shrek is it a comedy and why answering questions

The film Shrek is a lighthearted animated movie produced by DreamWorks. Shrek can also be classified as a family movie, not only because it is animated but also because the plot, themes, and dialogue are suitable for children of all ages. At the same time, Shrek contains enough sophistication to please an adult audience, too. It is funny, albeit in a straightforward and occasionally formulaic way that includes the use of slapstick and situational comedy as well as verbal comedy. The movie does, however, use satire to make fun of the gendered tropes used in children’s fairy tales.

The film follows the title character, a green ogre who lives in a swamp. Shrek starts off mistrusting the world, having learned that people judge him based on his appearance rather than getting to know him. However, Shrek’s life changes forever when he embarks on a quest to rescue a princess. At first the princess also judges Shrek for being an ogre but soon she learns to love him—and the audience also learns that the princess is also green and ogre-like too. Therefore, quite a lot changes from beginning to end, mainly in that Shrek learns to let down his guard and open his heart, seeing that others like Donkey and the Princess appreciate him for who he is, in spite of—or perhaps even because of—the fact he is an ogre. The friendship between Shrek and Donkey also deepens from beginning to end. At first, Donkey annoys Shrek, who wants to shut out the whole world. By the end, their friendship is as solid as the love between Shrek and the princess. Right from the beginning, Donkey does not judge Shrek for his appearance. In fact, when donkey first meets Shrek, Shrek is shocked he isn’t running away. Shrek says, “Don’t you know what I am?” Donkey relies, matter-of-factly, “Really tall?” The Donkey character is also a sly reference to Shakespeare’s character Puck of A Midsummer Night’s Dream, which, like Shrek, is also a satirical sort of fairy tale.

Donkey provides the bulk of the wet comedy in Shrek, telling ironic or silly jokes throughout the film and also funny facial expressions. Shrek and the princess are both serious characters, but they serve in ironic roles that add ironic humor to the film. The irony is primarily in relation to the way Shrek as a whole contradicts the typical fairy tale involving a princess who meets a handsome prince. At first, the princess buys right into the fairy tale in which she is trapped in a tower guarded by a dragon and gets rescued by a prince. This is the common narrative of fairy tales, and Shrek does not seriously challenge that narrative in the sense that the title character actually does kidnap the princess, whose identity is consumed by her appearance and her desire to be married.

No racial or ethnic humor is used in Shrek; the film is also devoid of violence. The humor mainly comes in the way Shrek, Donkey, and the princess all break typical social norms related to physical beauty, love, gender, and power. In this sense, Shrek does perform a democratising function on American culture and society. In Shrek, the story subverts the typical fairy tale, first because the princess seems to “know how the story goes” and expects the knight who rescues her to kiss her and be her one true love. The result is ironic: for Shrek actually does end up being her one true love even though she was initially upset he was not a handsome prince. Repression, adultery, and other adult themes linked to intimate relationships are not explored in Shrek, which was written clearly to be a family movie.