All fairy-tales have the same stereotypical characters, conflictions and climax. There are never distinctive features in traditional fairy-tales that make them enchanting. Shrek is not a typical fairy tale, which falls under the usual fairy tale category. Shrek is an unusual fairy tale which changes our perceptions on the standard morals and beliefs of a traditional fairy-tale. Characters which alter in their traditional fairy-tale roles and have special characteristics which make them intriguing and idiosyncratic than prosaic characters, contradicting values and beliefs and a usual but slightly twisted plot is what makes Shrek a fractured fairy-tale.
The movie Shrek includes characters which defy their stereotypical roles have been modified
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to suit their new character roles. Lord Farquaad is an unpleasant, diminutive and obnoxious man who dreams to marry Princess Fiona for the honour of being given the title King. In established fairy tales, the Lord who wishes to marry a princess travels to her tower to extricate her. In Shrek it is not the Lord who emancipates Fiona but an ogre and a donkey. Lord Farquaad in comparison with Lords from classic fairy-tales is very intimidating and uncouth; he cannot be inconvenienced to rescue his own future wife but depends on others to escort her to him. Little does he know, his queen has more secrets to hide from him than he does? Ever heard of a princess who devours roasted rats and cobwebs, combats men with unmatchable karate skills, burps and is an ogress at night?
Meet Princess Fiona, an auburn-haired princess who is liberated by an ogre. In traditional fairy tales the princess is meant to be rescued by a knight in a shining armour and white horse not an ogre. In addition to that Shrek doesn’t save Fiona for himself but for his beloved swamp. In usual fairy tales a debilitated maid supposedly a princess, beleaguered by a malicious step-mother or siblings meets a charming prince and turns into a gorgeous princess. In Shrek this is different, Princess Fiona is a typical princess and is only an ogre at night but when she has her true love’s first kiss she transforms into an ogress. Before we as the audience know that princess Fiona is an ogre, she lets out very crucial …show more content…
hints. As nearly everyone would agree, Princesses are benign and dignified and certainly do not indoctrinate themselves to combat people. However when Robin Hood and the merry men confront Shrek and Donkey in forest and attack Shrek, Fiona defends Shrek. Masculine qualities are depicted in Fiona which is not something usual fairy tales portray. Princess Fiona does not fit the usual gender role of a female character as she exposes herself as a female with virile qualities. One moment, Princess Fiona is the embodiment of the fairy tale princess, the next she proves herself to be intimidating and abysmal. During the movie we experience Princess Fiona’s true nature. As her frustration mounts due to Shrek’s refusal to remove his helmet, she suddenly loses her temper and yells at him .The moment the dramatic changeover from courteous princess to a temperamental lady, brings in a disassociation of Fiona’s character from the regular fairy tale princess. So far Princess Fiona behaved exactly like the typical fairy tale princess with her fluent use of archaic English, her gentle body language and perfectly lady-like manners. Fairy tale princesses are known to maintain their pique and remain serene. They are always portrayed as generous, demure, shy, young women. Fiona not only shows her courage to defend Shrek but also proves that she can doesn’t need a man to save her. The movie Shrek questions the beliefs and morals from traditional fairy tales. In usual fairy tales when the prince and princesses encounter, it is love at first sight and they ride off into the sunset and get married. In Shrek when Fiona sees Shrek she doesn’t immediately fall in love with him. After the revelation that Shrek is an ogre her reaction is complete shock. Over time she develops a gradual liking for Shrek though. Due to the way traditional fairy-tales portray beasts, everyone has this perception that mythical beasts like ogres are heinous, atrocious and feculent animals.
Shrek, the protagonist is completely misunderstood; once we encounter Shrek we get a totally disparate view about ogres. Despite his prodigious body structure Shrek is an amiable soft hearted ogre. Ogres are misjudged creatures and albeit Shrek is deviant and non-conforming, his behaviour is not that of a beast we would expect in an orthodox fairy-tale. Despite fairy-tale sentiments on female characters, Shrek treats Fiona equally ignoring her gender as she proves herself to be surpassingly
brave. In encapsulation Shrek is a movie which obliterates some of the standard morals and values of the traditional fairy-tale. It brings fairy tales to a whole new level of understanding buy using a compendium of abstract fairy tale elements. The creative combination of reality themes and traditional fairy-tale genres is what makes Shrek an unusual fairy-tale. The most unique aspect of Shrek is the moral of the movie which is “no one needs to be perfect to have a happily ever after”. Princess Fiona finds that her true love is Shrek because she realises outward appearance masks the true inner beauty of someone. Although Shrek looks like a repulsive ogre who is always cantankerous, he desires to be accepted for whom he is and Fiona acknowledges this. This fairy-tale has eccentric features such as a creatively crafted plot which although seems usual has been neatly distorted which in combination with the transformed characters, values and beliefs which contradict those from standard fairy-tales classifies Shrek as an unusual fairy-tale.
