Critical Reader

In this blog post, I examine various sources and critique their relevancy to my chosen essay subject: How Shrek echoes themes of realism to render a unique style: Magic Realist elements, Social Commentary and the Uncanny Valley.

This Essay philosophically examines the relationship between reality and art, and how it can be used in art to challenge what we truly depict as real. Gyenge examines historical references such as Zeuxis's illusionistic painting, and that direct reality is based on sensation. But art can also achieve a higher reality through interpretation and what it conceals or revels, creating a spiritual truth and connection. Shrek can align with Gyenge's philosophical concept of art and reality. It uses its stylised, fantastical setting and comedic subversions to actively critique and dismantle superficial "direct realities" like conventional beauty or societal norms and, in doing so, reveals a "higher actuality" of genuine connection, self-acceptance, and the true meaning of love and identity.

Gyenge, Z. (2025) ‘Essay on the Concept of Art and Reality’, The Slovak Journal of Aesthetics, 10(1), pp. 32–41. doi:https://espes.ff.unipo.sk/index.php/ESPES/article/view/196/224.

In his Fall 2024 review, “The Power of Caricature, Caricatures of Power”, Ian Haywood examines three books on the Golden Age of Caricature. He critiques its British rooted history, symbolising a way to express and expose political and social issues, shaping public opinion. While this influence in America was not initially as effective,  regardless of its colonial connection to Britain and freedom of speech, Haywood defines this Golden Age as the rise of satirical publications and the encouragement of social commentary. This is highly relevant to Shrek (2001), allowing analysis of the social commentary of class, light political characters and the problems with romanticised fairytales, serving as a powerful means of realism. Though this source provides less specific historical USA context relating to the effects caricature, it establishes the power of caricature in western entertainment that is deep rooted in British political history and public opinion.

Haywood, I. (2024) ‘The Power of Caricature, Caricatures of Power’, American Literary History, 36(3), pp. 815–823. doi:10.1093/alh/ajae073.

In his Critical Inquiry essay 'On Magic Realism in Film,' Fredric Jameson theorises magic realism as an alternative to postmodern culture. It’s suggested magic realism from literature, art, and political influence makes it complex. He critiques how postmodernism affects our culture by flattening history, and replacing it with familiar, comfortable and marketable pastiche. This then prevents genuine understanding of history and the human experience that embodies realism. Jameson argues magic realism, by subtly blending the impossible with the everyday, can “cure” this flaw. It reveals deeper societal and historical truths, engages with taboos, and offers meaningful storytelling beyond blockbuster aesthetics. This ideology informs an analysis of Shrek's (2001) realism through its de-narrativising of fairytale lore and uncanny elements within its postmodern aesthetic. Shrek serves as a quintessential example for Jameson’s ideology, even being released at the millennium’s turn, especially regarding satirical, perforated pseudo-history and a stylistic consequence of flattening historical fairytales.

Jameson, F. (1986) ‘On Magic Realism in film’, Critical Inquiry, 12(2), pp. 301–325. doi:10.1086/448333.

Kaba explores the causation of the “uncanny valley”, looking at Masahiro Mori and Sigmund Freud, and suggests that the “eeriness” sensations comes from almost human-like characters in appearance but display imperfections in their movement, but in an inhuman like manor that creates this phenomenon. The author refers to Princess Fiona and the redesign from the initial test screening. This source helps solidify the “uncanny valley” effect in Shrek and how animators need to find a balance between realism and stylisation to avoid this phenomenon. While Kaba's article provides a key production history anecdote for Shrek, its broad scope necessitates a deeper dive into the specific psychological and technological factors at play.

Kaba, F. (2013) ‘Hyper-Realistic Characters and the Existence of the Uncanny Valley in Animation Films’, International Review of Social Sciences and Humanities, 4(2), pp. 188–195. Available at: https://www.irssh.com/yahoo_site_admin/assets/docs/17_IRSSH-436-V4N2.44204045.pdf (Accessed: 16 August 2025).

