Understanding the Impact of Disney’s Fairy Tales and the Contrasting Influence of“Shrek” on Society.
“Who’s your favorite princess?” I was always asked that by my female peers and sometimes adults when I was growing up. I always replied with “Belle” or “Cinderella” because those were some of the only princess names that I could remember because to be honest, I had never even watched or read the stories until I grew older. But its not like I did not have any childhood favorites, it was just that my childhood favorites were a little different from my female peers. So meanwhile my friends preferred to watch Disney movies, I seemed to always enjoy watching films like Shrek, both as a child and as an adult.
Claiming Shrek as one of my all-time favorites, I think it is safe to say that I love it just as much as the next person. But with some research into the matter of Shrek, I don’t think that many people understand the underlying message or even it’s backstory.
Yeah I know what you’re thinking..“it’s a love story between an ogre and a princess” or “it’s a story about friendship and acceptance” or maybe even “its a story about how relationships bring happiness and are better than being in complete solitude”. But what if these understandings are just the tip of the iceberg? What if there is much more to it than most of us know? Where did the inspiration even come from? Well maybe these understandings are not as far far away from an explanation.
So to make some sense out of Shrek and its message to the audience, I think it would be important to start this from the great scandal of the late 1990s between Dreamworks main animated executive Jeffery Katzenberg and Disney’s Chairman and CEO Michael Eisner.
The story begins in the early 1980’s when Jeffery Katzenburg (aka J-money) joined the Disney film industry to work as a junior partner for chairman Frank Wells and bossman Michael Eisner. With his experience from Paramount and Warner Bros., Katzenberg began to work as head of Walt Disney’s animated movie studios. With all of the films that were made under his management, Katzenberg has successfully revived Disney’s standing with film hits like Beauty and the Beast, The Little Mermaid, and The Lion King. It was in 1994 when the sudden tragic death of Frank Wells took place, vacating a position. It was some time after this when Katzenberg felt like he deserved that position based on his merits. But after having his request denied by Eisner, Katzenberg left the Disney industry and moved on to co-found Dreamworks with Steven Spielberg and David Geffen.
However, the feud did not end there. With Katzenberg’s absence, Disney pursued the claim that because he left the company, he was no longer entitled to his share of the Disney films earnings. This led to the great legal scandal between Katzenberg and Eisner. But after the long and expensive 19 month lawsuit, Katzenberg finally won his case against Disney for an undisclosed amount.
Now with this knowledge, it seems to make sense as to why Shrek is a comical parody that involves fairytales. Overall it looks like the great scandal between Katzenberg and Disney served as an inspiration for the plot line of Shrek. There is a possibility that the talented Jeff Katzenberg had different creative film ideas so that also might be the reason that Shrek is no ordinary fairytale. Now having his own company, Katzenberg has the freedom to come up with something completely new, something completely different from his previous pieces of work at Disney.
When looking at all the hit Disney films, it is almost like they have a reputation of upholding certain beauty standards. For example, the protagonists/princesses are always depicted to look and behave a certain way. Doesn’t seem as important until you compare their happy ever after to the antagonists’ destined miserable lives.
In other words, Disney always seems to have the fairytale revolve around the fragile, gracious, and beautiful princesses. When in comparison to them, the antagonist are usually their opposite: bold, mean, and ugly. I think the bigger impact of these settings in Disney films is how these ideas come across to their young audience. By keeping these settings of the beautiful vs the ugly is what makes Disney uphold these beauty standards that imply that only the beautiful people find that happiness or a ‘happy ever after’ with their perfect prince charming. Not only has that been an impact on the young audience but still when they grow up. It may not be that obvious but maybe that is why these generations are very superficial and only focus on appearance of potential partners. But maybe that is the kind of message that Katzenberg tried to address with Shrek.
Since the very beginning of the film, we see that the creators of Shrek sent out the message of parody or mockery as our protagonist, the ogre, mocks the fairytale and proceeds to wipe his a*s with a page of the book. They continue to show what a typical day for Shrek is as we witness his routine of brushing with slime, showering with mud, making “keep out” signs to peacefully enjoy his solitude. Realizing that Shrek is our protagonist instead of the antagonist, shows that this will not be an ordinary fairytale movie. Such a unique tale that has a protagonist that does not seek love or happiness and lives his life like it.
