What We Do In The Shadows (2019) - Binary Opposites & 5 Narrative Codes

The first episode 'Pilot' introduces us to the show's main characters, Nandor, Laslo, and Colin the vampires, and what they do. Another main character is a normal human but a slave which is Guillermo. They awaken the strong vampire Baron who commands our main vampires to rule their home area, Staten island.

Premiere Date: Mar 27, 2019
Genre: Comedy
Executive producers: Jemaine Clement, Paul Simms, Taika Waititi, Scott Rudin, Garrett Basch, Eli Bush, Stefani Robinson

Actual vs mythology 

Nandor as the main character was introduced as a vampire, mythology beings live by eating the essence of other's life. They tend to be immortal as they are legend. unlike Guillero who is an actual being where we can see in our everyday life. We can see that they are weak and have no special ability compared to the mythology.

Modern vs Traditional

you will witness the contrast between traditional Victorian vampires stuck in their old-fashioned ways and the world around them that has evolved and evolved far more are featured heavily throughout the episode, such as paying with a credit card, traveling by car, and so on.

Master vs Slave

This pair of opposites is obviously shown in the beginning of the episodes where Nandor owns the Guillero figure. This is further supported by the way Guillero serves his master Nandor. Guillero seems to be afraid of  his master and show some respect. Guillerpo would do anything to serve Nandor. Compare to Nandor who is fearless, self centered and confident. The producer obvioulsy convey this opposite binary

The narrative codes that are used include:

Proairetic code

We can see that in the beginning of the episodes the coffin was open by it self and a character was risen from the coffin which make the audience questioning "what will he do after risen from his coffin?" "are they going to plan something?".

Hermeneutic code

The hermeneutic code was used was the suspense and mystery created by wanting to know "What's in the letter?", "Who's being kept in the basement?", and "Who is the Baron?"

The hermeneutic code featured throughout the episode involves

Semantic code

Semantic code that is incorporated in the episode includes the heavy accent that all the vampires speak in, showing they are different from others or unique.

Symbolic code

Symbolic code is shown throughout the episode quite frequently the vampire wears the same clothes all the time, vampires suck blood with their fangs, can turn into a bat, are unable to be touched by the sunlight, and wear capes. All this code has been built up over a decade within lots of media.

Cultural code

The cultural codes that one must understand before indulging in the episode/show heavily relate to the concepts and ideas of vampires. The vampire culture has existed for over a century ever since the first vampire stories were created. Thus, to understand the plotline, and the characters themselves, one must have a conceptual idea of what vampires are like from media such as the Twilight series, the Hotel Transylvania series, Dracula, Vampire diaries, etc. The ideas of what vampires look like, the fact that they drink blood, can turn into bats, etc, would not make sense unless you are familiarized with the cultural codes of vampires created throughout the last century.