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What is the deal about Shrek and toilet humor in general? (1 Viewer)

Colin Jacobson

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Who said I was offended? I thought you thread-farted when you turned the issue from toilet humor to your consistent dislike of animated films. What does the fact you hate animated films have to do with the issue at hand? Nothing - which makes it a thread-fart. I did enjoy the irony, though...
 

Malcolm R

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What Richard said in #20. The film is clearly rated PG with specific identifiers for "crude humor" and "suggestive content." How much more obvious do the warnings need to be?

Animation does not automatically equal "kid appropriate". Many parents just erroneously jump to that conclusion.
 

Mark Oates

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That's because fart jokes have only become "acceptable" in the last five or six years. I honestly think if somebody had introduced them back in the thirties nobody would think twice about a character sneaking one out in a movie today.

I for one am not bothered by toilet humour. It's not a topic to get my underwear in a bunch over. So-called grown-ups are offended by bodily functions, children are not. However, when you start to empower something like a fart with a taboo, that's when you start seriously screwing up young minds for the future.

It's only something we all do (and anyone who says they don't is a liar or seriously in need of medical attention). It's only funny if you do it somewhere you shouldn't.

Big deal.
 

Thomas Newton

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The idea that animation has to mean bland toddler fare really needs to be taken out to Mrs. Tweedy's woodshed, and put out of its misery.

Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies -- the classic ones -- were not made for children. The animators created cartoons THEY would want to watch, and if those cartoons happened to work for children, so much the better.

The "Lord Farquad" bit in Shrek 1 makes more sense if you have read that the film makers put it in there as an indication of their feelings for a certain entertainment industry CEO and the way that his company operates. Shrek 2 tones down the language, but provides rather major hints as to which company that might be. :D
 

Brent Hutto

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I also grew up in a day when fart jokes and the like weren't common in movies and TV shows. But that was by far the most common form of "humor" among my friends when I was 8, 10, 12 years old. It's just in pop culture now rather than being the sort of joke you make on your own. Kids are fascinated by bodily functions. As it is, was and ever shall be.

So the basic point of this thread seems to be that some people don't like bodily-function jokes or pop-culture references, either in movies in general or in animated movies. And those people don't like Shrek. Hmmm, no suprise there. Those are animated features completely built around three elements: bodily-function jokes, pop-culture references and state-of-the-art animation.

I don't like musicals or Broadway show tunes. So I don't watch movies that are musicals or feature Broadway show tunes. Therefore, I can't offer any critique of that kind of movie and I wouldn't try to do so. Same thing for horror movies, don't like 'em, don't watch 'em, don't have any opinion on 'em. Different strokes and all that.
 

Kevin M

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Hold on a second, have you never seen Blazing Saddles or Monty Python or Benny Hill? Fart Jokes (and crude jokes in general) have been around for quite some time, it's just that Matt is apparently placing a "for children only" label to the Shrek films which IMO have always had a mostly adult target audience...however they did want the kids cash, I don't think children are going to understand or care about biting satire on the capitalistic endeavors of Disneyland, so they threw in some easy jokes that kids could laugh at.

I mean let's face it, any crude humor presented in these films isn't any worse then the crude humor you will find in cartoons on Cartoon Network or Nickelodeon....ever seen the old show Rocko's Modern Life? or Ren & Stimpy? Or a new show like Fairly Odd Parents? Or Rugrats? Or.....etc. etc.

Actually Matt you are correct in feeling that some modern "children's humor" is more & more often crude and cruel and appeals to our baser instincts...but no more so then reality TV which seems to delight in getting people to willingly humiliate & debase themselves for our "enjoyment".

Welcome to modern life....not all that different from medieval life in some ways.
 

Matt Butler

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quote:Shrek 2 (2004) Dreamworks Distribution Llc

PG Rated PG for some crude humor, a brief substance reference and some suggestive content




I dont have kids so I dont pay too much attention to ratings. (Hell maybe thats why I dont understand the popualrity of toilet humor. )



I should have expalined myself better. I dont like the fact that these are marketed towards children and that I think theres better alternatives for kids.



quote:but no more so then reality TV which seems to delight in getting people to willingly humiliate & debase themselves for our "enjoyment".




Dont even get me started on "reality TV"
 

Kenneth

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I think one of the problems with animation in this country is that it hasn't been able to make the jump between's children's fare and full adult animation. Anime in Japan made that jump decades ago and is now stratified (there is still kids fare and stuff that is adult's only).



The animation here that tries to break out of the kiddie mode still likes to straddle the line (and thereby creates confusion for parts of their audience). The adult oriented "Iron Giant" got clobered at the box office (although other political factors might have come into play as well). So the most the American movies seem willing to attempt (generally) is the Shrek 2 and Incredibles approach where they mix adult oriented content and kiddie content.



It doesn't bother me personnally but I think the industry needs to begin the stratification similar to what occurred in Japan. I loved the 80's when Bakshi still did animation and we had adult animation fare like "Wizards" and "Heavy Metal".



Kenneth
 

Eric Peterson

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This is an interesting topic and I'm glad that somebody brought it up. I bought Shrek as a blind buy when it debuted on DVD due to all of the hype and was absolutely bored to tears by it. I didn't find it funny in the least. I quickly sold the DVD and made most of my money back.



Afterward, I thought about and it came to me that it was just a series of fart jokes with a lame story encapsulating them. Personally, I have no objection to this kind of humor or with kids seeing it. I think we have much more important issues than worrying about kids hearing fart jokes. I enjoy this humor and when I'm out with friends, we'll laugh like kids when someone else cuts cheese. That said, I still think it's very cheap humor, and needs to be metered with some other form of comedy. That's where I feel that Shrek failed miserably. There was nothing else funny in the entire film (IMO).



