Shrek
Once upon a time, in a land not so far away...
There lived a man named Jeffrey Katzenberg.
Our Hero.
He worked for a very powerful man named Michael Eisner.
Our Villain.
When his extremely powerful boss became CEO of The Walt Disney Company in 1984, our hero was placed in charge of Disney's motion picture division. Katzenberg was soon credited with turning the studio around. A company that had been floundering and fighting off takeovers left and right soon became successful once again. Under his leadership, Disney produced "Who Framed Roger Rabbit?", "The Little Mermaid", "Beauty and the Beast", "Aladdin", and "The Lion King", among others. Katzenberg was also the figure responsible for the partnership between Disney and Pixar, further cementing Disney's dominance over animation for years to come.
But things were not as rosy as they seem. In 1994, when a tragic helicopter accident killed Disney President Frank Wells, Katzenberg thought that he deserved the position. Eisner disagreed. They argued vehemently back and forth, and Eisner, the evil King of our tale, forced Katzenberg to resign. Katzenberg sued, and won $250 million in an out of court settlement.
Disney suffered in Katzenberg's absence. While Disney continued to put out movies, their so-called "second Golden Age" was done. "Pocahontas", "Mulan", "Tarzan", "Hunchback of Notre Dame", while some are decent movies, there are few who would argue that the quality was anywhere near the reign under Katzenberg. His replacement, Michael Ovitz, lasted only fourteen months before being forced out in settlement that took over ten years to settle in court.
Our hero, Jeffrey Katzenberg, would not go down without a fight. He left Disney and immediately started up a new company with a couple of friends of his. Dreamworks SKG (The "K" stands for Katzenberg) would go on to give Disney a run for their money and their first real competition over the kids' movie market.
In 2001, our hero released "Shrek". Based on a children's book of the same name, "Shrek" is a different sort of fairy tale. And it was made specifically as a giant middle finger to Disney.
No caption needed.
"Shrek" is the anti-Disney fairy tale. The princess does NOT end up with the prince. Neither the hero, nor the princess, is beautiful.
Not a Disney princess.
Instead of moving from the swamp to the castle, our princess does the reverse. Instead of song and dance routines penned by our best song-writers, we have popular rock songs on the soundtrack. And our villain? In this movie, as in real life, it's Michael Eisner.
Farquaad/Fuck Wad
Lord Farquaad, (or, "Fuck Wad" if you want to lose the subtlety) is directly based on Michael Eisner. Both men are power-hungry control freaks. Just as Farquaad elects to send knights out to save his princesses for him, then take all the credit, Eisner was more than happy to take credit for Katzenberg's successes.
Just as Farquaad was driven to create Duloc, an ultra-clean theme park with few visitors, Eisner created Euro-Disney.
Pictured: Not Duloc.
Farquaad banished his fairy tale creatures to the swamp. Eisner's Disney stayed away from fairy tales for awhile, preferring other public domain projects like "Hunchback" or "Pocahontas".
Farquaad is very, very short. Eisner is six foot three, but he hated short people. He is quoted in court documents as calling Katzenberg a "fucking midget". This was one more little way that Katz was sticking it to Eisner, as well as giving himself deniability. When asked if Farquaad is based on Eisner, he can say (and has said) that it can't be, because Eisner's not short.
In the end, Eisner got what he deserved. He was forced out of the company by none other than Roy Disney, grandson of Walt, who said that Eisner had turned Disney into a "rapacious, soul-less" company.
Farquaad was eaten by a lovable dragon.
Corporate takeover.
I should point out that Katzenberg has denied any intentional similarities between Eisner and Farquaad. It is also worth noting that Eisner once sued an elementary school for using a Mickey Mouse logo on a wall mural without permission. So he's not the kind of guy you want to admit making fun of.
Take that, School!
It's also fun to point out that neither Farquaad or Duloc are in the original children's book. Both were added to the story only when in development at Dreamworks SKG. So make of the rumors what you will.
"Shrek" went on to win the first Academy Award for Best Animated Feature, beating out Disney's "Chicken Little" and Pixar's "Monster's Inc." Katzenberg still runs Dreamworks Animation and has turned it into an extremely successful studio, surpassing Disney films in critical reviews and box office receipts. (Though he's still chasing Pixar on both counts.)
All of the above is lost on children, who just love the nice little story of the lovable, ugly ogre who proves that true beauty is on the inside.
But what the real life story teaches us is that sometimes there are deeper meanings hidden behind the scenes, even in children's movies. And deeper morals, too. In Shrek, we learn to follow the Golden Rule, for if you fail to treat others kindly, they may make a classic children's movie where millions of children will cheer when you die for years to come.
Mirror, mirror... Where did I go wrong?