Dragon (Shrek): Difference between revisions

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{{Short description|Dragon in the Shrek franchise}}

{{sources}}

{{italic title|noerror|string=Shrek|all=yes}}

Image of Dragon needed. Recommended:[http://www.shrek2.com/downloads/wallpaper_story/indexWP.php?wp=dragon_800.jpg])

{{Infobox character

| franchise = ''[[Shrek (franchise)|Shrek]]''

| first_major = [[Shrek!]] {{noitalic|(1990 book)}} <br /> [[Shrek]] {{noitalic|(2001 film)}}

| creator = [[William Steig]]

| adapted_by = [[Ted Elliott (screenwriter)|Ted Elliott]]<br>[[Terry Rossio]]<br>[[Joe Stillman]]<br>[[Roger S. H. Schulman]]

| species = [[Dragon]]

| gender = Female

| spouse = [[Donkey (Shrek)|Donkey]]

| children = Debbie, Coco, Bananas, Peanut, Parfait & Eclair

| weapon = [[Fire-breathing monster|Fire breath]]

| image = File:Shrek_Dragon_render.png

| caption = Dragon as she appears in ''[[Shrek Forever After]]''

}}

'''Dragon''' is a fictional character from the [[Shrek (franchise)|''Shrek'' franchise]], who is initially believed to be a fearsome [[villain]] guarding [[Princess Fiona]]. In a twist, she is revealed to be female and in search of love. While she is abandoned during [[Shrek (character)|Shrek]]'s escape, she later becomes his ally and the wife of his sidekick, [[Donkey (Shrek)|Donkey]], helping defeat the evil [[Lord Farquaad]] by eating him whole. She has since appeared in every series film in some regard, with a parallel universe version becoming a villain in ''[[Shrek Forever After]]''. Also appearing in spin-offs, she is commonly seen as a [[puppet]] in stage adaptations of the series such as ''[[Shrek The Musical|Shrek the Musical]]''.

Dragon has gained significant recognition in popular culture and has been recognized as a satirical portrayal of animated [[The Walt Disney Company|Disney]] dragons. Critics have lauded Dragon's appearance and character, particularly highlighting her compassionate and heroic qualities, which offer a feminist reimagining of the traditional narrative where a male [[knight]] slays a dragon to save a princess. This unique twist has been well-received by audiences and has contributed to Dragon's positive reception among critics.

'''Dragon''' is a fictional character from the computer animated [[Dreamworks]] film ''[[Shrek]]'' as well as its spin-offs and sequels. Dragon resembles most classical interpretations of European fire-breathing [[dragon]]s. Her features are dark red scales, long fin-shaped ears, white canine teeth, bony spikes along her cheeks, a row of quills along her back, green eyes with black diamond-shaped pupils, a golden chest, enormous bendable bat wings, a long serpent's tail, and a diamond-shaped tip at the end of her tail. Dragon cannot speak, but is nevertheless highly expressive in her actions and mannerisms. Unlike a typical dragon, she is also very kind and extremely beautiful, which allows her to seduce any male creature she meets, like Donkey. Dragon is not properly named in either movie, although comments by [[Princess Fiona]] in ''[[Shrek 2]]'' suggest that her name might simply be "Dragon". However, www.oafe.net suggests that her name is "Diane." [http://www.oafe.net/shocka/shrek2dra.php]

== Characteristics ==

{{spoilers}}

Dragon resembles most classical interpretations of [[European dragon]]s. She has keeled, ruby-colored scales, leathery bat-like wings, long, crested ears, bony spikes along her jawline, a row of dorsal spines, vertical slit [[pupil]]s, and a long, spade-tipped, [[prehensile tail]]. Dragon does not speak, but does employ physically expressive [[body language]] to communicate. Like her mate Donkey, she is never given a proper name in the film. In ''Shrek 2'', Donkey at one point says "I'm coming, Elizabeth!" This is the only in-film reference to "Elizabeth" as her proper name, albeit she was named for a reference to a recurring gag in the TV series ''[[Sanford and Son]]''.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |last1=Volk |first1=Pete |last2=Radulovic |first2=Petrana |last3=Robinson |first3=Tasha |last4=Polygon Staff |date=2022-08-20 |title=Our favorite dragons from movies and TV |url=https://www.polygon.com/entertainment/23308296/best-dragons-movies-tv-anime-list |access-date=2023-02-26 |website=Polygon |language=en-US}}</ref>

