SHREK- A CHALLENGE TO THE EXISTING MYTH

Once upon a time, in a small town lived a happy family, a father, a mother and their beautiful little daughter which they named Cinderella. One day, Cinderella’s mother was so very sick. She suffered a rare fever that had no cure. She died in the arms of her beloved darling. Cinderella became motherless. To provide Cinderella with a mother affection and care, her father remarriage with a widow of two daughters. They moved to the little house afterwards.

Cinderella’s stepmother was wicked as much as her daughters. They made her slave in the house after her father’s death. She had to endure hard labors every day and night. She had no proper clothes nor jewelry. She was poor and miserable. But she had great beauty that would put her into rescue by the handsome and rich Prince of the country. In the end, Cinderella and the prince lived happily ever after.

Once upon a time, there was great kingdom where the king had a beautiful little daughter. She was so beautiful and has a skin as white as the snow. They called her Snow White. Upon the king’s death, her wicked stepmother cast her away into a deep great forest to die. She envied Snow White for her beauty and determined to get rid of her. Seven dwarfs came to rescue her. But the evil queen would not let her go. She disguised as an old woman and poisoned Snow White. She was paralyzed and the dwarfs thought she might be dead. They could not bury her so they placed her in a glass coffin. The pass by handsome Prince kissed her and she lived again. They lived happily ever after.



Every beautiful princess always lived happily ever after with handsome prince. Even in the Beauty and Beast, the Beast turned into handsome Prince. Shrek turned this myth upside down. A beautiful Princess Fiona chose an ugly green Ogre and lived happily ever after (I hope so after Shrek 1, 2, 3). A beautiful princess sacrificed her beauty for the green Ogre Shrek and became a female Ogre herself. Shrek challenged the myth that happiness always belonged to those who were beautiful. Fiona loved Shrek for what he was…he was funny, kind, and temperament sometimes. He made her feel like home.


That’s what I love about Shrek. When I was a child, I used to think that to be happy, you had to be both beautiful and rich. No fairy tale ever mentioned that an ugly poor person could get happiness…Cinderella, Snow White, Beauty and The Beast, Aladin…all female characters were pretty…and the males were handsome. Ugly faces and features were casted as monsters, enemies. Shrek provided a new myth and legend. Being ugly was not the end of the world. Being ugly, you could also have the same happiness as others. It’s what you are that matter. It’s your true heart.


Am I ugly? Well… I used to think so. I wasn’t a great beauty at all. I wasn’t rich either. Sometimes I looked down at myself for this. I wanted to be beautiful like Snow White, Cinderella, or Bawang Putih. I had no fair skin. I had acnes. I had this…I had that…As time went by, I looked at myself differently. No more fairy tales could fool me anymore (ops…maybe a little bit…  ). I loved myself by now. God has endowed with so many things for reasons for my happiness. I have great parents, wonderful husband, great friends, good job, etc. My face or my look doesn’t define what I am.


So girls out there, Beauty is not everything. It’s what you look inside that matter.