All fairy-tales have the same stereotypical characters, conflictions and climax. There are never distinctive features in traditional fairy-tales that make them enchanting. Shrek is not a typical fairy tale, which falls under the usual fairy tale category. Shrek is an unusual fairy tale which changes our perceptions on the standard morals and beliefs of a traditional fairy-tale. Characters which alter in their traditional fairy-tale roles and have special characteristics which make them intriguing and idiosyncratic than prosaic characters, contradicting values and beliefs and a usual but slightly twisted plot is what makes Shrek a fractured fairy-tale.
The movie Shrek includes characters which defy their stereotypical roles have been modified
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Meet Princess Fiona, an auburn-haired princess who is liberated by an ogre. In traditional fairy tales the princess is meant to be rescued by a knight in a shining armour and white horse not an ogre. In addition to that Shrek doesn’t save Fiona for himself but for his beloved swamp. In usual fairy tales a debilitated maid supposedly a princess, beleaguered by a malicious step-mother or siblings meets a charming prince and turns into a gorgeous princess. In Shrek this is different, Princess Fiona is a typical princess and is only an ogre at night but when she has her true love’s first kiss she transforms into an ogress. Before we as the audience know that princess Fiona is an ogre, she lets out very crucial …show more content…
Shrek, the protagonist is completely misunderstood; once we encounter Shrek we get a totally disparate view about ogres. Despite his prodigious body structure Shrek is an amiable soft hearted ogre. Ogres are misjudged creatures and albeit Shrek is deviant and non-conforming, his behaviour is not that of a beast we would expect in an orthodox fairy-tale. Despite fairy-tale sentiments on female characters, Shrek treats Fiona equally ignoring her gender as she proves herself to be surpassingly
Social Psychology is the scientific study of how we influence, affect, and relate to one another. Social psychology is studied to see how the influence of others can impact how we act. This can be seen in many aspects in life. Most specifically, social psychology can be seen in movies. Recently, I have viewed the movie Shrek which was released in 2001. Shrek is a kid’s movie about an ogre named Shrek who rescues a princess from a castle for Lord Farquaad in order to regain his swamp and privacy. During this process, however, Shrek falls in love with the princess and discovers a secret about her. While watching Shrek, I have noticed that many theories and concepts from social psychology were apparent in the film.
...n” is a great example of an old myth or tale reconstructed and adapted for a modern audience in a new medium. It is a progression on one hand in its use of modern language, setting, and style but it is also the product of the old myths in that it is essentially the same on the thematic level. In addition, the level of self-awareness on the part of the narrator and, by extension, the author marks it out as an illustration of the very notion of evolutionary changes of myths and fairy tales. Adaptation is the solution to the fairy tale, and fairy tales have been endlessly changing themselves throughout history and, by some strange transforming or enchanting power endlessly staying the same.”
In fact, Belle is not actively seeking love, but rather stumbles onto it, as a consequence of her own bravery and sacrifice. The relationship that grows between the beauty and the Beast is often the target of criticism as it can be perceived as Stockholm’s syndrome on Belle’s part and is seen to advocate that women should remain with their loved ones even if they are abusive. This is aspect of the film is condemned as it suggest that, somehow and through love, the abusive husband or lover can better himself. And although one can read the film as such, another could see that Beauty and the Beast is the tale of a woman who enters a man’s life and initiates and reciprocally healing and growing bond: Belle learns to see beyond someone’s appearance, and the Beast learns to let other people in. This is literally reflected by his complete forbiddance to have any visitors in his castle as the castle symbolizes his soul. This relationship of equals demonstrates that, contrarily to Disney films such as Cinderella or even The Little Mermaid where all a man or a woman need to fall in love is to set eyes on one another, without having to know anything about each other, or even share a discussion. The Disney princess here is not a princess but a villager, and Prince Charming is not charming but rather temperamental. The unusual end of the animated feature also mirrors this unusual
A fairytale is a fictional fantasy fable that passes through generations of children as source of interest to them. Though used for the intent of entertainment, fairytales often indirectly advocate a moral or message to readers (whom are usually children), in hopes that they will grow up to apply these ethics and lead a righteous life. This criteria, however, often originates from the occurrence of a magical transformation; it is this paranormality that introduces the characters of the story to a side of life far from what they have grown to know and learn to adapt to the dramatic amend in their life. This is evident in the characters in world-renowned tales such as The Little Mermaid, Aladdin and Beauty and the Beast.
My childhood has been just like every kid growing up in the 20th century. It revolved around the Disney story’s that were filled with magic and dreams. From Cinderella to Sleeping Beauty, my beloved children 's stories were controlled by male characters. At a young age this taught me that women are not as useful as men. These stories made me learn what it means to be a boy, girl, man, or woman. The ratio of males to females as main characters was so outstanding it lead me to question how these stories impacted how I view men and women.
In the essay i am going to focus on the characters of Shrek and lord Farrquaad, the fairytale genre is subverted from the usual ogre being a man eater and the prince saving the princess to the ogre becoming the rescuer and the prince being evil person who sends the ogre to do his dirty work and rescue the princess.
