I can't believe that the Shrek movie series began seventeen years ago. I feel so old. I remember when I first received it on my birthday the year it came out. I lived on a farm. My idea of a good time was riding my bike and watching the animals. I watched it with my neighbor, who was four at the time, and got to the point where Shrek yells, What are you doing in my swamp? And I was called home, and my brother and his wife gave me the movie. I was ecstatic. I remember the layout of our houses, and the secret passage in the backyard, and the big gap under her porch where we hid one time eating bananas.
It's so different now. I'm different. I'd shave off ten years of my life if it meant I could be a kid again for a day. And no, Stiltskin, don't get any ideas. But Fiona pulls out her knife on Shrek, and he tells her what he knows about her. That when she signs her name, she puts a heart over the I. She sings so beautifully that birds explode. She doesn't like the covers wrapped around her feet and sleeps by candlelight...Blah, blah, blah. Don't get me wrong - beautiful movie. Love warrior Fiona. Love her lines, love Cameron Diaz, it's perfect.
But what about that Sir Justin picture on the bottom of her bed? He should have thrown that in there. A lot of women sing and dot their I's with hearts, and she knew that. But nobody else knows about the figurines on her fireplace mantle. And she would have really been blown away if he described the view from her bedroom window.
It's so different now. I'm different. I'd shave off ten years of my life if it meant I could be a kid again for a day. And no, Stiltskin, don't get any ideas. But Fiona pulls out her knife on Shrek, and he tells her what he knows about her. That when she signs her name, she puts a heart over the I. She sings so beautifully that birds explode. She doesn't like the covers wrapped around her feet and sleeps by candlelight...Blah, blah, blah. Don't get me wrong - beautiful movie. Love warrior Fiona. Love her lines, love Cameron Diaz, it's perfect.
But what about that Sir Justin picture on the bottom of her bed? He should have thrown that in there. A lot of women sing and dot their I's with hearts, and she knew that. But nobody else knows about the figurines on her fireplace mantle. And she would have really been blown away if he described the view from her bedroom window.
I remember the first time I saw the movie - we lived on Cedar Street, and Jason and Bobbi brought it over - I can't even remember if it was a VHS or a DVD, but either way, I do remember never getting into the movie because Mom sat there with a weird look on her face - kind of a snobby look if I remember right. I still feel awkward watching the movies, just because her reactions always stuck in my head.
ReplyDeleteI'd trade a lot to be a kid again ... not everything, but a lot. I think I'm a better writer and maybe even a better artist, but I had so much motivation back then, so many ideas and so much energy, and I hadn't yet been discouraged at all from trying things. I feel like I'm being kicked down at every turn these days; not by loved ones, but in general. It's hard to explain, but I guess what I mean is that life itself seems harsher through grown-up eyes.
There were a number of things Shrek could have said to get Fiona to believe him ... probably most of them weren't appropriate for the target audience, though. Telling her how they met would have been nice, with the proof being the "Dear knight/Sir Shrek - I pray that you take this favour as a token of my gratitude" which she would have remembered from her mantelpiece decorations. I'm just glad she did warm up to him a bit; Warrior Fiona is so cool, and she and Shrek are one of my favourite couples, just because they're no one's first idea of "beauty" (although I think they both look awesome) and yet that's not a point the writers shove in our faces - it's more about who they are as people, and that's part of why they're such a happy couple. :D
- An addition to my second paragraph: I've noticed that people are a lot meaner these days; maybe it's just that I pay more attention now, or that hiding behind a screen and not having to see how your words hurt someone makes people bolder ... for sure there have been times when it felt like every time I opened my mouth, someone jumped down my throat!
ReplyDelete(Maybe don't picture that.) :D
- Addition to third paragraph:
And why they're such fun, relatable characters. The best characters have flaws, especially physical ones ... it's harder for me to get over an obnoxious or cruel character, I guess because those 'flaws' hit too close to home.
Fiona will always be my favorite redhead...but she is a bit of a Mary Sue. She sings, she cooks, she fights, she dances, she's royal, her entire life has been referenced in books across the land and she's said to be beautiful in every book, and she can never just pick a side; everybody always has a point. And even if her husband wants to go back to before they meet, she wants to comfort him. Her parents throw her into a dungeon to face a huge, fire-breathing, people-eating dragon at a very young age, not to see her parents again until IF she gets rescued, and "That was for my own good." That's why I love Warrior Fiona. She doesn't have time for love, she's not afraid to hurt somebody, and she doesn't believe that a single kiss solves everything. And being romanced takes a lot longer to work on her. I am so sick of females being portrayed as easy and desperate. I guess what bugs me the most is the pointless role Puss In Boots has. Why would he end up with Fiona? He slaughtered ogres for a living; he charged a great deal of money for each ogre. Why would he quit, and live with a whole bunch of them? And if he's not working, and Fiona's living in a tent, how can he be so pampered?
