Evil and wicked is what most people’s interpretation of a villain is. “Shrek”, however, is again very different. Instead of being tall with evil eyes and wicked like the stepmother in “Snow White”, Farquad is short and cowardly, he can’t rescue the princess for himself. He isn’t as sadistic as the villain in “Snow White.” This is shown when Farquad is interrogating the gingerbread man and instead of being evil and killing it he just dipped his legs into milk and threatens to pull its gum drop buttons off. The villain in “Snow White,” however, is a lot more evil than Farquad; she plans to get a woodcutter to kill Snow White and bring back the heart. The villain hates and is jealous of Snow White, she also has special powers. She has the traditional witch-like features with black hair and pale skin and has a raven bird which is a symbol of death.
“Shrek” often subverts the typical stereotype of a princess. Beautiful and graceful that is what the typical princess is and Snow White adheres to this stereotype. She cooks and cleans for the dwarves and sings beautifully. She is typical princess who needs rescuing. Princess Fiona however, doesn’t need protecting at all. She is masculine and is not as helpless as Snow White. She burps and actually ends up protecting the hero and doesn’t care for the woodland creatures. She blows them up into a balloon. Snow White always looks beautiful whether she is in dirty clothes or fine clothes, unlike Princess Fiona, she turns into an ogre at night. This is another thing the creators of “Shrek” have subverted. The inversion of the stereotype can also be seen in the way the hero is portrayed.
The hero in “Snow White” is stereotypical with his big muscular body and his black hair. He can sing and is loved by many people, but he only loves the princess. The hero in “Snow White” is hardly in the film and is only seen for a limited time at the start and end. The film doesn’t develop his character but he makes a difference at the end when he kisses the princess and he comes in on a white charger and sweeps her off her feet into the sunset.
“Shrek” again subverts how a stereotypical hero would look and act. Shrek is big and fat and is an ogre. He is solitary and is very sophisticated like when he is eating dinner he has a candle and a little glass of Martini and eats with a napkin and cutlery.
Shrek is not traditional when rescuing the princess; instead of sweeping her off her feet he grabs her and puts her on his back.
Shrek tries to be funny but is outshone by the donkey throughout the film.
Humor is one of “Shrek” best qualities and makes the film more effective. It starts its humor with grotesque images, which if shown when Snow White was released would cause controversy and uproar. This shows how society has changed and how we find different things funny. It targets a universal audience and deals with serious issues like prejudice. Donkey is the main character to use humor and he acts like Shrek’s stooge.
Snow Whites humor is very simple and innocent, it appeals more to children and there is very little humor in the film. Both films use humor through animals.
Animals are made to seem human in both films but very differently. In “Snow White” the animals can’t talk but have emotions; they are sad when Snow White is put under the spell and show Snow White the house. They know when something is wrong and when Snow White is in danger. However, in Shrek the animals are human apart from their looks. They can talk unlike those in Snow White. The animals appeal to the audience with their different nationalities and singing with the pop music. This gives the film an international theme.
Music in “Snow White” is very emotive and classical and at the start Snow White and the Prince sing a very slow romantic duet with an orchestra. The music is used instead of dialogue. The dialogue in Snow White” is Standard English which is not like Shrek. In “Shrek2 some times they use slang. Shrek is Scottish, Princess Fiona is American and the donkey is Afro- American so it targets a universal audience. The music is contempory pop songs and that makes the film funny. Shrek is being realistic as no one speaks perfect English.
Both films tried to be realistic. Although “Shrek” has been more realistic than “Snow White,” “Shrek” bases its story on the fact that not everyone has to look perfect to be happy. In Snow White, Snow White is the “perfect” women who cooks and cleans sings and has the looks and so does the prince. “Shrek,” however, has its hero and princess as ogres and show you don’t have to be stunning to find love. “Shrek” has used innovative computers graphics to produce realistic human features including breathing and blinking which in “Snow White” doesn’t go into that much detail. “Snow White” is produced on single cell animation with drawings done by hand the two films were the top films of their time. In Shrek because they have gone into detail of facial expression they use a close up when the donkey has been rejected you can see that his ears drop down. When Shrek is asking donkey “What am I” it use a low angle camera shot. In “Snow White” because it wasn’t as advanced it mainly stayed on a medium/long shot all the way through.
Society in “Snow Whites” era had different expectations they had manners and showed respect. In “Snow White” it shows this with Snow White: She cooks and cleans and is strict on the dwarfs to wash their hands. In “Shrek” it is completely different. At the start they have grotesque images with the Shrek naked, brushing his teeth with a caterpillar and he breaks wind. The Princess burps without any sense of embarrassment. People in 1937 would have been shocked and the film would have caused uproar but when it is shown to today, adults and children alike appreciate the humour. “Shrek” gets away with grotesque images because the boundaries have shifted. This shows that the role of a child in our society has changed and is allowed more freedom in what they see and do.
Both films are based on the fairytale genre but as “Snow White” keeps to the traditional fairytale convention, “Shrek” subverts and parodies the traditional convention. The typical princess is beautiful but in Shrek she is an ogre. In “Shrek” it shows that everyone can find their true love. However, Shrek doesn’t end up with the beautiful princess he ends up with an ogre even though he loved the beautiful princess first. This could be saying that if you’re ugly your expected to have an ugly partner. ”Shrek” does stray back into the traditional fairytale but “Snow White” being the early fairytale sticks to the conventions.