Despite the tremendous steps that have been taken towards reaching gender equality, mainstream media contradicts these accomplishments with stereotypes of women present in Walt Disney movies. These unrealistic stereotypes may be detrimental to children because they grow up with a distorted view of how men and women interact. Disney animated films assign gender roles to characters, and young children should not be exposed to inequality between genders because its effect on their view of what is right and wrong in society is harmful to their future. According to Disney films, it is important for women to achieve the stereotypical characteristics of a woman, such as maintaining their beauty to capture a man, and being weak and less educated than male characters. The women in Disney movies are always beautiful, which helps them to find a man.
...n every fairy tales, the tragedy identifies their own unique character, and symbolizes the plot to overcome it. After overcoming the hard times, during the plot is solved, and then describes the happy ever after. In The Shining the happy ever after was when Wendy and Danny were able get into the snow car and flee together, while Jack was freezing and dying. Sometimes the happy ever after do not happen with a kiss. In Hazel and Gretel the characters were able to trick the witch and scape. So, the fairy tales the evil never dies, but is destroyed.
The Reversal of Traditions in Shrek In traditional fairy tales ogres are man-eating beast. The prince usually rescues the princess; they marry and live happily ever after. How do the makers of 'shrek' use presentational devices to reverse this tradition to reveal the ogre as good and the prince as evil?
At first glance, what makes a fairy tale a fairy tale may seem obvious—some kind of magic, hidden symbols, repetition, and of course it’s evident it’s fiction—but fables are more than that. As Arthur Schelesinger puts it, it’s about “[expanding] imagination” and gaining understanding of mysterious places (618). While doing this, it also helps children to escape this world, yet teach a lesson that the reader may not be conscious of. A wonderful story that achieves all of this is Cinderella, but not the traditional tale many American’s have heard. Oochigeaskw, or The Rough-Faced Girl, and Ashputtle would be fitting for a seven-year-old because they get the gears of the mind turning, allowing for an escape on the surface, with an underlying enlightenment for children of the ways of the world.
Fairy tales are given a bad reputation because of the mature themes in them. "Are Gory Fairy Tales an Evil?" notes that, "Parents and educators . . . have been troubled by the stories of blood, cruelty, revenge, and murder that are included in our fairy-tales. . . . Many stories set forth in grotesque form stories of ill-will, deception, robbery, and murder--even cannibalism," (285). These critics fail to mention the positive themes such as, justice, love, identity, honesty, and acceptance. Most stories have negative situations. There would not be much to a story if everything in it were good. What makes these stories so spectacular is what the characters must overcome or realize in order to have their happy ending. In the fairy tale Beauty and the Beast, a prince was transformed into a beast by a fairy because he was cruel. He was turned into a beast so that he would have to learn how to be nice so that maybe one day someone could fall in love with him even though he was hideous. If that were to happen, the spell would be broken (Goldenburg and Killion 6). The imaginative part of this story, with the spell and enchantment of the castle, takes the readers to a place where they can imagine and dream of things they may have never dreamt about before. This story also demonstrat...
Fairy Tales have been around for generations and generations. Our parents have told us these stories and we will eventually pass them down to ours. In this time of age the most common fairytales are Cinderella, Snow White, Sleeping Beauty, Beauty and The Beast and many more. Children idolize their favorite character and pretend to be them by mimicking everything they do in the stories. The character’s behavior is what is viewed as appropriate in society. These fairy tales show a girl and a boy fall in love and live “happily ever after”. The tales in many people’s eyes resemble a dream life that they would want to have of their own. However, have you ever really looked at what makes up a fairy tale? Many things are unrealistic but the most unflattering aspect of these tales is how women are depicted in them. Fairy tales give an unrealistic view to how women should look and behave in real life.
Fairy tales have been part of our lives ever since we were young children. We all either grew up watching Disney renditions of fairy tales, or we had storybooks filled with vivid pictures of a tale. Fairy tales are so important in our culture that it would be difficult to find someone who has not heard of Sleeping Beauty, Little Red Riding Hood, or other fairy tale protagonists. Interestingly enough, fairy tales have been a very integral part of Western culture since the time they were written. Fairy tale writers, such as Charles Perrault and the Grimm Brothers, revolutionized culture in the 17th and 18th centuries with their writings. Not only did these writers write these tales for entertainment, but they also accomplished to influence the
Fairytales and folktales have been told around the campfire, in the living room, the class room, and before bedtime for centuries. First told orally, the “… stories had to have remarkable features in order to remain memorable (Nodelman 246).” These stories were passed down from storyteller to audience until they were eventually written down and collected for consumption by the public. Due to the passing of time and fallibility the stories have changed throughout the years and slightly differ from culture to culture, however, “Stories similar to “Cinderella” can be found in historical records from as far back as the seventh century, and from a variety of places around the world (Nodelman 246).” Although the classic tales differ in various ways from their modern counterparts (such as Disney films, etc.), the characters and their journeys are still very much identifiable.
A person can take a story and look at it from many ways. Fairy tales represent the transformation of young people. Beauty is transformed into a young woman; she passes through the stages successfully and in turn is able to love. Every story teaches a lesson and in this case more than one lesson is taught. Not only is the lesson of sexuality and maturity taught, an even more important lesson is taught. Beauty and the Beast shows that true love comes from within the inside and if it is meant to be it will prevail.