Shrek (2001)
Directed: Andrew Adamson/ Vicky Jenson
Mike Myers, Eddies Murphy, Cameron Diaz
We always encounter the very
opposite of what we expect. It is very natural that in the popular cartoon-
animated movie Shrek (2001) ‘the unexpected’ becomes the Real (impossible to
imagine). Princess Fiona was expecting her handsome ‘Lord’ to come and rescue
her from the tallest tower, and Shrek was wanting a peaceful existence in his
swamp which he supposed to materialize with the ‘deed’ from Lord Farquaad after
rescuing Fiona. The price he had to pay for his freedom is based on a woman who
is imprisoned in a dragon guarded tower and pre-programmed to be ‘free’ (once
she is ‘free’, Shrek is destined to ‘fall’ or entrapped). But what happens to
his pre-supposition? His presupposed peace was deeply disturbed by a donkey who
is a real ‘chatterbox’ as introduced by his owner to the soldier at the time
when he was sold to the fairy tale creatures’ cart. The donkey was supposed to
talk at the exchange market but it did not. But unexpectedly he started talking
after lantern fell on his head. The soldier did not expect the donkey to talk assuming
that it was a trick on him. Then he realized that he not only flies but
actually ‘talks’.
The donkey sings, chats and interrupts
Shrek when he is in need of tranquility but only through that disturbance, he
starts the catharsis about his disappointment about the world and his being as
an ogre. He wanted everyone to be ‘away’ from his swamp but we find eventually
all the fairy tale creatures trafficked into his territory uninvited. Though he wanted to
be lonely, he happened to go to the public place several times to get his swamp back
and later to rescue Fiona (and finally to become a Prince!). He finally
undertook the task of rescuing Fiona as compensation of his peace but that act
itself stole his peace in life. If you can remember the scene, when he brings a
sunflower to offer her (just before he overheard Fiona’s chat with donkey), he
says that ‘I am in trouble’. This means that he is no more than a ‘fallen victim’
of desire.
Lord Farquaad was expecting a
beautiful princess to give his kiss so that he can become the King but Fiona metamorphosed
into an ugly fatty woman after sunset (the truth about Fiona was about to be
revealed by the magic mirror but Farquaad was not ready to listen to the ‘truth’
at that time. The negligence is, in this case, pre-programmed (like the canned laughter
in the audience) in us by making us blind in the venture of seeking our
fantasy.
Fiona was confronted with a
bitter truth that her rescuer is an ogre in a helmet (the identity is hidden to
be ‘revealed’ here). But the long journey from the tower to the palace is set
in order to give them time to digest the hard truth about each other. Shriek
says that she is different to what he thought her to be and she says that one
should not judge ‘things’ by appearance. We now come across a woman who changed from a
princess to an ordinary woman who is even ready to live with an ogre. This is something
that Shriek never expected. What makes this match possible is the hidden fact
that Fiona too becomes ugly after sunset. This means that both beauty and
ugliness are mutually existing in us and the meeting point in both beauty and
ugliness is possibly pre-programmed in us to be discovered at the ‘right time’.
The entire movie deals with the
possible meeting points of the very opposite of our desire to the other. The extremes
ends are dissolved and evaporated in the relationships in the movie and each
character (except Lord Farquaad whose motive is more than a human relationship)
finds some union amidst chaos. Therefore, though we do not live in a fairy tale
world, it is logical that the movie is structured as a fairy tale.
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