Why Shrek Has Aged So Much Better Than Other Movies

true love's first kiss that's ever gonna happen yeah that's not just the first minute of Shrek it's a pretty clear statement about the kind of movie you're about to watch as much as Shrek has become a mean it's also worth remembering it's the first ever Oscar winner in the animated film category and despite its third and fourth sequels is kind of Awesome I went back and re-watch the movie recently and it kind of struck me just how creative and imaginative the movie was how well it still holds up and I think that's for a relatively simple reason Shrek's deconstruction its demolition of every movie we all grew up watching and still do isn't just hilarious it also works so ridiculously well oh I like onions they stink yes nope tschoerk was written as a spoof or even at a narrative level commentary on the Disney fairytale a deconstruction of what that looked like for decades Disney had dominated the animated space by creating this homogenized version of existing fairy tales and they're excellent films but shrek script recognizes the value of the structure of those movies but also recognizes that hey maybe there's a generation of people that don't want to see guy saves princess or beast gets handsome and it makes sure you know that right away instead of opening with a song introducing some beautiful girl you get this a disgusting oh girl bathing in mud and eating bugs it seems grotesque but it's actually hilarious response to stuff like this [Music] and that almost a liberal response carries to the rest of the movie Disney loves to give people these comedic relief talking animal sidekicks that almost never show any growth themselves but are cute and marketable which is why they exist SMAC gives you an obnoxious talking donkey voiced by Eddie Murphy that isn't just the opposite of cute but also manages to marry and procreate with a dragon he has his own very real character arc he is in every single way the polar opposite of something like this and this theme isn't the jokes and the writing as well this isn't a clean-cut fairy tale like the ones who grew up on the gingerbread man is at risk of being dismembered there's this song about weld and the villain isn't some big baddie there's no transformation into a big monster at the end in fact he's barely even a villain at all he's just a guy that kind of sucks and he looks like this this is the DreamWorks version of a Disney movie for a generation of kids and adults that were growing up that wanted to see these worlds in flames shrek is the resulting chaos but there are other big ways that shrek kind of turned things around shrek takes the more specific tropes of the fairy tale Disney genre and flips those as well in some ways it's actually a bit ahead of its time Shrek for example isn't a noble hero he just kind of wants his land back in fact for most of the movie he's working directly for far clop he even delivers Fiona to Fargo he doesn't anything to do with donkey or really Fiona for most of the film but it's Fiona herself that I think makes the movie work but he constructs things further there is no damsel in distress here this is true love's first wake up commander come on and Fiona isn't a beautiful princess she's in a girl trying to make sure she can become a princess full-time whereas normally the act 3 character discovery is with the Shrek character oh wow my hero is actually a thief but he has a heart of gold or my prince has been a villain the whole time here it's Fiona that creates that discovery the princess character instead and it makes for funny spoof moments like this and better yet she does not need help she's just as capable disgusting and interesting as Shrek she is not the OneNote Disney Princess with a single element personality that we've seen so many times and again these Disney films are great movies Shrek just does things differently it's not really about the strong female narrative although that's there instead it's more about providing actual depth and nuance to the generic princess character it's about writing characters that are worth caring about more the Fiona reveal has a great lead up and is genuinely surprising if you're going into the movie blind that's a strength that most movies like the affirmation Beauty and the Beast just didn't have but that's probably not why you remember the movie but I think I might know that reason was hoping this would be a happy ending [Music] the music and Shrek is a punch directly in the face it is a metaphorical smash in the mouth animated films traditionally went one of two ways for their music even leading up to Shrek it took the Disney musical approach or the Disney scores approach in which the music is either presented by the characters themselves through a song or scored with original compositions or they took the pop approach in which the movie stuffed itself full the same songs you've heard eight million times across every movie you've ever seen Shrek takes the Disney approach he constructs that to combine it with that pop approach to create something more unique and also awesome struck treats is pop music like a score instead of a tacked on soundtrack meaning instead of setting the