Shrek: The Politics and Aesthetics of DreamWorks’ Digital Fairy Tale

This book is a comprehensive analytical study of stop-motion studio DreamWorks Animation’s 2001 breakthrough hit Shrek.

On its release in 2001, Shrek (Andrew Adamson & Vicky Jenson) became an international smash hit, a breakthrough success for the upstart DreamWorks Animation studio, and a milestone in the history of the computer-animated feature film. Today, the film stands as one the most influential animated movies of the 21st century, and its main character as an icon on internet counterculture.

This book brings together an international group of scholars from animation studies and beyond, to explores a wide range of topics from a diverse set of academic perspectives. It looks at the film’s representation of gender, race, disability, and queerness, and its relationship with the Disney studio and its audiences. Other chapters focus on its music and costumes, its aesthetics and and performances, its themes and motifs, and its curious online afterlife.

Together, these essays seek to peel back the film’s many layers, contextualize it in the history of contemporary animation and postmodern popular culture, and explain its long-lasting impact.