On Parody In The Shrek Series

It has been a great phenomenon to reproduce classical fairy tales through parody in the late 20^th century, along with the pace of the culturally classic-consuming trend. Taking the series of cartoons Shrek produced by DreamWorks SKG as a typical case, this paper tries to probe into the destiny of fairy tales in the classic-consuming trend in applying the Intertextuality Theory and the Carnival Theory.The motives for my choosing such a topic are illustrated in the Introduction part, and several concepts concerned clarified.The first part illustrates by means of text analysis the differences of the culture production mode reflected in the cartoons reproduced from fairy tales by the Disney and DreamWorks SKG. The conclusion of this part is that the Disney cartoons are reproduced from the fairy tales in the way of pastiche, while the DreamWorks SKG in the way of parody.The second part illustrates the functions and significances of parody in the reproduction of classical fairy tales. It figures out that the parody way is more productive than the pastiche one in the post-modernized culture reproduction process. Meanwhile, parody is also a powerful weapon for the new social forces to de-authorize cultural hegemony and authoritative social discourses. Furthermore, the spirit of universal carnival is embodied in the de-authorization and deconstruction process made by the parody text.The third part analyses the roles parody plays in destructing and reconstructing the Utopian fairy-tale world. Parodies of the classical fairy tales will necessarily overthrow the traditional Utopian world implied in those tales, and reset their new Utopia.However, Parody as a means of culture reproduction can also be a double blade sword. Over-driven by commercial benefits and the consumers' sensation desires, it will be easily reduced to a nonsense signifier and a by-product of cultural nihilism.