LETTERS From CAMP Rehoboth |
The Not So Honest Truth About Shrek |
by Eric C. Peterson |
The Traditional Values Coalition cares about your children. In fact, they care so much that they're spending their hard-earned dollars to warn you about the evil that lurks within...Shrek 2.
That's right. A movie about a big green ogre with an inscrutable Scottish accent who just wants to be loved is in fact a weapon being used by the homosexual menace to confuse your child about his or her biological gender. According to the Reverend (term loosely used) Sheldon and his minions, there are three sneaky and manipulative messages cleverly hidden underneath the surface themes of acceptance and inner beauty that, if not brought to light, will surely plant within your child's innocent brain the desire for sexual reassignment surgery. Honest. Exhibit 1: (and these quotes are right from the Coalition) "The movie features a male-to-female transgender (in transition) as an evil bartender. The character has five o'clock shadow, wears a dress and has female breasts. It is clear that he is a she-male." Actually, I didn't realize thisthank God for Rev. Sheldon for bringing this horrible truth to light. I thought that the character was a woman who had, perhaps, a hormonal imbalance of some sort. She (or he, as the Coalition would have it) works in a seedy bar that is home to all the fairy-tale villains who live in the Kingdom of Far Far Away. Known only as the "Ugly Stepsister," she apparently hails from the Cinderella story, where the crime of not fitting in to mainstream ideals of beauty immediately relegated someone to "villain" status. It's this kind of message that our heroic ogre (and donkey sidekickwho fancies himself a "noble steed") are trying to circumvent in their 21st-century fairy tale; it's a message that might actually make your children feel better about themselves. But don't be fooled; it's just a shield being used by the all-powerful transgender agenda. (Uh-huh.) Exhibit 2: "In another scene in the movie, Shrek and Donkey need to be rescued from a dungeon where they are chained against the wall. The rescue is conducted by Pinocchio who is asked to lie so his nose will grow long enough for one of the smaller cartoon characters to use it as a bridge to reach Shrek and Donkey...." Unlike Rev. Sheldon, I have no desire to ruin one of the best jokes of the movie for those who haven't yet seen it. Let's just say that like Victoria, our little wooden friend has a secret. Exhibit 3: "An earlier scene in the movie features a wolf dressed in grandma's clothing and reading a book when Prince Charming encounters him. Later, one of the characters refers to the wolf's gender confusion." Rev. Sheldon and the Traditional Values Coalition would have you believe that the wolf's pink flannel nightgown is a symbol of cultural and moral depravity. Personally, I think that they're more intimidated by the book that the wolf was reading. I don't know what the book was (although I'm sure it was something hysterically funny; this movie is far too clever to absorb in just one viewing), but it wouldn't surprise me one bit if individual thought and reasoning were similarly regarded by the Coalition as a dangerous perversion of sorts. A visit to their websitewww.traditionalvalues.orgwill teach you the truth about the public menace that lurks beneath the surface of Shrek 2. You can read the quotes I've included above verbatim, and you can see first hand what it looks like to be so threatened by freedom of expression that demonizing a positive and affirming cartoon becomes a logical next step. It's a busy site, so you might have to look around for the story. But the Traditional Values Coalition wants their site to be easily searched (because they care), so they've developed icons to group stories by content. The "homosexuality" icon is a big, bald muscular guy hanging his leather goods (including a vest, a thong, and a thigh-high stiletto boot) on a clothesline. Apparently, there's no value more traditional than good, supple leather. I joke, but it doesn't mean that I don't take Rev. Sheldon and his followers seriously, because I do. They're absolutely right when they critique Shrek and its sequel as shedding a positive light on transgendered people. What is so wonderful about these films is that they shine a positive light on just about anyone, but especially those who exist on the periphery of that which we call the mainstreamanyone who has ever been looked down upon because they were different, anyone who knows what oppression feels like, and anyone with the guts to think for themselves. If you haven't already, take a rainy day and see this filmand take a child with you (if you don't have one, your inner child will do). |
LETTERS From CAMP Rehoboth, Vol. 14, No. 7 June 18, 2004 |