The entire concept of the first Shrek seems to nod to Dreamworks’ scruffy status – the franchise continuously spoofs the tired Disney tropes of a prince and princess living happily ever after. The animators even poured mud on themselves to better understand how to animate Shrek’s swampy surroundings. So, Dreamworks animators were instructed to make Shrek 10-times better than Antz, and they dreamed big (and weird) to do so. In 1998, Dreamworks and Pixar released Antz and A Bug’s Life, respectively, with the former receiving dismal reviews. Like so much meme fodder, the creators of the movie made it easy, even down to the pixels that sculpted Shrek’s viridescent physique.ĭreamworks Animation came into the world of 3D CG looking like an off-brand version of Disney or Pixar. I like that.” Even years after its release, audiences still appreciated Shrek’s status as the smelliest fairy tale hero of all time. To quote Smash Mouth’s “All Star” - which the internet also reprocessed, since it was used in the Shrek opening credits - the memes start comin’ and they don’t stop comin’.īut why Shrek? As Donkey tells his grumpy companion, “You got that on-I-don’t-care-what-nobody-thinks-of-me thing. In 2018, over 200 artists came together to create a fan-made recreation of the entire 90-minute movie. The internet meme regime blessed us with creations like “ Shrek but every time he takes a STEP it gets 5% faster,” a masterclass in the art of iMovie that has over 30 million views on YouTube. Over time, as Shrek memes oozed off 4chan onto less sinister internet pastures, the jokes became more wholesome and silly. That’s also how the very NSFW video “ Shrek is love, Shrek is life” was burped into existence, and somehow, entered the “normie” circles of the internet as though it were Shrek himself scaling Princess Fiona’s tower. The goal was clearly to create the most gruesome remix of a kids’ movie possible. When did Shrek cross the meme threshold? Tracing the ogre’s mud tracks back in time brings us to 2013, when a 4chan user wrote a disturbing greentext story in which Shrek does some … ugly sex stuff. In 2021, it is a grotesque glob of silly putty for the unhinged minds of Tumblr, 4chan, and Reddit to stretch into punch-drunk absurdity. In 2001, Shrek was a massive box-office success, a breakthrough for computer-generated animation, and eventually, the Academy Awards’ first winner for Best Animated feature.

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