“But we all learn, but we all learn. An ogre always hides.
An ogre's fate is known. An ogre always stays. In the dark and all alone”
Shrek is a well known and loved movie from 2001. It is funny and charming showing a so-called big and ugly ogre getting a happy ending. The movie alone already breaks stereotypes with its story line. The beloved movie was then made into a musical in 2008 and was performed on Broadway. The musical rendition of this movie brought a new level of depth to the story as the characters sang songs that portrayed their feelings in their hearts. My favorite song from the musical is called “Who I’d Be” sung by the character Shrek.
In this scene, Donkey, Shrek’s new found friend, asks Shrek who he would be if he could choose. Shrek reluctantly answers at first in song form but then is swept away in his dreams of who he would be if he could choose. In the beginning of the song the individual playing the part of Shrek starts off soft spoken, sharing dreams of being a hero or viking. As if saying the words out loud feels funny. The accompaniment is also light and delicate sounds like a dream is being built.
In the next section of the song, the music builds. As if Shrek is being carried away in his dream and can’t help but continue to explain how he feels. He explains the scenery he would be enjoying if he were a viking and how much fun it would be. At the end of this line the accompaniment falls, and Shrek says the last line of the verse as if in conclusion. He even looks at Donkey and pats him on the shoulder and starts to walk away as if to say ‘okay there’s my answer now I am done.’
So far, each thing that I have described about this song can be known as the “nondiscursive symbols” (Sellnow, pg. 169). Sellnow explains nondiscursive symbols as “symbols beyond the realm of words and numbers that humans use to create meaning. For rhetoricians. These symbols range from nonverbal body language and tone of voice cues accompanying words in a speech to musical sounds and visual images.” (Sellnow, Pg. 169). In musicals it is a lot easier to use nondiscursive symbols because of the performance aspect but even if you weren’t watching the video of this performance and simply listening to the song you can still pick out these symbols. The tone of how Shrek says words brings emotion and meaning into the listeners hearts and mind. Especially as the song goes on.
After the last line of the first verse when he seems to be done talking about his dreams, Shrek turns around and starts to dream more. This time it is not just about being the typical dream of being a hero, this time he talks of being a poet. He talks about rewriting “the story.” It is easy to guess that he is talking about his story but he is also talking about the story of his world. He would write it so that there would not be prejudices against him because of how he looks. In this verse the music is strong and powerful but at the end it falls again back to soft and timid and Shrek states, “But we all learn, but we all learn. An ogre always hides. An ogre's fate is known. An ogre always stays. In the dark and all alone” (James & Breaker, 2008). This is a sad part of the song because Shrek is realizing he cannot change the world. The bitterness of his reality hits him, but even facing this reality, he holds the last note out nice and strong as the music builds again. He goes back to his dream. It is still his hope and his wish for the world to change.
There is one moment in particular where the nondiscursive symbols are very strong. He states, “So yes, I'd be a hero, and if my wish was granted. Life would be enchanted, or so the stories say. Of course I'd be a hero, and I would scale a tower. To save a hot-house flower, and carry her away. But standing guard would be a beast, I'd somehow overwhelm it. I'd get the girl, I'd take a breath, and I'd remove my helmet” (James & Breaker, 2008). After he says the line of taking off his helmet, the music stops suddenly. The audience's mind is turned back to earlier in the play when Shrek took off his helmet and the princess Fiona was disappointed to find him to be an ogre. The audience wonders if he is going to give up right then and there and be crushed back into reality. But then he goes on and states that they would fall in love and get their happily ever after. The song goes on and ends on the line “that’s how it should be” (James & Breaker, 2008). Shrek feels that is how the world should be. He has a dream of what the world should be.
This song seems to be an oxymoron because it seems to be ‘comic’ and ‘tragic.’ Sellnow describes these terms as “Comic lyrics focus on the protagonist's determination to beat the odds … Tragic lyrics focus on the protagonist's self-consummation, sense of hopelessness, and attempt to cope with fate” (Sellnow, pg. 175). It seems that Shrek wants to beat the odds but it is more of a dream than a determination to beat the odds. He ends saying it should be that way, things should be different, but does not plan to take any actions to change his circumstances so that's where the song becomes tragic. He is stuck in his fate.
What are other songs you can think of that seem
to be an oxymoron because they are both comic and tragic?
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