mood like Disney with its own music it sets the mood just as well with smash metal sure it still uses that on the nose sing about love Disney approach but it flips it on its head sideways wrote an amazing piece about this recently but Shrek uses its music to weave you through its story expert from all-star setting up strikes attitude and character - I'm a believer capping off the change in perception amongst the movies characters the film as sideways put it use pop to its advantage while avoiding becoming a Disney musical but honestly it's just worth acknowledging the smashmouth presence in this film coupled with the fact that the lead song of the movie would go on to basically dominate radio also it just goes to show how much the success of a movies music can mean to how well that movie is remember if all star the song is sucked or really the movie had opened with anything else what would be the thing we must remember Shrek for and that runs its way all the way through to the movies when does this guy say the line we gotta check it out sure completes that Disney deconstruction with an ending that manages to carry with it the same if not more poignant values while also not falling victim to the same traps take Beauty and the Beast Belle falls in love true love's first Baba and beast turns back into this future Bachelorette contestant sure the message is love has no face but does that ending really drive that home it doesn't appear to or Oh Adam actually becoming a prince really driving home that love has no class narrative even though he's now a prince again great movies but Shrek strives for consistency Fiona doesn't end the movie a beautiful princess forever but she and she alone has to make that decision even though she found love in an ogre nope she accepts herself as she is and stays an ogre forever a dragon literally crashes through stained glass to break up a wedding in a donkey gets busy again with that dragon shrek doesn't turn into a handsome prince neither does Fiona the opposite happens if the message is love is faceless if the message is love is what's inside this ending actually articulates that it appends the predictable princess forever and I think drives home that message better than a lot of the typical fairy tale films shrek is a mean yep a funny one but it is still to this day also one of the best animated films ever made in my opinion unlike some other winners of that award handed out by the Academy shrek earned it sure now some of its more interesting bits of trope deconstruction are a bit ubiquitous movies have changed over the past two decades and in some ways caught up with shrek but the movie was surprisingly ahead of its time it never plays as an adaptation it's totally unique and that is something that even today is getting more and more rare but honestly I'm really just making this video to appeal to Disney gingy yes this gingy should be a character in every movie from here on out and if DreamWorks won't use him someone needs to do better guys I've tried to be fair to you creatures that is it for today's episode Abner's logic if you enjoyed this video press the like button down below also hit the subscribe button so you don't miss anything I put out on this channel and make subscribe buttons a little bell you can press that to make sure you're notified of anything I upload so it's subscribe in a little bell and now really quickly today's video was sponsored by skills hair skills share let's try to make sure 2020 is a year where you can explore new skills deepen existing passions and get lost in creativity as I put it so there's an online learning community that offers man ship with meaning but so much to do so much to explore real projects it was importantly the support of people doing the same thing you're doing and these are classes were real-life things you could actually use things that'll fit you and it's kind of important especially if you want to be on YouTube you can take a class like YouTube success we're just building an authentic channel that's worth the follow it's taught by Sir el amor it's actually really helpful it's got a lot of good information even for someone like me that's doing this for quite a while it's also incredibly affordable and annual subscriptions listen ten dollars a month but verse 500 of you guys to click the link in the description with two free months premium membership so you couldn't explore it for yourself I wouldn't tell you guys it was important for me if it wasn't because there's a lot to offer a creative a YouTube creator or anybody doing anything on social media that wants to learn how to grow that business so yeah follow the link in the description down below and finally on your screen right now are two more episodes of nerve cells you click on either of these to see what I've done recently and hopefully I will see you guys in the next video

Channel: Nerdstalgic

Views: 1,131,176

Rating: 4.9566736 out of 5

Keywords: shrek, shrek 2, best shrek, shrek 5, shrek donkey, shrek sequel, new shrek movie, shrek music, nerdstalgic

Id: RobmhhAuOHM

Length: 10min 1sec (601 seconds)

Published: Tue Mar 31 2020

Reddit Comments

[u/TheDogJames]

Another video essay on shrek? yes. Yes please