Film Theories and methods of analysis (Shrek and Disney)
Introduction
Welcome to my blog on film theories and analysis. I aim to inform you about the different film theories, and the different methods of analysing films based on these theories. I will be exploring the queer theory and using content analysis to analyse the content of Shrek and its relation to queer readings and texts- how difference in society is treated, amongst others. I will focus on analysing the content of Shrek, and how the plot, scenes and characters represent and show features of the queer theory, and how the queer theory represents the characters when compared to societal norms. Shrek is well known for its intertextuality- featuring classic Disney characters with unconventional personalities, therefore presenting irony as well as humour.Content analysis
Content analysis refers to analysing and evaluating the content of a film, as to what is explicitly shown and represented. Therefore, content analysis can be distinguishable from semiotics which explores symbolism in a film (what is suggested, but not explicitly referenced). Content analysis is a good means to break apart a film, applying film theories to it.For example, I could analyse the content of Disney films by its representations of characters. In traditional Disney films, Disney princesses are typically shown as exceptionally beautiful and passive, while the villains or main antagonists are shown as ugly or otherwise unattractive, who have to become physically more beautiful than the princess in order to gain attention from the Prince, who is also percieved as the ideal route for the Disney princess to achieve success and happiness. Therefore this denotes that women can only achieve success through men, who play a dominant role in society.
Notable examples include Cinderella, Snow white and The little Mermaid.
The princesses are shown as very attractive, slim and desirable by the male Prince. However, their main antagonists are presented as unattractive, often jealous of the more beautiful, youthful princesses.
For example, in The Little Mermaid, Ursula strips Ariel of her voice, which is her primary method to seduce the prince. Therefore, she relies primarily on her appearance to make him fall in love with her. However, Ursula who doesn't want Ariel to marry the prince, disguises herself as an attractive woman, seducing the prince into marrying her. However, as the spell breaks at sunset, Ursula is transformed back into her ugly form and Ariel is transformed into a mermaid. Therefore, the prince is revolted by Ursula's true form.
Also, in Snow White, the evil queen is presented as vain and narcissistic, jealous of the younger, more attractive snow white.
In the scene where she gives Snow White the poisoned apple, she transforms herself into an old woman, therefore suggesting that old equals evil.
In Cinderella, the ugly stepsisters are presented as cruel, selfish and wicked, in contrast to Cinderella who is shown as beautiful but kind and compassionate.
Therefore, she has more chance of marrying the prince and so the evil step sisters are jealous of her.
Overall, through content analysis of these three Disney films, I am able to understand how the Princesses are presented as attractive and kind, while the evil queens are shown as vain, jealous and less attractive. Therefore, traditional Disney films present the idealoligy that attractiveness equals success and love, while unattractiveness equals failure and hate.
Queer theory
The queer theory stems from queer readings of texts and media, originally developing from the feminist theory. The theory originally explores lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) representations in film, by exploring how gay characters are represented. However, the theory also encompasses all themes and storylines which revolve around not conforming to societal norms. For example, being gay has traditionally and historically been percieved as uncoventional and controversial, and so from a queer reading, many films represent gay characters either negatively or positively, either achieving happiness or not.The queer theory is often applied to Disney films, exploring characters who go against societal norms of the story's era, as well as characters engaging in unconventional relationships.
For example, Peter Pan's best friend is Tinkerbelle who is a fairy, and he is shown as having no attraction to Wendy, as she tries to Kiss him.
Feminist theory
The feminist theory essentially analyses gender equality in film. Ultimately, the theory explores female representation in film, and the concept of the male gaze. This refers to the idea that film is primarily aimed at a male audience, even if the main character is female. Therefore, the theory explores how women are shown as attractive and passive, conforming to ideals of beauty and aspiring to marry a man to achieve social security and status. The feminist theory also explores the average screen time given to female characters, as well as their role and status in society. For example, the female characters may be shown as passive and dependant, or independant. Disney films which show this representation of films as passive and dependant include the more traditional films such as Cinderella, Snow White, Sleeping Beauty etc, where the Princesses' primary aims are to achieve 'happiness' and 'love' from marrying the prince, who is shown as powerful and the only means for the princess to break free from her problems.
For example, in Cinderella, she marries the prince, therefore gaining freedom. This also applies to Snow White and The little mermaid, where they gain financial security from marrying the prince. It is also notable that characters like Sleeping Beauty and Snow white are largely passive- they inadvertantly fall asleep, thereby depending on the prince to 'rescue them. Therefore, their role in the film is merely as an object of desire for the prince, who provides them with wealth and "freedom" in return.