ReplyDeleteI know. It's eight years old, it's done; I should be, too. I'd like to tell you to watch whatever you want and not feel weird, but I get it. I'm embarrassed just lending her my movies, but if one of them - or worse, if they - catch me watching Tinker Bell or Sagwa, I would just want the floor to open up and swallow me.
Fun fact, though; one of the voice actors from Tinker Bell is the voice of Howard and Bernadette's baby!
A lot of female characters are Mary Sues, so for a while I refused to write any female characters. Too often, a woman is in a story to be the unexpected hero — too beautiful for anyone to have expected she had a sword under her dress or whatever. And then of course she falls madly in love with someone, or she's been in love the whole time ... I'm starting to really like stories in which a woman has NO love interests; then, even if they do fight well, they're tolerable characters. :p
DeleteYou're right, a lot of female characters seem desperate — they fall in love at first sight. I can say honestly that I knew my guy was special just by looking at a picture of him, and I loved him before I'd even met him in person — BUT, just because it apparently does happen doesn't mean it should always be that way when a writer / movie writers are trying to tell a creative story. It should especially take longer to 'win' the woman's heart if she's had a crappy past; people who have little reason to trust easily might sound like good characters just for their mysteriousness and moodiness, but in reality they would be a pain in the ass due to their inability to just trust, accept help, whatever.
I don't think it ever occurred to me that Puss lived among ogres who accepted him despite his former profession — I guess I was too thrilled at finally seeing lots of ogres to notice. It would be nice if they'd done an extra scene showing how he ended up in the ogres' camp and why they allowed him to stay.
I watch whatever I want when I'm alone at home; usually cartoons — I was caught watching the Totally Spies movie once, and I had to rewatch the last half hour or so on YouTube when I got over my embarrassment (like three years later) because I was too embarrassed at the time to finish watching it properly. And that movie's so cringy!
... That baby sounds like a monster! I hope the (spoiler?) new baby sounds cute :p
I can only write about female characters; I guess because I don't understand how guys really think. I have them in my story, of course, but the main character has always been a lady. To be more precise, the same lady, and I'm not writing it anymore. Maybe typical happy-ending fairytales are easier to tell, but they're so overdone.
DeleteThe only plot I find believable is that Fiona befriends Puss, sees him trying to slaughter an ogre at sunset and lets him see her transform. In the alternate universe, he knows the rhyme, and the sight of her transformation doesn't shock him. I think she would have pampered him until he got fat and couldn't do flips anymore, then took him home.
Actually, the baby's voice is from a woman. She has a nice voice, really, but they slowed it down. And no, you didn't spoil it; I'm all caught up and I even read spoilers all the time to know what I'm getting into.
Trust? Well, you can't just trust and accept help if you've just had a string of bad experiences. Trust is a very delicate privilege, and it's always being misused. I think a character hesitant to just trust anyone is smart. True, not everyone is bad; but there's no way to determine who's good. Even time doesn't help; people can pretend to be perfectly nice and then show their true colors when you need them the most. Almost every character just trusts; it would be nice to see a character who learned something.
I've read so many stories with male mains now, I think I can do it ... lol, they don't think so differently than we do, except that they don't seem to cry as much. :p
DeleteOh ... lol, I had no idea how they got that freakish sound ... really? I avoid spoilers! I like to be surprised, but if I'm expected to sit down and watch a whole movie, I like to see the trailer first ... :p
Very true, especially about time — I wasn't saying that characters should just trust outright, but that those with real reasons to be wary of other people should take longer ... for sure any character who jumped blindly into a car with a stranger would be a bad role model and hopefully used as an example of why doing what h/he did was stupid! :p
Darn, I wish I could edit my comments ...
DeleteThat's supposed to be "s/he" up there. :p
I don't know if it comes through as multiple replies in your inbox, but I actually rewrite most of my answers before deleting the original; like if I misspell something or a word can be hyphen-ated to save room.
DeleteI can't understand the way guys think because every male who has ever spoken to me has always been brash, asking if I'd like to F them and calling me a B if I don't respond. And every guy singer I've heard has been all lovey-dovey and crying. They seem to be at either end of the extreme, and I don't understand either side.
No, that never shows up - I was thinking you just never made mistakes :p
DeleteWell, yeah, most of the guys I talked to online (before I got sick of talking to people) were the same way - I have to think that the anonymity of being able to talk to a girl from behind a screen makes them worse than they would be in real life, when there would be witnesses and/or he would have to see the look on her face and actually have to use his voice.
... What kind of music are you listening to? I'm going to have to send you some better stuff, lol, the music I listen to always makes me want to sing or dance - the men who sing (in the songs I like) tend to sound incredible, some of them powerful ... a lot of the little teen star types do sound wussy; they get by on their looks more than their skill :p
I listen to Rammstein and Nightwish, still; I was referring to the garbage that comes over the radio Lorne put in the bathroom. It does have some good songs; Thunderstruck by ACDC, some songs that actually made me start listening to Bruce Springsteen, I even heard Oye Como Va, by Santana. Brought back some memories.
DeleteAh. I don't listen to the radio because it never plays anything I want to hear, so ... yeah :p
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