Anyone who grew up in classic western fairy tales such as "Grimm's Fairy Tales" knows that a handsome and brave prince bravely rescues a beautiful princess who suffers from bad luck. The feudal society here is very different from the feudal society in Chinese history.) In the West, nobles at all levels are also lords at all levels. The reason why they can enjoy glory and wealth is largely related to their bloodline. In their eyes, the prince and the princess are the most suitable pair. Therefore, it is not surprising that the pair of prince and princess often appears in Western fairy tales. In the early feudal society, the requirement for the nobility was to be a knight capable of conquering and fighting, and to use his own strength to save people who were drowning in the sea of misery. Therefore, in the story, the prince is often a knight. He rides a horse of a steed, carries a long spear, or wears a sharp sword to fight against witches, fire-breathing dragons and all other demons that harm the princess. Of course, the princess who was worthy of the prince who went through such hardships and setbacks and risked her life to save her is naturally a delicate beauty, and the so-called "clouds want clothes and flowers want appearance" are nothing more than that. The ending of the story is beautiful. After defeating the devil, the prince and princess live a happy life, and the fairy tale will unfold from the next generation of prince and princess. This classic storytelling mode is also the standard telling mode for many medieval knight novels, and the Spanish writer Cervantes' masterpiece "Don Quixote" has already made fun of knight novels once, and "Monster History" Uncle Shrek from "Lake" once again took the fairy tale mode of prince and princess.
As a cartoon, "Shrek" is still a fairy tale after all, but the development of this fairy tale is very different from the fairy tale mode we mentioned above, and it can even be said to be surprising. To paraphrase a sentence from Fairy Zixia in "Journey to the West": "I guessed the beginning, but I can't guess the end." And what I want to say is that I guessed the end of the story, but I couldn't guess the beginning of the story. Yes, the beginning of the Shrek story is different from our usual fairy tales. As the male protagonist, Shrek has neither the status of a nobleman. On the contrary, he is still a monster, and he is not handsome. The reason why he accepted the task to save the princess was neither for the beauty of the princess, nor for saving the world. The common people, but for a very real problem, that is, to drive back all those fairy tale characters who were driven to his territory, and return them to a peaceful home. So he set out on the road with a babbling donkey. When they arrived at the castle guarded by the fire-breathing dragon, Shrek did not use the weak to defeat the strong, as in traditional fairy tales, to kill the fire-breathing dragon and rescue the princess. On the contrary, Shrek's power was very different from that of the fire-breathing dragon. Rescue the princess and save her life. At this point, the story has gradually become clichéd. The princess began to fall in love with this seemingly ruthless green lump, and even enjoyed roasting voles for dinner. Shrek also had secret feelings for the princess, but there was a disagreement between the two. After a misunderstanding, in the end, the princess was sent to the short hand of General Fake, ready to marry him.
At this critical moment of "the door is as deep as the sea, and Xiao Lang is a passerby from now on", the donkey showed his incorrupt tongue, and finally urged Shrek to succeed and let Shrek express his true heart to the princess. At a critical moment, Shrek stopped the wedding of the princess and General Fake, and confessed his heart to the princess. And the princess also revealed her secret to everyone. It turns out that the princess will look like a monster at night. She must have the first kiss from the person she truly loves to lift the curse and be beautiful forever. At this time, General Fake, who had just vowed to spend the rest of his life with the princess, revealed his true colors. The reason why he wanted to marry the princess was on the one hand because of her beautiful beauty, and on the other hand, he wanted to marry the princess. To gain the status of king, he brazenly ordered that the princess be imprisoned in the castle and never be released. At this time, in order to rescue the princess again, Shrek fought with General Fake, and with the help of the fire-breathing dragon, he finally eliminated General Fake and offered a kiss of true love. The pattern is fixed. However, for Shrek, isn't this appearance beautiful? At the end of the story, Shrek and the princess lived a happy life.
Shrek's story is said to be anti-fairy tale because it breaks many of the settings of fairy tales. For example, the positive characters in fairy tales are usually selfless and great, fighting bravely for love and country, but Shrek is very different from these characters. A peaceful home. The positive characters in fairy tales are usually perfect, not only in appearance but also in good character. And Shrek is obviously not such a person. He is not only ugly in appearance, but also has a bad personality, while the princess becomes very ugly at night, and then can't be beautiful at all (in the eyes of the world, but maybe in the In Shrek's eyes, it was more beautiful that way, and it also complied with the Chinese saying, marrying a chicken follows a chicken and marrying a dog follows a dog). In fairy tales, the positive characters are omnipotent, from heaven to earth, to slaying demons and slaying demons, and although Shrek is very powerful, he is not omnipotent. For example, he couldn't defeat the fire-breathing dragon guarding the princess. At the last critical moment, if the fire-breathing dragon hadn't helped him, he might not have been able to defeat General Fake's many men. So, this film is somewhat anti-fairy tale. But in its essence, it is indeed a fairy tale, even closer to a fairy tale than many traditional fairy tales. It emphasizes loving a person, and more importantly, loving his inner beauty, not just outer beauty. As a monster, Shrek could marry a princess because of his sincerity, his courage and bravery, not his appearance and status. In the end, the princess's appearance became similar to Shrek, and she married Shrek, which to a certain extent also reflected that the racial barriers were broken. Therefore, we say that the film "Shrek" is also idealized, it is also a fairy tale, and it is a more beautiful fairy tale, even though it looks so subversive.
After talking about American blockbusters, and thinking about Chinese society, I can't help but feel emotional. In a society in China where girls would rather sit in a BMW and cry than laugh on a bicycle, is there still a girl who will give silently for her because of her ugly appearance and low status, full of true love, Brave and courageous boys and tempted it? The beauty of fairy tales is that they provide real people with a beautiful imagination space, a garden of Eden in the air. Therefore, if the unpleasant topic is off topic, let it go. It is better not to mention it, so as not to destroy the artistic conception of fairy tales Is it my fault?
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