Harrison Wardwell
11/27/18
CMM 110
Communication and the Forming of Relationships Within Shrek
In its purest form, Shrek is a movie about the relationships that are formed between people. Outcasts that come together to form friendships Individuals fall in love, and the relationship between those who are deemed less than human and the people who give them that title. Shrek exists in a world where the culture stems from fairytales. There is a divide between the often stereotyped ‘fantasy creatures,’ this is exemplified especially in the way that the film opens with Shrek being attacked by a group of humans not because of anything he had done, but just because he is an Ogre. Shrek is not a welcome guest anywhere that he goes.
Shrek is a character that seems to be brand new to everything outside of his swamp. Though Shrek does have a very childlike worldview when it comes to communication or relationships of any form. When Donkey and Shrek first met it appeared to be the first social relationship that either of them had ever entered into. Shrek saves Donkey and then starts walking away, he just reacted like an ogre would. Donkey makes a decision while vocalizing his current status; “I don’t have any friends, and I am not going out there by myself, hang on wait a minute, i got an idea, I’ll stick with you.” Donkey decides that Shrek is a friend, and this transforms their relationship. Donkey tends to scare people away because he is a fairytale creature and often quite infuriating to be around. Donkey is alone because of how he interacts with others, while Shrek is alone because of how others assume he will interact with them. Shrek describes himself to Donkey by declaring “I’m an ogre, you know, grab your torches and pitchforks, doesn’t that bother you?” Donkey replies with a simple “Nope.” In this moment Donkey was able to reassure Shrek of his worth and value. He also shares something about himself for the first time when Donkey excitedly inquires “Man I like you, what’s your name?’” Shrek hesitates and replies “Uhhh…Shrek.” His hesitation implies that no one has ever asked him about his name before. And he potentially just made it up on the spot.
Shrek enjoys being alone while Donkey does not. This occurs because Shrek is upset with the way individuals perceive him. Ogres have layers and Shrek keeps the fact that he wishes others saw him how he saw himself deep inside. Donkey’s only perceptions of Shrek are as a friend. He doesn’t really know anything about ogres either, once asking shrek to do violent things expected of a monster rather than taking a gentler path. A friendship is formed because both found another who was able to see through the flaws that had created suffering within their lives. Shrek and Donkey band together to inform the authority figure, Lord Farquaad, that the unwanted interlopers must be removed from his property. Once the protagonists of the story reach Lord Farquaad, a group of knights is ordered to “kill the ogre!” by Farquaad. Then a quite incredibly jarring action sequence takes place in which Shrek and Donkey team together to fight a number of knights while the song that appears in the opening sequence of Freaks and Geeks plays. This altercation does show the viewer how Donkey and Shrek have now stopped grinding their gears and are fully capable of working together. Each enjoys the other’s company. Then Donkey and Shrek are sent to rescue Princess Fiona, a woman Farquaad must marry to become king.
This is when the real meat of the story comes into play. Donkey and Shrek are now established partners, and go to rescue Fiona. Once Shrek and donkey rescue her from the castle in the middle of a volcano in which a dragon resides we see the formations of relationships between Shrek, Donkey, and Fiona. Fiona is initially upset because of the “undignified” rescue that she has received. When she finds out Shrek is an Ogre, she continues to lament about the conditions of her rescue. She referred to Shrek and Donkey as a “brave knight and his noble steed,” Fiona now calls them “An ogre and his pet,” showing her resentment. Donkey and Shrek continue their mission to retrieve Fiona for Lord Farquaad and Shrek carries Fiona over his shoulder. Once night falls the trio makes camp, where Fiona immediately hides in a cave so that she may continue to cover the fact that she turns into an ogre at night. Fiona overhears a personal moment between Shrek and Donkey in which Shrek reveals incredibly personal information to Donkey. He wants to keep the world out not because he has a problem with it, but because it has a problem with him. Shrek feels that he could be a good person if others would just give him a chance. Fiona overhears this and immediately her perceptions of Shrek change.
Shrek and Fiona begin to form a romance. Fiona is shown to have some disgusting qualities, typical of the gag-inducing activities that Shrek seems to revel in. This brings them closer together and through learning about one another the pair become quite close. Shrek even attempts to tell Fiona how he feels about her, but is too scared to reveal his true feelings. Donkey and Fiona also form a relationship, but it is more as counterparts to Shrek. Donkey is Shrek’s friend and Fiona is being saved by Shrek. Other than Shrek the pair have no purpose being together, until an interaction that Shrek overhears results in a miscommunication. Shrek pushes her away because he doesn’t know the full story and Fiona assumes that he does. Farquaad then takes Fiona away to marry him. Shrek storms away while Farquaad informs Fiona to not “waste manners on the ogre” because it does not have feelings. Farquaad is the face of evil within the narrative of Shrek.
Farquaad is markedly more evil than other antagonists like the dragon that ends up falling in love with Donkey. Apparently they have kids in the next movie, which is a concept that I have quite a bit of trouble wrapping my head around. Farquaad is the one who forcibly removes the ‘Fairytale Creatures’ from their homes because they are deemed less than human. Farquaad tries to get other people to kill Shrek twice. His cronies are faceless and appear to have him as their only supervisor. Lord Farquaad is a dictator who has lost himself in power and now uses ‘Fairytale Creatures’ to create a common enemy that his people may rally around. He is not afraid to use these creatures when they have something to offer like in Shrek’s case. Shrek is treated at best like a tool and at worst similarly to a slave. Farquaad has true power in this world while shrek has none, because any access Shrek may have to legitimacy was throttled by Farquaad’s rule. Shrek only gains power within society when he shows up to the front door of the cathedral where Fiona and Farquaad are being married upon a dragon’s back and then proceeds to declare his love for Fiona in a quite touching sequence. This concludes the film and puts all of our favorite characters in a musical sequence for the viewers to revel in the joy of Shrek one last time. The writers also managed to put the terrible Lord Farquaad in a dragon’s stomach.
Although Shrek is quite heavy handed at many points it is still quite the look into a variety of complex relationships. It also manages to send a great message, that a person shouldn’t be judged by their appearance and that there will always be people who can see right through your flaws and see the beauty within. Communication plays a major part in the resolution of the conflict, as Shrek must overcome his fear of the unknown to tell Fiona how he truly feels, and if there wasn’t the prior miscommunication the whole affair would’ve been markedly easier to conclude. Shrek may not be a masterpiece by any stretch of the word, but it does a great job telling an interesting story with characters like ogres, they all have layers.