Shrek lives a single, simple, and carefree life in his swamp. The audience understands that he is more of an introvert who keeps to himself while pushing others away. We don’t know much after that until his hyperactive sidekick Donkey draws out some of Shrek’s personal issues. From there, we can understand that his past of others considering him a “big, stupid, ugly, ogre”, he claims to push others away because he thinks he is better off alone. So that means that he sees himself with no friends or even a romantic partner. Having an emotional appeal with Shrek’s insecurities of being forever alone is probably what makes people relate to his situation. Katzenberg sets up the character of Shrek because he knows that he will have a greater appeal than those typical Disney princesses and by replacing them for Shrek as protagonist just alludes that his story will end with his happiness.
Let’s not forget the impact of the unique character of Princess Fiona. Although she does start off as the typical princess that daydreams (and grows desperate) of the day that her true love rescues her from the dragon’s castle, we also see that there is another completely different side to her. With her backstory of the curse and her desperation to stay in her beautiful human form it empathizes with the female audience. Being locked away in a castle and only dreaming about the day her true love will rescue her is something that is not uncommon with the audience of Disney. Especially with her condition, Princess Fiona grows desperate to marry her “true love” in order to stay in her beautiful human state. Again, picking at her insecurities also brings a sympathetic appeal to now the female audience who may relate to how Fiona feels. Princess Fiona is unique in the way that not only is she a princess but is kind of bada*s. You see, throughout the movie, she fights off Robin Hood and his merrie men, makes breakfast in the wilderness, and does the typical ‘non-ladylike’ things yet is still considered a princess, finds true love, and gets her happy ever after. Making her character still worthy of love and happiness is the creator’s attempt of romanticizing the idea that these kinds of females will also find love and happiness.
For instance, in the scene when Shrek shows his gratitude by belching in front of Donkey and Fiona. In response to his compliment, Fiona belches back. Of course Donkey said she was as nasty as Shrek but that did not stop Shrek from falling in love with her. Another example when Shrek is impressed by how she fend for herself against Robin Hood and continued to develop a crush for her. Both of these scenes just show that true love will love you for who you are and should never be based on the physical state.
Going back to the Katzenberg and Eisner feud, sources say that it is believed that the antagonist character Lord Farquaad is based on Michael Eisner. And according to What Culture article, they claimed that Eisner is actually a very tall man who is known for his saying that referred to Katzenberg as “I think I hate that little midget”. By depicting Lord Farquaad with a short structure, Katzenberg turns the tables on his ex boss. What Culture goes on to compare Eisner and Farquaad’s facial resemblance of same pale and square face. Also, it is said that if you remove the ‘r’ from Farquaad, it sounds like a certain derogatory term. Other than the physical connection of Eisner and Farquaad, we see that there is some more interconnections of his character that lead to the great Disney scandal. It is no secret that Lord Farquaad rules the kingdom of Duloc. At plain sight, Farquaad’s castle has similar features to that of the Disney castle. This is also where that one scene takes place where, at the glance of Farquaad’s castle, Shrek claims “Do you think maybe he’s compensating for something?” Some adult-oriented humor may have not been directed at Lord Farquaad after all. Also, looking at how the ruthless Lord Farquaad tried to create a ‘perfect’ kingdom and sets the ‘rules of Duloc’ which is what continues to characterize Eisner as a Disney tyrant who denied Katzenberg the well deserved position.
Jumping back to Shrek’s underlying message in regards to beauty and happiness, when Fiona finally has her true love’s kiss and takes her true love’s form, she is still under the concept that, as a princess, she is supposed to be beautiful. Shrek’s response makes up for that and for the many who don’t believe that love isn’t meant for them. As the creators leave Shrek and Fiona in their ogre forms, this continues to show that love is not only for the beautiful couple as shown in films like Beauty and the Beast but is also for the ‘ugly’ people. Just like in Smash Mouth’s song “I’m a believer”, they resort to the overall meaning of the film within the iconic song.
“I thought love was only true in fairy tales. Meant for someone else but not for me. Love was out to get me. That’s the way it seemed. Disappointment haunted all of my dreams. Then I saw her face, now I’m a believer”
What an ending! Giving magical hope to the hopeless ‘ugly’ romantics is something that Katzenberg successfully delivers in his classic film.