Dragon's personality is tender-hearted, despite having so few visitors that she incinerates any apparent knights sight-unseen. Similarly lonely as Princess Fiona, she regularly puts on [[lipstick]] in the hopes of finding a romantic partner.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Cole |first=Stephen |title=Shrek: The Essential Guide |date=2004 |publisher=[[DK (publisher)|DK]] |isbn=0-7566-0304-8 |edition=1st |___location=New York |pages=26 |oclc=54954588}}</ref>

In the first movie, ''[[Shrek]]'', Dragon had the task of guarding [[Princess Fiona]] in her isolated castle. The number of charred skeletons clearly visible indicates her success in this endeavour. While [[Shrek (character)|Shrek]] attempted to rescue the princess, [[Donkey (Shrek)|Donkey]] found himself distracting Dragon. As part of this distraction, upon learning the Dragon was a female (colouring on her eyes and lips looks a lot like makeup) he exclaimed that she was "reeking of feminine beauty", and Dragon promptly fell in love with him (fluttering her eyelashes, blowing heart-shaped smoke rings, and cuddling him with her tail despite his objections) [http://www.emile-zwaltek.com/3d/pdi/shrk/stills/1100/1105/1105.html]. When the rescue was accomplished, and Donkey stolen away from her, Dragon chased Shrek, Donkey and Fiona out of the castle. When they escaped over the mountain, she cried, revealing her kind amorous nature. After the getaway, she did not reappear until towards the end of the movie, in which it was discovered that she had followed Donkey, presumably because of his "animal magnetism". Having abandoned her mission of guarding the castle, she was intrumental in defeating [[Lord Farquaad]] and saving Shrek and Fiona.

== Development ==

Dragon reappeared in ''[[Shrek 4-D]]'', in which she helped Shrek and Donkey evade a statue of a dragon (it looked like Dragon but was gray and had red eyes) that had been brought to life. In ''[[Shrek 2]]'', Dragon is absent for much of the movie. Donkey claims at the start that she has been "moody and irritable" for some time, explaining his unannounced arrival at Shrek's swamp. Nevertheless, Dragon makes a full appearance in a [[post-credits scene]], in which she arrives with six baby dragon-donkey hybrids, her previous moodiness being indicative of pregnancy.

The animators of ''Shrek'' initially had Dragon breathe realistic fire for the film's rescue scene, similar to that used in torches and candles, but realized it looked unnaturally forced. Instead, they replaced it with a stream of roiling bubbles rendered with fluid technology, which was then coated with a skin of flame.<ref>{{cite web |last=AP Entertainment Writer |date=May 17, 2001 |title='Shrek' animators give reality style |url=https://www.dailylocal.com/arts_and_entertainment/shrek-animators-give-reality-style/article_8e70c702-1c7b-5596-845f-956e5e6d684a.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180929233359/https://www.dailylocal.com/arts_and_entertainment/shrek-animators-give-reality-style/article_8e70c702-1c7b-5596-845f-956e5e6d684a.html |archive-date=2018-09-29 |access-date=2023-02-26 |website=[[Daily Local News]]}}</ref>

