Edgar Wright
Edgar Wright is a British movie director who is well known for his fast-paced, satirical films, together with the use of visual comedy, and topping it off with popular music at the time. He has a signature editing style where he abuses transitions and whip pans.
He is borned on 18 April 1974. His first movie that he directed was A Fistful of Fingers in 1995. Wright uses symbols in some of his movies and one that stands out to me is Hot Fuzz in 2007, where Wright uses toys as a symbol.
A little backstory of the movie, Nicolas Angel (Simon Pegg) is an overachieving London police officer and has been reassigned to the countryside, where there has not been a police report in a decade, because he is too good at his job since he never switches off, he’s always on task. He is disciplined, always wakes up early, excercises and waters his Japanese Peace Lily religiously. However, his effort makes the rest of the police force look bad.
Fast forwarding the movie a little, the village held a carnival to raise money to repair the church roof. Danny, Nicolas’ partner, got him to play a shooting gallery game in which he wins and got a Cuddly Monkey. Nicolas took the shooting scene very seriously as if he was in an action movie, with a BB gun.
In the climax of the movie, Nicolas is being hunted down by the town because his true detective motive has been exposed. Now, Nicolas wanted to kill him. Since he used to be a super serious police officer, you would expect him to kill him using a gun or a blade. However this time, he uses the Cuddly Monkey to distract him. Literally mid-fight, getting beaten up badly and losing the fight, Nicolas picked up the Cuddly Monkey, which was in front of him and tossed it to the killer. The killer has a mind of a child so he admired the Cuddly Monkey, lovingly, before getting bashed on the head by Nicolas with his very own, Japanese Peace Lily.
This Cuddly Monkey symbolises how Nicolas, as an officer, has evolved from being a serious workaholic to an officer who embraces silliness and absurdity — He would have never thought of using a toy (Cuddly Monkey) to distract his enemy to kill him. The fact that Nicolas also kept the Cuddly Monkey in his room shows that he has taken a step back from his serious personality. Therefore, the Cuddly Monkey symbolises a shift in Nicolas’ head. He has truly ‘switched off’. Wright used the Cuddly Monkey in the fight scene as a visual comedy, and also used it as a symbol of playfulness. This movie has impacted policemen and gave them a way to realise that sometimes, the most absurd plan, can be the best plan.