DILA TOPLUSOY

TOP14413816

Genre and Intertextuality Analysis

The following paper is going examine the use and subversion of the fairy
tale genre conventions through the parody of other film texts, in the
American Oscar-winning animated film Shrek(2001). Two particular
scenes of the film, firstly the scene where Fiona is rescued from the tower
by Shrek and Donkey and secondly the final scene, where Shrek and
Fiona get married, are going to be analysed in terms of genre and
intertextuality, as they are some of the most significant scenes of the film
that demonstrate prominently the ways in which the text applies the
conventions of the fairy tale genre, however at the same time plays with
them and mocks them through the references that it makes to other fairy
tale films.

First of all, the term genre can be defined as a grouping of the texts that
are alike in terms of form or subject. By classifying texts, genres indicate
how different texts are linked to each other. Thus, the generic
understanding suggests that it is not possible for a text to be completely
authentic. Even the most innovative text owes something elsewhere.
(Thwaites et al., 2002, pp. 98-99) This approach is linked to the
intertextuality concept, as intertextuality means the connection between a
text and other texts (Thwaites et al. 2002, p.96), more specifically, it

DILA TOPLUSOY

TOP14413816

means the addition of a text and its meaning, inside a different text.
(Sturken and Cartwright, 2001, p.265) This concept indicates that a text
always has to be partly related to other texts, in order to function.
(Thwaites et al., 2002, p.97) Parody and satire are instances of the
intertextual process. In parodying the style of another text, the new
text criticizes the others social perspective. (Thwaites et al., 2002,
p.114) A parody presumes that the spectator is familiar with the texts that
are being mocked in the principal text, they would be interested in
guessing the references that are made, and would understand the jokes.
(Sturken and Cartwright, 2001, p.269)

The film Shrek, based on the childrens book of the same name written
by William Steig (1990) and directed by Andrew Adamson and Vicky
Jenson, is a modern fairy tale film. The fairy tale is one of the traditional
forms of the fantasy genre, and it can be defined as a brief story that
includes characters such as fairies, giants and witches, that experience
miraculous and extraordinary occurrences. (Furby and Hines, 2012, pp.
18-20) Shrek features most of these characters and magical happenings,
however it presents them in unconventional ways, so it has its effect in its
cheerful and iconoclastic inversion of classical fairy tale motifs.
(Haase,2007, p.859) Therefore the film serves as a spoof of traditional
fairy tale films , focusing mainly on subverting the conventions of the

DILA TOPLUSOY

TOP14413816

Disney adaptations of the films such as Snow White and Seven Dwarfs,
Cinderella and Beauty and the Beast (Fowkes,2010,p. 115) , as it
should be noted that it is produced by Disneys rival DreamWorks
Animation.

The first scene chosen begins with Fiona calling Shrek, who is wearing a
helmet that hides his face, the brave knight who is her rescuer. The
prince who saves the princess is a key stock character in the traditional
fairy tale, serving as a typical plot element. (Moen, 2013, pp. 211-212)
Also, she asks him to kiss her, as she describes the plot line of the typical
fairy tale clearly by saying A princess locked in a tower and beset by a
dragon is rescued by a brave knight, and then they share true loves first
kiss. True loves first kiss is a reference to fairy tales such as Snow
White and Sleeping Beauty, as in these fairy tales, the princess comes
back to life by the magical kiss that the prince gives (Moen, 2013, p.175).
This element is mocked when Shrek says that this wasnt in the job
description and he and Donkey start laughing loudly at the idea that
Fiona thinks that Shrek is her true love. Afterwards, when Shrek removes
his helmet, Fiona is shocked to see an ogre instead of a brave knight, as
she says This is all wrong. You were not supposed to be an ogre. In
traditional fairy tales, ogres are bloody, nefarious creatures. (Warner,
2014, pp. 47-48) This convention is cleverly mocked in Shrek, as at the

DILA TOPLUSOY

TOP14413816

beginning of the film Shrek yells at the villagers that want to harm him
and says This is the part where you run away, and afterwards starts
laughing by himself, as he clearly understands that an ogre is
conventionally supposed to be scary and horrifying, even though Shrek is
actually a nice guy (Fowkes, 2010, p.118). Furthermore, the brave
knight character is subverted once again in the scene as Shrek admits
Princess, I was sent to rescue you by Lord Farquaad, okay? He is the one
who wants to marry you. In conventional fairy tales, the prince himself
finds and saves the princess. However in Shrek, Lord Farquaad sends
someone else an ogre- to rescue the princess instead of coming himself,
which is a clear parody of the Prince Charming character that rescues
the princess in a noble way neither Lord Farquaad nor Shrek suit this
character type, as Shrek confirms at the end of the scene by saying Im a
delivery boy, and swings Fiona over his shoulder in a careless way.

