Why the Soundtrack to Shrek is Actually Genius
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 24 ธ.ค. 2024
- Turns out the music has layers....
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Dan Olson's "The Art of Editing and Suicide Squad":
• The Art of Editing and...
Also, big shoutout to literally everyone who's made a video essay on Shrek
I'd link them all here, but it's literally all of the videos I listed in the clip
Lemme know in the comments if I missed any sources and I'll add them here!
The music has layers, Shrek the movie has layers...
The whole trilogy is one big onion.
Or is it a parfait?
WE GET IT
They both have layers
Why not cake? Everybody likes cake
Aracanius Infinius Aaaahhh, this is another one of those onion things?!?
*ogres are onions*
It’s the funnest fact to me that “All Star” was just a test song/placeholder that wasn’t originally intended to be in the final movie. They just kept it in because test audiences reacted so well to it.
Thankyou Test Audiences. Thankyou so much
Curse you test audiences. I've always hated that song. It encapsulates everything hateful and soulless about pop music of its era.
@@nathanbrown8680 I'd be mad if you were right, but since you're not.... :^)
And it was after keeping All Star that they asked Smash Mouth to sing I'm A Believer for the finale.
@@nathanbrown8680 It's an empowerment anthem and a very unique one, at that. Sometimes you just have to stay positive and love yourself even in the face of everything going wrong and everything against you. All Star is jaded self empowerment and you don't find that too often. I always love the lyrics:
It's a cool place and they say it gets colder
You're bundled up now, wait till you get older
But the meteor men beg to differ
Judging by the hole in the satellite picture
The ice we skate is getting pretty thin
The water's getting warm so you might as well swim
My world's on fire, how about yours?
That's the way I like it and I never get bored
It shows a pessimistic optimism that I've never really seen before or since this song. Yeah you aren't the smartest, the world is going to hell in a handbasket, and everyone always promises that the older you get the worse it'll become but that doesn't mean you can't find joy and hope. You just have to keep moving, try to believe in yourself, and don't let the naysayers keep you down. That's not a bad message for a pop song don't you think?
@@RivkahSong It's musically and rhythmically and tonally uninteresting and the more I hear it the more obnoxious it gets. This is typical of pop music of the post-cold-war era. And if there were anything good among the dross like there was in earlier musical epochs it's been long enough we'd have forgotten the 99% crap. Unfortunately, by the '90s the recording industry had control of radio playlists and was pushing cheap to produce crap and interesting music never got traction.
I remember being a little girl watching shrek and being disappointed that fiona didnt get to be pretty at the end. It seemed like a sad ending to me. Because in every other movie...it is. This message is really important actually
Same. Only when I rewatched 3 or so years back that I realised that THAT was actually her happy ending.
As a girl who has always grown up with major self esteem issues, that scene hit me hard. When little 2000s me saw that, in the eyes of someone who loves you, you are always beautiful, it gave me a confidence boost and soothed my worries about not being skinny or pretty or blonde enough for society. It really meant a lot to me.
Oddly enough, looking at the films now...seeing Fiona as a princess is off-putting to me honestly. Maybe it's because she's always far happier as an ogre with Shrek, but I think she's actually more beautiful that way.
This is a slippery-slope. We got to know (and eventually fell in love with) human Fiona in the 1st Shrek. She was like that for most of the movie, and only had a few brief scenes as an ogre. Does it make me shallow that I prefer the human Fiona? I just feel like there was a lot of character in her human looks that I found endearing. Having her remain an ogre was the usual forced "it doesn't matter what's on the outside" bullshit message.
@@TemporaryFamineShip If she'd fallen in love with Shrek as a human, wouldn't it have been the same message? "It doesn't matter if he's a dumb smelly ogre, it's what matters on the inside."
The "I need a hero" song also serves as a sort of ticking clock. It connects Shrek's siege to the wedding inside. The villain is celebrating her presumed victory by singing while Prince Charming and Fiona dance to it, him trying to kiss her. We know that if Shrek doesn't get there before the song ends, everything is lost.
The song serves a narrative purpose...
Yes!!
It's a catchy vocal performance of a well known song. It's, as you say, a ticking clock, letting you know there's danger even when that danger is off-screen.
Oh yeah, and you can hear the villain song literally battling with the hero's theme for the entirety of the high-intensity action sequence. Even before the hero & villain come into contact with each-other, before either one can see or hear the other, their goddamn theme songs are having a fight to the death.
(I'm sure this happens in film scores all the time, but it's clearly and excellently executed here)
@@Ninjat126 Exactly!
@@Ninjat126 "you can hear the villain song literally battling with the hero's theme"
As an aside, I love this trick. I love it to death, and I adore almost any scene that uses it. Theme-song fighting is top tier.
🙌🏻🙌🏻🙌🏻🙌🏻
"YOU WANT TO HOLD HER?!"
"Yes!"
"YOU WANT TO *PLEASE* HER?!"
" *Y E S!* "
Shrek is love shrek is life
THEN YOU GOTTA GOTTA TRY A LITTLE TENDERNESSS
THE CHICKS LOVE THAT ROMANTIC CRAP
Donkey sure pleased Dragon.
Never had this many likes 😂 thanks guys!!
Any film that can continue to be culturally relevant almost 20 years after it came out is an unironically good film. Just like Spongebob, people meme Shrek out of affection.
Kung Fu Panda is entering into the same realm as well
Only film I couldn’t stop watching after I downloaded the pirate copy, and was just seeing what the picture quality was like. Now that’s the real test. Total classic ! 🤯🤯🤯🤯🤯🤡🤡🤡🤡🌍🌍🌍🌍🌍😱😱😱😱
stockart whiteman Star Wars prequels had an actual coherent story. They now look like masterpieces compared to the Disney bullshit. 🤯🤯🤯🤯🤯🤡🤡🤡🤯🌍🤯🤡🤡🤡
@@hanniffydinn6019 100% agree. The Prequels biggest problems was that they had horrendous dialogue, & some pretty bland acting overall, which both cone down to Lucas having complete control. If he had different people in those positions like in the Originals, then they would've great. Disney Star Wars is just a complete joke, the definition of a lolcow. The one thing they have going for them above the rest is great Special Effects and Sound Design. Outside of that, they suck. That's why Rogue One has the best battle of any Star Wars battle, because it relies on those two things heavily
God fuck, it really is almost 20 years old... God I feel fucking ancient xD
1999: Ugh, why do we have to read another essay?
2019: Ooh, another TH-cam essay! Me likey!
How old are you?
@@djobokuwali4316 old
Me just realizing that these types of videos...are actually essays 😐
@@mnnkhu this is correct.
you sound like an Amy
Anyone remember the American Idol style competition included in the DvD extras of Shrek 2? It had Simon Cowell in it and you were able to vote for who you thought won. I've never met anyone else who remember that.
