The Mouse Is Dead, Long Live the Ogre: Shrek and the Boundaries of Transgression

Abstract

The DreamWorks vehicle Shrek (2001) offered the promise of turning audience expectation on its head—a tangible challenge to the Disney colonization of animated fairy tales, and the resurgence of animation as social satire. The Shrek movies are sometimes discussed for their satirical treatment of gender, race, and political power structures. They are also hailed for containing subtle innuendo obvious to grownups, but obscure to young spectators—entertainment for the whole family! Much of the comedy arises from deliberate undermining of social and narrative expectations: an ogre saves the princess, and Prince Charming is not only a jerk, but also the bad guy from whom the princess needs to be saved. This sort of role switching stands out as a key trope in the Shrek films and is something that has been highlighted in press and scholarly reviews. A fairy tale, is “not supposed to be this way,” as Princess Fiona complains a number of times in the first film. However, as will be shown, authors and performers have played with the conventions of the fairy tale for almost as long as the form has existed.

“You’re not supposed to be an ogre”—Fiona, in Shrek (2001)

“They Lived Horribly Ever After”—Shrek!

(Steig, 1990, p. 25)