==Sources Appearances ==

=== Film series ===

http://www.shrek.com/

Dragon has the task of guarding Princess Fiona in her isolated castle. While Shrek attempts to rescue the princess, Donkey finds himself at the mercy of Dragon. Upon learning that his captor is female, Donkey begins spouting flattery in order to distract her. Dragon becomes infatuated with him, despite the fact that her love is [[unrequited love|unrequited]]. As a result, she picks him up in her teeth and carries him to her chambers, where she wraps him in her tail and flirts with him. Shrek soon comes back to "save his ass" (a [[pun]] referring to Donkey), and the trio escape from Dragon's castle, leaving a chained and miserable dragoness in their wake. Dragon is not seen again until later in the film, having escaped and abandoned Fiona's volcanic keep. She and Donkey make amends, and aid Shrek in his quest to save Fiona from her marriage to Lord Farquaad. Dragon disposes of Farquaad by swallowing him. Dragon soon grabs the bouquet of flowers Fiona tosses at her and Shrek's marriage and presents them to Donkey. Donkey smiles lovingly, and the two nuzzle and also become wed.

http://www.oafe.net/shocka/shrek2dra.php/

http://www.shrek2.com/downloads/wallpaper_story/indexWP.php?wp=dragon_800.jpg/

http://www.emile-zwaltek.com/3d/pdi/shrk/stills/1100/1105/1105.html/

Dragon reappearedis inabsent for much of ''[[Shrek 4-D2]]'', inbut whichbecomes she helped Shrek and Donkey evade a statueone of a dragon (it looked like Dragon but was gray and had red eyes) that had been brought to life. In ''[[Shrek 2]]'',s Dragonbest isfriends absentprior forto much of theits movieevents. Donkey claims at the startfilm's beginning that she hashad been "all moody and irritablestuff" for some timerecently, explaining his unannounced arrival at Shrek's swamp. Nevertheless, Dragon makes a full appearance in a [[post-credits scene]], in which she arrives with six babyyoung "[[dronkey]]s" - dragon-donkey [[Hybrid (biology)|hybrids,]] herthat previousmeet moodinesstheir beingclueless indicativefather offor pregnancythe first time.

[[Category:Shrek characters]]

In ''[[Shrek the Third]]'', Dragon and her young dronkeys stay behind with Fiona and the other "princess" characters to await Shrek's return. When Prince Charming attacks Far Far Away, Dragon is captured and disarmed by a large iron chain [[Fishing net#Types|cast net]]; her dronkey offspring are caught and imprisoned, as well. At the film's climax, Dragon helps dispose of Prince Charming by knocking over a stone stage prop [[keep]] on top of him. She is later seen in Shrek's swamp while Shrek and Fiona are caring for their ogre triplets.

In the series' fourth film, ''Shrek Forever After'', Dragon appears briefly at the beginning of the film, but reappears later in a [[Parallel universes in fiction|parallel universe]] where she never met Donkey, having been captured by [[List of Shrek characters#Rumpelstiltskin|Rumpelstiltskin]]. She attempts to eat Shrek and Fiona, and despite Donkey's attempts at romance, almost devours him before he is saved by [[Puss in Boots (Shrek)|Puss in Boots]]. The parallel Dragon ends up muzzled and bound in chains after being stopped by Shrek and Fiona, fading out of existence as the real world is restored. She is shown to be back to her normal self in the film's finale.

=== ''Shrek 4-D'' ===

Dragon helps Shrek and Donkey evade a statue of a dragon that had been brought to life. Dragon attempts to battle the creature, and succeeds, luring it into a narrow tunnel where its wings are scraped off while Dragon folds her wings against her body while traveling through it, subsequently torching Farquaad's ghost.

=== Stage ===

Dragon appeared in the stage musical adaptation of the film, which ran on [[Broadway theatre|Broadway]] from 2008 to 2010, as a puppet controlled by [[John Tartaglia]].<ref>{{cite web |title=Shrek The Musical |url=https://www.ibdb.com/broadway-production/shrek-the-musical-477427/#opennightcredit |access-date=2023-02-26 |website=Internet Broadway Database}}</ref>