Bro I used to mess with that all the time! I loved it!!!
I remember it haha! As a kid it annoyed me that you got a singing Simon when you didn't vote for either Donkey, Puss in Boots or Shrek & Fionas duet because he didn't accepted your vote.
I thought this was some fever dream honestly
I was just slapped with a wave of nostalgia.... I haven’t thought about this in years but loved it when I was a kid lmao
I forgot all about that holy cow.
YOOO how did I never pick up on that instrumental callback during Holding Out For a Hero, that's amazing (and so is this vid obviously)
Two kings in one place ❤🤣
NOW THAT'S THE CROSSOVER WE DESERVE!!
The Shrek legend himself is here.
I thought for a sec you uploaded two videos when I saw this in my sub feed.
I think it's time for a crossover video
The main theme has formed as the main fairy tale theme in my head, to the extent that I forgot it was shreks main theme. Now that's a theme.
same tbh
Same here honestly.
I thought it was the DreamWorks theme
Yup, it's what fairy tales sound like to me
All I hear is LOTR music, especially the Shire theme, but your association is justified.
Disney: Music drives the plot
Shrek: Plot drives the music, with a cherry on top
And both are great in different ways. That’s the magic of music and film 😊
"With a cherry on top" xd
I think the BIGGEST reason that the "I Need a Hero" scene is so impactful is that instead of the pop song determining the pace of the scene, it feels like the natural impression of the SCENE that *happens* to sync with her singing at the same time.
Jennifer Saunders killed it
Agreed. I can sort of see what this video is getting at, but I really feel like the reason it was so successful was really due to the dynamic range, the words fitting, the ebb and flow of the song from soft to loud as we switch between scenes, and the amazing singer.
I didn’t even notice the Shrek theme being added into the song, and I wasn’t familiar with the original song.
TL;DR: The reason Shrek is different from Suicide Squad is because Shrek uses pop music to highlight dramatic irony, while Suicide Squad tries to use pop music as shorthand to spoon-feed the audience information about the characters.
it's important to note that David Ayer didn't want *any* of that in Suicide Squad, it was mandated by the execs at WB because BvS wasn't received very well and also because they liked the edit from the first trailer, so the whole movie was handed over to that studio to do a similar punching up for the final cut
Or there's no difference at all between the two, lol. They both are equally 'there's literally nothing to read into, here's a spoon' so acting like Shrek's choices are more intelligent is kind of odd
essentially, Suicide Squad was a victim of creative laziness and studio fear
Another problem with suicide squad is they tried to make us care about characters we absolutely don't care about. It's not that every movie tries to do this, because they point of story telling is to care about someone or something you don't know. No, the problem in suicide squad is they tried to give the spot light to too many characters at once.
In Guardians of the galaxy they did that but to a considerable amount of success. This mainly has to do with the fact that Quill is always the main hero and the rest are side characters. Sure they make impacts and talk about their past but his journey is the sole purpose of the movie.
Harley Quinn is the sole purpose but again it gets muddled and screwy when they start introducing multiple people and objectives and all of that. It's a garbage pile I could pick at for weeks but yeah that's one of my many problems with the film.
@@ariannasilva4462 Harley is the protagonist but she could sit her own movie out and it wouldn't make a difference. Same for the Joker, he has no connection to the plot whatsoever and was only shorhorned into the movie for marketing purposes. In fact, most characters in Suicide Squad could've been removed without affecting the movie too much. Slipknot is more functional as a plot point than most of them since he at least serves to prove that the bombs in their heads are real.
As for the music, the songs are just thrown in there without any real thought or intention put into them. Paranoid plays when Harley is beating some goons because...?
When you revealed the music motif that was hiding in the "Holding Out for a Hero" scene this whole time... _I felt things._
I mighta even teared up a little
I definitely teared up and gasped
Did anyone else ever realize that Shrek definitely did make influence tho as it’s literally the only popular non-Disney animated film to have a fucking live stage musical on Broadway... lmao 😂
@@micahcook2408 Anastasia has one now. It just got one last year I think.
When I tell you my jaw dropped, i-
Accidentally in Love was written for Shrek 2 and was actually nominated for an Oscar for best original song
Narciscynic wow I didn’t realize that!
F# to B to Cdim
Damn!
good
Narciscynic this is one of my favorite songs how the heck did I not know that.
I still can't believe that this was the movie people got shoved over to if they were underperforming on Prince of Egypt. Not that PoE isn't an actual masterpiece, it's just bizarre to think that this was made by what Dreamworks execs considered their B-team.
I mean, Disney had a similar thing going with Pocahontas and Lion King. Barely any of the veteran animators wanted to work on Lion King because no one thought it'd do well, so it was given to the 'B-Team', which consisted out of a bunch of newbies and amateurs. If someone underperformed on Pocahontas, they got shoved to Lion King.
Even Pixar has a story like that with the Incredibles. Brad Bird fished everyone who was fed up with Pixar's rigid regime and wanted to leave and put them on his movie, telling them to go haywire with their ideas and pipeline modifications and that worked so well that that's literally the only reason the Incredibles managed to get made in the first place. Animation in the west is an industry full of traditions and the people in power, including the veterans themselves, don't like trying new things. That's why you get these incredible masterpieces every time a group of outcasts comes together and finally manages to bring things they've been working on in their heads for literal years into their work.
@@sheelaflower that's an incredibly good point.
@@sheelaflower That's not exclusive to the animation industry, creative endeavors in highly industrialized mediums experience this on the average(Silent Hill is a game series that got kickstarted precisely because of a situation like those ones. Outcasts allowed to express themselves)
@@sheelaflower I'm reminded of the mid-80s, when Disney was working on The Black Cauldron and The Great Mouse Detective. Disney put most of their eggs in the basket that was The Black Cauldron, and pretty much allowed the team working on The Great Mouse Detective to do whatever they wanted, only making them change the name from Basil of Baker Street, clearly more worried about their bigger project. The Black Cauldron flopped and The Great Mouse Detective went on to be a surprise hit, making enough money to make The Little Mermaid, kicking off the Disney Renaissance.
Though to be fair, part of the reason the Black Cauldron tanked is the execs refusing to commit to the bit. The cauldron born and the Horned King are supposed to be genuinely dark and terrifying, but the higher ups kept “kiddifying” the film.
Someone made a good point on why Disney is failing at making a not damsel in distress. Because they overcorrect it and make them girl bosses without the layers
exactly. a lot of people, including disney apparently, seem to think that "strong female character" means a female character who is literally strong and kickass, but it actually means a female character who is 3-dimensional and well written
i agree either the princesses are useless or else they are godmode NO layers in between
On one of my university lessons, my prof commented on Disney's "need" not only to overcorrect their movies for themselves, but to seem like they answer to the audience's criticism of female empowerment. Exclusively for princess movies, we see them correct themselves on very secific issues: Ariel was criticised about changing herself for a man, then Belle came along, an outcast that won't conform to society's expectations like Ariel. But Belle was criticised too about not being feisty enough, so there comes Jasmine, with her no-nonsense attitude and desire to be seen as a person before anything else. Jasmine still needed rescuing, so in the next Princess feature, Pocahontas was the one to save everybody and so on and so forth.
