Paranorman is a childhood classic of mine. It’s funny, honestly kind of scary, and beautifully animated. It took me until a recent rewatch, however, to truly uncover some of the messages that the film tries to send youth across the world. The film features many references to classic horror conventions and gives nods to many legends such as John Carpenter. However, as directors Chris Butler and Sam Fell discuss in this interview (https://www.starburstmagazine.com/features/interview-chris-butler-a-sam-fell-directors-of-paranorman/), the movie can’t be labeled as a horror movie or simply a kids movie. Instead, the film uses zombies as a way to look introspectively at Norman himself, turning the film into much more of a character study. The directors discuss how the zombies act as an unusual comfort in the life of Norman. While theoretically he should be scared of the undead, he has come to fear social pressures and bullying far more.
Similarly, the directors choose to reveal towards the end of the film that one of the main characters, Mitch, is openly gay. This plays into the concept of misdirection since Mitch is initially portrayed as a classically straight, intimidating jock. This is a parallel to the misdirection of the zombies. What should be scary isn’t. What we assume to be true about Mitch’s identity isn’t either. The directors describe this as the ‘idea of making the audience complicit in [the film] and then pulling the rug out from under them.’ Overall, Paranorman, while cosplaying as a “horror” movie, really dives deep into the social anxiety of a high schooler through the unusual use of zombies.
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