Shrek - A
postmodern movie?
It has been
argued that in postmodern times it is no longer possible to do anything
original. The postmodern artist is only able to steal or borrow from previous
works of art. Did you notice any examples of that in Shrek?
Apart from that, a dominant feature of postmodernism is irony and a feeling of discomfort in the presence of big emotions. This often causes people to make fun of everything, including themselves, to hide their discomfort. Did you notice any examples of that in Shrek?
Finally, many people are uncertain of their own identity and keep asking questions about who they really are.Did you notice any examples of that in Shrek?
Apart from that, a dominant feature of postmodernism is irony and a feeling of discomfort in the presence of big emotions. This often causes people to make fun of everything, including themselves, to hide their discomfort. Did you notice any examples of that in Shrek?
Finally, many people are uncertain of their own identity and keep asking questions about who they really are.Did you notice any examples of that in Shrek?
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SvarSletDenne kommentar er fjernet af forfatteren.
Slet1) No originality:
SvarSletOpens/ends with a fairytale book - typical old Disney princess movie beginnings and endings.
Fairytale creatures from other stories.
Princess in the tallest tower guarded by a dragon is to be rescued by knight/prince.
Mirror, mirror on the wall - who is the most handsome king of them all?
cursed princess
2) Irony (No big feelings):
Ogres are like onions. - They smell? - they make people cry?
(donkey is lonely - follows and jokes with Shrek + sings: "I'm all alone ...")
Really really --> about big feelings.
Signs telling people what to do. (aaaw, clap, laugh and so on)
Farquard is eaten by the dragon - Donkey: "I got a dragon and I'm not afraid to use it."
3) Crisis of Identity:
Fiona - Ogre or Human.
Shrek - good/bad lonely/friendships.
As a characteristic of postmodernism, there are many examples of the term pastiche in the movie, which is used when an art is being imitated exactly as an art of other artists. An example of Pastiche in Shrek is for example when the old fox is lying on the bed, wearing a dress, exactly as in the story Little Red Riding Head, where the fox is doing the same thing, looking like the little girls grandmother. One more example of Pastiche is when Fiona is lying on the bed, waiting for her prince to come and save her by kissing her. This is obviously something we have seen before in the fairy tale named sleeping beauty.
SvarSletAnother example of a postmodernist episode in the movie is when Shrek is eating by the table. Irony is clearly being used in this scene, because he is eating very politely with a fork and a knife. This is very ironic, because Shrek is a big gross Troll that normally has distasteful habits.
Fiona, the princess, is uncertain of her identity, because she becomes a troll when the sun goes down. Therefor she has some issues with herself at the beginning of the story, until she sees Shrek. This makes her more comfortable with herself, and therefor she ends up accepting the fact that she is a troll, by marrying Shrek and not the lord who could actually save her from forever being a troll.
1.
SvarSletShrek has stolen fairytale figures, like Pinocchio, snow white, the 7 little dwarfs and so on. In the movie we hear The Mirror on the Wall, tell lord Farquaad about whose 3 options he has, when he has to decide which princess he want to marry. It is typically fairytales having a dragon and a princess locked up in a tower, where her love of her life is going to rescue her.
In the beginning of the story, we get information about what has happened previously through a storybook.
2. In the begging Shrek is reading the storybook while he is on the toilet.
When Lord Farquaad and Fiona are ready to get married, and Shrek comes in and kisses Fiona instead and the spell lifts, all of the windows breaks except from one, which the dragon then smashes to avoid a big emotion.
Princess Fiona is telling her touching life story to Donkey and then he just responds, “I didn’t know you could write poems”
Generally, Shrek is avoiding feelings by making a joke or being ironic, specially when Donkey mentions something about Fiona.
3. Princess Fiona do not know if she is a troll or a human, she has two identities and has to decide which one she is going to be.
The dragon in the story has two sides. At first, the dragon seem scary and wants to kill everybody with fire. Donkey sees behind that, also to save his own skin, that the dragon is a lady dragon with feelings. The dragon is very emotional and caring.
Marcho og Ida
As a characteristic of postmodernism, there are many examples of the term pastiche in the movie, which is used when an art is being imitated exactly as an art of other artists. An example of Pastiche in Shrek is for example when the old fox is lying on the bed, wearing a dress, exactly as in the story Little Red Riding Head, where the fox is doing the same thing, looking like the little girls grandmother. One more example of Pastiche is when Fiona is lying on the bed, waiting for her prince to come and save her by kissing her. This is obviously something we have seen before in the fairy tale named sleeping beauty.
