A Review of the Movie Shrek II
by Michael James Wooten-Simon-Smith
for the Exeter review
I have just finished watching the very deep and thought provoking Shrek 2, and I hasten to get my thoughts to paper before they dry up and blow away like store brand croutons on a salad, at the beach, on a windy day, and I am left with no opinion at all, so here goes. Shrek of course represents any person of color confronted with the harsh and confusing realities of living in a white world. The swamp he lives in, the place where he is comfortable, represents the ghetto, a simple world where brute force dominates, a perfect milieu for our hero. The swamp is in an enchanted forest, which = drugs. In addition to Shrek, the swamp is inhabited by an assortment of freaks and losers, such as Pinocchio (gay), the three blind mice (handicapped) and the gingerbread boy (on welfare). Into this mix comes Fiona, a white girl who has crossed over and "gone green", and of course, once you've gone green, you can never get clean, or can you? that is what this story is about. Anyway, for some reason, Shrek and Fiona and their friend Donkey set off for the kingdom of Far, Far, Away. Probably it's called that because it represents the long lost prosperity of the last Democratic Administration, or the distant promise of the next one. The moral is sure, with the Democrats you endure the burden of paying for a potpourri of wasted, hopeless social programs, but at least for four years you don't have to underwrite the Republican rape of every asset of value in the known universe. Donkey, of course, represents the baggage that every black man must carry with him when he ventures into white society, so it is appropriate that he sounds so much like Chris Rock. Anyway, the fairy godmother represents white liberals who imagine that they can change everything with a wave of the wand and a passel full of your tax dollars, and in the end, these are the real bad guys. Luckily, the Hispanic community lines up solidly behind the brothers in the person of Puss-In-Boots, and this coalition is powerful enough to steal some of the liberals magic and use it against them, spoiling both George Bush Jr’s second term (read Prince Charming)and causing his mother, Barbara, to disappear into a rain of harmless soap bubbles. Let us examine the ending of this fine epic before we get tired of this and run out of things to say; The giant gingerbread man who gives his life to breach the castle represents the latent power of the black proletariat. The king turns into a frog, which indicates to me that he was probably Irish Catholic. It's not clear if the queen actually knew it. Anyway everyone goes back to what they started out as, and most of them are happy about it except perhaps the king and the donkey, and maybe Pinocchio, who was accidentally straight for just a little while. I don't know who the three little pigs were supposed to be.
by Michael James Wooten-Simon-Smith
for the Exeter review
I have just finished watching the very deep and thought provoking Shrek 2, and I hasten to get my thoughts to paper before they dry up and blow away like store brand croutons on a salad, at the beach, on a windy day, and I am left with no opinion at all, so here goes. Shrek of course represents any person of color confronted with the harsh and confusing realities of living in a white world. The swamp he lives in, the place where he is comfortable, represents the ghetto, a simple world where brute force dominates, a perfect milieu for our hero. The swamp is in an enchanted forest, which = drugs. In addition to Shrek, the swamp is inhabited by an assortment of freaks and losers, such as Pinocchio (gay), the three blind mice (handicapped) and the gingerbread boy (on welfare). Into this mix comes Fiona, a white girl who has crossed over and "gone green", and of course, once you've gone green, you can never get clean, or can you? that is what this story is about. Anyway, for some reason, Shrek and Fiona and their friend Donkey set off for the kingdom of Far, Far, Away. Probably it's called that because it represents the long lost prosperity of the last Democratic Administration, or the distant promise of the next one. The moral is sure, with the Democrats you endure the burden of paying for a potpourri of wasted, hopeless social programs, but at least for four years you don't have to underwrite the Republican rape of every asset of value in the known universe. Donkey, of course, represents the baggage that every black man must carry with him when he ventures into white society, so it is appropriate that he sounds so much like Chris Rock. Anyway, the fairy godmother represents white liberals who imagine that they can change everything with a wave of the wand and a passel full of your tax dollars, and in the end, these are the real bad guys. Luckily, the Hispanic community lines up solidly behind the brothers in the person of Puss-In-Boots, and this coalition is powerful enough to steal some of the liberals magic and use it against them, spoiling both George Bush Jr’s second term (read Prince Charming)and causing his mother, Barbara, to disappear into a rain of harmless soap bubbles. Let us examine the ending of this fine epic before we get tired of this and run out of things to say; The giant gingerbread man who gives his life to breach the castle represents the latent power of the black proletariat. The king turns into a frog, which indicates to me that he was probably Irish Catholic. It's not clear if the queen actually knew it. Anyway everyone goes back to what they started out as, and most of them are happy about it except perhaps the king and the donkey, and maybe Pinocchio, who was accidentally straight for just a little while. I don't know who the three little pigs were supposed to be.
