How do the makers of 'Shrek' use presentational devices to reverse this tradition to reveal the ogre as good and the Prince as evil?
Essay title: On traditional fairy tales ogres are man-eating beasts. The prince usually rescues the Princess, they marry and live happily ever after. How do the makers of 'Shrek' use presentational devices to reverse this tradition to reveal the ogre as good and the Prince as evil?
In this essay, I am going to analyse the characters in 'Shrek'. I will mainly focus on Shrek and Lord Farquuad. I will also write about how the film makers use different presentational devices to create an unusual film. Stereotypically the prince is good and the ogre is evil. In traditional fairy tales ogres are pictured as man-eating beasts, while the Princes are tall, handsome and save the Princess. One example of a fairy tale where an ogre is mentioned is 'Jack and the Beanstalk'. In the fairy tale the ogre is a man-eating giant. The giant ogre chases Jack down the beanstalk. An example of a fairy tale where a prince is mentioned is 'Snow White and the Seven Dwarves'. In this fairy tale the Prince frees Snow White from a spell by kissing her and they live happily ever after.
The film stars the famous voices of, Mike Myers supplying the rough Scottish twang for 'Shrek', Eddie Murphy's motor mouth 'Donkey', Cameron Diaz as Princess Fiona, and John Lithgow as 'Lord Farquaad'. The directors of this film were Andrew Adamson, Vicky Jensen and Victoria Jenson.
DreamWorks (the distributor) has tried to poke fun at Disney wherever possible. 'Shrek' has won many awards such as Best Musical, Best Comedy, Best Animated Film etc. 'Shrek' shocked the world when it sold $110 million in DVD and Video sales in just it's first three days of release. The 'Shrek 2-Disc' DVD is now the #1 selling DVD of all time. 'Shrek' still remains the #1 grossing movie in 2001 at the U.S. box office. 'Shrek' cost approximately $70 million to make, but this does not include DreamWorks marketing budget for 'Shrek', which was huge. It is said that 275 people including computer animators and engineers spent three years to create 'Shrek'. Shrek is not an original movie, because it is based on a children's book by William Steig called ''Shrek''. Of course DreamWorks took a lot of leeway with its version, which often pokes fun at Disney.
The film 'Shrek' opens like a conventional fairy story, using the well known beginning "once upon a time..." A light is shining on the storybook giving us the idea that the book is full of goodness. The voice over telling the story is Shrek. In this case, Shrek reads in a strong Scottish accent. While Shrek is reading the book, the audience can hear old fashioned traditional music. The music is used to suit the mood of the scene. Shrek tells the story about how a princess is locked up in a tall tower, guarded by a terrifying dragon. One day she will be saved by a tall handsome prince who will slay the dragon and break the spell. Therefore the princess will take her true love's form. Hand drawn pictures are used to illustrate the book. This shows that the book is traditional.
While the old fashion music id being played it is interrupted by a hand tearing a page and snapping the book shut. This hand is the hand of Shrek. Shrek says "like that's ever gonna happen." This shows that Shrek doesn't believe in fairy tales. The music changes into modern unconventional music (rock music). This is when Shrek appears. Shrek is green, bald and fat. He is the typical ogre in his appearance and actions. Shrek lives in a swamp. He baths in mud and brushes his teeth with bugs. When jumping into the water he breaks wind and kills the fish. All these actions don't give us the idea that Shrek is good. In fact we get the idea that he is the stereotypical ogre.
The beginning is different to that of a conventional fairy tale as it focuses on an ogre and all of his disgusting habits. The audience are surprised at the beginning as they are expecting the film to be conventional to un-conventional surprises them. The beginning of the film suggests that this is not your usual fairy tale story. It gives the audience the idea that the film will not be set as a conventional fairy tale. The beginning of the film also introduces humour in the opening sequence. Shrek is always in a good mood un-like conventional ogres ...
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The beginning is different to that of a conventional fairy tale as it focuses on an ogre and all of his disgusting habits. The audience are surprised at the beginning as they are expecting the film to be conventional to un-conventional surprises them. The beginning of the film suggests that this is not your usual fairy tale story. It gives the audience the idea that the film will not be set as a conventional fairy tale. The beginning of the film also introduces humour in the opening sequence. Shrek is always in a good mood un-like conventional ogres who are always grumpy and in a bad mood.
When the villagers arrive Shrek threatens them and scares them by saying that ogres are worse than giants and more vicious, "They'll make a suit from your freshly peeled skin." Shrek tells the villagers he'll, "Shave your liver, squeeze the jelly from your eyes." When the villagers hear this he then roars at them. The audience then get an extreme close-up of Shrek. The villagers react by screaming but still stand where they are. When Shrek realises that the villagers aren't going to move, he tells them, "This is the part where you runaway." This is unusual as the conventional ogre would not have given his victim's time to run away. Shrek's actions give us the idea that he is not vicious but acts as though he is. We get the idea that maybe Shrek is good. Shrek is treated like an old traditional ogre by the villagers.
