Seriality is the concept in which the process of occurring
in a sequential manner; a serial manner; a succession. When talking about
seriality in terms of films, this essentially means how a film begins a series and can even apply
to transtextuality and how said films have been referenced in or influenced other
films and media.
The "Cornetto Trillogy" is a nickname given to the
series of films created by English director Edgar Wright starring comedic
actors Simon Pegg and Nick Frost. The trilogy consists of "Shaun of the
Dead" (2004), "Hot Fuzz" (2007) and "The World's End"
(2013), which are all interestingly not related to each other in a canonical
sense, but rather different characters played by the same characters who go
through similar circumstances, but in different genres.
"Shaun of the Dead" is a horror/ romantic comedy with
zombies (lovingly dubbed "The RomZomCom") which revolves around Shaun
(Simon Pegg), an electronics store employee who lives with his deadbeat
childhood friend Ed (Nick Frost). Shaun's life starts to fall apart when his
girlfriend Liz leaves him because he lacks commitment, his other roommate,
Pete, threatens to evict Ed and a zombie apocalypse just so happens to break
out. Shaun gathers his friends and family and try to survive by making it to
the only save haven he knows of, a local pub called The Winchester.
"Hot Fuzz" is an action/ crime comedy with a
murderous cult which revolves around Police Sergeant Nicolas Angel (Simon
Pegg), who has just recently been transferred to the small village of Sandford
where he meets and befriends the constable's son, Danny (Nick Frost). His girlfriend had left him because he is too
dedicated to the job, his new colleagues don't like him because he is too
serious and he happens to come across a conspiracy involving leading members of
the community who kill those they deem "nuisances" all in order to
make Sandford "Town of the
Year". Nicolas and Danny gathers their fellow officers and fight to rid
the town of the murderous cult.
"The World's End" is an action/ Science fiction
comedy which revolves around Garry King (Simon Pegg), a depressed patient who decides to relive the
greatest day of his life by gathering his old estranged school friends Andy
(Nick Frost), Paddy, Martin and Eddy and head back to their hometown of Newton
Haven to complete the pub crawl they never finished. Unfortunately they
discover that everyone in town has been replaced with androids by aliens and
now have to fight their way to the last pub on the pub crawl, The World's End.
This mixed genre comedy trilogy amassed a cult following
which has lead to references in other films and tv shows, comics and action
figures. However, most of this wouldn't have happened if it weren't for a tv
series that aired in the early 2000's by Edgar Wright which also featured
Simpon Pegg and Nick Frost as the main characters, with the third episode being
the inspiration for "Shaun of the Dead". While "Hot Fuzz"
and "The World's End" were well received, most of the transtextuality
has come from "Shaun of the Dead", which was the only film in the
series to receive its own comic book adaptation and had the characters Shaun
and Ed cameo in the "Phineas and Ferb" episode "Night of the
living Pharmacists", which was also a comedy of the zombie sub-genre.
Ndalianis talks about how franchises can influence the media and entertainment industry and makes reference to Spielberg's "Jurassic Park" and how it spawned numerous sequels, games and theme park attractions. It goes on to say how the advancements in technology have broken down boundaries and have incorperated the film style, genre and actors into the space of said media.
This could never happen to the "Cornetto trilogy" in the same scale as "Jurassic Park" as it was intended for a more mature audience and filled a niche role in the film industry.
