How the Makers of Shrek Subvert the Usual Conventions of a Fairytale Using Presentational Devices

How the Makers of Shrek Subvert the Usual Conventions of a Fairytale Using Presentational Devices

In this essay I am going to discuss how the makers of Shrek overturned

the expected characteristics of a fairytale. They do this by using

presentational devices such as lighting, music, camera angles and

visual effect. In my opinion if the film did not use these

presentational devices the way they did, it would not be as successful

and people would see it in a totally different way.

The producers of Shrek took conventional well-known fairytale

characters and changed them to make them humorous, for example the

three little pigs were given stereotypical homosexual voices. Other

characters in the film were Tinkerbell, Little Red Riding Hood, The

Three Bears and many more. They also added and changed well known

phrases from fairytale films. For example the Three Little Pigs don't

say, " He huffed and he puffed and blew the house down" they say, "He

huffed and he puffed and signed the eviction notice" When they do this

I think it adds a lot of humourto the film. With the phrases they

don't change they put them into a different context. For example when

Donkey is trying to get out of trouble he says "oh! What big eyes you

have" and so on, which is from Little Red Riding Hood. When Donkey is

complementing Dragon she starts to fall for his charm, and their

relationship grows stronger throughout the film. We see this when

Donkey needs to help Shrek and he whistles for Dragon and she is there

willing to help. Also on the special features at the end of the film

they sing together looking at each other lovingly. I think it is very

humorous and Drag...

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...burst out laughing when you

see him, instead of hide behind the sofa. The producers used great

camera angles to exaggerate his height. We see this when we first meet

Lord Farquaad and the camera shows us different parts of his body,

using various camera angles such as close-ups, medium shot also medium

close-up. These shots gives the impression that he is very big and

important as he marches down the corridor, but when we find out how

small he actually is it is very funny. In my opinion the producers

chose brilliant shots as this scene has a lot of humour.

In conclusion the presentational devices subvert Shrek from the usual

conventions of a fairytale as they help create the characters. In my

opinion the makers have been triumphant in producing a fairytale with

a twist, as the film has been very successful worldwide.