Mob Scene: Paranorman

[For the previous scene, click here.]

The Oscar-nominated Paranorman has plenty to recommend it: vivid animation, endearing characters, satiric wit, sophisticated plot twists.  Perhaps best of all for lovers of American Gothic, the film features an extended angry-villager sequence.

Paranorman's pyrotechnic climax kicks off when a group of zombies shamble into the midtown section of Blithe Hollow, and a redneck resident promptly responds by pulling out a shotgun and shouting, "Kill 'em in the head!"  Mayhem and riotous violence ensue, but the dark behavior does not overshadow the scene's comedic elements.  There are sight gags galore, such as a hand mixer and a bowling bowl being wielded as weapons (along with the more traditional torches and pitchforks), and a young girl's flaming teddy bear tossed forth into the town hall like a Molotov cocktail.  A plunger-toting drama teacher climbs atop a car and histrionically proclaims "Cry 'havoc' and let loose the dogs of war," and then (when her audience fails to understand her) bluntly translates,
"Let's rip 'em apart!"  More subtle touches include a laundromat sign that reads "Hung and Dried," and the Frankensteinian-shaped head of musclebound Mitch (who apppropriately bemoans the townspeople's desire to "burn and murder stuff").  For all its rampant humor, the scene also has serious import, driving home the film's anti-bullying message: the zombies are ultimately misunderstood creatures, more victims than monsters, and protagonist Norman lectures the crowd about their intolerance of difference.

2012 was a big year for cinematic mob scenes, and none were more effective--or more fun to watch--than the one orchestrated in Paranorman.