The Simpsons Shrek and Disney

[mkepcotmgmak]

I am not an avid watcher of The Simpsons, but my cousin is, and it seems like everytime he watches he tells me of some allusion to a Disney Theme Park within the episode. the few times that i have watched it i have noticed something disney being alluded to. it seems pretty funny. just wondering if anyone else has noticed this and is there a certain reason for this? also, does anyone else think that in Shrek at Lord Farquad's Castle, they are trying to poke fun at WDW? (or disney parks in gen.)

have a Disney week!

 

[Testtrack321]

Just watch the story boarded ideas that never made it, then tell me what you think . It pokes DIRECTLY at Disney. Also, The Simpsons has lots of Disney gags, most funny, unlike Shrek.

 

[CTXRover]

The Simpson's do poke fun at Disney a lot. From entire episodes that resemble Disney parks (Itchie and Scratchie Land park, Duff Gardens with the small-world type ride, EFCOT (this was probably the most obvious)) to little things like a mall that is now "Disney-Store Free" to Lisa saying "At least its better than California Adventure" when at a prison, etc. Most are funny, even for an avid Disney fan, since they mean no real harm.

As for the movie Shrek, I can see why many have thought it made fun of Disney, but I also think critics got this idea in their mind and ran with it (and thus influenced the general public). Most of the fairytales they make fun of are MUCH older than Disney's recreation of them. But it was Disney's films that seem to have made them famous and thus when those characters are used elsewhere, many associate them with Disney. The line at Lord Farquadd's castle was funny, but that arrangement (back and forth lines) are found at virtually all parks. I haven't seen any storyboards, but its likely Shrek was designed to make fun at Disney. However, when I watched the actual movie, it seemed to me to be making fun of fairytales, not Disney. Its just that Disney made them famous

 

[Bagheera]

Actually, Shrek was designed to poke lots of fun at Disney. Hint #1: Shrek was done by Dreamworks SKG, the "K" of which is Jeffrey Katzenberg, who probably even had Lord Farquad designed to reflect Eisner's "I hate that little midget" comment directed at Katzenberg.

They actually went to the extent of running the script by Disney's lawyers to make sure that Disney wouldn't sue them for anything.

 

[CTXRover]

Originally posted by Bagheera
Actually, Shrek was designed to poke lots of fun at Disney. Hint #1: Shrek was done by Dreamworks SKG, the "K" of which is Jeffrey Katzenberg, who probably even had Lord Farquad designed to reflect Eisner's "I hate that little midget" comment directed at Katzenberg.

They actually went to the extent of running the script by Disney's lawyers to make sure that Disney wouldn't sue them for anything.

I totally agree Shrek was designed to make fun of Disney. I just thought if you were watching the movie without any background knowledge of who made it or why, the film doesn't directly attack Disney, but rather fairy tales. What I mean is, Shrek's "poking fun at Disney" isn't as obvious as with The Simpson's :lol:

 

[Bagheera]

Originally posted by CTXRover
I totally agree Shrek was designed to make fun of Disney. I just thought if you were watching the movie without any background knowledge of who made it or why, the film doesn't directly attack Disney, but rather fairy tales. What I mean is, Shrek's "poking fun at Disney" isn't as obvious as with The Simpson's :lol:

Well, in that case, just the whole sequence at Farquad's castle, and the occasional comment from the fairy tale characters would be obvious, then.

 

[Woody13]

Shrek was a Disney parody from start to finish. The first best animation Oscar proves it. I have a keen sense of the obvious!

 

[Tarzan266]

I think you guys are looking way too into the Shrek/Disney relation. All I heard was that Shrek totally wrecks Disney in the film and when I finally saw the movie I didn't think that at all. I think it is all in your heads. Just because Katzenberg and Eisner aren't on good terms, you think they are poking fun at each other through their movies . . . don't be so naive. :brick:

 

[Bagheera]

Just because you didn't see it, doesn't mean that it isn't there.

 

[Al]

I haven't noticed anything like that before, I'll watch the film again soon and keep a look out

 

[WDWSwashbuckler]

Yea, I could see them poking alot of fun at Disney throughout the movie. However (yes, I know this is way off-topic) did you know there's a hidden Mickey in Shrek? When Shrek and donkey are walking down the hill to Shrek's house and donkey is commenting on the state of Shrek's house, look at the boulders behind donkey and you'll see a sort of obvious hidden Mickey

 

[Fido]

Lets not forget Matt Groening's other cartoon (aside from the Simpsons)...Futurama. In one of the early episodes they have a delivery to the moon, which has been turned into a giant amusement park. One of the rides is 'Whalers on the Moon' (an obvious jab at Pirates of the Caribbean), as well as some other references.
I love how they show the Honeymooners at the beginning of the Whalers on the Moon ride:

"One of these days, alice...BANG! Zoom! To the moon!"

"I didn't know the early astronauts were so fat!"
"He wasn't an astronaut, he was a tv comedian. And he wasn't talking about the moon, he was just using it as a metaphor for beating his wife!"