I haven't had the courage to see Pt. II, but from what I've read, I may take a chance and rent it some time.



I agree with some of the above statements about the status of animation in the US though. I call it the curse of the Saturday Morning Cartoon. So many kids grew up on these that they think all cartoons were made for kids, and this couldn't be farther from the truth. As somebody already stated, all of the original Looney Tunes, Tom & Jerry, etc... were all created by adults for adults as a warm-up act for feature films. The fact that kids enjoyed them too, was merely a bonus. We need to step back and realize that animation is simply another form of film-making and can be enjoyed by and marketed to all age groups. Shrek may be rated PG, but there is no doubt in my mind that it is marketed towards kids.



That's enough rambling for now!
biggrin.gif
 

Matt Butler

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Ricardo,

Read my previous posts for some hints of my options for kids.

Eric,
Beautiful post!
 

Rob Gardiner

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quote:Afterward, I thought about and it came to me that it was just a series of fart jokes with a lame story encapsulating them. Personally, I have no objection to this kind of humor or with kids seeing it. I think we have much more important issues than worrying about kids hearing fart jokes. I enjoy this humor and when I'm out with friends, we'll laugh like kids when someone else cuts cheese. That said, I still think it's very cheap humor, and needs to be metered with some other form of comedy. That's where I feel that Shrek failed miserably. There was nothing else funny in the entire film (IMO).




I strongly disagree with this assessment. I watched Shrek last night and counted a grand total of 4 fart jokes and 4 belch jokes in the entire film. There was a small handful of other "bodily humor" jokes, including a perspiration joke, a bad breath reference, and an earwax sight gag.



There were 7 sexual innuendos in the film. People are concerned with exposing kids to fart jokes but not this? (Personally, I think if a kid is old enough to get the innuendo, it can't be harmful. And if the kid doesn't get it, then it goes over his head and again, no harm is done.)



But both "bodily function humor" and "sexual innuendoes" were VASTLY outnumbered by Disney parodies, anachronisms, pop culture references, and good old-fashioned pratfalls.





************************************************** ****



On the issue (raised on page 1) of whether Shrek becomes the thing it is parodying, I also disagree. What sets Shrek apart from other fairy tales is the fact that the princess ends up green and zaftig (i.e. "ugly") at the end of the film. The idea that "beautiful=good" and "ugly=evil" is one of the most pervasive cliches, not only in fairy tales, but in films and television of all kinds.



Contrast Shrek with Disney's Beauty and the Beast. For 85 minutes, the film tries to put forth the idea that appearances don't matter and it is what's inside that counts. Then at the end, the entire message is undermined when the Beast turns into a Ken doll so Belle can marry him!
 

Marvin Richardson

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quote:I strongly disagree with this assessment.


You aren't the only one. Shrek is one of the rare US animated movies that isn't Disney/Pixar that I enjoy. It isn't the fart jokes that make me laugh, its:



"Do you think he's overcompensating for something?"

Robin Hood and his "Merry" men

The absolutely scathing Disney theme park parody with the singing Duloc clock.

The muzak playing in the background when Donkey and Shrek are walking through Dulac.

"Do you know the Muffin Man?"

"Just because she lives with seven men doesn't mean she's easy!"



There are others, but you get the drift. Its one thing to say that you don't think Shrek is funny, but its just completely untrue that the movie is nothing but toilet humor.



And I'll agree Rob about Beauty & The Beast vis a vis Shrek. I still love Beauty & The Beast despite that huge flaw at the end. It would have been a much more emotionally satisfying film (for me) had Beast stayed a Beast, but Belle still stayed with him...aside from any mating difficulties one might imagine
wink.gif
 

Shawn_KE

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Thought the first one was a decent flick, the second one was ok. The gags will date these movies bad.
 

Rob Gardiner

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quote:The muzak playing in the background...


That was Antonio Carlos Jobim, my friend.
smile.gif



SHREK suffers from the same problem SOUTH PARK experienced when it went on the air. After the first 6 episodes had aired, a TV critic (TV Guide?) complained that it was nothing but fart jokes, which is obviously a gross exaggeration. (Off the top of my head, I can think of only ONE fart joke in those first 6 eps.) That led Matt & Trey to create TERRANCE & PHILIP, to let the critics know what a show made up of nothing but fart jokes is really like.
smile.gif
 

Dennis*G

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I think the Lion King and the Lion King 1 1/2 have more fart jokes then Shrek does.....
 

Brent Hutto

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> It doesn't bother me personnally but I think the

> industry needs to begin the stratification similar

> to what occurred in Japan. I loved the 80's when

> Bakshi still did animation and we had adult animation

> fare like "Wizards" and "Heavy Metal".



I'm sorry, but the label of "adult" for Wizards and Heavy Metal is a stretch. I think "adolescent animation" would be the farthest I'd go for those two. We ain't talking Grave of the Fireflies.
 

Kenneth

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quote:I'm sorry, but the label of "adult" for Wizards and Heavy Metal is a stretch. I think "adolescent animation" would be the farthest I'd go for those two. We ain't talking Grave of the Fireflies.




So I was a teenager when they came out
cool.gif
I definitely like Princess Mononoke and Spirited Away also
wink.gif




Kenneth
 

Brent Hutto

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My wife and I both love Spirited Away dearly...talk about your ideal example of an adult movie that kids will also want to watch. It's one of my favorite movies ever. I also like Princess Mononoke a lot but my wife is less enthusiastic.
 

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