070 Shrek (2001)

Retro Grade Podcast

“YOU THERE, OGRE!“

On this episode, we cover the first film to ever take home the Best Animated Picture at the Oscars. We talk about the first film in the Dreamworks tent-pole franchise, Shrek, directed by Andrew Adamson and Vicky Jenson, starring Mike Myers, Eddie Murphy, Cameron Diaz and John Lithgow. What was it about Shrek that permeated throughout pop culture for over twenty years since its original release? Was it the fact that it was book-ended by two catchy Smash Mouth tracks? Because it lampooned all of the Disney films we grew up with and came out during the years where we wanted more edgy comedy? Or maybe because it provided the perfect meme template rivaled only by SpongeBob? Perhaps it’s a combination of everything above.
We talk about how the comedy in this film still works to this day. So much of the comedy comes from making fun of fairy tales made popular by Disney, and potentially making fun of people working at Disney, but some of the comedy is on a layer aimed for the adults in the audience. Watching the film 20 years later gives us a whole new level of jokes to notice that we might have missed as kids.

We talk about how the comedy of the film doesn’t completely bury the story. While often times our entertainment media might indulge in meta humor, it might come at the expense of the sincerity of the story. Shrek is a little different. While a huge part of the movie is all the jokes made about the fairy tale genre, the film doesn’t forget about what it’s trying to say about it’s underdog characters.
We talk about the legacy of Shrek. While it was great box office success in 2001, spawned two movie franchises, it also meant a lot of different things to a lot of different people. The song All-Star became a hit (again) and inspired some creative people to create mashups and remixes. We talk about how the love story in the film has since become a source of inspiration for real life weddings. We also take a look at some fan fiction that ranges from bizarrely sincere and sweet, to criminally obscene. If you have never heard the phrase “Shrek is love, Shrek is life,” don’t look it up unless you want to revisit peak “no holds barred“ message board ‘humor.’ Seriously.. its gross.

Joining us on this episode is Brittnie who chose to talk about Shrek. We love talking to people about their favorite movies, and we were very curious as to what she had to say!
We hope you enjoy this episode, and keep a lookout for our upcoming PATREON launch!
Music is from Triune Digital and audio clips pulled from movies we will be reviewing in other episodes.

Artwork by @jannelle_o