Having ‘Shrek’ as the hero defies the law of fairytale writing, because usually in fairytales the hero is young, handsome, popular and usually human, but in ‘Shrek’ they have turned this around to make Shrek the hero, who is ugly, unpopular and is an ogre. But by using Shrek as the unconventional hero, it adds to the humour and gives the viewer a different side to the fairytale genre. It also makes you ask, why do all heroes have to be like they are in typical fairytales, when we can quite clearly see that from ‘Shrek’, it works if you turn this idea around.
Lord Farquaad is the evil prince, who is selfish and too self contained to care about anyone else. He is looking for the woman of his dreams, and asks his Magic Mirror for help. The Magic Mirror suggests 3 princesses and Princess Fiona is one of them. Lord Farquaad then sets out to find a knight who is strong and brave enough to fight the dragon that protects the castle that Princess Fiona is stuck in. But all knights who try out fail, but when ‘Shrek’ comes to have a word with Lord Farquaad about the deed to his swamp, Lord Farquaad sets Shrek the challenge of saving the Princess just for him, in order to get the deed for his swamp back.
Lord Farquaad is not like other princes in fairytales, because he is so selfish and evil. In the fairytale genre princes are usually handsome, romantic and loving, but in ‘Shrek’, this has been turned around and Lord Farquaad is the evil, baddie who is out to hurt anyone who gets in the way of what he wants to do. With Lord Farquaad being the baddie prince, it challenges the fairytale genre, because in most fairytales, the hero is usually a prince or a king who is very wealthy, but in this fairytale, the baddie is the one with all the money who has a title. This makes you think about how the baddie has got this wealthy, but this is probably through cheating people out of things, and being pyre evil and selfish. But I think by having an evil prince, it gives the viewer or reader a different perspective to see, which will show that it does work by having an evil prince. By having Lord Farquaad as the evil villain, it adds to the humour of ‘Shreks’ storyline, which makes it more enjoyable to the viewer.
Overall, the whole plot of the story defies the law of fairytale writing and challenges the fairytale genre, because the story is based on an ugly ogre hero, and a selfish, evil prince, who strike up a deal to both get what they want. The story begins, with the viewer finding out a bit about the life of Shrek, and when a talking donkey trying to escape capture, is saved by Shrek. Meanwhile, Lord Farquaad is in his Kingdom of Dulock, and has asked his magic mirror, to find him the perfect wife. At this point we can see that this is not your usual fairytale, but still keeps the viewer amused. When Shrek goes and rescues Princess Fiona from the tower with help from the Donkey, the dragon is after them, because as the curse says, all intruders will be killed. But once the dragon sees how nice and charming the donkey is, she is immediately taken by him, and once Shrek, Donkey and Princess Fiona have left the tower, the dragon becomes sad. This also challenges the fairytale genre, because the use of the mythical creature and the curse is all quite normal, but when the dragon falls in love with the donkey, it shows the viewer for sure, that this is no ordinary fairytale.
The plot is cleverly written, with exciting twists and turns around every corner, but it keeps the audience interested. I believe that even though ‘Shrek’ does challenge the fairytale genre, and is a different side to the usual fairytale storyline, but it is really effective, and is still as enjoyable as any other fairytale. I conclude to say that by having Shrek as the hero, and Lord Farquaad as the evil prince, it gives more depth to the storyline, unlike some other fairytale’s, where the storyline can be quite weak and boring. I think that also as this was written as a comedy it works really well, but if you were to use another fairytale, such as Cinderella, and try to turn it into a comedy, it probably wouldn’t be as successful, because the characters would be the opposite to what they were meant to be. I finish to say that ‘Shrek’ is unlike other fairytales and does challenge the typical genre, because of its back to front characteristics and its well written storyline.