Disney films which show female characters as more independant and not conforming to ideals of attractiveness and success include the more modern films such as Shrek and Frozen, as well as the more traditional films including Mulan and Pocahontas.
Mulan is often referred to as Disney's 'first feminist' character. For example, she rescues all the men, including her father, the emperor and a soldier in the army.
She is also shown to have two strong female role models, which differs to other Disney films, where mother figures are either evil or dead. She is also regularly shown to challenge gender roles in her society, fighting alongside male soldiers. It is also notable that Li Shang falls in love with her after mistaking her for a male soldier, and so this film also references LGBT relationships, and so the queer theory can also be applied to this film.
Marxist theory
Marxcist theory looks at social hierarchy and structure of power in society. This theory can be regularly applied to traditional Disney films, as the social hierarchy starts with the king- who is at the top. This is followed by the prince, princess and other characters in the palace. The regular citizens or 'peasants' are at the bottom of the social class.
Shrek is a good example of how the marxist theory can be applied to film. For example, in Shrek 2, the kingdom of Far Far Away is an obvious reference to Hollywood. The Fairy Godmother ultimately controls the kingdom through her "happy ever after" potions which make characters physically attractive as a way to achieve supposed happiness, having given King Harold the potion, turning him from Frog to human.
Therefore, Kingdom Far Far Away features physical attractive human characters who represent the higher tier in society, as opposed to the fairy tale characters in Shrek's homeland, who are deemed as inferior and outcasts because they're not human or conventionally attractive.
However, at the end, Princess Fiona vows to Shrek her love for him and her wish to stay in ogre form, therefore breaking the conventions of society, as she is physically unattractive but also a monarch and in high society.
Analysis of Shrek
I have chosen to base my analysis on the queer theory, simply because Shrek is presented as a character who is different to society, although other theories such as marxism or feminism are presented in shrek as well.
The basic plot of the story can be summarised as;
- Shrek is an ogre, living peacefully in a swamp.
- One night, he suddenly finds his land has been taken over by fairy-tale creatures who have been banished by the evil Lord Farquaad.
- Shrek confronts Lord Farquaad, demanding his land back.
- Farquaad does him a deal, telling him to rescue Princess Fiona from a dragon-guarded castle, to get his swamp back.
- Shrek 'rescues' Fiona, and Donkey starts a relationship with Dragon
- Fiona and shrek grow closer
- Fiona tells Donkey about her curse, Shrek overhears and feels hurt
- Shrek brings Farquaad to Fiona, who wants to marry her
- Shrek realises he misses Fiona soon after, and interrupts the wedding
- Shrek defeats Farquaad and kisses Fiona, making her stay as an ogre
- The pair live "happily every after"
From the start tradition is acknowledged as well as mocked. Opening with a "Once upon a time" story narrated over the turning leaves of an illustrated book, the pages are abruptly torn away to be used as toilet paper by the mischievous Shrek.
This can be interpreted as relating to queer theory, as it mocks the fairytale tradition of classic disney films, where social hierarchy and conforming to societal norms is desired. For example, Shrek is an ogre, a creature traditionally seen as bad and ugly in mythology. Shrek’s character challenges this perception, as he is presented as a nice funny guy.
Lord Farquaad
In his pursuit of perfection, Farquaad attempts to rid his Kingdom of Fairy Tale creatures, offering a bounty for their capture and then exiling imprisoned creatures to Shrek's swamp. However, because Farquaad is not of royal stock, he cannot become a king until he marries a princess. He decides that Princess Fiona will be the perfect wife and queen, but she first must be rescued from her tower which is guarded by a fire-breathing dragon.
The queer theory can be applied to this scene as well. For example, Lord Farquaad is presented as an obsessive perfectionist even though he appears as a short man, not conventionally attractive. Therefore, him sending the fairytale creatures to live with Shrek represents his obsession, as he deems the fairytale creatures as not conforming to his high expectations, therefore not conforming to society.
Also, he aims to achieve monarchy by marrying Princess Fiona even though he is oblivious to her curse which turns her into an ogress every night. Therefore, he deems Princess Fiona as his Trophy, his object of desire, and the main way for him to achieve monarchy. The feminist theory can therefore be applied to this storyline, as he objectifies and idealises Princess Fiona.
Fiona's rescue
Shrek and Donkey go and rescue the Princess, narrowly avoiding being burned by the dragon, who tries to seduce Donkey. This is a humorous twist on tradition, as Dragons in English folklore are seen as evil and menacing. Fiona is disgruntled about being rescued by an ugly ogre, rather than Prince Charming. However, despite their differences, she and Shrek grow fond of each other.
