Animated classic officially in the Library of Congress’ National Film Registry

by NATHAN DIEBENOW

Bosque Film Society Secretary

Every millennia or so, we humans dream up a story that changes our direction as a species. These tales are easy to spot because so few exist. The last most influential one was “Beowulf” (c. 1000 CE) because without the Viking from Denmark, there’s no James Bond, Rooster Cogburn, or Rambo. And of course, Walt Disney could never have watered down any of the fairy tales the Beowulf epic spawned.

Now fast forward to May 2001, when the computer-animated feature film “Shrek” hit the screens and flipped humanity’s script: The monster is now the hero. His love-interest is an enchanted princess – a human by day, an ogre by night. His sidekick is a talking donkey. The villain is a cowardly human prince. And if all that wasn’t weird enough, the talking donkey’s love-interest is a full-blown dragon!

In his glowing movie review in The Clifton Record (June 29, 2001) the weekend The CLIFTEX Theatre showed “Shrek,” staff writer Arthur Fisher wrote:

“Shrek also has a strong message. Shrek is not a loner because he is mean and hideous, he simply feels insecure about himself and hides away from the rest of the world. In the end, everyone is accepted for who he is, not just because of a stereotype.”

In the decade after “Shrek” won the first-ever Academy Award for Best Animated Feature, the film’s popularity sired three sequels, two TV specials, a spin-off, and a Broadway musical. Sure, couples held Shrek-themed weddings, but in my humble opinion, Shrek’s cult status solidified when Teutonic supermodel Heidi Klum greened up as Princess Fiona for Halloween in 2018.

Now 20 years later, “Shrek” the film is officially in the Library of Congress’ National Film Registry, an honor given to 25 films a year considered “culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant” to be encased in amber and preserved for forever and ever. This feat happened due to many nominations from the film-loving public submitted to the Librarian and Film Board for final consideration.

If you just crash-landed in the middle of Bosque County after living in a spaceship circling Earth for the last two decades, you can catch up by watching the entire “Shrek” film franchise on DVDs from the Meridian Public Library located in historic downtown Meridian, Texas. To see what other films the cinema-lovers in Meridian adore, visit the library’s online catalog: https://meridian.biblionix.com/catalog/

Also, if you just crash-landed in the middle of Bosque County after living in a space ship circling Earth for the last two decades, you can learn about other “culturally significant” films by looking them up on the National Film Registry online listing here: https://www.loc.gov/…/complete-national-film-registry…/

Hey, if you like movies, live in Bosque County, and have friends and family members who also like movies and reside in Bosque County, please “like” and “follow” the Bosque Film Society’s Facebook page, and invite all your Facebook friends to do the same. See: https://www.facebook.com/BosqueFilms/