- Shrek!
"Shrek!" is a picture book written and illustrated in
1990 byWilliam Steig about a youngogre who finds the ogre of his dreams when he leaves home to see the world. The name "Shrek" is taken from the German and Yiddish word "Schreck"/"Shreck", meaning "fear, terror." The book served as the basis for the popular "Shrek" film series over a decade after its publication.Plot
This book follows the life of Shrek, an
ogre who is kicked out of his house to get his own life. As he walks around aimlessly, a witch prophesies that he will find true love after a long journey. In the end, he marries a princess-ogre uglier than he is.Differences between the book and films
The
Academy Award -winning film "Shrek " is based on the book, with the characters of Shrek andPrincess Fiona "evolving" from the book's characters. In addition, other completely new aspects were added to the film that do not exist in the original book, including, but not limited to*Incorporating characters from other
fairy tales , such asSnow White andThe Gingerbread Man in aparody context, as well as new original characters such as the villain,Lord Farquaad .
*Incorporating references to American pop culture that existed at the time of the film's production.
*An ending where Fiona, a human woman, transforms into a female ogre; the original book featured a female ogre from the beginning.
*Shrek was redesigned for the movie. Most notably, in the movie he is bald, wears different clothes, and has more human-like teeth although they are a greeny-yellow colour.
*In the film, Princess Fiona is not ever as ugly as himThe film later spawned two sequels,
Shrek 2 andShrek the Third , and the upcoming 2010 film,Shrek Goes Fourth . For the release of the latter, "Shrek!" was released with a collection of other stories by Steig, with a "Now a Major Motion Picture" label on the cover.External links
* [http://www.williamsteig.com/shrek.htm William Steig's web page describing the original 1990 storybook]
* [http://www.amazon.com/Shrek-William-Steig/dp/0374368775/ref=ed_oe_h Amazon.com Shrek! in hardcover]
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