The Prevalence of Ogres In Children's Literature

" Fee, fi, fo, fum, I smell the blood of an Englishman." The Ogre in Jack in the Beanstalk


Okay, so I got the idea to do this entry quite a while ago... We were discussing the Hansel and Gretel tales, Molly Whuppie to be even more specific. Anyway, I decided to do a post over the prevalence of ogres in childrens literature. When I put it into a search engine I got a lot of hits. I always say that I don't claim to be the most knowledgable source abt. literature or children's literature for that matter. For that reason, I seek to find what others say abt. these ogres and why they've made their way into popular works and movies. But I do want to write on the subject. Basically, I'm just saying that I'm not a scholar on the subject.

One thing that strikes me is that these ugly, both physically and emotionally, ogres have been made to look relatively attractive- that is for an ogre. In looking at pictures of them on Google, I have to say that they are pretty ugly. They're supposed to be. But, if this so then why has Disney made Shrek somewhat appealing? My answer to my own question is that they have to sale tickets and in order to do that they have to appeal to their target audience which is children. If Shrek were made to ugly kids would be horrified and wouldn't come to the movie. Then Disney or Dreamworks, whoever it is that makes this movie, would lose lots of money. So if Shrek is made to look somewhat attractive then it's for the good of the company.

Secondly, I used a quote from Jack in the Beanstalk because that's the first time I ever encountered ogres. I was pretty young and didn't realize what an ogre was. To be honest it wasn't that important. Then years later when the Shrek movies came out I figured out what an ogre was. I was reminded again when I read Molly Whuppie. I read Ella Enchanted over the weekend I noticed that ogres were abundunt in this work. It was while reading this work that I realized how bad they really were. The ogres put Ella in grave danger several times. It is only because of luck and her cunning, rebellious nature that she lives.

Really, I think that about wraps it up. There really isn't much else to say...