== Reception ==

In a contemporaneous review of ''Shrek'', [[Roger Ebert]] called the revelation about Dragon something "no one could have guessed".<ref>{{Cite book |last=Ebert |first=Roger |title=Roger Ebert's Movie Yearbook 2003 |date=2002 |publisher=Andrews McMeel Pub |isbn=0-7407-2691-9 |___location=Kansas City, MO |pages=548 |oclc=51002531}}</ref> Petrana Radulovic of [[Polygon (website)|''Polygon'']] called Dragon "sexy" and a pop-culture icon, saying that the plot twist was "revolutionary" and that she "definitely should've been featured in more movies".<ref name=":0" />

While initially seeming like a villainess, and therefore more similar to dragon characters like [[The dragon (Beowulf)|Beowulf's dragon]] and [[Smaug]], Dragon was instead noted as being a satire of Disney dragons, like those featured in ''[[The Reluctant Dragon (1941 film)|The Reluctant Dragon]]'' (1941), ''[[Sleeping Beauty (1959 film)|Sleeping Beauty]]'' (1959), and ''[[Pete's Dragon (1977 film)|Pete's Dragon]]'' (1977), and one of numerous Disney figures parodied in the series. While the romance between Dragon and Donkey is "kinky", it serves the purpose to distract from the even more shocking intermarriage of human and ogre. Despite this, the interspecies romance and ensuing family is only "permitted" due to the fact that it is between non-humans.<ref>{{Cite book |title=Medieval Afterlives in Popular Culture |date=2012 |publisher=Palgrave Macmillan |others=Gail Ashton, Daniel T. Kline |isbn=978-1-137-10517-2 |edition=1st |___location=New York |oclc=828097832}}</ref> The relationship was called a visual realization of the film's moral message that appearances are not important, but at the same time, seemingly impossible due to the difference in size.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Tiffin |first=Jessica |title=Marvelous Geometry: Narrative and Metafiction in Modern Fairy Tale |date=2009 |publisher=Wayne State University Press |isbn=978-0-8143-3572-7 |___location=Detroit |pages=227 |oclc=755631900}}</ref>

Dragon's [[femininity]] was noted as a "major departure" from typical [[fairy tale]] [[gender role]]s, in which most dragons are either masculine or gender-neutral. While [[Grendel's mother]] in ''[[Beowulf]]'' is one of the most prominent examples of a female monster in folklore, her gender is not relevant to the plot.<ref>{{Cite book |title=Discourse and Contemporary Social Change |publisher=Peter Lang |others=Norman Fairclough, Guiseppina Cortese, Patrizia Ardizzone |year=2007 |isbn=978-3-0351-0351-9 |___location=Bern |pages=465 |oclc=812174530}}</ref> According to controversial post-1960s theories about the history of civilisation, as [[Patriarchy|patriarchal]] social structures were established, pre-agrarian [[Goddess|goddesses]], once thought as symbols of wisdom and life, were called monsters and emblems of evil, eventually giving rise to the trope of a [[Chaoskampf|knight slaying a dragon]], though this is itself a trope dating back to at least early [[Indo-European migrations|Indo-European]] times. While the dragon traditionally represents a [[Chaos (cosmogony)|chaotic]], [[Chthonic deities|chthonic]] principle in general, in [[Feminist theory|feminist thought]], dragons can also be more narrowly understood as the maiden's double, representing their autonomy, with the knight slaying the dragon to make the maiden his servant or wife. In ''Shrek'', the patriarchal dragon slaying trope is "gloriously" reversed, with Dragon ultimately intervening to bring about the happy ending.<ref>{{Cite book |title=Investigating Shrek: Power, Identity, and Ideology |date=2011 |publisher=Palgrave Macmillan |others=Aurélie Lacassagne, Tim Nieguth, François Dépelteau |isbn=978-0-230-12001-3 |edition=1st |___location=New York |oclc=759166312}}</ref>

==References==

{{reflist}}{{Shrek}}

[[Category:Shrek (franchise) characters]]

[[Category:Animated characters introduced in 2001]]

[[Category:Female characters in animated films]]

[[Category:Fictional characters with fire or heat abilities]]

[[Category:Fictional dragons]]

[[Category:Film characters introduced in 2001]]

[[Category:Universal Pictures animal characters]]