Audience Reaction
Our reaction to Shrek was that he is ugly and dirty yet he was also
entertaining. We think that Shrek is cool and that all he wants is a bit of
privacy. He is actually a really nice ogre but he is so used to being alone
he doesn’t know how good it is to have friends.
Film Techniques
During the opening scene we are surprised by the story of Shrek-he is no
hero. Shrek is a casual ogre doing his own thing. He doesn’t like to be
disturbed. His house is built within a swamp that smells revolting, looks
disgusting and is covered in dirt. Although, Shrek still thinks it is the
ultimate house.
There are also other disgusting things that Shrek does. He eats eyeballs,
burps, farts and, when he roars, spit flies over everyone.
The colour of the forest is dull and realistic. The non-diegetic music in
the establishing scene (Star by Smash Mouth) is catchy as it introduces the
movie and the character, Shrek.
Camera angles are clear and the close-ups of Shrek enable us to see his
facial features and reactions clearly at all times.
Shrek’s house has the only bright light, but it shines over the swamp, which
allows us to see what his home is - mosquitos and other bugs, making it look
very homey for Shrek but disgusting for us.
Shrek’s Appearance
Shrek is misunderstood. He is a lonely ogre and does things his own way. He
lives in a grungy swamp; The way he lives his life is disgusting, but it
doesn’t matter-he doesn’t care what others think about him. We find Shrek
humorous because of the way he speaks and does things, such as bathing in
mud and cleaning his teeth with bug guts instead of tooth- paste. Others
see him as fat, ugly, smelly, scary, dirty and green! He also farts in the
swamp, which happens to kill a fish and then he eats it for dinner. In the
very first scene we recognise Shrek’s disgusting behaviour when he reads a
fairytale but rips the last page out to use as toilet paper.
SHREK SUBVERTED
‘Shrek’ is a fractured fairytale that has creatures that come to life but in
an unexpected way. Filled with numerous aspects of humour for all ages!
‘Shrek’ isn’t your average fairytale and is definitely not Prince Charming.
His obnoxious ways of life are displayed in a hilarious manner.
‘Shrek’ subverts the viewer’s expectations in the opening scene. It starts
quite normally with Sherk reading a fairy tale, like most fairy tales, but
he rips out a page and wipes his bottom with it. The non-diegetic rock
music that introduces Shrek is really unexpected. It grabs the viewer’s
attention and immediately the viewer realises that it is a fairytale with a
twist! Usually most fairy tales are peaceful and don’t have an ogre for a
hero.
