Shrek, Basic Communication
This assignment is to show how an understanding of narrative structures, the language of film', and binary oppositions can contribute to a critical reading of any one film chosen from the list given. In interpreting the purpose of this assignment, I have chosen the feature film "Shrek" to be analyzed. The overall story of Shrek is simply similar to Disney's Beauty and the Beast. It is a romantic story between an ugly-beast with a beautiful Princess, which is setting up as an old kingdom movie packed with hilarious jokes and images. The form of the movie is in 3D animation movie, which is brilliantly created by Dreamworks. In addition, I would like to use this assignment as an opportunity to argue that the genre of Shrek is a romantic fairytale comedy. In term of definition, fairytale is an interesting but highly implausible story. The argument stated in this assignment will be mainly focusing on the genre by analyzing the narrative structure, binary oppositions and the language of film.
Narrative is telling a story. Films tell stories. Telling stories is the best way to send information. Narrative structure is how a story is told. According to Todorov (1977) from Film as Social Practice, narrative begins from a stable situation, to a disruption, and to another stable situation. From the feature film Shrek, the first stable situation is basically when Shrek lives peacefully in his swamp. In the opening scene it is shown how he lives his day to day live in his swamp from his taking a shower, eating his dinner, and getting rid of the humans who's trying to kill him. From this, it moves on to a disruption. The disruption here is when the fairytales creatures invaded his swamp because of the evil Lord Farquaad has kicked them out from their place. This leads Shrek on his adventures to save Fiona, a beautiful princess that is trap on a giant Castile guarded by an undefeated dragon in order to get rid of the fairytales creatures from his swamp. The ending, which is the
Narrative is telling a story. Films tell stories. Telling stories is the best way to send information. Narrative structure is how a story is told. According to Todorov (1977) from Film as Social Practice, narrative begins from a stable situation, to a disruption, and to another stable situation. From the feature film Shrek, the first stable situation is basically when Shrek lives peacefully in his swamp. In the opening scene it is shown how he lives his day to day live in his swamp from his taking a shower, eating his dinner, and getting rid of the humans who's trying to kill him. From this, it moves on to a disruption. The disruption here is when the fairytales creatures invaded his swamp because of the evil Lord Farquaad has kicked them out from their place. This leads Shrek on his adventures to save Fiona, a beautiful princess that is trap on a giant Castile guarded by an undefeated dragon in order to get rid of the fairytales creatures from his swamp. The ending, which is the
References: O 'Shaughnessy, M. (1951), ‘Stories ' in Media and Society: an Introduction, (pp 91-154), Oxford University Press, Victoria. Turner, G. (1993), ‘Film Narrative ' in Film as Social Practice 2nd Edition, (pp 67-94). Houghton Mifflin, New York. Total Pages 188. ISBN 0-415-19272-8. Monaco, J. (1981), How to Read a Film, Oxford University Press, New York, Oxford. Kitses, J. (1969), ‘Authorship and genre: notes on the Western ', in Horizons West, (pp 8-13). Thames and Hudson, London. Total pages 176. ISBN 500-48013-3