21st Century Depictions of Ogres Compared to Older Fairy Tale Depictions

One Ogre of a Change

The ogre is a monster that has appeared throughout history in folklore or mythology. The ogre is traditionally depicted as a large monster with human characteristics but with a rather inhuman appetite for eating children. For that reason, the ogre was an especially useful character in children’s literature as a tool for frightening children into behaving in a moral manner (Warner). As Bruno Bettelheim states in The Uses of Enchantment, the moral education of the child in past centuries was partly provided by way of stories of enchantment, such as those in Grimm’s Fairy Tales; those stories were often violent or bloody and full of witches or monsters—but they were not without purpose: wicked characters were typically punished or suffered some gruesome fate, and good characters were typically rewarded or given a happy ending. By reading these stories, children were taught what they might expect if they acted one way or the other in their own lives. However, as the moral codes of the West changed, so too did the need to tell stories in which ogres were used to frighten children into being good. In the 21st century, the ogre Shrek was introduced in film to teach children a different story—one about inclusivity and self-acceptance. Shrek is the story of a big, green ogre who acts mean on the outside but on the inside is actually a lovable, friendly giant with a good heart. Shrek finds a mate in the end of the film, which ends happily ever after, but in a way that reinforces moral concepts about abuses of power and appreciating diversity.

The ogre of a change that occurred from the 19th century to the 21st century must begin with Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein. The monster in Frankenstein is not so much an ogre as it is ogre-ish. It is big and assumed to be something that might eat a child. Those who see the monster are frightened of him; however, the monster is befriended by a blind man, who teaches the monster to read. The monster is grateful to the blind man for the humanity and love shown to him. The monster’s own creator, Dr. Frankenstein, rejected him based on his appearance. The monster, scorned by all who look upon him, decides to exact his revenge on his creator. The story is one of gothic horror—a far cry from the light-hearted humor of the Shrek film series. However, it introduces the idea of a monster who is sensitive about his outward appearance and who is hurt by the prejudice and bias of a public that forms its judgments entirely by externals. Internally, the monster has sought only to love and be loved; it is only when he is rejected by the world because of his appearance that he chooses violent revenge.

In Shrek, ogres are lovable monsters who are no different from human beings other than that they have dirty or disgusting mannerisms, like eating bugs or taking baths in mud. Their external appearance is, of course, not as hideous as one might expect a monster to look—but the film is geared towards children and the ogre Shrek is meant to be the hero; so he and his wife are depicted in a loveable way. It is similar to the depiction of the monsters in the film Monsters, Inc. They are not that frightening to look at, as there is nothing sinister in their character. The monster in Shelley’s novel, however, is frightening because there is something sinister in his character once he turns onto a course of violent revenge.

Before Shrek was brought to the big screen, however, the closest thing to ogres in popular fiction was the army of Orcs in Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings series. The orcs were ogre-like creatures who slaved away for the evil Sauron. The orcs are diminutive ogre-ish monsters; they have no personality of their own and are more like grimy, vicious slaves or devils that have been programmed to do the bidding of the wicked Sauron. There is really no comparison between them and the ogre in Shrek or the monster in Shelley’s novel. The Orcs are brutish beasts that do not come across as human in the slightest degree. Shelley’s monster and Shrek both have very human characteristics, which is what makes them such sympathetic characters to audiences. Both also deviate substantially from the ogres depicted in the old fairy tales from centuries ago. The tale of Jack and the Beanstalk, for instance, tells of a giant who is like an ogre, who lives in the clouds and tries to kill Jack for taking the giant’s gold. The ogre Cyclops is depicted in Homer’s Odyssey, which includes the story of the one-eyed giant who eats several of Odysseus’s men before being tricked and blinded by Odysseus during an escape attempt. The ogres in these tales are violent and dangerous to mankind.

With Shrek, every child who has ever felt like he did not belong can identify with the ogre. But with Shrek there is also the sense that if one opens one’s heart to others, one can still find happiness. The ogre Shrek thus goes one step past Shelley’s monster by turning to love instead of to hate. For that reason Shrek is viewed as a heroic character instead of as a monster.

Shrek is really part of a trend in cinema and fiction of inverting tropes. There is the story of Maleficent, the story Wicked, and the story of Grendel. All of these reinterpret old fairy tales and tell them from the perspective of the so-called villain and in doing so they teach a different moral lesson. Maleficent is the wicked witch in the fairy tale Sleeping Beauty, but in the film she is a heroic character. Shrek fits into this trend of inverting tropes by turning the ogre stereotype on its head. Instead of teaching children that ogres will get them if they do not behave, the film teaches children that it is okay to be scared, okay to feel different from others, okay to want to be strange, and okay to be one’s self. In fact, Casey Rackham states that one of the biggest life lessons given by Shrek is this: “Don't assume that others don't like you. They’re probably just as insecure as you are.” In other words, everyone experiences feelings of insecurity, but they should not let their insecurities lead them on to a negative lifestyle. Shrek finds happiness because he embraces life in all its wonderful diversity. At the same time, Shrek also has friends (like Donkey) who help him along the way. Shelley’s monster has nothing but a blind man, and this friend is taken from him once the blind man’s family arrives and sees the monster.