Archaic messages being passed on to our children
Although I have always enjoyed the tongue-in-cheek Shrek movies, I have a serious problem with the misogynistic message being passed on to children in this third movie.
Fiona's father, the Frog King, dies after telling Shrek that he is next in line for the throne - or he can find a boy called Arthur Pendragon, a cousin who could also fulfil the role. That scene nearly caused me to turn the movie off in disgust.
Image: Shrek and Arthur, the only two options for king and neither is ready for the job. © Paramount Home Video / Dreamworks
A woman cannot be king
Hasn't anyone heard of "Queen"?
Firstly, in that scene where the next king is decided, there is a perfectly fit, intelligent, and capable queen standing at the king's bedside - in every way the ideal person to take over as monarch of Far, Far Away. And if you want to argue that the spouse of the heir to a throne cannot be the monarch, that is exactly my next argument.Fiona is the princess and the heir to the throne, but it is her commoner husband who is made king. Or the other option is the next male heir down the line - anyone other than the legitimate child of the current king, as long as that person is male. We don't even do that in the real world where every excuse for misogyny is used to the full extent possible. No one in England licks stamps with the profile of "King Philip" on them, nor is there a "King Henrik of Denmark".
Image: Princess Fiona kicks ass - so why can't she run a kingdom? What was Cameron Diaz thinking when she read the script? © Paramount Home Video / Dreamworks
A Princess's purpose is to be rescued
Did the writers even watch the first Shrek movie?
In the first Shrek movie, Princess Fiona made it quite clear that princesses no longer required rescuing. In fact Fiona was the one with the best fight moves (a la The Matrix).In Shrek the Third, the gang of princesses are given a few fight scenes (and Snow White has one of the coolest scenes in the movie), but for a great length of the movie they each contribute to the image of the stupid princess who needs to be rescued. When they do escape, they just get themselves captured again.
Fiona has changed. In this movie she doesn't seem to know what to do with herself except wring her hands and act worried. Is that what turning into an ogre does to a heroine?
Image: The Princesses of Far, Far Away get ready to fight (Cinderella, Snow White, Fiona, Rapunzel, Beauty) © Paramount Home Video / Dreamworks
Go ahead, disagree. I dare you.
Is Shrek The Third promoting misogynistic messages?
Fetching blurbs now... please stand byYes! I wish I hadn't let my child watch this! / I'll discuss it with my child before letting her/him watch it.
Greekgeek says:
How terribly disappointing! Fiona was already showing some signs of helpless handwringing in the second film. I hadn't seen the third, and now I fear I won't be able to. It's like waking up one day and discovering all the racism in The Horse and His Boy -- fooey!
Posted March 28, 2008
flowergardener says:
I have 2 grandchildren, 1 is at the age to enjoy this movie, and is a girl. I consider it just one of a multitude of societies way of diminishing the role of women. I don't think it will ever change ~ how can it? When movies and commercials that are trown into view by society are made by men, and for men.
Posted March 08, 2008
Rubbish! It's just a fun movie. Don't take it so seriously!
kingdavid says:
Rubbish! It's just a fun movie. Don't take it so seriously!
Posted May 04, 2008
Shrek The Third
Shrek the Third (Widescreen Edition)
Amazon Price: $19.99 (as of 07/26/2008)
In the first two Shrek movies, Shrek the ogre and Fiona the princess fell in love and married when it was revealed that Fiona was also an ogre. They saved the kingdom from Prince Charming and his mother, the Fairy Godmother.
In Shrek the Third, Prince Charming gathers together all the villains of fairytales to make an assault on the kingdom of Far, Far Away and claim the throne for himself. Donkey and Dragon have five baby dragon-donkeys, and Fiona also reveals that she is pregnant.
Is animation still art?
On the creative side, the special features are also a little thin compared to other DVDs, considering the enormous amount of talent that goes into an animated movie like this. The documentaries cover the voice actors, some of the CGI effects, and some storyboard pitches of scenes that never made it into the movie. The rough sketches of the storyboard, and the creative thought process that these highlight, are fascinating and offer a glimpse into the nuts and bolts of a major animation production.Unfortunately I was disappointed to learn that computer algorithms are increasingly being tailored to produce entire characters almost instantly, taking much away from the creative input of the artists. The only upside to this is that such a lengthy and expensive production becomes less so, and the artists are able to focus on main characters and important details. The viewer gets more, but the artform is lessened.
Image: Shrek. The detail is amazing, but is it art? © Paramount Home Video / Dreamworks
Is animation that relies heavily on CGI still art?
Or is CGI "cheating"?
Can this type of animation, using so much CGI, be considered art?
Fetching blurbs now... please stand byNo, not really. It's sold out to commercialism.
Of course it's art! Have you see it? It's amazing!
Greekgeek says:
You should be reassured to know that just because a computer can help an artist sculpt three dimensional artists to the animator's specifications does NOT mean that the computer creates the art, any more than a spell-checker, word processor and laserprinter can write a good novel. They can make a bad novel look better, but that's still not literature! I've done a lot of 3D computer art and some animation. I can tell you that CGI is a new and exciting tool, which requires a certain level of mastery like airbrush, oils, or cel animation, but it is still a tool and cannot create art for you -- the art is only as good as you can make it. It simply allows artists to do things they couldn't before. In fact, I recently attended Sony Entertainment Online's private tour with the Southern California Cartoonists' Association (which is all traditional cartoonists and animators) and they were DROOLING over the tools they saw. We watched an artist working on the joints, facial features, mannerisms and gestures of an animated character, and sure, once those things were recorded, the computer could play them back, but he was still animating the figure. Likewise, when we went upstairs, we found a few artists there working late over their drawing tablets and Photoshop, sketching concept art that took my breath away using the layers palettes and brush tools.
It's still art. And it's hard work, but rewarding, as I know from my own humble forays into CGI-- which are in no way of the same quality as theirs!
Posted March 28, 2008
Shrek memorabilia that doesn't suck
Because we do still love Shrek...
Fetching new data from eBay now... please stand by
All three Shreks
Shrek promotional images and movie stills copyright © Paramount Home Video / Dreamworks