We always see Disney "correcting their past mistakes when making a new movie" (as my prof said), yet they never take the necessary steps to create a princess/female figure that can check off the boxes people actually need in terms of representation and empowerment. Through Fiona we can see that this can clearly be done, even through Disney's Esmeralda: both women are strong, smart, sensitive, compassionate, and yes, beautiful, but without any of those features undermining the other. They're not reduced to their stereotypes like the rest of the princesses, they are their own persons. Now of course, Esmeralda is not the main character, Quasi is, but the point still stands in terms of character development and empowerment
@Tiana Jordan Indeed, but we must also remember that China wasn't overly fond of (read:hated) the movie, because the people thought that it was offensive in its depiction of chinese culture, which is the main reason why the movie is now getting a more politically correct live action movie (that, and money).
Actually, Cinderella, Beauty and the Beast, Aladdin, Mulan, etc. as live action adaptations all have the same thing in common: they change the parts that people criticized them for to make a more socially acceptable movie that will not only earn them the box office success they desire, but also the very imprtant pat on the back for "pioneering" in creating (or correcting) female characters to what is perceived as their full potential
The irony of this all is were not seeing people in general as people when writing these stories.... things are complex...
I thought this was going to be Smash Mouth - All Star for 17 minutes straight
My favorite part is that you still clicked on the video.
@@TiTi-pm4my Hey now....
@@RoboBoomStick You're an all star 😉
Mee too
You certainly are missing out on the rest of the soundtrack. "Stay Home' "My Beloved Monster", and "You Belong to Me" to name a few.
"Shrek, REALLY impacted people."
Lets be real, we didn't realise it till recently but yeah.
Honestly... yes. I mean think about how people enjoyed seeing so many parodies of things held as classics or dear or as safe to us. I mean also a lot of people started to become tired of cookie cutter stories in animation that even Disney was becoming self aware with some of their projects later on. Also I bet some of us were subconsciously affected as young viewers by the film as it never left most of us and was perhaps one of the films that helped a lot of us end up having a lot of leftist thinking and ideals in the early to mid 2010s to 2017/18 era... I say Shrek definitely had an impact on modern animation’s retelling of the unlikely hero and perhaps even SUBCONSCIOUSLY paved the way for an entire generation to seek diversity in our western entertainment. I say too it also may have been one of the movies early on that helped gross-out comedy evolve massively in the 2000s era (especially with Mike Myers as Shrek; who was known for his gross take on comedy).
Nah yall were on a different train, I knew this sh!t was fire when it came out. I use to put it on in the mornings when I would get ready for High School lol Shrek and The SpongeBob Movie are top tier comedy
Corn Dog was born the year it came out I didn’t get the critical thinking skills to analyze my childhood influences like this until recently, and I’m sure that’s true for a lot of people here.
My father left the theather saying that this was one most revolutionary movies he had ever seen and it would redefy animation as we know it and pretty much everyone agreed with him.
@@marina.chayka I had got the movie for my birthday and my DAD was so excited that he couldn't wait and so we watched it a few days early lol I was still surprised so I'm good but he just couldn't wait. 😂
Also, can we talk about how the Fairy Godmother calls for "I Need a Hero" in C minor and then sings it in G minor? Gets me every time.
When you mentioned shreks theme, I was really confused, because I didn't rember any theme music from shrek. And then you played it, and I immediately started humming along to it.
same. i've always thought it was the DreamWorks theme idek why
@@abook2141 the dreamworks theme kinda was the shrek theme for a while i think? I feel like most dreamworks movies now play their own osts while the logos show
I mean, wHo DoEsN't-
@@holymakerel I think it's because they play it during every title screen and there's a bunch of movies in the series. Maybe also used in other dreamworks animated pictures
Nocturne - Secret Garden. Could also be why people think they remember it.
Here's a theory: all the non-diegetic music in Shrek is actually just playing inside Donkey's head.
Justaway_of_the_Samurai whilst watching this I kept thinking he was gonna build that assessment. Glad I’m not the only one who thought it
What about All Star at the beginning?
Tal Sheynkman you don’t know what donkey was doing during the beginning
@@talknight2 What, Donkey can't feel like an all star for no particular reason whatsoever?
@@justaway_of_the_samurai to be fair that is on-brand for donkey
Basically: music should advance the story, not merely describe it, and you can also do that with pop music
Correction: "pop music" should advance the story. Because do you have any idea how difficult it is to compose an original piece *just* to describe? An original piece that can describe is sufficient (see Fiona's theme or Shrek's 2 measure crescendo thing). Pop music that can describe *is not sufficient* because you did not compose it by yourself, and that just means you're just lazy for including it in your movie.
In Shrek, pop music is used as a symbolism of societal pressure, and its' use is warranted because any other genre wouldn't cut it. In SS it's just used in place of what could be character themes, and they're just being lazy by using it because they could've just composed a new piece for that but didn't.
@@straypaper how's paying a composer more effort than paying an artist for the right to use a song ? This has nothing to do with "laziness"
@@samyrandome425 Because there's more effort on the part of the composer to make a piece around a script than there is on mixing and matching a preexisting song based on if its' lyric matches the script.
diegetically
Samy randome The composer doesn’t sit alone in a room for 4 months and then pop out and the score is finished. There’s a LOT of collaboration between the lead composer and the director, and pretty much everyone involved.
If you just pay for the rights to a song, you can just edit it in and then you’re pretty much done with that scene
I think an important point about the movie version of 'Holding Out for a Hero' that you kind of glossed over is that the song was rewritten and rerecorded for the movie to include a lot more changes than just the Shrek theme. The Shrek version includes interludes, plays with the pace a little to make it feel more like the Fairy Godmother singing than Bonnie Tyler, and plays with some of the musical elements in the original to amplify and better fit the on screen action. The net effect is exactly what you described (the clashing of the external pressure and internal truth), but I think just throwing in a snip of the theme under the original song would have been horrible and wouldn't have worked anywhere near as well.
This is the reason why the song on my playlist is the Shrek version and not the original.
The cover takes so much of the energy out of the song. Which is a good thing. Fairy Godmother is taking a victory lap, dedicating the song to her son who didn't actually do anything.
The energy is added back in via Shrek's theme.
