Shrek Has Layers

Petty and crude, but undeniably clever

I just wanna say that Shrek begins and ends with a Smash Mouth song. So, there’s that.

Let’s talk about the backstory:

The whole movie, like a lot of DreamWorks early stuff, is a giant middle finger to Disney. The movie’s producer, Jeffrey Katzenberg, originally worked in the iconic white castle. He produced films during Disney’s “revival period”, like The Little Mermaid (1989), Beauty and the Beast (1991), Aladdin (1992), and The Lion King (1994). He was also the guy that made the deal that combined Disney and Pixar. So, J-Katz thought that he was the logical choice to become Disney’s President when the position became available. This move was vetoed by Roy Disney, nephew of famous racist popsicle Walt Disney.

So, Katzenberg resigned, and along with Steven Spielberg and David Geffen, he co-founded DreamWorks SGK. K-Berg then made it his chief goal in life to undermine the Disney corporation. He stayed in touch with people at Disney, found out what they were working on, and when they were going to release it. DreamWorks then made films to compete with Disney’s.

In 1998, Disney was about to release A Bugs Life. DreamWorks changed the release date on their first movie, The Prince of Egypt, to come out on THE SAME DAY. Disney moved their bugs back a few months. DreamWorks then pushed their movie Antz UP, so it came out before A Bugs Life. This level of pettiness is rarely seen in multi-million-dollar enterprises.

I love this movie because it criticizes Disney and deconstructs the homogenized fairytales which made them the movie monolith they are today. The company has taken centuries-old fables and trademarked them so that only Disney can profit from these timeless characters. Shrek satirizes these films, including the ones that Katzenberg helped create.

From the first shot of the film, where Shrek literally wipes his ass with a page from a fairytale, it is clear that this film is going to lampoon the tropes of the fairytale genre. This won’t be another conventional “hero saves princess” or “ugly beast becomes handsome man” story. Shrek is not your typical knight-in-shining-armor. He works for the bad guy. His motivation is completely selfish; he just wants his land back. The true-loves-first-kiss moment is more of a rough-shake-awake. After the quest, he just gives the princess away.

Shrek also rejects his archetypal furry companion. Donkey is a parody of the adorable (and therefore marketable) animal sidekick in Disney films. These characters only exist as comedic relief and rarely show any development during the plot. Donkey, played by Eddie Murphy, is not adorable and does have his own character arc in the film. That arc happens to culminate with him banging a dragon.

Donkey is still just as endearing as any Disney sidekick because he is sincere and musical. Unlike other characters, Donkey doesn’t care what the world thinks of him. His personality bursts through whenever another character tries to control him. Donkey also spends much of the film singing, which allows the film to have a musical quality without being campy. More on that later. Eddie Murphy does a great job with this role. He’s hilarious, but he also really gets his teeth into the sincere and musical moments.

Shrek and Donkey go to Duloc castle. An obvious parody of Disney theme parks, Duloc has its own version of “It’s A Small World After All.” They meet the villain, Lord Farquaad, based on Disney CEO Michael Eisner. Farquaad isn’t a traditional bad guy. He’s just a short jerk, who threatens magical mirrors and tortures gingerbread men. (The little cookie telling Farquaad to “eat me,” is my favorite moment in the film)

But Shrek isn’t just crude, it’s creative, particularly how it deals with the “damsel in distress” trope. Fiona isn’t a stereotypical princess, one-dimensional and undeveloped. Her character subverts the fairytale genre more than any element in the film. Usually, the big reveal at the end of act two is focused on the prince: he was actually poor the whole time, or, he was really the bad guy the whole time, etc. In Shrek the big reveal is about princess Fiona; we discover that she’s a monstrous ogre. Fiona is just as coarse as Shrek, but also just as capable; burping and beating up bandits. She’s more complex than her one-dimensional Disney counterparts. Camron Diaz was perfect casting, capturing both sides of Fiona’s character.

The ending of the film also criticizes the competition. Frequently in Disney movies, the ending undermines the central message of the film. Aladdin tries to teach us that love doesn’t care if you’re rich or poor, but Aladdin becomes a prince at the end anyway. Belle falls in love with the Beast even though he’s ugly, but then he stops being ugly. In both instances, the character growth during the film is negated by the ending.

Not in Shrek. The film takes the classic fairytale message, “love is blind,” and commits to it. Fiona and Shrek both end as ogres, and Donkey keeps banging that Dragon. The ending supports the theme.

Shrek also has an amazing soundtrack, which was one of the first CD’s I ever bought. The film cleverly uses great pop songs to complement the plot, as an instrumental score would. Some of the song choices are a bit on the nose, like a Joan Jett song during a wrestling match, or ‘Hallelujah’ during a sad scene. This isn’t subtle, but it is functional. The fact Shrek uses pop music to comment on each scene pokes fun at the campy musical numbers in Disney films. Shrek doesn’t have to sing a corny ballad about how much he loves his life because “All-Star” by Smash Mouth does that for him.

There are also songs composed specifically for the film, like the hypnotic main theme. The original songs compliment the pop songs by moving the plot forward. The main melody becomes a leitmotif, popping up through the film to remind us of the central theme. For example, Fiona sings the main theme to a bird and the bird explodes. This moment mocks a classic fairytale trope while also hinting at Fiona’s true nature.

At the end of the film the two types of music meet. The last scene begins with the Smash Mouth version of “Now I’m a Believer”, which Donkey then takes over. This is a perfect moment, as the pop music which narrates the plot becomes diegetic through the film’s most sincere character.
The music in Shrek creates the moments that stick with me years later, like Shrek busting out of the toilet to “All-Star.”. More than just memorable, the soundtrack plays an important narrative function. Each song, pop or original, comments on the moment it appears. The music serves this important function without ever feeling campy and always maintaining the central satire of the film.

Shrek went on to be a huge success. It grossed $484,000,000, saving DreamWorks financially. Shrek even won the first-ever Oscar for Best Animated Film, literally beating Disney’s Monster’s Inc (which I also love). Shrek still does not get the recognition that it deserves. Nowadays plenty of films deconstruct genre tropes while still fitting nicely into that genre. Shrek was one of the first films to do this, and it does it wonderfully.

Shrek is not just a petty “fuck you” to an ex-employer, though it certainly began that way. The film proves that a hegemonic corporation does not have a monopoly on a whole genre. (This point was important when the movie came out, and is even more important now, as Disney consumes every franchise I have ever loved) Shrek then satirizes the fairytale genre, parodying the tropes and subverting its structure. In the end, by committing to its central message, Shrek succeeds in being itself an excellent fairytale.

For the record, I love Disney movies. They were important to me in my childhood and remain some of my favorite films today. Shrek came out right when I was beginning to tire of the fairytale formula. It was crass and clever, and I loved it. I still do. Shrek is funny, it’s important social commentary. Most importantly, it starts AND ends with a Smash Mouth song.