Shrek Appeals to a Wide Range of Audiences. How Have the Makers of the Film Enabled This to Happen?

‘Shrek’ is very cleverly written and made, it took three years and it took nearly three hundred artists and technicians to make along with Andrew Adamson and Vicky Jenson who directed it. The voice of Shrek is Mike Myers, Donkey is Eddie Murphy, Fiona is Cameron Diaz, and Lord Farquaad is John Lithgow.

Shrek and Donkey go on a quest set by Lord Farquaad in order for Sherk to get his swap back. The quest is to slay the dragon the gaurds Princess Fiona, rescue Princess Fiona, and return her to Lord Farquaad so they could marry and Lord Farquaad can become King. However, Sherk falls in love with Fiona and they end up marrying.

When studying ‘Shrek’ I found that it cannot be classified as fitting into one genre. Instead, it is seen as crossing, over-lapping a number of genres. Sherk contains pastiche; ‘Sherk’ contains everything from snow white to little red riding hood. Sherk is a parody it has a classic fairy tale formula, which is turned upside down.

“Once upon a time there was a lovely princess. But she had an enchantment upon her of a fearful sort. Which only could be broken by loves first kiss. She was locked away in a castle, guarded by a terrible fire-breathing dragon. There she awaits in the highest room in the tallest tower.”

Then Sherk interrupts, and this is where the audience realises that the film is a parody.

“Like that’s ever going to happen”

The first section I am going to study is when Donkey and Sherk are crossing over a long unstable rickety bridge over hot boiling laver to the castle and they rescue the princess. The second section I chose to study is where the prince was just about to marry Princess Fiona but then Shrek stops the wedding and Fiona and sherk end up confessing their love for each other. I chose these sections because the first section contains a lot of suspense and tension and has a hilarious mismatch of Donkey and the Dragon. I also love the lead up to happy conclusions and the second section contains this.

Compared to an original conventional cartoon ‘Shrek’ is very different and creates a brand new fantasy world, which draws the interest of a wide range of audiences. The sections contain lots of visual animation. In the first section, there is glowing fiery molten lava and fire reflecting red on the castle and surroundings. The castle is very dark and has smoke swirling around the castle giving it a spooky realistic affect. The second section contains realistic clouds, the quick pushing of guards and the transformation of the colourful smoke with the rising of Princess Fiona. There is also a lot of close ups and high shots.

The makers of the film have included different views that would capture a wider range of audiences.

“Sure it’s big enough but look at the location.”

Donkey looks at Sherk weirdly because he does not get Shrek’s joke. This is just a simple example, some people would get the joke, and others would not. Here are two different views again.

“Well I have to save my ass”

Shrek meant Donkey when he said ‘ass’. However, the older range of audience would be able to understand this but the younger range most properly would not, therefore finding it funny. There is another example.

“So where is the fire-breathing pain-in-the-neck anyway?”

“Inside, waiting for us to rescue her.”

“I was talking about the dragon, Shrek”

There is also sarcasm, which captures a range of audience.

“I’m just a little uncomfortable about