SvarSletAnother example of a postmodernist episode in the movie is when Shrek is eating by the table. Irony is clearly being used in this scene, because he is eating very politely with a fork and a knife. This is very ironic, because Shrek is a big gross Troll that normally has distasteful habits.
Fiona, the princess, is uncertain of her identity, because she becomes a troll when the sun goes down. Therefor she has some issues with herself at the beginning of the story, until she sees Shrek. This makes her more comfortable with herself, and therefor she ends up accepting the fact that she is a troll, by marrying Shrek and not the lord who could actually save her from forever being a troll.
1. There is no originality in Shrek given that the artist steals and borrows from previous movies for instance the sleeping beauty when Shrek saves the princess and she pretends to sleep because she wants a kiss from “prince charming”. Additionally, the movie also features Disney characters: Little Red Riding Hood(the wolf), the fairies from the Sleeping Beauty, Snow White, the 7 dwarfs, the magic mirror from the sleeping beauty, Robin Hood, The Cinderella Wagon, The fairy from Peter Pan, Pinocchio, The three little pigs, the three bears.
SvarSlet2. There is a feeling of discomfort when the donkey meets the dangerous dragon. The donkey is about to die and we fear for him but suddenly the dangerous scene turns into something funny.
They are very playful in the movie and there is some sort of irony about everything.
3. “Don’t judge people before you get to know them”
-> The onion with the many layers -> there is more beneath the surface.
- Shrek is a monster and he knows he has to behave like a monster. He has identity crisis because people think that he is a bad monster which is totally wrong. Fiona is also very insecure about herself because she turns into a shrek at night. She wants to be a full time princess and because of that she becomes desperate. Both characters know who they are but they are very insecure about themselves.
1. No originality
SvarSletFairytales we know of are now seen in a new context such as Pinocchio, The three little pigs, Robin Hood Peter Pan and Tinkerbell.
The relationship between Beauty and the beast is seen in Shrek too.
2. Irony
Donkey: Can I stay with you? Please?
Shrek: Of course.
Donkey: Really?
Shrek: NO.
Donkey: Please. I don't wanna go back there. You don't know what it's like to be considered a freak... Well, maybe you do, but that's why we gotta stick together. You gotta let me stay!
Princess Fiona: Shrek's hurt!
Donkey: Shrek's hurt? Shrek's HURT? Oh, no, Shrek's gonna die!
Shrek: Donkey, I'm okay!
Donkey: You can't do this to me, Shrek, I'm too young for you to die! Keep your feet elevated! Turn your head and cough! Does anybody know the Heimlich?
- Not too seriuos.
Also shrek is saying that orges are like onions they have so many layers but if you think about it when you have peeled an entire union aprt there is nothing on the inside or nothing beneath the surface.
3. Identity crisis
Princess Fiona is very much unsure of herself but in the end she figures out who she wants to be.
Donkey also has an identity crisis. He thinks that he does not belong anywhere.
- Camilla
It has been argued that in postmodern times it is no longer possible to do anything original. The postmodern artist is only able to steal or borrow from previous works of art. Did you notice any examples of that in Shrek?
SvarSletYou can find many examples of no originality in Shrek. I have listed the examples below.
1. The movie uses the saying “once upon a time” and “ they lived happily ever after”
2. They have borrowed almost every fairytale creatures and characters from other movies
- Snow white and the seven dwarfs
- The wolf from little red riding hood
- The three little pigs
- The three bears from goldilocks
- Pinocchio
- Gingerbread man
- The mirror on the wall
- Robin Hood
- Tinkerbelle
- The dragon
- The three fairies from sleeping beauty
- The executer
- witches on a broom
3. The have borrowed the plot of a man on a quest to save a damsel in distress
4. Fiona is sitting in a high tower that is stolen from the fairytale Rapunzel
Apart from that, a dominant feature of postmodernism is irony and a feeling of discomfort in the presence of big emotions. This often causes people to make fun of everything, including themselves, to hide their discomfort. Did you notice any examples of that in Shrek?
Shrek is using a lot of irony and humour to hide his feelings. For example in the middle of the story, Shrek admits to Donkey that he feels sad that everyone is always running away because he´s an ogre. We saw in the beginning of the movie how Shrek was amused by surprising the hunters at his house, but when he says this to Donkey it indicates that he just uses humour to protect himself. It shows that Shrek would rather people think he is having fun scaring them away, then having them know how sad he feels because no one wants to stay.
