In the movie Shaun of the Dead, there is a conflict between David and Shaun about Barbara, Barbara who has already been dead. David assumes that Barbara is no longer Shaun’s mother after a zombie bit her (Shaun of the Dead). Whereas, Shaun insists on Barbara’s still being his mother. According to the argument between these two characters, my opinion is Shaun’s assumption of Barbara’s identity is most problematic.
Narrative Criterion
According to the conversation between David and Shaun, David considers that Zombie Barbara and the woman they used to know are not the same people. This point of view can be connected with the Narrative continuity criterion raised by Marya Schechtman (9). The philosopher believes that the Narrative criterion with self-consciousness, memory, and “a recognition of the importance of being intelligible to myself” is the part, which makes a person who he is (Schechtman 18). It also means that all these properties make a personality more humane. Due to this explanation, it is possible to describe the scene from the movie correctly.
According to David, Barbara has lost her “self-consciousness” and the “intelligible to herself ” based on the plot immediately after this scene. It is quite difficult to claim if Barbara still has her memory or not because some of the scenes show that there are still some minds zombies can have. The proof of this conclusion can be seen in the situation when Shaun is holding a gun and aiming at Barbara. The expression of a woman’s face at this moment is complicated. Moreover, when Shaun and Ed call their roommate Peter by his name, he turns his face and reacts to them. However, only memory without self-awareness is not enough to call him a rational and sane being. Although zombies have a human experience they are no longer people and can not think like humans.
Besides, as Schechtman claims, a person needs to perceive himself as a thinking being to observe the actions taking place around him, to memorize and accumulate the experience gained (18). It is rather difficult to say whether the concepts of experience and observation can be applied to zombies. Such a creature is guided by instincts and acts not by logical reasoning but on the assumption of the simplest reflexes.
Bodily Criterion
In addition to the above-described method, Shaun is trying to prove that Barbara is still his mother by the Bodily Criterion. This approach assumes that a person remains the same when his or her body “consists in retaining the same functional organization” (Schechtman 18). It means that a person can be called a person if his or her body parts have not ceased to function and have retained their activity without changing the structure. Nevertheless, in the case of Barbara, this is unacceptable. She and other zombies do not care about personal identity and do not realize their inferiority from both the spiritual and the physical point of view. That’s why I assume that Shaun’s point is the most problematic one.
The idea of the Bodily Criterion notes that the personality is only a physically conditioned essence, and this essence is the only component that is required for a human to remain himself. If the existence of the physical body ceases, the life of the individual will cease too, and self-identification will become impossible. What concerns zombies, this approach is partly right because even though they have almost no consciousness, the parts of their bodies still function, albeit unconsciously. Anyway, a zombie does not have a soul as we are used to understanding it, and does not control parts of his body, and therefore can not be considered a thinking being.
Different Species
In this case, Zombie Barbara’s body function doesn’t remain the same as the body she had when she was a human. Every single cell in her body has changed, and now is turning her into a new species. For humans, many parts of the body need to be protected. Otherwise, the damage caused can lead to death. If a person’s internal organs are damaged, it is the reason for dangerous and sometimes lethal consequences. What concerns zombies, things are different. The only way to kill them is to create enough damage to their brain or remove their head. Zombies also cannot feel pain like humans, the food for them is blood and flesh, and they also cannot control their instinctive reactions.
These factors show that zombies do not have the same functional organizations as the people. Shaun himself also knows that the reason he was trying to protect Zombie Barbara is that his emotions and affection do not let him admit that his mother has turned into a zombie. It is another point, which showed that zombies and humans are different species. Even at the stage of turning from a person into a zombie, they are aware of their actions because they still have some feelings and self-consciousness. Having transformed, they are totally under the control of their instinct of eating. Just like Philips, Shaun’s stepfather showed his love before he passed away, but attacked Shaun immediately after he had become a living dead.
Memory Criterion
Shaun not only tries to prove that Barbara is his mom by the Bodily Criterion, but also the Memory Criterion. After he holds the gun and aims at his mother, he is waiting that Barbara will show some reactions proving that she is still alive. Barbara looks at him in a complicated way, which makes Shaun feel that there is still hope for her to remember him. However, the reaction of Barbara finally destroys his expectations, when his mother is trying to attack the other group members. Shaun finally shoots at Barbara, throwing every effort to find an excuse, and focuses on protecting his friends and girlfriend. There is a Narrative Criterion here again, which looks rather appropriate and reasonable.
Thus, the most significant reason for Shaun’s assumption being problematic is that the argument he holds is based on his emotions and the fallacy of ignorance on David’s argument. Moreover, the misuse of the Body Criterion is also a big reason that makes his argument non-reasonable. When making a conclusion, it is possible to say that the Memory Criterion is not as reasonable as the Narrative Continuity Criterion that David holds for this case. The latter approach includes the memory idea in personal identity and improves it more on the self-consciousness part to make the assumption stronger. According to the reasons list above, based on the argument between David and Shaun, David’s point of view is much more reasonable than Shaun’s assumption.
Works Cited
Schechtman, Marya. “Personal Identity and the Past.” Philosophy, Psychiatry, & Psychology, vol. 12, no. 1, 2005, pp. 9-22.
Shaun of the Dead. Directed by Edgar Wright, performance by Simon Pegg, Universal Picture, 2004.