I came here for a meme... stayed for a genuinely interesting deep dive into arguably one of the most beloved movies of the century
Writing an essay on this
Sydney Stardust DO IT
not century because it will always be loved
I came and stayed for that reason. Shrek being a masterpiece is no joke.
i literally got chills when you pointed out how “holding out for a hero” in the second movie uses the same score from the first movie wtfff 😤😤 shrek really is god tier lmao
I like how two of my favourite film analysis people agree that Shrek is a trilogy
@Lee Even Shrek Forever After tried to step around Shrek The Third by including 3D, any other studio would KNOW that including 3D in the title would confuse people and think it was the 3rd movie.
is the other one schaffrillas
@@mar-rv2qb i feel sideways might have just stumbled onto his channel which is why this is being made. this movie is like an onion. it has so many layers.
@@mar-rv2qb I just watched that yesterday. Great analysis all-around
@@mar-rv2qb yes
I remember feeling so betrayed as a little kid at the end of the second movie when they both decided to be ogres again, like why don't they want to be pretty and have a perfect life???? It's only now that I can appreciate how the writers insisted on a strong moral backbone of the story, and how harmful disney-like narratives can be!!
I don't exactly follow, you mean moral backbone as staying truthful to who you are?
Yes
@@anotheroutlier1227 Yeah I think what they mean is the message of Your looks don't matter works a lot better when the characters are not conveentionally attractive, especially with Disney in things like Beauty and The Beast, where the Beast is ugly, but can find love with Belle. The problem with this story is that It makes the Beast handsome again at the end which undercuts the main message of the story, where in Shrek the Story sticks to it's guns and keeps both main characters as Ogre's as It's happy ending
Me too! As a kid I wanted Fiona to stay pretty and all the Disney crap, only years later I realized they did the best ending possible
@@Zechariah_Mathieson1871I think the difference is that the Beast was cursed out of punishment. He wasn’t happy to be a beast. And his beastness would have prevented them from being truly together (one can assume they could not procreate). And presumably, he had a kingdom to run (although that point was always a little murky). In a way, for Belle, it was like falling for an alcoholic, or maybe someone disabled in some way. She could love him, but their lives would be more full if he were “healed.” But both Fiona and Shrek WANTED to be ogres. They wanted a quiet life, not the beautiful plastic lives of royals in Hollywood, and the story is about accepting yourself and your quirks and living the life you choose. Beauty and the Beast is about having love in your heart and valuing that in others. Two different couples, two different morals of the story.
Everyone: ALL STAR!
Sideways: LEITMOTIFS! AND ALL STAR!
You forgot the dies Eire. Cause you know he finds every time it occurs
@@lukecrawford6251 you mean Dies Irae?
Don't forget Hallelujah
sideways: THE DIES IRAE
Teacher: Sideways this is the seventh week in a row you've shown the dies irae in class!
Sideways: Leitmotif?
Score Piano Covers
*Ultralord, but a different color
@@FilmScoreandMore I'm screaming XD
As the teacher shuts his presentation down docking his participation grade during the critical moment in the film you can faintly hear the dies irae in the soundtrack
I mean it's not uncommon
"The pieces of pop music come to represent external pressures on the characters that inhibit their ability to freely express themselves, while the original score reveals their true identities."
Perfectly said.
I read this comment as he said it and it was a very trippy moment
It's total bullshit, though.
sharksandsheep yes and no. I agree with the OP statement and your comment at the same time. If Shrek was released now or during the time of Suicide Squad, people would’ve questioned the pop music. Granted, Shrek has an interesting story and it is written better than SS, but Shrek came out at the peak of Disney’s height over animation and 2 years after their renaissance. I think it was great to a lot of people to not hear Musical Theatre-esque Music in animated film. Plus the late 90s to early 2000s was the time of skater boys and “epic-ness” and the soundtrack delivered on that “badassery”
Donkey is the most musical character in the film and ends up laying the Dragon.
Donkey is a bard guys.
Tripod vs The Dragon is right again.
My next dnd character… will be donkey XD
I started watching D20 recently and I’m so proud I get this joke :’)
Donkey is a Chad.
Can we talk about how 20 years later Disney’s trying to do the same thing as Shrek with their constant commentary on classic Disney troupes?
A curse on their House of Mouse.
And they (disney) think they're clever for doing so, when in reality, the way they go about it is actually kind of insulting to those original works.
I feel like they tried to make Olaf resemble Donkey
“You can’t marry a man you just met!”
Yep
Yeah Shrek definitely influenced animation and storytelling in the modern age since also a lot of people started to become tired of cookie cutter stories in animation which in return like you said even had Disney becoming self aware with some of their projects later on to veer off criticism (a bit).
Shrek definitely did make some influence tho as it’s literally the only popular non-Disney animated film to have a fucking live stage musical on Broadway...!!! WTF lmao 😂
Also, "All-Star" is basically about being shoved outside of your comfort zone and into new experiences by crisis.
You know....the theme of the film.
👏👏👏
alternative title: *don't be Suicide Squad*
Be shrek dont be suicide squad
In a world full of Suicide Squads be a Shrek.
What
Another alternate, which will be too long: *SUICIDE SQUAD, YOU A SO MUCH OF A DISAPPOINTING MESS!! WHY CAN'T YOU BE LIKE SHREK??*
One thing on this (and forgive me if someone already commented on it): the reason "Accidentally In Love" is so perfect for the start of Shrek 2 is that the band Counting Crows wrote it specifically for this movie! And fun fact, it was also nominated for an academy award for best original song. Pretty darn cool! And yeah, it's perfect and wonderful and I love it so darn much.
I love that song❤
Fiona is the princess every girl aspires to be. She's fierce, kicks ass, eats good, and knows what she god damn wants. Love Fiona forever
Amanda F And was the first of her kind. Plus one of the better versions of this new trope.
New versions of the "kickass princess" are either mediocre or bad. Most of the time anyways.
I was skimming your comment and read "eats ass" rly didn't need that image in my head
shut-up-vanessa I love that lmao
@@guacamojo 😂😭 I mean maybe, she's a pretty cool chick
Except in real life, men aren't into masculine, unattractive women and girls who think they can physically dominate men are destined for a rude awakening. The fatal flaw of Shrek IMO is that Fiona is every bit the fantasy that Cinderella is, but lacks self-awareness to the degree that it sneers at Cinderella for creating unrealistic expectations.
unrelated, but at 8 I saw a Scottish talk show; kept wondering why everybody was speaking in "Shrek".
haha I love this
i’m Scottish and didn’t even understand that shrek had a scottish accent 😹
Ironically, according to the extras on the Shrek DVD, Mike Myers was going for a sort-of American accent, screwed it up, and they decided they liked it so he turned it up a notch.
That reminds me--shortly after Shrek came out I heard my first episode of Craig Ferguson's Late Late Show; I was half-asleep and going "I don't remember that being in the movie." XD
@@DraconicDuelist yeah, he doesn't sound Scottish. He does sound like an old-timer from Nova Scotia. it's hilarious that they did that by accident, because it works so well for the character. Like, if you were making a sitcom about a small town in eastern Canada, the main character's granddad would basically be Shrek (but not green). Just a stereotype obviously, but not a totally undeserved one.