The Reversal of Traditions in Shrek In traditional fairy tales ogres are man-eating beast. 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 the essay i am going to focus on the characters of Shrek and lord Farrquaad, the fairytale genre is subverted from the usual ogre being a man eater and the prince saving the princess to the ogre becoming the rescuer and the prince being evil person who sends the ogre to do his dirty work and rescue the princess.
...n” is a great example of an old myth or tale reconstructed and adapted for a modern audience in a new medium. It is a progression on one hand in its use of modern language, setting, and style but it is also the product of the old myths in that it is essentially the same on the thematic level. In addition, the level of self-awareness on the part of the narrator and, by extension, the author marks it out as an illustration of the very notion of evolutionary changes of myths and fairy tales. Adaptation is the solution to the fairy tale, and fairy tales have been endlessly changing themselves throughout history and, by some strange transforming or enchanting power endlessly staying the same.”
In fact, Belle is not actively seeking love, but rather stumbles onto it, as a consequence of her own bravery and sacrifice. The relationship that grows between the beauty and the Beast is often the target of criticism as it can be perceived as Stockholm’s syndrome on Belle’s part and is seen to advocate that women should remain with their loved ones even if they are abusive. This is aspect of the film is condemned as it suggest that, somehow and through love, the abusive husband or lover can better himself. And although one can read the film as such, another could see that Beauty and the Beast is the tale of a woman who enters a man’s life and initiates and reciprocally healing and growing bond: Belle learns to see beyond someone’s appearance, and the Beast learns to let other people in. This is literally reflected by his complete forbiddance to have any visitors in his castle as the castle symbolizes his soul. This relationship of equals demonstrates that, contrarily to Disney films such as Cinderella or even The Little Mermaid where all a man or a woman need to fall in love is to set eyes on one another, without having to know anything about each other, or even share a discussion. The Disney princess here is not a princess but a villager, and Prince Charming is not charming but rather temperamental. The unusual end of the animated feature also mirrors this unusual
Social Psychology is the scientific study of how we influence, affect, and relate to one another. Social psychology is studied to see how the influence of others can impact how we act. This can be seen in many aspects in life. Most specifically, social psychology can be seen in movies. Recently, I have viewed the movie Shrek which was released in 2001. Shrek is a kid’s movie about an ogre named Shrek who rescues a princess from a castle for Lord Farquaad in order to regain his swamp and privacy. During this process, however, Shrek falls in love with the princess and discovers a secret about her. While watching Shrek, I have noticed that many theories and concepts from social psychology were apparent in the film.
A fairytale is a fictional fantasy fable that passes through generations of children as source of interest to them. Though used for the intent of entertainment, fairytales often indirectly advocate a moral or message to readers (whom are usually children), in hopes that they will grow up to apply these ethics and lead a righteous life. This criteria, however, often originates from the occurrence of a magical transformation; it is this paranormality that introduces the characters of the story to a side of life far from what they have grown to know and learn to adapt to the dramatic amend in their life. This is evident in the characters in world-renowned tales such as The Little Mermaid, Aladdin and Beauty and the Beast.
Despite the tremendous steps that have been taken towards reaching gender equality, mainstream media contradicts these accomplishments with stereotypes of women present in Walt Disney movies. These unrealistic stereotypes may be detrimental to children because they grow up with a distorted view of how men and women interact. Disney animated films assign gender roles to characters, and young children should not be exposed to inequality between genders because its effect on their view of what is right and wrong in society is harmful to their future. According to Disney films, it is important for women to achieve the stereotypical characteristics of a woman, such as maintaining their beauty to capture a man, and being weak and less educated than male characters. The women in Disney movies are always beautiful, which helps them to find a man.
At first glance, what makes a fairy tale a fairy tale may seem obvious—some kind of magic, hidden symbols, repetition, and of course it’s evident it’s fiction—but fables are more than that. As Arthur Schelesinger puts it, it’s about “[expanding] imagination” and gaining understanding of mysterious places (618). While doing this, it also helps children to escape this world, yet teach a lesson that the reader may not be conscious of. A wonderful story that achieves all of this is Cinderella, but not the traditional tale many American’s have heard. Oochigeaskw, or The Rough-Faced Girl, and Ashputtle would be fitting for a seven-year-old because they get the gears of the mind turning, allowing for an escape on the surface, with an underlying enlightenment for children of the ways of the world.
