Sociological Perspectives of 'Shrek'

But in one of the scenes, where Shrek, Fiona and Donkey are in the woods, the Marry Men show up. At this moment it is Fiona who takes action against the men and ends up beating them up. While this is happening Shrek and Donkey are sitting there staring. Fiona takes care of all the men while Shrek and Donkey do absolutely nothing to help. This event surprised the two of them that they were speechless when she was done. So in Fairytales it is usually the prince that has to save the princess from evil but this changes everything.

It is difficult to isolate the play’s conflict to anything other than on a thematic level. Every time a conflict has a potential of presenting itself, the fantasy element

For most people, movies are made for entertainment. However, there are also movies that go beyond merely entertaining its audience. There are films that have been created making use of psychological principles, which enrich the movie-viewing experience of audiences. This paper will focus on the movie Shrek, which was released in 2001, directed by Andrew Adamson and Vicky Jenson.

Shrek’s first relationship was with society. In this relationship, Shrek was the monster, ugly, evil, dangerous, and different creature, while society, the city of Duloc, was perfect. What all people in Duloc were raised to believe

In addition, the first idea to remember is that in classic Disney films, princesses often appear as the damsel in distress. Their submissive obedience leads to them being victimized, leading to the heroic appearance of their true love. This is seen in the classic Disney movie, Cinderella, her ultimate obedience to her stepmother transforms her into the victim or a damsel in distress in the movie. When the prince is introduced, he acts as the hero when he

The effects of the portrayal of the princesses can be positive or negative. Young girls have become more imaginative by watching Disney films. According to Stephanie Hanes (n.p.), “’For 75 years, millions of little girls and their parents around the world have adored and embraced the diverse characters and rich stories featuring our Disney princesses.... [L]ittle girls experience the fantasy and imagination provided by these stories as a normal part of their childhood development’.” Also, children are encouraged to believe and hope. In most Disney movies, the characters convey the message that we can believe in true love (10 DISNEY MOMENTS THAT PROVE LOVE IS ALIVE AND WELL

Disney directly exposes the idea that young girls should make their main goal in life to find their prince charming, fall madly in love, and live happily ever after. Making young girls’ aspiration in life revolve around finding a man of their dreams “transfix[es the] audience and divert[s] their potential utopian dreams and hopes through the false promises of the images [Disney] cast[s] upon the screen” (22). Disney tells the audience that women need a man to be happy. Disney presents the idea that women are dependent on me. Just like in The Little Mermaid, Ariel goes as far as surrendering her voice, to a witch named Ursula, and abandoning her family in order to be with her prince. Ariel also trades in her life as a mermaid, drastically changes her body, and sacrifices her greatest talent all in order to win her prince. Disney sends the message that girls need to give up their talents and lives in order to be with a man. Disney suggests that a woman’s main priority is her lover, no one or nothing else. Disney effectively portrays women in a negative way, depicting them as weak and needy. No attempt to break the stereotypical gender roles of women are evident however, these stereotypes are growing as Disney instills this image of women in the minds of viewers.

Shrek returns and starts yelling at them to leave. They explain that if they go back then they will get executed. The witch tells him that he is the only one that can convince Farquhar to let them back. Shrek sets off to visit Farquhar. On his way, he runs into some soldiers that are chasing a talking donkey. The soldiers start threatening Shrek. He roars at them and they start running. Donkey tells him that he can show him to Duloc. Shrek tries to scare him off but the donkey tells him that he isn’t scared of him. Donkey annoys him to the point to that Shrek agrees with him.

Cassandra Stover explains in her Journal Damsels and Heroines: The Conundrum of the Post-Feminist Disney Princess, the dramatic shift with Disney princess at the peak of the late 1980s and early 1990s. She explains that the shift can derive from feminist movements and how the change can be directed to the third wave of feminism. She examines the original Disney princesses and decribes them to be more passively aggresive and unindependent, while the new princesses are more independent and brave. The author then explains if the shift from the old to new princesses are actually better, and not just different. Stover analysizes that Disney princesses evolve and are a part of the worlds change on feminism.

Fiona, starting out as a beautiful princess and turning into an ogre herself, gives the same example of gender representation as Shrek. One very interesting thing about her character in addition to her perfect behavior as a princess and expecting Prince Charming to rescue her, which represents her feminine character as typical, is her masculine characteristics that are much unexpected, such as burping and fighting like men when she gets attacked by Robin Hood and his men in the first movie. Also, the way in which she is scared that that Shrek would not like her as an ogre, is something that is unusual, however, shows some feminine aspects of society, such as being afraid for not being accepted or liked based on appearance. Her support towards Shrek in the second movie when she rather walks away and cry by herself, also underlines her femininity, through the scene of her Feminine speech where she is trying to encourage the good relationship between Shrek and her family, inviting everyone into conversation. Hence, her character displays the idea of a shift from masculine to feminine characteristics which clearly demonstrates that sometimes gender characteristics might shift according to personalities, and people should not really stereotype gender because it is relative to the individual. As far as

When most people think about Disney movies, their mind often goes to the stereotypical princess movies in which the protagonist wears a pink ball gown. Time and time again these princesses must fight their way through the story in a luxurious ball gown in order to end up with a prince. However, there are many Disney movies that work to challenge these gender stereotypes. The movie Moana is a recent example of a Disney production that works to break the imposed stereotypes placed on children from an early age.

The princess, referred to as Donkeyskin, however, is clearly the definition of a damsel in distress. Not only does Donkeyskin run for help to her

In the movie, we meet Princess Fiona. She is beautiful and is looking for her Prince Charming. Shrek is far from a handsome prince and is not what Fiona was expecting. It turns out, Fiona was not a normal princess, but actually a secret ogre at night. This is ironic because she would make fun of Shrek during the day and get angry at how he was not supposed to rescue her since he was not handsome.

In Sleeping Beauty, the Prince is portrayed a strong and courageous person, he can be seen as a great character because he overcomes many obstacles to be able to help the Princess survive. Although Sleeping Beauty is a fairy tale and is stereotypically more admired by girls, the masculine tale might be liked by the male population because they aspire to be the male hero. Maleficent shows the feminine tale and warns the girls that not men cannot be trusted in some cases, and that there is no need to have a man by your side. A woman can survive on their own using her own intelligence and courage to overcome any obstacle that she might face. For the female population, this change is very important because this “hero” story helps us relate to the character and our desire to do great and special acts (Seger 387). This film proved that a woman is capable of defeating evil, and brings a new perspective into Disney

Growing up, all I ever did was watch Disney movies and the Disney channel. Now as I’m older, I can’t help but realize that all the movies are exactly the same. The princess is stuck in a dilemma and then a perfect prince comes along and saves her and then they marry in the end. Other than a similar plot, all the movies have very similar character traits. England, Descartes, and Collier-Meek in Gender Role Portrayal and the Disney Princesses explain the characters, “traditionally masculine (e.g., athletic, brave) and traditionally feminine (e.g., helpful, nurturing) characteristics exhibited by the prince and princess characters through