Shrek has that ability with songs such as “funky town” and “ever fallen in love with someone..” where you cant listen to the song without thinking of the film, it creates such nostalgia around certain songs that show how incredibly well the use of the music in the film is. One of my favourite films for the music alone.
whenever i think of or hear hallelujah, i cry cuz its so beautiful and sad and then scenes of shrek flash into my mind as im bawling my eyes out
funky town came from shrek!??
@@aWERFRGT6545BGFG It was IN Shrek if that's what you're asking.
@@graysongdl ive never watched shrek lol
@@aWERFRGT6545BGFG No. It was a huge hit 30 years before Shrek, and like 10 years before the OG author even wrote Shrek, but that's why young people know Funkytown and not Nu Shooz for example
"To be clear, because we live in dark times"
*Uploaded November 26, 2019*
Oh you sweet summer child..
was about to comment this
Trash
@@truthcaster2377 Treasure.
@@truthcaster2377 no
Thanks for the LITERAL LOL. I almost fell out of my chair. SO TRUE
Me: Why is this in my recommended?
Algorithm: Ok i get it. I'll find something else.
Me: no. wait.
Touche, I'm glad I found this video and I can tell I will like this channel already.
Dreamworks honestly makes some of the most beautiful music in animated movies, and I think it's an aspect that is very underrated. Prince of Egypt, Shrek, How to Train Your Dragon, Kung Fu Panda, Rise of the Guardians - all of them have beautiful scores that just make me, for lack of a better way to describe it, melt. They're also the kind that bury themselves into your subconscious like a sleeper agent. I legitimately didn't remember Shrek's Hero theme until you played it, and it all came rushing back.
How to Train Your Dragon is my very favorite animate film (series)
Prince of Egypt has the best soundtrack in any animated movie: change my mind.
Hans Zimmerman composes for prince of Egypt, how to train your dragon, and kong fun panda. Same guy that did inception and interstellar. The studio knew exactly who to hire.
@@benshaw750 How to Train Your Dragon was scored by John Powell.
Davis Burchett I could of swore they did a collab for this movie too, my mistake
I want someone to talk about me the way you talk about the Shrek series soundtrack
Lol😅
*lol* whhhoooaaaattt *rofl* reading this nearly killed me 😂😂😂🤣🤣🤣
You are a beautiful human being, who is both courageous and kindhearted. Do not let societal pressure change who you are, be yourself because you are at your best when you are yourself, Falaniko Noga.
bach pham Wow. This is a nice comment but you know nothing about this person therefore it is not genuine. Before trying to encourage/uplift someone, get to know them first.
@@pyrocooper5830 I don't them either, but they are spitting facts 😌💅🏽
Fun Fact: part of the reason Donkey is always singing is because of the fairy tale he’s from. In the Town Musicians of Bremen, a donkey, a dog, a cat, and a rooster all love singing, and they decide to form a form a music group after running away from their terrible owners. They come across a cottage being used as a hideout by some bandits, and chase the bandits away with their singing.
Good to know
Haven't read that story in a while
Actually we don't know - he could also be from Pinocchio, considering that at the beginning of the movie, he is being sold by a rural woman. And Pinocchio's friend Candlewick in the Pinocchio story, was given to a farmer after he transformed into a donkey. So, perhaps Donkey is a reference to Candlewick. This would also explain why Donkey can talk despite "not being a fairy tale creature" - he's a former human.
Especially since in the original Musicians of Bremen story, all four animals including the donkey were elderly, in their end of life. Our Donkey isn't. So, there's a mismatch there.
@@DogDogGodFogwell in Pinocchio, Candlewick eventually lost the ability to speak, all the kids transformed into donkeys did. That seems more of a mismatch than the og donkey being older than the Shrek on, especially since Shrek's Donkey behaves the same as the fairytale donkey referenced. Both very specifically sing as a defining character trait.
@@Listening_Books12345 Important to note that in the Bremen story, the donkey quickly ends up humanless, and then dies humanless. There are alternate endings, where he does become a musician, but there are no known alternate endings where he ends up owned by humans again. But in Shrek, he does end up owned by at least an old woman.
I feel like "I Need a Hero" was a soundtrack to the 'fake' hero story the fairy set up, while Shrek's heroic theme was the real hero story shining through.
Oh my GOD you're right. Holy shit
I too watched the video that you commented on
It was her trying to convince Fiona that she "needed" this new version of "Shrek" (Prince Charming) even though Fiona felt he was no longer the man she married. Fiona never needed a hero, and she knew that. That's why the fairy godmother's plan to replace shrek would never work, Fiona would have left him.
"To be clear, I think Shrek, as a narrative is stronger than all the Disney Renaissance films combined. It's almost been two decades and Disney still can't figure out how to make a self-rescuing princess to the caliber of Fiona." THANK YOU
Moana
@@tinaloye2014 You mean Maui. Moana's central thesis for her heroine quest amounts largely to "... but you're pretty useless, so get this guy who can do it for you..." - and even during the final fight it's made clear that she's useless and needs a strong man there to hold her dainty little hand. No, Moana is not a strong, self-rescuing princess.
Sar'ras Fae'lynn seems you missed the first half and second half of the movie. Maui literally did nothing but teach her how to sail on the ocean. Moana calmed a literally volcano down just by walking up to it. She rescued the stone from a murderous pirate ship when Maui wanted to run, she was a de facto Leader in her village as a teenager and she sailed back home by herself without Maui. She continued on after being abandoned by Maui (multiple times). She was focused, driven and was self assured as much as a teenager could in the middle of the ocean. The only reason the ocean even wanted them to meet was so that Maui could teacher her how to sail and she can then teach her people so that could leave the island. That's it. So.... thank you, Next!
@@tinaloye2014 So we're just going to ignore the fact that Maui constants bails her out of trouble and even in what should be her shining moment (the end of the movie) he's the one who saves the day. Okay, fantastic. Glad you don't understand how men are used to undermine women in narratives. "Thank you, next!"
here is where we agree that moana was a huge step in the right direction for disney but they definitely can and should do better
There's a pretty straight up reason that pop music worked: Shrek was generally lampooning and reflecting popular culture in every other respect as well. The use of popular music was a thematic and aesthetic fit.
In Suicide Squad, this fit didn't exist because the songs were just tangential to what was going on on the screen. The *only* way it fit was the kneejerk surface level.
Well dang I guess I should’ve just read this comment instead of watching a 17 minute long video
Well for many of those the "pop music" was written FOR the film. Disney paid Phill Collins a LOT to do Tarzan. And there is NO pop music in El Dorado; it has a lovely instrumental score and a couple of its own original songs.
