Shrek as a Parody of Traditional Fairy Tales

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Shrek as a Parody of Traditional Fairy Tales

Shrek is a computer animated film which parodies traditional fairy

tales, this means it is an amusing imitation of something original, in

this case the film, another way to explain what I mean is Shrek

satirises traditional fairy tales, by copying elements from them and

changing them to make them humorous.

In traditional fairy tales, there are certain ingredients, which make

them into what they are.

Firstly, there would be a tall, dark, handsome prince, who will slay

the dragon or forces of evil, on his way to rescuing the princess.

Then they would fall in love with each other (the prince and

princess), leave together, get married, and then the most important

line at the end of any traditional fairy tale they would "live happily

ever after."

Then the bad, evil, character, who would be hideously ugly, and would

take away (kidnap) the princess and take her to his dark, misty

fortress. In some cases, he wants to marry her. Usually this character

would be slightly crazy.

Also the evil beast, which would be male, battle the prince to the

death, it would do this because it would be guarding the princess for

the evil character (the bad guy). Then the prince would slay the

beast.

Not forgetting the princess. Who would be as exquisite as a rose, have

long hair, and especially bepure. What I mean when I say be pure, is

that the book/film would suggest that the princess is a virgin. She

would wait in the fortress after being kidnapped by the evil

character, then wait for the prince to save her.

Going back now to when I said that the princess would be pure. These

traditional...

... middle of paper ...

...rtrayed as being

weaker, and so the dragon would be a male.

Dragon though before we find out that it is a female, is completely

like its stereotype. It breaths fire, tries to kill Shrek, and kidnaps

donkey. A dragon would usually do this in traditional fairy tales.

The things in Shrek, which are different to traditional fairy tales,

are:

The music that plays through the film. Each piece of music that plays

reflects a modern idea of love. One of the pieces of music in the film

is "dance to the music." This occurs at the end of the film after

Shrek and Fiona have got married.

How people at the end of the film see the message of true love

differently. Three quarters of the way through the film true love

looked like it usually is supposed to. The princess, and prince get

married and live happily ever after.

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