Film is a significant medium that ideological constructions or

traditional concepts of good and evil are shown. (Sturken and
Cartwright, 2001, p.21) In this scene, by merging the monster and the
hero into one character, the film criticises the ethics of the fairy tale
genre, (Haase, 2007, p.860) particularly its representation of the good and
evil, as normally the hero is supposed to be good looking, charismatic
and elegant, not hideous, impolite and filthy as the way the monster in

DILA TOPLUSOY

TOP14413816

this story, Shrek, is represented - however the film overtly breaks this
norm.

The final scene of the film portrays Shrek and Fionas wedding ceremony.
It opens with their kiss - a convention that the film shares at the end, with
other fairy tales- accompanied by the cover of the vibrant pop rock song,
Im a Believer by Smashmouth, which supports the films modern and
trendy style, as well as mocks the sentimental tone that is created in the
classic fairy tales by Disney. (Booker, 2009, p.173) In this scene,
numerous fairy tale characters are present as Shrek and Fionas guests,
however they are taken out of their conventional settings and shown in
unusual and humorous ways, as texts always use the generic conventions
of other texts in different contexts and alter their original significance
(Thwaites et al., 2002, p.114). For instance, the Seven Dwarfs play the
mentioned pop rock song as a band, the Big Bad Wolf, in the pink
grandmother costume, snuggles close to a knight and puts her head on his
shoulder, and the Three Little Pigs perform breakdance. Other characters
and objects from different fairy tales, such as the Magic Mirror,
Pinocchio, the Gingerbread Man, and the Three Bears are present in this
scene as well. Later, the Fairy Godmother transforms a garlic bulb into a
carriage for Shrek and Fiona, as a parody of the fancy carriage that is
created from a pumpkin in Cinderella. Afterwards, the Dragon gives the

DILA TOPLUSOY

TOP14413816

flower that she has caught from Fiona to the Donkey, and they approach
each other with affection, portraying an unusual romantic relationship
that is not seen in any other fairy tale. Towards the end of the scene, all of
the fairy tale characters dance together excitedly and wave, as the
carriage in the form of a giant onion departs from the swamp in the
sunset. The scene ends by showing a closing storybook, a convention
used in many fairy tales such as the Snow White (Moen, 2013, p.181).
However, the typical sentence that is used at the end of traditional fairy
tales, They lived happily ever after, is converted ironically, as it is
written They lived ugly ever after, in the storybook. This conversion is
due to the fact that Fiona is transformed into an ogress permanently when
she kissed Shrek for the first time, performing the true loves first kiss,
which was mocked in the first scene discussed. Thus, in this scene the
ending of the Beauty and the Beast and The Frog Prince is parodied,
since Shrek doesnt transform into a charming prince, in opposition to the
Beast and Frog.

In terms of ideology, this scene reveals that the film once again rejects the
traditional norms of physical appearances applied in conventional fairy
tales, (Zipes,2011,p. 244) as it implies that being good looking is not
required to get the happy ending, and that the notion of beauty does not
have to be the same for everyone, by displaying the joyful relationship of

DILA TOPLUSOY

TOP14413816

the two ogres and strenghtening it by making all of the other fairy tale
creatures their enthusiastic supporters.

Overall, this paper has provided an accurate examination of the two

specific scenes of the film Shrek, concerning the genre and
intertextuality topics. It can be concluded that Shrek is a film that
reverses most of the traditional conventions of the fairy tale genre with its
parodic and critical approach, although it follows some of them on its
own terms.

Bibliography
Booker, M. K., (2009) Disney, Pixar and the Hidden Messages of
Childrens Films. California: Praeger.

Chandler, D. (2014) Semiotics for Beginners: Intertextuality. Available at:

http://visual-memory.co.uk/daniel/Documents/S4B/sem09.html
(Accessed: 18 March 2015)

Fowkes, A. K., (2010) The Fantasy Film. West Sussex: Wiley-Blackwell.

Furby, J. and Hines, C. (2012) Fantasy. Oxon: Routledge.

DILA TOPLUSOY

TOP14413816

Haase, D. (2008) The Greenwood Encylopedia of Folktales and Fairy

Tales. Westport: Greenwood Press.

Moen, K. (2013) Film and Fairy Tales, The Birth of Modern Fantasy.
London: I.B. Tauris & Co.

Shrek (2001) Directed by Andrew Adamson and Vicky Jenson. [Film]

United States of America: DreamWorks Pictures.

Sturken, M. and Cartwright, L. (2009) Practices of Looking: An

Introduction To Visual Culture. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

The Internet Movie Script Database. (no date) Shrek Script at IMSDb.
Available at: http://www.imsdb.com/scripts/Shrek.html (Accessed: 18
March 2015)

Thwaites, T. , Davis, L., Mules, W. (2002) Introducing Cultural and

Media Studies. 2nd edn. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.

Warner, M. (2014) Once Upon a Time: A Short History of Fairy Tale.

Oxford: Oxford University Press.

DILA TOPLUSOY

TOP14413816

Zipes, J. (2011) Enchanted Screen: A History of Fairy Tales on Film. New

York: Routledge.