@star · light I'm sorry, which one of those movies relies in pop music without an original score?? Megamind uses music in the same way that shrek does, Ice age has an original soundtrack, and the pop song is kind of an opening, just a mood setter (Its doesn't relies on it), Spirit has an amazing soundtrack that one could argue is sung by the horse, since all his narration is in off voice, so the singing doesn't really seems out of place at all, brother bear is a straight up musical, they sing the songs that were specifically written for it, tarzan also has original songs, treasure island they sing....
The only ones I can't really say anything about is httyd, surfs up and over the hegde, because I don't really remember the soundtrack, but in all the other movies you just cited.. well... }i don't think they really prove your point (but from what I remember from surf's up, pop music would make sense, since the movie realy tries to be cool and set a "current" feeling)
I think you are confusing pop with non.diegetic
Isn't that how most movies use licensed songs, tangentially? Even Guardians of the Galaxy's doesn't hold a candle to Shrek (or even Megamind) when it comes to usage of licensed songs.
shrek is just, so right. it is realistic. makes you appreciate when it turns your perception of a fairy tale upside down.
that score at the start hits me every time..its so epic..
Shrek literally breaks into the ballroom as Fairy Godmother sings “He’s gotta be fresh from the fight!”
What a massive chad!
@@nerobernardino88 Who is Chad? I don't remember that Shrek character.
And the part where it says "rising with the heat", it's when the guards are foaming the milk to pour over Mongo, and I can't hear that part of the song without having that image flash into my mind hahah
@@PeterGriffin11 it's an expression that originated from memes.
Everytime I hear All star and I'm a believer, Shrek always pops up in my head
And hallelujah
@@shell7246 Or "I'm too sexy"
@@shell7246 Same, particularly John Cale's version.
I swear😅
I hear All Star and think Mystery Men.
"It's been 2 decades and Disney still can't figure out how to make a self rescuing princess to the caliber of Fiona!"
Please. Not in the face, it's gonna ruin the funeral!
I just thought wtf a gringo is using Tropa de Elite's reference here, then I read your name. Será que pega na gringa essa expressão? 😅
@@carolinesa91 tomara que pegue.... Hehehehehehehehehehehehe
ai sim ein, meu querido
SOCORRO SIMM
... mulan
"the film does not trust pop music to carry the most emotional moments of the story" gotcha
“There’s something about donkey, that’s very special.”
You don’t say
I think it's because he talks
You don't say, but he does.
you have 420 likes.
how did donkey get dragon pregnant In shrek
@I HAVE MUFFINS! But the real trick is to get him to shut up
I had never realized that they integrated the first movie's hero music into the I need a Hero cover. This is really awesome! You've revealed so many more layers to me with this video, great job!
Layers like an ogre 😜
Layers indeed. Just like onions, or ogres
Its pretty obvious. But it is great
L A Y E R S
@@lostecho4394 I'd say more like a parfait.
I love how Fairy Godmother as a character just fits so well with the societal pressure theme of the shrek soundtrack. She *quite literally* tries to change people using her very commercial and industrial potions business, and as a fairy godmother she also continues the theme of making fun of Disney. It's just works so perfectly when she sings the I Need A Hero remix at the movie's climax because it's both pop music AND the original score, as a mixture of the hero leitmotif and a pop song about heroism it's literally Shrek battling against the pressure of society, and holds the double meaning of Fairy Godmother celebrating her perceived victory of her orchestrated "hero" Charming falling in fake love with Fiona *_and_* of Shrek heroically coming to the rescue. It's just pure awesome.
Also, let's talk about the love potion. In both of the first two Shrek movies, the goal of the villains is to obtain Fiona as a prize, Farquad wanting her as a queen so he can be a proper king, and Godmother wanting her to fall in love with her son so that *_he_* can become king. Both of these villains objectify Fiona and degrade love into a shallow means to an end, they don't really care about what Fiona wants from the relationship. As a result, both Farquad and Fairy Godmother's son Charming both come across as very, well, incel-ish, for lack of a better word. Also, the main ingredient in Fairy Godmother's love potion is lust, which further eludes to how shallow these characters's idea of love is. I believe all of this is intentional, and is meant to mock how Disney falls back on "true love" as a theme for its movies. Relationships in Disney movies aren't fleshed out, they're soulless filler with no real chemistry between their two dimensional princes and princesses, and get overshadowed by some resulting gain of royal status or wealth. They're just as shallow as all the villains from Shrek wanting Fiona so they can ascend to royalty.
I appreciate this TED talk
Huh, never thought about it that way
Who knew that a children's movie could have such a deep theme, let alone one that was built up through the both the plot AND the music?
Bruh, another Dreamworks films that explore the 'incel' theme aside from Megamind? Damn bro...
@@MisterMythical gee it's almost like cartoons are a viable art medium or something :O
2019: Sideways "We live in dark times"
2020: Everyone "Oh"
2021: Hello there
2022: *awkwardly coughs into a balled-up fist*
2023: bruh
2024: ...
Another thing to consider is that All Star, maybe the most iconic piece of music in the film, is a song about living a superficial life to distract yourself from the fact that the world around us is falling apart. This being played as Shrek appears to be perfectly content with his lot in life, literally living alone in a swamp to avoid the castigation of society. I'm so glad these movies have been getting the love they deserve in recent years as opposed to existing in perpetual meme status. The treatment of the movies themselves even parallels the story. They're superficially crude, appearing on the surface to be nothing more than a series of opportunities for the creators to make childish jokes and engage in toilet humour, but look beneath the surface and they're biting criticisms of Disney, attempting to create new fairy tales for kids to relate their own struggles to where Disney simply took what already existed and slapped a mouse sticker on it, without that criticism taking away from the story. The central theme of the movie applies equally to itself as it does to the characters and the people watching, everything has layers.
period Period PERIOD!
Even the weird irony that's how much *it blew up* can't distract from the layers.
'he's treating himself to a #selfcareday'
this killed me haha
2:54
The memes never ruined Shrek for me. It’s an excellent movie.
they only made it even better for me tbh
It ruined it for me.
For me its more like I can just about like it despite the memes.
Alex White the sequels ruined it way before the memes came around.
@@MarkyMatey That means you are WEAK!
I always said that the music from Chicken Run was extremely incredible and sophisticated for the film. Glad to see these musicians got their big break on Shrek.
*Sideways:* I talked about How Train Your Dragon but I haven't talked about Shrek yet....
*Schafrillas:* _THAT WAS YOUR MISTAKE!_
😂😂😂😂
@@alyssadurante8739 I HAD to lol
You are so correct!
Honestly I wanna see a collab between those two. It would be epic
@@teenytinytwoo1375 RIGHT?! Well they've both already talked about Shrek, HTTYD, Disney.....but DAMN it needs to happen lol
Knowing this feels like having ascended to an superior plane or something
@@Depreciating - If they were happy I doubt they'd feel the need to post a correction
Sideways getting legit emotional about Shrek got me choked up
@@OverbiteGames Ok, I'm not sure if you're Sideways and you posted with the wrong channel or what (I think it is) but this was incredibly awesome insight
Overbite Games who even are you (no offense)
Overbite Games. Talk is cheap.