Fiona's initial skepticism of Shrek's unflattering appearance and mannerisms can be seen in this clip, showing the scene where he 'rescues' Fiona from the castle. She expected him to be 'romantic' and 'charming', much like a stereotypical Disney prince.
As seen from the video, Fiona appears to expect a handsome and attractive prince to rescue her, and is startled to find that Shrek is the supposed 'knight in shining armour'. However, during the journey back, Fiona soon starts to like Shrek.
This shows that appearances can be deceiving, as Princess Fiona does actually like the Ogre because he is a kind, caring character. Therefore, this can be read in relation to the queer theory, because people who are different to norms of society are usually seen as socially unpleasant and unfriendly. This is often the case in many fairy tales, but in Shrek the meaning is subverted.
Furthermore, he saves Princess Fiona from the dragon’s lair, and this is important as in Sleeping Beauty- the inspiration for this scene, A prince saves the princess. This tells us that although Shrek is not as attractive or rich as the Prince, he is still capable of showing love and kindness to someone, therefore contradicting the themes of traditional Disney films, where the unattractive characters are presented as evil and miserable e.g. evil queen in Snow White, Ursulah in Little Mermaid, etc.
Donkey's relationship with Dragon
As well as Fiona and Shrek's growing relationship after her rescue, the Dragon is shown to be romantically attracted to Donkey who also feels attracted to her, as seen in this scene.
This can be represented as an 'unconventional relationship'. Dragon and Donkey are two completely different characters who meet in an unexpected situation. Therefore, this can represent queer relationships in modern society as well.
On the second night of their return journey, Fiona hides in a windmill. Donkey finds her, and discovers that she's turned into an ogress. She explains that she's under a spell, which can only be broken by true love's first kiss. Shrek overhears part of this, but misunderstands and thinks she doesn't love him because he's ugly.
Just as she decides to tell Shrek the truth, the sun rises and she becomes a beautiful princess again. Lord Farquaad arrives and takes Fiona to his castle, and Shrek returns to his swamp.
Later, Shrek, Donkey and Dragon head to Farquaad's castle, to try to stop Fiona marrying him. When they arrive, the sun sets and Fiona becomes an ogress again. Farquaad doesn't want to marry her, and sets the guards on everybody, but Dragon comes to the rescue and eats Farquaad up. Shrek and Fiona kiss. Therefore, Fiona stays ugly (in conformity with the spell: "you find true love's first kiss and then take love's true form"), and marries Shrek, and they live "ugly" ever after. This shows that The prince does not actually Love Princess Fiona, because if he did, he’d still want to marry her. This relates to the subverted morals of Shrek, as in the traditional fairy tale, The Prince and princess are both attractive, rich and in “love”. In Shrek, both become ugly, and yet they still live happily ever after. In traditional fairy tales the ugly characters are usually seen as inferior and evil and doomed, but in Shrek both are metaphorically king and queen, because they both love and care for each other.
As well as its characters going outside societal norms and being represented as happy and succesful unlike more traditional Disney films, Shrek can also be interpreted into the feminist theory, particularly for its representation of Fiona.
For example, Fiona is initially represented as the stereotypical Disney princess, awaiting rescue from Shrek, and so therefore having a more submissing character in relation to the story, as she is dependant on a prince to rescue her. She is also shown as attractive at the beginning
However, Donkey learns that Fiona turns into an Ogress every night because of a magic spell, and so she and Shrek start to become closer.
Additional readings of Shrek 2
The queer theory can also be applied to Shrek 2. For example, Fiona visits her parents in the kingom "far, far away", which represents the shallowness of Hollywood. Her parents are shocked disgusted by her appearance, as well as her choice of partner.
This again shows how Fiona's parents are more 'conservative' and 'shallow', caring more about her choice of partner than her happiness. As seen in this scene, Harold, Fiona's father, starts arguing with Shrek who he deems as inferior and not 'good enough' for Fiona, because he is an ogre. Fiona storms off, disapointed that her parents don't care about her happiness. Therefore, the queer theory can be applied to this, as Fiona and Shrek don't conform to their parent's beliefs, who are more 'mainstream' and 'shallow', and so her and shrek's relationship is seen as unconventional.
Also, it is notable that Prince Charming is the Fairy Godmother's son, and who King Harold wants Fiona to marry, even though he is regularly presented as vain, self centred and narcissistic, bearing resemblance to Gaston in Beauty and the Beast. The queer theory can be applied to this, as Prince Charming 'fits in' to the society of Kindom Far, Far Away because of his looks, and his personality is overlooked by the Fiona's parents who only care about status, rather than true love.
