Shrek, baby!!
Newsletters have layers.
Hayley: Keeping with our theme of revisiting movies from 2001, this week we are going to talk about the Internet's most beloved film, Shrek. If you haven't seen Shrek, my only guess is that you are maybe a small child or an alien pretending to pass as a human. In both cases, please watch Shrek and then come back and finish reading this.
Shrek was a veritable phenomenon when it came out, but over the past 20 years it has morphed into a kind of super-meme on the Internet. It's a movie that is a fairy tale, and also parodies a lot of existing fairy tales. I also think that, if this movie came out 5 years earlier, it wouldn't have had the same impact on Internet culture as it currently does.
I am stalling a bit because.....I am not a huge fan of Shrek! When Victoria and I were deciding what to write about this week, she suggested Shrek. I finally had to admit to someone else that this movie never quite did it for me. I don't have any emotional connection to this movie. I know that we saw it in theaters, and I know that everyone at my school quoted every single line of this movie for the following year. I'm sure I've seen the sequels? Maybe? I don't know. Shrek is not something that became a phenomenon in my family the way it seemingly did for the rest of the fucking world.
Rewatching it as an adult, though, I thoroughly appreciated it. All of the voice acting is perfect and the pacing is spot on. The little in-jokes and nods to pop culture are fun, and like many animated films for children, it contains a ton of adults-only innuendo jokes. Even though the version of Shrek on Hulu bizarrely does NOT use the Rufus Wainwright version of "Hallelujah," I found myself VERY emotional during that scene.
Overall, I enjoyed it on this rewatch. Will I revisit it again? Probably not!! I don't know.
Victoria, what are YOUR thoughts on Shrek, both from 2001 as well as 2021?
Victoria: I do not remember the first time I saw Shrek. Knowing my parents, they probably just got us the VHS, which was a frugal investment for them, because we watched it no fewer than 3,000 times. Even watching it again this week, my little brother kept yelling lines from the other room. I still know all the lyrics to the Duloc song ("please stay off of the grass, shine your shoes, wipe your....face!" was the peak of comedy for me and my brothers). The movie is short and sweet and still very funny!
I was reflecting today on why I liked it so much as a kid. Even though it is a kids movie, it was the first one that made me feel smart. It's the first movie I can remember watching that used needle drops in a cool way; the soundtrack still slaps. Even though kids movies are full of "meta" jokes to appease adults, Shrek was the first time I understood some of them on my own. And it was a kids movie that the adults in my life took kind of seriously. I remember talking to grown ups about it! Specifically, our sixth grade teacher, Mr. Fogarty (yes, I had a crush on him) explained to us how Shrek is a satire about Disney's domination, and it felt like something magic was unlocked. Yes, stories are about things, but they could also be metaphors for other things! How cool!
And yeah, the voice cast is stacked! Cameron's Fiona is very iconic here in a way that she's not in the sequels (Shrek 2 gave us the incredible "Holding Out For A Hero" sequence, but is otherwise pretty meh for me! The other two I never intend to see). As a kid, Eddie Murphy as Donkey was the height of comedy.
Hayley: I feel like there are so many jokes in this movie that even as an adult I had a hard time following along and parsing them out! Also yes, I enjoy Fiona tremendously, and I also take offense to the fact that she is described as "ugly" when she is an ogre because even as an ogre she is hot! The funny thing about this now is mostly the animation — it's wild to see how far CGI has come since 2001. There are a lot of frames in Shrek where they honestly look like Sims!
Watching this movie now, I was struck by how much humanity they give Shrek throughout the film. (Stop yelling at me! I know this is the POINT.) Shrek's entire opening introduction montage honestly just felt like what it is like to live alone! A thing that, until the pandemic, I truly savored. But there is something inherently isolating about not sharing your space with other people, whether it's intentional or accidental. Watching Shrek just like, take a shower, do some chores, and cook some dinner made me very emotional, both because I miss living alone, and also because I know that drone of solo living can sometimes become unbearable. When he makes his whole fancy meal and sits down to eat it while Donkey is still outside, man, that is hard to watch! This movie makes you root for Shrek from moment one, when he makes fun of the fairy tale and then literally wipes his ass with a page from the book.