Overbite Games oh ok thanks
@@OverbiteGames that's a tall order, friend. The balance between career and personal life, with volunteering on top is a lot! Still, I get what you mean, that you are reaching out for that nebulous thing we call a meaningful life. I'm not really a technologist in the way that you are -- I'm more on the understanding what is and developing accordingly based on what we learn side of things -- but hey, we don't all have to be chasing the same rabbit! So I guess I just wanted to say good luck in your travels, friend. :)
I totally agree, Shrek storming the castle while Jennifer Saunders sings "Holding Out for a Hero" was the most epic part of most movies, let alone any Shrek title
Holding out for a hero was THE most epic musical moment in film history. I will physically duel anyone who disagrees
Edit: so many people disagree I need to physically duel every one of you
Nah, the charge of the Rohirim in LOTR is more epic
Landeen no
Luke’s final run on the Death Star, or Battle of the Heroes between Obi-Wan and Anakin
@Isaac Thompson the latter. I get emotional and ready to party and fight any bad guy during it
Endgame's final fight
Spiderverse's... well, everything
I got goosebumps when you made me realize the I Need a Hero scene incorporates Shrek's original hero theme. You just made my favorite scene in the franchise even better.
this is how english teachers be analyzing books
But the thing is that it’s fun with Shrek
：０
they do , hes following the basic standards for a good essay
Which is why my school is trying to approve a 'cinema as literature' class that will count as any regular english course
It’s called a video essay, so yeah, pretty similar.
Literally got a Disney add on the "department store" part. They really played themselves.
Not joking here: I actually cried during Shrek 2 because of self-esteem issues and how much I could relate to the story.
I hope you feel better now
I used to have that with Beauty and the Beast. Because I felt so ugly and unlovable that I felt like I was THE BEAST.
@@juliana3943 💀💀
@@juliana3943 You are lovable to us.
@@yugiohgames104 Say that to her ugly face.
7 year old me felt like such a boss in the cinema cos I knew Harold had swapped the cups and obviously no one else would have noticed.
huh?
@@tink6225 The king swapped the cups in the scene with fiona
@@rapsody230 ohh
I didn't notice that the first time I watched the movie, but the second or third I noticed it in his voice. He spoke in a "well, what are you gonna do?" tone, rather than a "oops dammit".
Harold is the unsung hero
@@migueeeelet It's so great, I remember looking for it in a rewatch and seeing the swap too. I remember thinking that was clever. It's just a small, but important act of defiance as Harold finally stands up to her and it's great ^^ Also the way he just sasses the Godmother with that line is delicious.
Why have I just spent 20 minutes watching a shrek analysis
Because Shrek is love, Shrek is life.
First time?
I don't know...
Same here tbh
because it's good
Wtf that’s a mood
It’s actually so special how the holding out for a hero scene in shrek 2 is so memorable to everyone I know. People with totally different interests that are different ages all agree that it’s just the best
John Powell is just a genius, like this and especially the how to train your dragon franchise... the man deserves to have his name known
He's definitely more famous than ever now, with a few awards under his belt and with having his name on a Star Wars movie.
I was watching Antz with my kids three other day and i could not get over how good the score is
@@jgriffin9084 Funny thing about that, Powell said that Katzenberg once told him "John, you're not writing music for the kids, you're writing music for the adults who have to watch the movie with their kids again and again." As much as Katzenberg probably stole A Bug's Life and as much as his coworkers seem to dread him, I think he knows a thing or two about what he's doing.
The How to Train Your Dragon 2 score is one of best scores of all time. It's a shame that he phoned it in for the third movie with only one original song.
@@trequor Hold that thought! I've got a video coming relatively soon about a very specific aspect of the HTTYD 2 score and I might eventually do one about the HTTYD 3 score. I'm trying not to get too far ahead of myself here.
That explains why the only «Pop» song in Shrek 4 is when he’s a lonely ogre again. Telling us that’s not really who he wants to be. Nice vid
Omg you are fucking right now that i stop to think about it
I know why, it's cause he kicks the door in sync with the song. Thank You.
SOME........BODY
the happiness pfp :D
I have listened to Holding out for a hero countless times since seeing Shrek, from on a CD when I was a kid to on Spotify now and I would always wonder why the original song sounded so different. I kind of just put it to the back of my mind like "oh it's because someone else is performing it and there's probably a different band" and I never would have picked up on the backing themes without this video. I am floored.
*_Shrek 3_*
Literally everyone: "We don't do that here."
I'm sorry... do you mean Shrek: The Last Chapter? I've NEVER HEARD of Shrek 3
Works of Wonder Woman the last chapter? Do you mean forever after?
I will defiantly stand up for that film
@@jamainegardner4193 that's a thing we like to call a suicide mission
I actually liked part 3 a lot... I played it on repeat as kid
Don’t ruin my childhood
Hey
Hey
Ya wanna know another movie that does this?
MEGAMIND BABYYYYYYY
DREAMWORKS BABYYYY lol
YaSSssss
PRESENTATION!
A TRUELY UNDERATED FILM. I see you're a man of culture
great film!!
"There, I said it! Let the comments reign on me like snow on a hot desert."
I laughed, but only because I was surprised by sudden poetry.
Do you know where that clip is from?
It was great. A clip from somewhere?
It’s at 6:40
@nurdle im aware of that, but originally?
Videos like this make me really appreciate how above and beyond composers go for movie themes even though all the casual film goers like me won’t be able to appreciate it.
15:20 "The path of true happiness is one of self-actualisation that will most likely defy societal norms in one way or another."
Just quoting for emphasis. It's that important.
that part hit me👌😔
Whenever I hear the Shrek theme, I think of when Fiona kills a bird with the song.
But seriously, as someone who watch the first Shrek film religiously as a kid, I love the hell out of this video.
absolutely
YES! I watched it so much that I now know the whole first movie line by line, beat by beat. (In Spanish)
That was the only song that came to mind. Beautiful piece of music too.
Shrek: THE BIGGEST MIDDLE FINGER TO DISNEY
Yasssss
That's why it's great.
Can I completely seriously and unironically ask you about the Twlight soundtracks? Everyone i know agrees its the one thing they did really right, but is it just a good playlist or is it a really good soundtrack?
Love your channel I just binged like 9 videos in a row
Edit: thanks for not making fun of this question y'all lol fingers crossed this will be a video one day somewhere
This would be a fun watch
This would actually be interesting to see.
AGREED
please!