Shrek is told by the Fairy Godmother that he will never live "happily ever after", after which he steals a "happy ever after" potion from her room, turning him into an attractive human, and Donkey into a white horse.
This is ironic, as Shrek believes that the potion will make him live happily ever after, despite Fiona only loving him in his ogre form. Therefore, when read through a queer perspective, it represents Shrek's attempts to conform to society, believing beauty equates to long term happiness.
Another notable scene is when Harold poses as the now transformed Shrek, and Fiona has supposedly taken the love potion Fairy Godmother gave to Harold to give to her, threatening to take "his happily ever after" away. Therefore, her blackmailing him can be interpreted from a queer perspective as him being forced to conform to society, fearful that he will be rejected for his true form, therefore making it easier to understand why he despised Shrek so much earlier on, even though he is aware of Fiona's love for shrek. Harold is turned into a frog in the last scene because of his deceit to Fairy Godmother, however Lillian tells him she still loves him, therefore showing that he didn't need to be "human" to be loved.
As Fiona is about to kiss Prince Charming, Shrek and his fairytale friends arrive to the rescue.
This is also significant, as the fairytale creatures are seen as "outcasts", and so have no place in Kingdom Far Far Away, because humans are at the top of the social pyramid. However, they manage to defeat the supposedly "superior" humans, by fighting with the Prince. Fiona also headbutts him before he tries to kiss her, revealing that she never took the potion.
After this, Shrek tells Fiona he must kiss her before midnight if they are to stay human. However, she tells him that she fell in love with "the ogre she married".
Therefore, this represents her wanting to be her true self, not conforming to other's expectations, and also loving Shrek for who he really is. Therefore, from a queer perspective, it shows how she didn't wish to conform to the expectations of Kindom Far Far Away, and instead loved shrek sincerely. The feminist theory can also be applied to this scene. For example, she was faced with the opportunity to marry Prince Charming, although this was largely forced by Fairy Godmother. However, despite his wealth and status, she made her own decision to marry Ogre for love, and so was active in her role.
Comparison with other Disney films
In Beaty and the Beast however, the Prince is turned into a beast because of his narcissistic personality, and must find true love in order to turn back into his human form. Therefore, even through Princess Bella falls in love with him in his beastly form, he is transformed back into a handsome prince after the final battle with Gaston, who is presented as an egoistic man infatuated with Bella. Even though Bella is shown as not 'conforming' by not being attracted to Gaston, she is still shown as very beautiful, an therefore 'deserves' a happy ending with a 'handsome' prince. Therefore, this film is ironic in the way that Bella manages to fall in love with the Prince in his beastly form, yet he 'conforms' to society by turning back into a prince. Through a queer reading, this film shows that ultimately, Bella and the prince achieve long term happiness in their human form, therefore conforming to society. On the other hand, Shrek inverts this theme, by giving Shrek and Fiona the opportunity to gain physical beauty, however throughout the Shrek series, they reject this ideal of conforming, ultimately gaining happiness through their 'real' forms, therefore contradicting what their society tells them to do.
More traditional Disney films often feature queer or effeminate characters as the 'villain', presented as being evil, ridiculous and obsessive. This can be seen in Pocahontas, where Governer Ratcliffe, the main villain, is presented as effeminate.
Pocahontas is set in 17th Century England, where the word Fop was used to describe effeminate gay men. Governer Ratcliffe is shown in this stereotype, as power hungry and obsessive.
Other queer villains include Ursulah in The Little Mermaid, who was inspired by famous drag queen Divine and Jaffar, who is shown as taking a liking towards Alladin among others. Therefore, classic Disney villains are frequently portrayed as unconventional in comparison to societal norms, but desperate to gain power and superiority.
However, Shrek inverts this, as the main villains Prince Charming and Fairy Godmother both fit into their high society in Kingdom Far Far Away, and in the end Fiona and Shrek achieve true love and happiness despite being deemed 'outcasts'.
Conclusion
In conclusion, Shrek is a humorous and funny children’s movie, which cleverly challenges the traditions of fairy tales through its plot and content. The whole movie centres around two ogres, who challenge the perception that ogres are unfriendly, and show to the rest of the fairytale community that they are perfectly “normal” just like the rest of the creatures. The film uses a medley of characters from many classic fairy tales, but twists their roles and image. This challenges the norms of society, as previously idealised and “perfect” characters such as The prince are presented as evil (Lord Farquaad) and “weird” or “outcast” characters are presented as kind, caring and generous ( Shrek, fiona and Dragon). In summary, the film mocks and challenges prejudice itself, as it highlights the characters rejected by traditions.