Shrek encounters Donkey when he is in the forest putting a sign up. Donkey is running away from Lord Farquaad's guards. The type of music played when Donkey is getting chased by Lord Farquaad guards is high tempo music. Donkey is an abnormal donkey because he can talk, and when he starts talking he never stops. Donkey is seen as a fussy donkey who talks too much. As Shrek is leaving, Donkey follows him. Shrek tries to scare him away by screaming and roaring at him, Donkey replies, "You need some tic-tacs cause your breath stinks." This symbolizes that ogres have really bad breath. Shrek finds it hard to get rid of Donkey, so Shrek says, "I'm a terrifying ogre." Shrek assumes that everyone is scared of him just because he's an ogre, but Donkey sees Shrek as a normal person and is not scared of him. Donkey doesn't treat Shrek like other people do Shrek is a civilised ogre. Shrek roaring and intimidating him doesn't scare Donkey and he replies by sarcastically saying, "That was really scary."
Donkey admires the fact that Shrek doesn't care what people think of him, "you know what I like about you, you got that kind of I don't care what anyone thinks of me thing." Donkey ignores signs that Shrek doesn't want him around and continues to question him. Shrek then shouts, "What am I?" which is meant to scare Donkey but fails as Donkey's reply is, "Really tall?" Shrek fails to stop Donkey from following him. This suggests that Shrek isn't the terrifying ogre he makes out to be. Donkey continues to irritate Shrek by bouncing on his chair and peering through the window.
While Shrek is eating his meal he sees the three blind mice on his table. Shrek finds it hard to catch the mice, one of the mice bites Shrek's ear and mistakes it for cheese. Shortly after that the seven dwarves place Snow White on his table and say to Shrek, "The bedroom is already taken." By this time Shrek is shocked and stands outside of his house to see what was happening. Shrek then sees the fairy tale creatures; among them is the wolf, Pinocchio, three little pigs, the three bears etc. As soon as he sees them he shouts, "I'm a terrifying ogre, what do I have to do to get a little privacy?" This shows us that Shrek isn't a bad ogre but all he wants is to be left alone. Shrek then asks the fairy tale creatures what they're doing there. One of the pigs says that Lord Farquaad has sent them here. Shrek then asks if anyone knows where Lord Farquaad lives. Donkey jumps up and down shouting, "me." Shrek tries to ignore him but has no choice but to pick him as there was no one else who volunteered to let him know where Lord Farquaad was. Shrek then tells the fairy tale creatures that he is going to get them sent back where they came from. At this moment in time there is a lot of triumphant music playing which changes the whole atmosphere. Then the fairy tale creatures start clapping and cheering and treat Shrek as a hero. However this is not how a conventional ogre should be. The fact that Shrek comes with Donkey, three blind mice and fairy tale creatures shows that he isn't really mean and moody like traditional ogres this is because We also learn that Shrek is a sincere ogre and that Shrek evidently isn't the conventional ogre.
Shrek and Donkey visit Duloc, to try to reclaim Shrek's swamp from Lord Farquaad. Shrek and Donkey encounters a man dressed up as Lord Farquaad with a huge head. When the man sees Shrek he starts to scream and shout with fear of the ogre. When they enter Duloc, it is "too quite." Shrek makes a joke about Lord Farquaad and his castle, "Do you think he's compensating for something?" In conventional fairy tale stories the ogre is grumpy and mean. Shrek and Donkey get welcomed by singing toys.
As they go further into Duloc trumpets are played. These trumpets symbolize the importance of Lord Farquaad. Shrek and Donkey don't expect the wrestling match that they take part in. Instead of accepting the challenge with Lord Farquaad knights, Shrek offers to, "Settle it over a pint." The wrestling match shows more of Shrek's humour. During the wrestling fight Shrek uses some wrestling moves from the WWE, some of these moves are called suplex, DDT, pile-driver, and tombstone. During the time when Shrek is battling with the soldiers the type of music being played is fast tempo music, more like pop or rock. While Shrek is wrestling with the soldiers Donkey wants to get in on the action and says, "Tag me", in the wrestling term this means that Donkey wants to double team on the soldier. Therefore Shrek has to tag him for Donkey to take part in beating the soldier. When Shrek had finished dealing with the soldiers the audience in the stadium start clapping and cheering for him as if he is a real wrestler who has won a match. Throughout this part of the film Donkey often argues with Shrek. Donkey believes that Shrek should, "Pull some ogre stuff" to start out Lord Farquaad. Donkey tells Shrek that he is soft and that the swamp belongs to him anyway. Shrek gets annoyed at Donkey's continues nagging and tries to make him understand that he's not that violent. Shrek asks Donkey if he should, "decapitate an entire village...." The audience know Shrek is not capable of doing this even if he wanted to. At this part of the film we learn that, "ogres have layers." He tells Donkey that he's not violent. However traditional ogres are violent.
