Shrek tells Donkey that the reason he wants to be alone is because he’s frustrated with how society judges him without knowing him. But in the beginning of the movie we see him deliberately reinforcing people’s fears of ogres by lying about wanting to eat human organs before roaring at the peasants that intruded on his swamp, which he clearly enjoyed doing since he laughed about it. In the fourth movie, Shrek also very much enjoys scaring villagers in an alternate timeline.
So why does he hate being prejudged by people when he’s the one reinforcing their fears?
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Shrek is, like many of us, a little bit of a dick. He figures they hate him anyway, why not troll them for some easy amusement?
He’s in it for the LOLs.
This does sound complicated, but you have to understand Ogres are like Onions…
Instant gratification. Making public like you despite your ogreness is a constant effort with very little output. They still will fear you just because you’re an ogre. Scaring a bunch of goofers is funny here and now.
He was being attacked. It was either scare them off or defend himself with violence.
There’s a level of “If they see me this way, why should I bother being anything else?” going on. You see this with real people as well. If enough people expect him to be a monster, then there’s nothing he can do to show that he isn’t a monster, so he’ll just be one anyway, because at least then he’s making the people hurting him hurt as well.
It’s not good, to be clear, but it’s a very real thing that people do.
He enjoys scaring them, he just doesn’t like being hated. He has been prejudiced and isolated his whole life. It doesn’t mean there is no fun in playing the role, but he also has to play the role because villagers come into his house to kill him, which makes him need to scare them, which just makes the villagers want to kill him even more.
He has fun playing the mean ogre, but doesn’t want to be seen as just that. He wants to be left alone, but doesn’t want to be isolated.
See, the thing is that ogres are…like onions!
“If they want to treat me as a monster, then that’s what I’ll be.”
Not a quote from him, but from somewhere else. Just don’t remember what.
Because ogres are like onions. They have many layers.
They were coming after him with pitchforks and fire. It was either scare them or hurt/kill them.
Forcing people to run away only reinforces his own negative feelings on the subject.
In the fourth film, it was a mid life crisis giving him rose tinted glasses
Shrek is a hypocrite with layers
Because they’re trying to burn his house down and stab him to death?
I can’t exactly fault someone for feeling a bit of vindictive joy at scaring a violent mob bent on committing a racially motivated hate crime against them.
He is what he is, he just doesn’t like it
I remember back in high school I attended a Christian academy. I forget what started it but everyone started to say I was possessed by demons, Harry Potter, I’ll put a curse on you, stuff like that. And that was how everyone treated me, mock cowering away and saying dont put demons in me. So I started leaning into it and being a class clown, practicing my evil laugh, signing peoples yearbook “now you’ve got the demons”. People treated me slightly nicer when I acted the way they expected.
It sounds like the joke answer but because he has layers. A lot of what makes us who we are is contradictory.
Dude, they are coming to his home with pitchforks and torches. What’s the point of trying to be nice to the people that already decided that you are a monster and need to be killed?
Why can’t he be both? For the people he cares about, he’s more than just a monster, but to everyone who just labels him as a monster, he’s more than happy to be that monster. He just wishes he had at least one person who would look past the monster facade. Is he making it harder for someone to see that part of him? yes. but he’s a person, and people do stuff that runs counter to what they want all the time. doesn’t make them any less human.
It’s mostly a coping mechanism. If he acts like he enjoys being the ogre that lives in the swamp and terrifies everyone, he doesn’t have to face his crippling loneliness and insecurity. It’s much easier to be the swamp monster than to try to be accepted. In the fourth film he’s having a midlife crisis and romanticizing his past.
There’s also probably some immediate satisfaction to be gained from scaring the living shit out of a violent mob trying to kill you.
You already explained this to Donkey.
Shrek is accustomed to being judged by his appearance before anyone tries to understand what is underneath. And after a certain point, you get tired of trying to convince ignorant people that they have you all wrong, which is why he pushes people away so they can’t hurt him further.
well, ogres are like onions. they have layers. they are smelly and make people cry. Also, if you never let people in then they can never hurt you.
Because he’s given up and it’s safer. Those peasants intruding on his swamp? They’re an angry mob that’s arrived to murder him. And from his reaction this is a common occurrence, he’s used to having armed men come to cut his throat.
If they fear him then less people will try to kill him. If they see him as weak then he’s easy prey. He could, and probably at one point did, try to connect with people. When the only reaction he ever gets is terror and hatred with a side of brutal assault it’s not going to take long for him to say ‘fuck it’.
As to the 4th movie: That was him having a midlife crisis and messing around for (What he thought was) a consequence free day.