Finally, many people are uncertain of their own identity and keep asking questions about who they really are. Did you notice any examples of that in Shrek?
An example of this in the movie would be princess Fiona. She doesn’t really know who she is. She´s afraid of showing who she really is and is therefore so desperate to get the true loves kiss. But when she meets Shrek she is slowly finding out who she wants to be and realize she is beautiful as she is.
Emilie
The movie borrows from other movies and makes parodies of them. For example Fiona’s fight scene is a parody of the matrix.
SvarSletMovies are not the only things that get parodied. Modern society and things are also parodied, for example parking spots for carriages.
The movie has racism in it. People are racist against fables.
Shrek and Fiona are affected by their appearance. People fear him because of how he looks, that is the reason why he wants to be alone.
Fiona is a princess and acts like a typical princess until Shrek reveals himself. She fears that people will reject her when they see her “other side”.
There are also stereotypes in the movie. Robin Hood is a French womanizer, who tries to “save” Fiona. Shrek is a Scottish ogre. The reason why he is Scottish is because the voice actor of Shrek, Mike Myers, thought that Farquaad was an English king and Shrek was from the working-class, therefore Shrek should be Scottish.
- Luan
Pastiche / no originality
SvarSletIn many fairy tales, including Shrek, the generic premise of a princess locked in a castle is depicted. This idea is presumably inspired by the story “Sleeping beauty” where a prince wakes up the sleeping beauty and they fall in love. This is the reason that Fiona becomes furious once she realizes that her conception of the future, which derives from “Sleeping Beauty”, is not going to come true mostly because Shrek is not an attractive prince nor familiar with this story and only cares to bring Fiona back.
There are various fairy tale figures in this movie. The ones that I recognized during the movie are the following:
- Pinocchio
- Peter Pan (We see the fairy that enchants the donkey in the beginning of the movie)
- The Sleeping Beauty and the Seven Dwarfs
- The wolf from “Little Red Riding Hood”
- The two bears from “Brother Bear”
- The magic mirror from “Snow White”
- Cinderella
- Snow White
- Robin Hood
Furthermore, pastiche is depicted in the fight scene where Fiona uses the same fighting technique (Slow-motion etc.) as they do in Matrix. There is also a reference to the sword “Excalibur” when Shrek draws a sword which is stuck into the ground
Irony / no feelings
- Shrek’s reaction to the tale in the beginning of the movie. It seems very emotional but this is torn apart with Shrek’s reaction due to his lack of emotional insight at that time, thus the tale almost becomes a joke itself.
- The donkey is the best example of the shallow reality whenever emotional scenarios occur in the movie. For instance when he sings love songs in a sarcastic way. I am not sure whether this belongs to this section or not, but there is a scene in which the donkey states that he, just like Shrek, dislikes insistent persons even though he is clearly one himself.
- When Shrek is clearly uncomfortable with the situation where Fiona falls on top of Shrek. He takes distance from the emotions that occur during that scene and states that nothing happened (or something like that) when the donkey sees them.
- Lord Farquaad is an ironic character in general. He is a powerful man in a small body, which is quite funny. This contrast is clearly depicted when Princess Fiona meets him and he seems to be a powerful man as his guards are escorting him, yet he needs help to get down from the horse. This is the moment when Fiona realizes that he actually is very short and the jokes the donkey and Shrek have made about him suddenly make sense.
- “Celebrity marriages never last”. This is a quote from the donkey when he interrupts the wedding with the dragon by flying through the glass. This is very ironic as Eddie Murphy is the voice actor. In his own life he has had a celebrity marriage which did not last very long at all, thus it is ironic that he is saying that and that this logic applies to the plot in the movie.
- There are signs during the wedding ceremony that state what the audience is supposed to do in regards of responding emotionally, for instance laugh.
Identity
The princess is not very formal (burps, fights and likes Shrek’s food, which is evidently disgusting to normal human beings).
The name ‘Shrek’ derives from German meaning fear or terror. An ogre is not supposed to have any feelings, according to Lord Farquuad among others, which clearly becomes a contrast throughout the movie.
Other things:
It seems that Shrek is aware that it is a movie as he says “This is the part where you run away” right after he has yelled at the men who wants the reward for killing him.
The donkey tells Shrek that they have to wait for the moment where Fiona is about to accept Lord Farquaad as his husband as this is the approach in most movies (at least that is what I think).
- Anders.