Kätsyri, Mäkäräinen, and Takala (2017) empirical study, “Testing the ‘uncanny valley’ hypothesis in semi-realistic computer-animated film characters: An empirical evaluation of natural film stimuli”, investigates Masahiro Mori’s 1970’s hypothesis on the “Uncanny Valley”. It explores different concepts of what is uncanny, i.e. human likeness evokes eeriness. Their experiment, using cartoonish, semi-realistic animated characters and human-actors can confirm the hypothesis: semi-realistic animated characters create the sense of eeriness which may be due to, but not confined to, perceptual mismatch of facial features with strong emotions to the eyes. This phenomenon is relevant to Shrek (2001), where characters resemble realistic details (hair, face and textures) that blend with stylistic design. The gaps within the source, with my chosen topic in mind, are the films’ studied strive for realism, while Shrek is agreeably prioritising style while stemming from the emerging CGI technology for feature films.

Kätsyri, J., Mäkäräinen, M. and Takala, T. (2017) ‘Testing the “Uncanny Valley” hypothesis in semirealistic computer-animated film characters: An empirical evaluation of natural film stimuli’, International Journal of Human-Computer Studies, 97, pp. 149–161. doi:10.1016/j.ijhcs.2016.09.010.

Chapter 2, 'Representing Political Regimes in the Shrek Trilogy,' by Aurélie Lacassagne (2011), from the book "Investigating Shrek: Power, Identity, and Ideology", offers critical insight into the political and social regimes that arise within the film. Lacassagne illustrates how a totalitarian society enforces beauty standards and exiles non-conforming characters, reflecting a social construct evident in our own political history. This analysis is pivotal for exploring the theme of realism through social commentary in Shrek (2001) for my topic. Even though the source primarily discusses the trilogy of Shrek to discuss political regime, which goes beyond my focus, its insights remain highly valuable for analysing the first film.

Lacassagne, A., Nieguth, T. and Dépelteau, F. (2011) Investigating Shrek: Power, identity, and ideology. New York: Palgrave Macmillan. Available at: www.vlebooks.com/Product/Index/889349?page=0&startBookmarkId=- (Accessed: 10 July 2025).

In his work, Summers presents Shrek as a revolutionary film that broke away from its competitors, establishing a new standard of humour and tone with its unique "narrative-cartoonalism" and CGI style. This approach combines traditional storytelling with a self-aware, cartoonish aesthetic. Summers critiques the film's use of pop-culture references, arguing that while its humour is often on the verge of parody, it more accurately embodies Jameson's theory of pastiche. This is because the film's humour uses these references for simple amusement rather than a deeper critique of the source material. This insightful analysis highlights how Shrek's style was not just an artistic choice, but a strategy to form a unique mainstream identity distinct from the romanticised realism of Disney and Pixar, ultimately serving a clear commercial purpose. This is highly relevant for my argument as it examines Shrek’s style over realism, as well as referring to similar themes and sources.

Summers, S. (2021) DreamWorks Animation: Intertextuality and aesthetics in Shrek and beyond. 1st edn. S.l.: SPRINGER NATURE. Available at: https://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/herts/reader.action?c=RVBVQg&docID=6271293&ppg=154 (Accessed: 17 August 2025).

Tinwell's work offers an alternative approach to the "uncanny valley", arguing that the eerie feeling isn't solely based on a character's visual realism. Instead, she suggests it stems from a perceived "lack of empathy" caused by the animation itself. The unnerving effect comes from the robotic, perfectly-timed movements of characters animated with traditional keyframes, which lack the subtle, fluid imperfections of real-world motion. This source is valuable as it expands the uncanny valley concept beyond visual textures and allows for an exploration of the phenomenon in early CGI technology, where limitations in animation principles contributed to the unsettling effect. This source, while fascinating, doesn’t not directly reference Shrek, but rather other animations and video games, therefore, it will be used to solidify my arguments on this effect.

Tinwell, A. (2015) The Uncanny Valley in Games and Animation. Boca Raton: CRC Press/Taylor & Francis Group. Available at: https://learning.oreilly.com/library/view/the-uncanny-valley/9781466586949/?sso_link=yes&sso_link_from=UnivofHerts (Accessed: 16 August 2025).