On a similar note, I think Get Hard has a good soundtrack. The movie starts off with Iggy Izalea, Jessi J, and John Mayor. Basically, this guy's as tough as a wet paper bag. As the movie goes on, the music switches to artists like P. Diddy, Westside Connection, and 2Pac before getting into rappers that I never even heard of cause I ain't that hard, signifying how much tougher Will Ferrell's character has gotten.
One thing you forgot is that when Puss in Boots wants to fight the guards to help Shrek save Fiona from Prince Charming, the Shrek theme can be heard. This shows the true bond of their friendship as the theme which is used for importance is used for Puss "sacrificing" himself for Shrek. It shows that this is IMPORTANT.
Us as little kids: “Haha I like Shrek it’s a funny movie.”
Us as teenagers and young adults: “Haha meming Shrek is awesome. I love how Shrek works as such a fitting focus of ironic memes.”
Us in 2019: “WTF SHREK IS OBJECTIVELY INCREDIBLE!”
True believers always knew this though.
Some guy on Reddit went to church and the choir was singing hallelujah and apparently some kid said “that’s the song from Shrek” to his grandma. That post gave me a little hope for gen alpha
LOL
Now the song is "hallelujah fron Shrek"
the fact that so many people know the shrek motif while having no idea its the shrek motif is such a shrek thing to happen honestly
No one:
Sideways: Did you guys know the dies irae is in Shrek?
Sideways: Deis Irae
HAI/Wendover: planes
Polymatter: China
reallifelore: toyota corollas
"I need a hero" isnt the best moment in the trilogy.
Its the best moment in Cinema.
period
period
Disney fairy tales: *Exist*
Shrek: I'm about to insult this man's whole career.
*this man's whole existence
Except they're not Walt Disney's creations tho. 🤷🏽♀️
Disney has been always unoriginal, even in its golden age, what you call Disney princesses are underrated old tales that existed way before disney, but they're mainly known because disney made money with those tales
@Uday MALEWAR i like dancing slurpii's
As a side note, I find it so perfect that they casted Eddie Murphy as Donkey. One of the most musical comedians out there, I can just hear his James Brown impression slipping out when he’s doing “Try A Little Tenderness.” Absolutely stellar performance.
All this and not one mention of how the main theme is derived from Hallelujah? Just goes to show how much is going on!
Stop it right there...
Yeah, that was my thought as well. That definitely seems to complicate the theory somewhat. I'm not saying the analysis is wrong but it's worth bringing up.
Yeah, I realized it while watching the video. The movie that keeps on giving.
I can only hope that when I grow up and get married shrek storms in and objects
OH MY FUCKING HAHAJAHAHAHA
I never realized how fluid shreks animation is.
Npc #117 especially for that time period almost 20 years ago. It’s insane to see computer animation like that still hold up.
@@Qeengish Yeah. Most animated movies during then were eh. It's the live action films that had amazing CGI. Lord of the Rings is an example with amazing CGI.
Holy crap. I'm a big Shrek fan, I saw the second in theaters a stupid amount of times, I sincerely love it and have listened to that version of "Holding Out for a Hero" so many times, and I never noticed that the hero theme is part of it. I actually got goosebumps watching this video when you pointed it out. This is amazing.
SOMEBODY ONCE TOLD ME
a really cohesive framework for the shrek soundtrack explaining how the themes interact with eachother and it changed my perspective of the movies for the better.
And that, because of this newly acquired knowledge, you are now _the_ sharpest tool in the sheeeeeeeed.
all jokes aside, Shrek is actually one of the best fairytale stories of the 1900s-2000+ to have existed. It shares a story of a dystopian society where any sort of magical creature is kidnapped to be tortured and abused in exchange for a prize. On the other hand, it also introduces the main character, Shrek, an ogre who is hated by everyone but isn’t self conscious of anything he does. It also shows the story of Fiona, a princess locked in a tower, forced to be away from her family and cursed with the condition “princess by day, ogre by night”. We get to explore multiple sides of the story, initially creating the perfect enchanting fairytale.
The soundtrack is a whole different story, yet it is genius. It’s creative, it’s addicting, it’s powerful. We have All Star, the iconic worldwide wonder showing off its funky and upbeat tune. It is played in the opening credits of the movie, where Shrek is enjoying himself without having a thought. Shrek is getting ready in the morning and the scene alone shows us well what it’s like to live in his world. All Star sets the perfect mood for the scene.
In comparison, we have Hallelujah, and is played in the scene where Princess Fiona is forced into an unwanted marriage with a man she did not want to be with. The man, Lord Farquaad, was a cruel prince that started the entire chain of slavery and abuse amongst the town, and he desperately wanted to be crowned as King. He didn’t care for Fiona, he was a selfish old 4’6 man who poorly reigned Duloc City and brought war to the land. As Fiona and Bogovski prepared for the wedding, it shows the parallels of the two; It is clearly shown that Farquaad didn’t care for the ceremony and just wanted to get things over with so he could be crowned King. On the other hand, Fiona deeply regrets her choice and looks gloomy throughout the entire scene, as she feels uncomfortable and wants to go back. It is also shown that the Magic Mirror didn’t think it was right and had realised what Farquaad was truly seeking for. The Magic Mirror fakes their smile and pretends to support Farquaad, but on the inside they were deeply concerned and sided with Fiona. The song Hallelujah sets the perfect mood for the situation and we can truly feel the tremendous amount of emotion is expressed during the ballad.
The musical is an entirely different thing, and I can’t say much about it since I don’t know enough, but I can say is each song is well thought through and absolutely perfect. From when Shrek’s parents teach him to grow up and thrive, to when Shrek crashes the wedding, marries Fiona instead and they’re all celebrating, it’s just as perfect as the movie. Very well adapted and doesn’t lose any of its wonderful power.
The sequels were absolutely perfect. They all kept that same fairytale feeling as the first movie and just had the best storyline. Shrek 2 was PERFECT. Shrek Forever After was PERFECT. Shrek 3... not so much, BUT IT WAS STILL GOLDEN AND SPECTACULAR.
SHREK IS PERFECT. THANK YOU FOR COMING TO MY TED TALK
nicely done
Shreks parents?
Thats a delightful essay
@@shell7246 There's a Shrek musical where it shows him growing up and his parents telling him he has to scare people or else they'll kill him.
Me: hears the main theme for Shrek for the first time in years
Also me: suddenly feels like a 7 year old kid again and starts crying
Damn, what a theme
Francois Roewer-Despres I relate to this on a soul level
It like gives me the nostalgia so hard it like tingles
Saaaame. How old are you now? I'm 22 and it's so fricking nostalgic.
Its a rip off of secret garden's NOCTURNE. Do check that out.
I know. Goosebumps.
Shrek is so good, I love how it’s still relevant to this day, there’s so much thought around it, and I love how they have such a great personality. I love how there is a growth to it, and it follows a storyline, but instead of going in a predictable way, it goes through all of these pathways and makes it even better.