When Donkey first meets Shrek he is running away from guards. Shrek scares away the guards and starts walking away. Donkey follows him and starts talking to him. Donkey’s voice is recognised to be Eddie Murphy’s
which for people who have seen his other films then know Donkey is going to be a comical character. Shrek roars at Donkey and tries to intimidate him, which fails to succeed. Donkey carries on talking to Shrek, which surprises him. Shrek asks Donkey what he thinks of him, and a high angle shot is used to make Donkey seem a lot smaller than Shrek. Shrek and Donkey then proceed to Shrek’s swamp and when we see the swamp the soft lighting makes it seem homely. Even though it is the expected home for an ogre with green and brown colours associated with slime and dirt, it still seems more welcoming than Lord Farquaad’s castle.
Donkey is forced to sleep outside while Shrek stays inside. As Shrek sits down for a meal, the dark lighting and soft music give the scene a feeling of loneliness, which makes the audience feel sad for Shrek. When the fairy tale creatures turn up in the swamp, Shrek tries to scare them away by shouting loudly. The camera then does a close up of Shrek’s mouth to make it look scarier. Shrek asks does anyone know where Lord Farquaad lives? All the fairy tale creatures are too scared to tell him which shows Lord Farquaad to be a fearsome Lord whom people are terrified of. Shrek then threatens to go to Lord Farquaad and have the creatures sent back to where they came from and even though Shrek meant it as a threat the creatures applaud him. This sets out the quest of the story involving Shrek and Donkey as the good guys trying to get the swamp back off the evil Lord Farquaad.
Lord Farquaad is then introduced walking down a corridor in a castle to loud, scary marching music. He then enters the torture chamber surrounded by hooded figures with dark lighting used to make the scene scarier. Lord Farquaad is then shown as being a really ugly diminutive figure as opposed to the traditional tall, handsome prince. He then starts to taunt the Gingerbread man and threatens to rip off the Gingerbread man’s gumdrop buttons. After losing patience Lord Farquaad throws the Gingerbread man into a bin. These scenes show Lord Farquaad as being a heartless, evil man. Lord Farquaad dreams of being king, so with purely evil intentions he strives to save the princess, but unlike traditional tales instead of rescuing her himself sends Shrek to do his evil deed.
As Shrek and Donkey approach Lord Farquaad’s castle, the camera moves from ground level upwards. This is called a high angle shot which gives the feeling Shrek and Donkey are just two tiny people approaching a castle towering over them, illustrating the magnitude of the quest ahead.
As Shrek enters the castle of Duloe they end up on a more Traditional quest of rescuing the princess from the dragon, with the ultimate aim of recouping his swamp. As they set out on their new quest they are pictured walking through fields, with the sun shining down on them. This reinforces the idea of them being the good guys in this fairy tale. They find the princess in the highest room of the tallest tower. The idea of the knight in shining armour rescuing the princess and then sharing true loves’ first kiss is shattered as Shrek hurries to escape from the dragon.
Princess Fiona is shocked when she sees Shrek as an ogre, which upsets Shrek but as the story continues, they start to become closer. The close ups of Shrek and Princess Fiona smiling are really useful, as they focus the viewer’s attention on their emotions showing they are starting to enjoy each others company.
The images of light are also used to great effect when Shrek and Princess Fiona are pictured walking through meadows. The fact that the sun is shining and the birds are chirping makes these touching scenes have a very cheerful feel to them. Later on, when Shrek prepares Donkey and Princess a meal, mid angle shots are used to give the scene a feeling of closeness instead of just showing one person at a time.
Around this time the mystical air surrounding Princess Fiona is finally revealed as Donkey goes in search of Princess Fiona. Princess Fiona tries to hide away but Donkey finds her and promises to keep her secret. As they are talking Shrek overhears Princess Fiona saying,” who could love a hideous beast?” Misinterpreting this, thinking she was talking about him, his feelings are really hurt so he runs off to get Lord Farquaad. As Lord Farquaad proposes to Princess Fiona, Shrek walks away with sad music playing in the background, making it feel like the princess is marrying the wrong person.
As Shrek heads back to his swamp, Donkey tries to follow him but Shrek indicates he doesn’t want to be friends anymore. Shreks back is then shown instead of his face, suggesting isolation from Donkey. It seems at this point, that, from a traditional fairy tale point of view, the story is going to end properly, with the prince marrying the princess and the ogre living in isolation from other characters. However, the audience feels unsatisfied with this ending even though this is how traditionally it should end, but throughout the film they have become closer to Shrek and start to feel empathy and sadness towards him.
Thankfully, Donkey comes to the rescue, persuading Shrek to go and see Princess Fiona before the wedding. Thankfully they make it in time; Shrek bursts into the church and professes his true feelings towards Princess Fiona. Lord Farquaad still wants to persist with the wedding, until he sees that when the sun sets Princess Fiona transforms into an ugly ogre. Lord Farquaad speaks to her in a cruel way, and orders his knights to “get that out of my sight!” Lord Farquaad now cancels the wedding, but still proclaims himself king. This confirms the concept that he never loved the Princess, but only wanted to become king. It comes as a great relief when the dragon eats the king and we feel justice has been done.
At that moment, Shrek and Princess Fiona finally share true loves’ first kiss; Princess Fiona then starts to float and then takes ”loves’ true form.” A brilliant light shines giving the impression that good has conquered evil.
It can be seen therefore that the story of Shrek uses presentational devices to reverse our expectations, so that by the end of the film the audience feels happy for Shrek, the unlikely hero, by presenting him as the loveable good guy. The audience feels hatred towards Lord Farquaad his evil; merciless actions make him disliked by everyone.
The layout of the film makes it very successful as well as the fact that it was aimed to appeal to all ages. Some of the jokes in the film are clearly aimed at adults, as they would pass over a young child’s head.
At the end of the film, even though it pushes the boundaries of a traditional fairy tale, it does have all the right ingredients; - it has a prince, princess, an ogre and finally a noble stead. The only difference is the fact that all their roles have been reversed with the prince being evil and the ogre being the good guy and ends with the right couple living “happily ever after.”