When Shrek and Donkey approach the castle where Princess Fiona is imprisoned we see that it is dark and gloomy. We know this because we can see lava flowing around the castle. Creepy music is used to suit the mood of the scene. This gives the effect of a conventional dragon being there. This shows that there is a lot of evil in the castle. Shrek and Donkey have to cross a very dangerous suspended bridge to get to the other side. Donkey finds this really scary and doesn't want to walk across it. Shrek then reassures him by saying, "Don't look down" Another way that Shrek reassures Donkey is that he tries to scare him so he will move along the bridge a little bit faster. The reason Shrek is trying to help Donkey is that he is a kind and caring ogre unlike traditional ogres who are greedy and selfish. As Shrek is trying enters the castle we see that many other soldiers have died trying to save the princess. This part of the film is set as a real fairy tale. Like in conventional fairy tales, the princess is in, "the highest room in the tallest tower." While Shrek and Donkey are looking for the stairs Donkey encounters a fearful fire breathing dragon. Before Shrek enters the room in which Princess Fiona is imprisoned we see her walking about preparing for her brave prince to come and rescue her. When Shrek gets to the princess he shakes her aggressively and says, "Wake up now, let's go." Princess Fiona is disappointed that there is not a romantic moment. This is because she has been planning the moment she will meet her 'true love' for a long time. Princess Fiona shows that she is not a conventional princess as she is already awake when she should be sleeping. Princess Fiona is shocked when she sees that Shrek has not slayed the dragon, "what kind of knight are you?" Shrek then has to make the excuse that he had to save Donkey, "save my ass!" The way Shrek saves Princess Fiona is untraditional, but stereotypically a price saves the princess and before he does he slays the dragon. When Shrek goes to get Donkey he finds him wrapped round the dragon. The audience are shocked to see that the dragon is a girl and that it has fallen head over heels over Donkey. The audience know that the real reason why Shrek didn't slay the dragon is because he isn't sadistic. Other characters see Shrek as a mean and grumpy ogre but they don't see him as aggressive. This means that many characters are afraid of Shrek. He has to continually remind them that they should be scared of him because he is an ogre and ogres are stereotypically evil.
Lord Farquaad is a cruel and nasty ruler. When we first see Lord Farquaad tension is built as Lord Farquaad is introduced. The first shot we see of Lord Farquaad is of his hands (not his face). He is putting on a pair of gloves as he means business. At this point when we meet Lord Farquaad and the hooded figure, there is marching music. This creates tension. It also suggests battle. He then watches the torture of the Gingerbread Man, and laughs then taunts him, "Run, run, run as fast as you can." When we first see Lord Farquaad we are surprised by his height. Stereotypically the prince is tall and handsome which is the complete opposite of Lord Farquaad.
Another unconventional thing about Lord Farquaad is his lack of bravery. Lord Farquaad only wants Princess Fiona because he wants to become king. Lord Farquaad is greedy and power hungry. Adding to his cold-heartedness we see that he tells his guards to arrest Princess Fiona when he sees her after sunset, "Get that thing out of my sight." Greedily he still proclaims himself as king, even though the marriage has been abandoned. In this film we quickly learn that the prince is not how he should be stereotypically. We get this idea of Lord Farquaad's foolish behaviour. Inside Lord Farquaad's castle it's dark, gloomy and unwelcoming. This is because many merciless events such as the Gingerbread Man's torture take place. There are also hooded figures in the castle. This makes visitors feel unease. The feeling that violence and secrecy take place is given. Traditionally the castle should be a place of splendour. The settings in the film are not traditional because conventionally, fairy tales are set in castles or big houses.
Although Shrek seems like a traditional ogre he is the total opposite. Traditionally ogres are man-eating beasts and princes are good. In this film their roles are reversed. The ogre is portrayed as evil. The princess is not seen as a conventional princess as she fights Robin Hood and his Merry Men. This is an unconventional film. To make a good film you don't just need great characters but you also need great presentational devices to influence the audience and capture their attention. The filmmakers have done a great job in making the film into an unusual, unconventional film. The presentational devices help the audience to learn more about certain characters. 'Shrek' has been such a successful film that there has been a sequel made. The makers of 'Shrek' have now made the second sequel to it 'Shrek2. Meet the parents'. This film follows how Shrek meets Princess Fiona's family and how it goes all wrong for him.
C/W Magid Mah 06/11/04
Media Coursework - 'Shrek'