Shrek, an enormous, disgusting green ogre falling in love with a beautiful princess (later turning into a nasty ogre) is a perfect example of a stereotypical fairytale, right? Well in the movie Shrek, the voice over in the trailer talks about a “hero” attempting to rescue a “fair princess” with the help of “his trusty companion." Besides the fact that the hero is a voluptuous green ogre and the companion is a donkey, everything fits in normally to the definition of a traditional fairytale (Diaz). Also according to Mary Kunimitsu, in fantasy films “There may be characters with magical or supernatural abilities such as witches, wizards, superheroes, mythical creatures, talking animals, and ghosts” (Kunimitsu). In Shrek, there are many of these different characters. Therefore, by explanation, a traditional fairytale with the beautiful princess getting saved by the prince and falling in love is exactly what happens in the movie Shrek, just with a twist. The voice over in the trailer for Shrek states it perfectly as he says “Shrek is a highly irreverent take on the classic fairytale” (Adamson). As an untraditional fairytale, and a parody, the movie Shrek poses the breaking of stereotypes of gender and film fairytales all the while keeping the criteria of a fairytale.
Throughout the movie,Shrek takes us deep into the concept of inner vs outer beauty. Whilst Shrek, the protagonist represents a non-stereotypical prince, there is also Princess Fiona. The traditional fairy tales portray princesses as dependent, ladylike and weak. Although in the beginning of the film, Fiona embodies the typical feminism and ladylike qualities, a thin, beautiful princess. As the movie goes on Fiona acts more comfortably and breaks these princess qualities. There is a scene where Fiona interrupts Shrek and Donkey with her rather unfeminine
Fairy Tales have been around for generations and generations. Our parents have told us these stories and we will eventually pass them down to ours. In this time of age the most common fairytales are Cinderella, Snow White, Sleeping Beauty, Beauty and The Beast and many more. Children idolize their favorite character and pretend to be them by mimicking everything they do in the stories. The character’s behavior is what is viewed as appropriate in society. These fairy tales show a girl and a boy fall in love and live “happily ever after”. The tales in many people’s eyes resemble a dream life that they would want to have of their own. However, have you ever really looked at what makes up a fairy tale? Many things are unrealistic but the most unflattering aspect of these tales is how women are depicted in them. Fairy tales give an unrealistic view to how women should look and behave in real life.
Fairy tales have been part of our lives ever since we were young children. We all either grew up watching Disney renditions of fairy tales, or we had storybooks filled with vivid pictures of a tale. Fairy tales are so important in our culture that it would be difficult to find someone who has not heard of Sleeping Beauty, Little Red Riding Hood, or other fairy tale protagonists. Interestingly enough, fairy tales have been a very integral part of Western culture since the time they were written. Fairy tale writers, such as Charles Perrault and the Grimm Brothers, revolutionized culture in the 17th and 18th centuries with their writings. Not only did these writers write these tales for entertainment, but they also accomplished to influence the
Fairy tales are given a bad reputation because of the mature themes in them. "Are Gory Fairy Tales an Evil?" notes that, "Parents and educators . . . have been troubled by the stories of blood, cruelty, revenge, and murder that are included in our fairy-tales. . . . Many stories set forth in grotesque form stories of ill-will, deception, robbery, and murder--even cannibalism," (285). These critics fail to mention the positive themes such as, justice, love, identity, honesty, and acceptance. Most stories have negative situations. There would not be much to a story if everything in it were good. What makes these stories so spectacular is what the characters must overcome or realize in order to have their happy ending. In the fairy tale Beauty and the Beast, a prince was transformed into a beast by a fairy because he was cruel. He was turned into a beast so that he would have to learn how to be nice so that maybe one day someone could fall in love with him even though he was hideous. If that were to happen, the spell would be broken (Goldenburg and Killion 6). The imaginative part of this story, with the spell and enchantment of the castle, takes the readers to a place where they can imagine and dream of things they may have never dreamt about before. This story also demonstrat...
Fairytales and folktales have been told around the campfire, in the living room, the class room, and before bedtime for centuries. First told orally, the “… stories had to have remarkable features in order to remain memorable (Nodelman 246).” These stories were passed down from storyteller to audience until they were eventually written down and collected for consumption by the public. Due to the passing of time and fallibility the stories have changed throughout the years and slightly differ from culture to culture, however, “Stories similar to “Cinderella” can be found in historical records from as far back as the seventh century, and from a variety of places around the world (Nodelman 246).” Although the classic tales differ in various ways from their modern counterparts (such as Disney films, etc.), the characters and their journeys are still very much identifiable.
A person can take a story and look at it from many ways. Fairy tales represent the transformation of young people. Beauty is transformed into a young woman; she passes through the stages successfully and in turn is able to love. Every story teaches a lesson and in this case more than one lesson is taught. Not only is the lesson of sexuality and maturity taught, an even more important lesson is taught. Beauty and the Beast shows that true love comes from within the inside and if it is meant to be it will prevail.