 

[CAPTAIN HOOK]

Originally posted by CTXRover
The Simpson's do poke fun at Disney a lot.

Yes, but why ? Has there been some sort of fall out or are there legal implications ?

 

[Thirteen1]

relax...

The Simpsons poke fun at everything - and it's usually pretty funny. I don't see anything wrong with laughing at Disney. I can laugh at myself, why not at a theme park - even one that I love? It's funny!

 

[Fido]

Re: relax...

Originally posted by Thirteen1
The Simpsons poke fun at everything - and it's usually pretty funny. I don't see anything wrong with laughing at Disney. I can laugh at myself, why not at a theme park - even one that I love? It's funny!

Yeah, that's just what they do. It's mainly social satire and topical comedy. Disney's a big target so they make fun of it. They even make fun of Newscorp and Fox all the time (biting the hand that feeds them...but it brings in the money so Fox doesn't care).

 

[Tarzan266]

I'm not saying there are no references to Disney in Shrek, but some people make it sound like Disney is made fun of throughout the whole movie which is not true. Lord Farquad, for example, looks nothing like Eisner. Yet people seem to believe that they look identical to each other.

 

[imagineersrock]

Re: Re: relax...

Originally posted by Fido
Yeah, that's just what they do. It's mainly social satire and topical comedy. Disney's a big target so they make fun of it. They even make fun of Newscorp and Fox all the time (biting the hand that feeds them...but it brings in the money so Fox doesn't care).

couldnt have said it better

 

[WDWspider]

Yes, it's mainly cause Disney is in the public eye and most of the jokes are easily recognized by the public on either a love or hate Disney basis. The Critic pokes fun of Disney on occasion too. Many cartoons do in fact. The Oblongs come to mind. Do you think Vacation was made because of a fallout with Disney. It was just a satire of the Ultimate family vacation Dream, which so happens to be a trip to Disney World. I will admit that Simpsons is overflowing with Disney jabs, but Duff Gardens was also a few jabs at a beer company's owned and operated Amusement parks known as Busch Gardens. I doubt there is any more connection to Busch than there is to Disney, it's merely what more people can relate to and laugh at.

 

[CTXRover]

Originally posted by Tarzan266
I'm not saying there are no references to Disney in Shrek, but some people make it sound like Disney is made fun of throughout the whole movie which is not true. Lord Farquad, for example, looks nothing like Eisner. Yet people seem to believe that they look identical to each other.

I agree with you 100% on this. When one is told Shrek makes fun of Disney its pretty easy to find things in the movie to support that, like the fact that the fairy-tale characters used are famous Disney characters or that there is a castle with a line out front**. However, in all fairy-tale stories there is a castle and those characters used were not MADE by Disney (as say Stitch was). Shrek's writers very well could have designed it to make fun of Disney, but I too was expecting more obvious Disney bashes from what everyone says. For example, it would be more obvious if say the castle actually resembled one of Disney's castles in their parks. Just my opinion.

(**I just wanted to add that the part where there is a line out front of a castle was probably intended to be a jab at Disney's parks, but here in PA we have Dutch Wonderland (a kid's park) with a castle that people line up in front of. What I'm trying to say is that I believe Shrek's "poking fun" at Disney isn't as blatant as many suggest. If it wasn't made by Dreamworks (Katzenburg) and the creators never said that was their purpose, would it be as obvious to everyone? )

 

[Woody13]

Ok, you don't have to believe me. Here are some excerpts from a contemporaneous movie review from USA TODAY;


'Shrek' treks through fairyland (05/18/2001)

By Andy Seiler, USA TODAY

When moviegoers shriek with laughter at Shrek, they will see Disney — made fun of. The movie mirthfully mocks more than 31 fairy-tale creatures, many of whom are associated with Disney, from Pinocchio to Peter Pan, the Three Little Pigs to the Seven Dwarfs.

And Shrek doesn't stop there, even mocking — gasp! — Disney's theme parks. Shrek's villainous Lord Farquaad (Lithgow) presides over a spot-on parody of Disneyland and Walt Disney World.

"We've never really seen anybody rip into Disneyland before," adds animation historian Jerry Beck, author of The 50 Greatest Cartoons of All Time and operator of www.cartoonresearch.com.

Lithgow refuses to downplay the Disney connection.

"There's no point in pretending the Disney references weren't intended," he says. "It's unmistakable when they walk into Farquaad's Disneyland. Even kids recognize it, and they think it's hilarious. This is a rivalry between the giant of kids' entertainment and the would-be giant of kids' entertainment."

Maltin, author of The Disney Films, goes further.

"You know the DreamWorks folks just licked their chops, just cackled, as they got to poke fun at Pinocchio and the Seven Dwarfs and other Disney icons," he says. "It's partly because there's such an intense rivalry, at least at the top level. And it's partly because Disney is such an easy target."

But it is precisely that irreverence that makes Shrek the likely animated film winner of the summer, says Beck, and one that could rewrite animation history.

"They rip into Disney, and they rip into fairy tales, which is what kids and teenagers and us baby boomers want to see," he says. "We're tired of those old clichés."