Shrek Essays

In literature, a quest is a mission the protagonist goes on to achieve a stated goal while he unknowingly completes another desired task. The five elements of a quest are: “a quester, a place to go, a stated reason to go there, challenges and trials en route, and a real reason to go there” (Foster). The quest is one of the most commonly recurring archetypes in literature, as Foster states, “Every trip is a quest (except when it’s not)” (Foster)....

Between the clichés of a love story and a fairytale, the film ‘Shrek’ through the feminist lens shows defiance against male patriarchy, female weakness and self-acceptance issues through Fiona as the storyline follows. Despite Shrek’s wishes to not follow a fairy tale type of storyline let alone any type, he as an ogre falls in love with Fiona unbeknownst that she is an ogre, and likewise, Fiona’s emotions make the story readily a fairytale. Although Fiona is portrayed as a...

Lord Farquaad is the main evil villain of the movie ‘Shrek’, and shortest one too. He is the ruler of Duloc – and a cruel one at that. At the beginning of the movie Farquaad banishes all of the fairytale creatures from his land (relocated to Shrek’s swamp), torturing others to give up the location of whatever creatures he hasn’t yet found. From the start he is portrayed as a cruel and insecure ruler, and yet is the butt of...

The movie ‘Shrek’ directed by Andrew Adamson and Vickey Jenson, is an exceptional movie that follows the ‘Hero’s Journey’ while simultaneously subverting it. The main theme of the movie is ‘Don’t judge a book by its cover’. This moral also makes you reflect on some judgements that you may have made about a person throughout your life. The key stages include Shrek (Hero archetype) meeting Donkey (Shapeshifter – Trickster, Mentor and Ally – archetype) on his way home. Shrek being...

When someone is in love, it is natural to behave out of the ordinary. More importantly, many factors lead them to think about things they usually wouldn’t do if they weren’t in love. A great example of this plays out in Shakespeare’s play, ‘Romeo and Juliet’. Initially, Romeo was depressed after getting rejected by another girl, but his perspective of love changed for the first time upon meeting Juliet. However, their relationship wasn’t supposed to happen because they were from...

A green ogre with a big heart, a hilarious talking donkey and a karate chopping princess creates the magnificent animation, ‘Shrek’. This remarkable film was directed by Andrew Adamson, released in 2001, has genres of fantasy, comedy and adventure. The tremendously talented voice actors include Mike Murphy (Shrek), Eddie Murphy (Donkey), Cameron Diaz (Princess), and John Lithgow (Lord Farquaad). ‘Shrek’ is the tale of an ogre who lives in a swamp in complete serenity, but when fairy tale characters are...

‘Shrek’ (2001) tells the story of an ogre whose land has become overrun with fairy tale characters, the way to restore everything to normal is for Shrek to go on a journey to save Princess Fiona at the request of Lord Farquaad, who needs a princess to finally become King. The film is based on William Steig’s book of the same name. Steven Spielberg gained the rights to the book in 1995 and thus began its journey to film, eventually...

Have you ever known a human who possesses the noble qualities of a hero? Probably none. Heroes embodied with noble qualities such as selfless, brave, strong, and many more to point out which is a long way from the truth and that sends out that solely the perfect can acquire those. An everyday person would by no means able to relate to these heroes who had been completely pure of heart, who simply save the day and always knew what...

The movie ‘Shrek’ is based on a book titled ‘Shrek’, which was authored by William Steig. The book is designed for use by children and which is about the giant green ogre. This tale is aimed mainly to the children and their parents. From the beginning, the movie is barely a fairy tale, with a lot of twists. The film also uses stereotypical features, characters and structures. However, throughout the film, these features are challenged by intertextuality, twists in the...