see where it sits on ourleaderboard Okay.
It is tied last Makes sense.
So we've got at an average oftwo votes.
We've got red one and JerseyGirl, so I can sit above both of
(47:18):
those, below both of those orin the middle.
Speaker 2 (47:20):
What's currently lowest Red one.
Speaker 1 (47:24):
Jersey Girl is lowest .
I gave it two, you gave it 1.5.
And then red one.
I gave it it three and you gaveit one I should.
I reckon I can be above themboth okay, I think, anyway,
better than red one, but yeah,okay.
So it sits 23rd on our fandomportals on a board, which means
this is probably the last timewe're going to mention it ever
(47:45):
again.
Do you have any rules forzombie land that you would impl
Brash?
Because we got some from ourcommunity that I will read out
now.
Proto's account says thatcardio is a good one, checking
bathrooms is a good one.
A lot of the rules inZombieland are just dumb, though
, is what he said.
Dead Eye Duncan says you needwaterproof shoes and an extra
pair of socks.
That's some.
Speaker 2 (48:06):
Forrest Gump vibes there Must look after your feet.
Speaker 1 (48:08):
Ironic that Lieutenant Dan was the one that
said that and he lost his feet.
We have the.
I am the captain now who is onour threads.
Community said that body armor.
Why doesn't anyone put any bodyarmor on?
I'd be walking straight in likeHeath Ledger from A Knight's
Tale.
I'd be kitted up.
Speaker 2 (48:24):
I mean, I'll probably go that far because he needs a
dexterity well, yeah, it goesback to that cardio rule,
doesn't it?
Speaker 1 (48:30):
you need your cardio, but you also.
I think that would play intoyour a bit of padding, wouldn't
go astray, it'd go into yourpreserved, ending there with
where you said that he shouldhave taken a bite to prove his
sacrificial loyalty.
You know it says from currentevents.
134 says only stay in buildingsor rooms with doors that open
outward instead of openinginward.
(48:51):
So I think that's a verylogical move.
Speaker 2 (48:54):
Yeah, I mean it'll protect you for a little while
at least, because you have yourdoor jam, you have your doorstop
all on the inside.
Speaker 1 (49:03):
And there's another one here from Captain Maticus,
which I think is pretty logicaland the one we're going to end
on.
But he says more people need touse bikes in a zombie
apocalypse, like push bikes, abicycle and have a repair kit.
He says most of the rules inthis movie were good, but I
don't know why people never usebikes in a zombie apocalypse.
They're either relying onwalking or finding a horse or
finding a vehicle that works,but bikes are quiet and they're
much faster than walking orrunning and they're fairly
(49:25):
utilitarian as well.
So I think there's some meritto that.
We need a kids on bikes movie,but with zombies.
I did say that was the last one, but this one's too good to
pass up because we have KarokasaRorschach that says rule number
one should be just pop down tothe pub and wait for this thing
to just blow over.
Speaker 2 (49:43):
Yes, sure, dead reference.
Yep yes, of Dead Revenants.
Yep yes, love it.
Speaker 1 (49:47):
So that's exactly what you should do is go to the
pub, go to the Winchester andwait for this thing to all blow
over.
All right, let's get into whatwe're doing next week.
Oh yeah, next week we are doingChef.
Speaker 2 (49:57):
Yes, we are.
Speaker 1 (49:58):
Next week we are cooking up a fantastic episode.
See, what I did there with JonFavreau's is going to be the
next one that we do on our arcof becoming your true self, and
we'll explore how following yourpassions and building community
in the process can lead to youbecoming who you're truly meant
to be.
I don't know if this one's verywidely seen, but I do recommend
, if you're listening to this,go and give it a watch, guys.
(50:19):
It's a feel-good movie, it's acomfort movie, and I undervalued
it until I watched it a fewtimes before and I think it's
really great.
So definitely go and check thatout and if you are a fan of
what we do, make sure you go andfollow us on social medias.
We are everywhere at FandomPortals.
We are also now on YouTube andwe hope to see you and connect
with you guys there as well.
(50:40):
We have some things coming outon our newsletter as well, so
you can find that atwwwfandomportalspodcastcom and
you can join our mailing list.
We only send you one email amonth.
We're not overbearing like that, so that's all you'll get, but
it does do a great deal forkeeping us and you guys informed
of everything that's happeningin the Phantom Portals podcast.
(51:00):
Do you have any gratitudes,brash, for this week?
Speaker 2 (51:04):
before we sign off oh yeah, we haven't done anything
this week except for work.
Speaker 1 (51:10):
I know that you're grateful that your lawn grows
and then dies and then doesn'thave to be mowed by itself.
Speaker 2 (51:14):
Yeah, that's true, that's something good.
I'll still get it mowed, but atthe moment it doesn't look long
.
Maybe it'll have to be monthssince I've mowed it.
Speaker 1 (51:22):
Yeah, my gratitude is late-night conversations with
Kalia.
It's always fun On the latenight conversations I mean like
10 because we're parents andthat's late, but it's nice
before bed.
So it's very good.
That's mine, and sometimes ithappens and sometimes it doesn't
, because we both just crash orschedules do not align, but when
(51:42):
it does, I'm grateful for it,right?
So, guys, that is it for thisepisode of the fandom portals
podcast.
Keep learning, keep growing andkeep loving fandoms.
We'll see you next week.
Thank you very much, bye thankyou until next time.
Speaker 2 (51:53):
Remember cardio seat belts and this really has
nothing to do with anything buta little sunscreen never hurt
anybody.
I'm brash from zombie landsaying good night, tuning out
bye.
Popular Podcasts
On Purpose with Jay Shetty
I’m Jay Shetty host of On Purpose the worlds #1 Mental Health podcast and I’m so grateful you found us. I started this podcast 5 years ago to invite you into conversations and workshops that are designed to help make you happier, healthier and more healed. I believe that when you (yes you) feel seen, heard and understood you’re able to deal with relationship struggles, work challenges and life’s ups and downs with more ease and grace. I interview experts, celebrities, thought leaders and athletes so that we can grow our mindset, build better habits and uncover a side of them we’ve never seen before. New episodes every Monday and Friday. Your support means the world to me and I don’t take it for granted — click the follow button and leave a review to help us spread the love with On Purpose. I can’t wait for you to listen to your first or 500th episode!
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
The Joe Rogan Experience
The official podcast of comedian Joe Rogan.