Today, even children don't believe this sentence, not to mention that the protagonists of the film are not princesses and princes in the traditional sense. What "Shrek 4" wants to show is precisely the "trivial and blandness of married life" that is always omitted in fairy tales.
Love, children, friends, peace, as if everything was there, and as if nothing at all. The ordinary days remain unchanged. Shrek, who used to "prank people" and scared people to flee, lives like this lifelessly, and his heart is very fond of the happy life of the swamp bachelor, and secretly hopes to escape from the ordinary reality. Therefore, he was used by a dwarf wizard with ulterior motives and signed a contract to be a merry monster for a day. After that, his life changed completely. Shrek gradually realized that what he was tired of at the beginning should be cherished, and he only had one day. Time to salvage it all.
In "Shrek 4", we continue to see the subversion of traditional fairy tales and the "parody" of current mainstream commercial films, such as "Beauty and the Beast" and "Harry Potter". But that's all, losing the rebellious color and sharp criticism of the first episode, and even the humor seems dry. As Shrek ingrains himself with the values of the American middle class, this episode feels more mainstream and more monotonous than any previous episode.
In the eyes of outsiders, Shrek, who is extremely lucky and happy, has encountered a mid-life crisis. When he no longer has conflicts with the surrounding environment, there is only conflict with his own heart. And this kind of conflict is the dissatisfaction of a natural and peaceful life as a natural monster, and the desire to return to the original ecology and free life. When the screenwriter asked him to repeat "what is lost is the most valuable", he was not satisfied, and insisted that he say "it wasn't me who saved you, but you saved me". The traditional Hollywood model of the strong saving the world and the weak, and the weak saving the soul of the strong appeared again, only this time in a film once known as "subversion".
In recent years, the word "subversion" has become very sacred. Anyone who touches it seems to have a refreshing revolutionary temperament. However, Hollywood screenwriters are very clear-headed - subversion in form is convenient and popular. But the subversion of values (especially core values) is very dangerous.
We can see that "Beauty and the Beast" is recreated in the first episode, and "Lord of the Rings" is spoofed in the second episode, but can we see that Shrek restores his monster nature, for the release of nature, for freedom Give up love and family, give up the responsibility of a man. Even if in the end Shrek got the freedom he wanted to take his mud bath comfortably in the mud, who would ever forgive him.
For the vast majority of audiences, the so-called subversion is just self-entertainment based on a movie-watching experience. How can it really ignore the values that they have formed over the years? Therefore, as soon as Uncle Shrek's mid-life crisis is resolved, the big family carnival like a family portrait begins again, and Shrek's charm gradually fades in the joyous singing and dancing that lasted for several episodes.
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