Why Ogres Should Be Pink and Sparkly
If you do a quick Google search about ogres, bulky, hideous, and usually bald monsters will invade your screen. Sometimes they’re green; often they wave a primitive weapon and bare their crooked teeth. They are portrayed as vicious creatures that relish human flesh, especially children’s, despite their sometimes cocky, dumb nature.
Which is why they are an inspiration for many famous villains like the witch in Hansel and Gretel. If you think about it, even Cyclops from the Greek mythology resemble ogres. They used to haunt children’s nightmares. People hated and feared them for centuries.
That is, until Shrek came along.
At the beginning, he is still portrayed as a smelly, hideous creature. The town people try to hunt him; children fear him. But as the plot progresses, we learn the bulky creature can be funny, heroic, and thoughtful. At the end, we discover that despite him not being human, he craves the most human thing in the world: love.
Admit it. It is impossible not to fall in love with him, especially when he turns out to be an incredible friend and lover.
But beside giving us a lovable, award-worthy film that is filled with memorable characters, Sherk does something else. Something wonderful. It breaks the image of ogres we have in our minds, crumbling centuries of prejudice against these creatures, while giving us a twist at the familiar concept of a fairytale.
Don’t ogres deserve to be the good guys? Don’t they deserve love? Don’t they deserve friendship and living happily-ever-after?
According to Shrek, they do. Which is probably what makes this movie an Oscar winner, simply because it dares to claim otherwise. It dares to bend the rules — in fact, it creates its own rules — and if I might add, it does so spectacularly.
As far as I know, no one has ever seen an ogre. No one has ever seen a fairy, troll, or any other magical creature, either. Just because we think we know how these creatures look, talk and act, doesn’t mean we can’t change it now and then.
The beauty of this method? It works every time. There are far too many clichés in writing. The wise, old wizard that guides the hero in his journey to save the world. The mysterious new girl in high school every boy is interested in and every girl envies her. But what if we shake the ground and try new ideas?
The wise, old mentor could be a witch, or several characters instead of one. How about a former villain? The mysterious new girl in high school isn’t a pupil but a teacher — or better yet — the principal. The possibilities are endless.
That’s why I like this method. It pushes us to think outside of the box, maybe even create the box altogether. It lets our minds wander while we step out of our comfort zone in a journey to surprise not only our readers but ourselves as well.
That being said, claiming an orange is actually a banana probably not going to swipe the readers off their feet or get you any brownie points anytime soon. What will, however, is giving them a twist. A different perspective on a mundane idea. Like turning an ogre into a hero, and making the prince the villain.
Don’t be afraid to bend the rules once in a while, or create rules of your own. As long as it’s believable, why not? It will spice things up, and make your story memorable. Readers will crave to read more simply because it stands out with its uniqueness.
