What Is The Ogre In Shrek

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Shrek is an ogre from the children’s animated action/adventure film, Shrek. In the movie, the swamp he lives in is suddenly bombarded with fairy tale characters that have been banned from their land by Lord Farquaad. Shrek, furious, goes to talk to Lord Farquaad about this issue, and it is there that he is sent on an adventure with his new sidekick Donkey, to save Princess Fiona for Farquaad, and to get his land back in return. Their adventure creates the image of Shrek that allows the audience to see beyond his appearance and attitude. This begins the intricate tale of Shrek and how he is viewed by his culture, while also displaying the underlying theme of the movie: people. or in this case, ogre’s, should not be stereotyped based on their…show more content…
It is there that Donkey questions Shrek as to why he is the way he is. Shrek presents himself as a large, sarcastic, crude, solitary ogre. His dialogue, through presented the same, explains him differently than he appears. Shrek goes to say that he is like an onion. At first, Donkey does not understand why Shrek chooses an onion, and gets distracted by the rancid smell, bad taste, and average look of the concept of the onion. Shrek, frustrated, explains that he is an onion because he has layers, meaning he has emotions and feelings underneath his hard exterior. Donkey, now understanding the point, still doesn’t understand why Shrek chose an onion, and not something more likable. Donkey screams in excitement, “Cake!” since cakes are culturally known to be more liked than onions, but also have layers. Shrek exclaims back, “I don’t care what other people like! Ogre’s are not like cakes,” (Shrek). The scene ends with Donkey finally understanding, but going on about how delicious parfaits are, another layered snack. The differential dialogue between Shrek and Donkey during this scene develop their characters even more, allowing the audience to make the connection from a layered onion to a layered Shrek. Film makers used this dialogue and the metaphorical onion in order to relay the message that everyone has layers,…show more content…
Specifically, within his third thesis, he talks about how monsters literal embodiment as they are presented in mass media, cannot be explained with science or logic. Since they “break the laws of nature,” they cannot be classified as anything in a specific culture, allowing them to exist within the outside of these classifications (Cohen, 7). Cohen describes these monsters as “the living embodiment of the phenomenon,” simply because they’re outlandish features and bodies are so different from the cultural norms, it makes them stand out against the culture itself (Cohen, 7). Using this as a lens to look at Shrek, it can be an aid to explaining just how Shrek is seen as a monster by his culture, because they stereotype him that

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