In traditional fairytales, ogres are man eating beasts. The prince usually rescues the princess and they live happily ever after. 18.10.10
The main themes in a traditional fairytale are always either based on Romance/Magic & Evil. The main elements always are the antagonist (the bad guy), the protagonist (The good guy) and mainly sometimes the helper. In traditional fairytales the antagonist, the protagonist and the helper are often stereotypical, take Cinderella for example the princess is warm hearted, beautiful, nice and kind. The prince is always often handsome, charming, brave and wealthy
The film ‘Shrek’ begins in a traditional way by using the most common phrase ‘Once upon a time’ that gives you an idea that the film has used some traditional phrases.
Well you can tell by the opening scene that ‘Shrek’ is different to a traditional fairytale on how it shows Shrek doing his own thing.
Shrek is very not like a stereotypical prince. Shrek is an Ogre which straight away puts a picture in your mind of like a dirty, scary and ugly and also could be the enemy.
The music when we first meet Shrek is a contrapuntal sound. It doesn’t really match the things he was doing. For example, when Shrek is in a mud bath. The music gave you a happy/exciting feeling and quite a good/bad impression; it also sets the mood throughout the scene.
Shrek threatens the villagers in the film. On this scene you see Shrek as a dangerous monster, which looks ugly and also very angry; with his loud raw he scares away the villagers.
The way Shrek acts, it makes out that he is very violent and aggressive and also the he could harm the villagers.
In the scene with the villagers, a close up is used to show the detail of Shrek’s face and how large he looks and what he actually looks like close up.
I do think Shrek is a stereotypical ogre at this point because he fits with his personality well on how a scary, evil person he sometimes can be.
When Shrek meets Fiona he drags her out by her arm which is not a prince like thing to do. This shows you Shrek does act like an Ogre.
Princess Fiona responds in a shocked way, She thought that Shrek would come in and sweep her of her feet instead he done the opposite and just dragged her out and also he didn’t defeat the dragon which is not like a rescue Princess Fiona expected.
The music we hear when we first meet Lord Farquard is non digenetic and also parallel. It matches on how we first see Lord Farquard.
When we first hear the music it suggests that Lord Farquard is strong and powerful almost like a stereotypical prince.
When Lord Farquard threatens the Ginger Bread man it makes us think this is not how a stereotypical prince would act. Stereotypical princes act sweet and caring and Lord Farquard acts evil, nasty and demanding.
Lord Farquard acts disgusted when he finds out Princess Fiona is an ogre. You can tell Lord Farquard is shocked and can’t believe his eyes.
The impression Lord Farquard gives the audience is that he is not a stereotypical prince and is more like an evil controlling prince which makes us see his true colours.
I think Lord Farquard is not a stereotypical prince because he is not handsome, charming or kind and shows he is only after marrying Princess Fiona to becoming king.
Shrek’s swomp is what I think of how an ogre’s home would look like. It’s daunting. a ruin, decayed and grubby.
Lord Farquard’s castle is what I’d expect a castle to look like it’s appealing, gigantic, impressive and stylish.
Shrek is not like a stereo typical ogre at the end of the film because you see the real side of him which is sweet, caring and loving.
‘Shrek’ is not like a traditional fairytale because every character is not like its stereotypical character. You wouldn’t usually find a princess which becomes an ogre or an ogre that marries a princess also Lord Farquard who you would expect to be the protagonist is actually the antagonist.