Serena Toros

I'll just start out by saying I was the tender age of five when Shrek came out, so I don't remember actually watching it.

I probably would say...

I remember watching Shrek 2 for the first time, more so than Shrek 1.

But if I can paint you a picture, Stephen, it's 2016.

David Bowie just died.

After that moment, I realized that Shrek has permeated my life in so many confusing and wonderful ways.

I heard most big-name rock artists, probably in Shrek, Joan Jett, Rufus Wainwright, all of these people.

And I actually think that you can trace the life of the internet through the myriad ways that Shrek has been adapted by it.

I think...

I think Shrek is the blueprint for the internet's humor.

And I think the internet's humor exists because of Shrek.

My blazing hot take is that TikTok would not exist without Shrek.

And what I mean by that is that people my age who watch Shrek for the first time as impressionable youths

They came of age around the time that Vine first came out.

And my favorite part of Vine was musical humor.

People who took a weird clip and spliced a pop song over top of it for comedic effect.

And Shrek was actually the first animated film to utilize pre-existing pop songs to soundtrack the film.

Like,

Prior to this, you had your like 90s Disney animated musicals like Beauty and the Beast or even if a movie like Toy Story had a pop song in it, it was written for the film.

Like You've Got a Friend in Me was written for the film.