The Shrek opening sequence subverts fairy tale conventions by having Shrek say "like that's ever going to happen" after a typical fairy tale opening. It establishes the film as a comedy through its upbeat music. Scenes of Shrek's daily activities like showering and brushing his teeth in vulgar ways, and being hunted by humans, reveal him as an outsider who prefers his solitary life as an ogre. The opening credits creatively reflect the characters, like John Lithgow's villain credits using maggots to portray him as horrid versus Cameron Diaz's princess credits being more appealing.

1. Shrek opening
By Zoë Ellis

2. At the start of the opening is the classic reading from a book. This is usually
used to show a fairy tale and help give context for the film, however, in Shrek
they also added a third element. This is signified by Shrek saying “like that’s
ever going to happen”. The third element is to signify that the film won’t be a
classic fairy tale and that the hero doesn’t believe that sort of thing exists. The
opening sequence then follows after this

3. The music for the opening sequence shows
that the movie is a comedy as it is very upbeat
and a vibrant song. This is accompanied by
the hero of the story walking out of his toilet
and then starting the day.

4. Shrek then preforms daily activities such
as showering and brushing his teeth but in
a rather weird way. Because Shrek is an
ogre these activities are seen as vulgar and
unappealing to the rather human audience.
By showing these activities you can see a
lot about his character. The main way this
is shown is that being hunted down by a
mob of humans is in the list of daily
activities. This implies that Shrek doesn’t
see himself as a normal villager, or fairy
tale hero, and prefers it this way.

5. The credits on this opening
sequence are very interesting. They
are moulded around the opening
sequence and each one indicates
something about the character. The
villain, played by John Lithgow,
credits’ are made up of maggots
suggesting that he is a rather
horrid character. In contract
Cameron Diaz’s credits are shown
to be more appealing as she is the
princess in the film