Shrek III

So, at the request of some students, I showed Shrek III in a class.

It is one of the most offensive movies I have ever seen. The other option was Ratatouille, which, as sad as that is, I would have preferred by a large amount.

From the first minute, Shrek is filled with stereotypes. The makers appeared to have crammed just about everything they can think of in there (remember that this movie is supposed to be set in medieval times): In the school scene alone, we see nerds who wear braces and glasses, jocks who beat up on people smaller then them, bullies, blonde women who use Valley Girl accents, etc.

Everyone is heterosexual and heterosexist - there are lots and lots of "girly man" jokes on the part of almost all of the main characters. There is a short montage where a group of imprisoned women are breaking out of their confinement... and one of the shots is of one of them burning a bra. Because every child should know about those crazy feminazi womenfolk.... argh.

The bad guys - and this reminds me of what I've heard about 300 - are all "outcasts" who happen to be ugly and/or have physical disabilities (cyclops, hook hand, etc.). Hell, they have one scene where the cyclops, who is an evil prison guard, brings his daughter to work and has a tender moment with how beautiful she is despite her one eye. Initially, I thought this was the normal Disneyified garbage... but the next shot is of the protagonist's face mocking the moment.

Gag me.