Also, Shrek has big cottagecore vibes in his little swamp. I want to go to there.
Victoria: Shrek's adorable little lonely solo life also really emotionally affected me! I also appreciate that at the beginning of the movie that they establish just what an ogre is and why we should be afraid of him. Like I don't remember there being any ogres in any of the stories I was exposed to as a child, even though they are a legendary mythological figure!
So like I said, as a preteen I found out that Shrek is a metaphor for how much Dreamworks hates Disney, but as an adult in 2021 it feels like a big warning we did not listen to about how monoculture takes the magic out of the world. In Shrek, Lord Farquaad has decided that all the fairytale creatures — from the odd, like Snow White's dwarves, to the strange, like Donkey, to the grotesque, like Shrek — are outlawed and banned. Only the versions he's approved of are allowed (which boils down to beautiful princesses and helpful mirrors). But fairytale stories are not stories that any one person or corporation should own — they're cultural touchstones! Reflecting on this, I was reminded by how shocked I was to learn the "real" ending of The Little Mermaid as a kid. The Disney versions became the “real” story for all of us, theses sanitized, sexless renditions.
When Shrek gets to Duloc, it's the physical epitome of this uber-safe, white-washed world. There's no danger here, except for what's been approved. When Shrek crashes Farquaad's little melee and wins, upsetting the typical order, Farquaad also absorbs him into the machine, making him the winner of the fight and sending him on his mission to find Fiona. Fiona — secretly grotesque and messy like Shrek — is forced to hide and hate that part of her, hoping that the thin, beautiful version of her is her "true" self. But she can't bend and fit what the world wants from her, which is a good thing. The world would be a less beautiful place without Fiona!
Shrek is about the triumph of that which is weird and messy and off-putting. The first four minutes of the movie are basically one long poop joke, and that's on purpose! There's a place in the world for that which is horrific, disgusting, scary and sad. Together, Shrek and Fiona accept their inner ogres, that which makes them "unacceptable" to mainstream sensibilities. There are a lot of tweets about how Shrek is a trans allegory, and I totally see that, too.
So basically Shrek is about how art is sanitized to appease the great capitalist overlords, for whom the cleanest, nicest version of a story is the best version because it will make the most money. What's depressing is that the Shrek franchise eventually became that which is disdained!! The fact that there are multiple Shrek sequels and tons of Shrek merch means that this story, too, became part of the kid-friendly marketing machine, where movies are merely content to make tie-in toys for.
When you think about how much the Disney corporation has changed since 2001, Shrek becomes even more depressing!! Disney now owns Star Wars and The Muppets and Marvel and now Fox!! What does it mean when a huge swath of culture is made by people who think light saber violence is OK but sex isn't? Nothing good!!
Hayley: Wow yes this totally made sense and you are so smart!!! I genuinely have nothing to add, except that this was a lovely way to look at Shrek and it makes me appreciate it even more. So, Victoria, THANK YOU for giving me a clearer understanding of the many layers of Shrek.
Things Hayley Is Super Into Right Now:
The Blueberry Lemonade sparkling water from Trader Joe’s is a revelation.
I’ve been making variations on this Budget Bytes Spicy Dragon Noodles recipe a lot lately and it is so satisfying and requires very little effort.
The Ben & Jerry’s Non-Dairy P.B. & Cookies ice cream is SO GOOD I CANNOT BELIEVE IT. The other non-dairy versions are NOT GOOD, and this one stands alone as a genuinely good vegan ice cream.
Tatcha’s Dewy Serum is my new obsession. It’s incredibly lightweight yet very nourishing and gives me instantly glowy skin.
What Victoria Recommends Right Now:
Jumping off Tuesday’s Golden Globe rant, my friend Carrie wrote this funny/smart piece about the other times Tina Fey and Amy Poehler hosted the awards.
If you like k-pop or are interested in liking k-pop, listen to Shinee’s new album!
”I Really Want You” song of the summer!!I watched both of Cathy Yan’s feature films this week and recommend both! Dead Pigs is on Mubi (you can get a free trial) and Birds of Prey is on HBOMax.
I made this earl grey loaf for the first time since quarantine season one. Very delicious! I put left over lemon curd on a slice, which ruled.