Shrek fandom

DreamWorks Animation's Shrek franchise, based on William Steig's book of the same name, has an underground Internet fandom that started around 2009.

With the fanbase described by some people as an ironic liking towards the series, there have been several sexually explicit memes based on the title character.

However, Dave Sims of The Atlantic's The Wire marked the second film as the start of the decline in quality and commercial success of the franchise, writing that none of the sequels were remembered due to the jokes' relying on "cheap topical gags and flimsy celebrity cameos.

[1] Shrek's official Facebook page was launched by DreamWorks on December 1, 2009, and was used to promote the products and spin-offs of the franchise, with the title character "speaking" to his fans through posts.

A Kotaku writer stated that a possible reason for the pairing was that both characters "tried to act like they were too cool for 'kid stuff.'

"[4] It went viral,[5] and what followed was several memes, including what The Week journalist Scott Meslow described as "awful puns, half-assed Photoshops, bizarre fan fiction," most of them sexually explicit, and a horror game revolving around Shrek stalking the player through a swamp.

[11] The videos involve the character placed in "glitchy worlds of horrifying imagery and Smash Mouth references."

A trailer was released on May 19, 2024, announcing the film will be released on September 28 of that year, as well as announcing a number of contibutors, including Justin Long, Zach Hadel, Justin & Travis McElroy, Joe Pera, Jaiden Animations, Will Cullen Hart, jacksfilms, Tom Fulp, James Rolfe, LAKE, Jerma985, Bill Wurtz, Phil Lord & Christopher Miller, and the late Gilbert Gottfried.

Know Your Meme's former researcher Amanda Brennan described it as a "subversion of brony culture, again taking something relatively childish with good intentions and flipping it to an ironic appreciation.

He described a fan's apartment as a "swamp", which "is lovely because it's your place, made of the things that comfort you, even if they're gross and unliked by others."