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wonderfulworldofmichaelford · 5 years ago

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Psycho Analysis: Lord Farquaad

(WARNING! This analysis contains SPOILERS!)

Now that that’s out of the way, is there really that much to Shrek’s first ever antagonist, the pint-sized dictator known as Lord Farquaad? There’s no denying that he’s an enjoyable villainous force, but is he really all that impressive outside of memes?

Frankly, Faruqaad is a villain who has just enough personality to be entertaining but is otherwise kind of unimpressive, just doing the bare minimum to keep you invested. He’s a bit of a passive force in the plot of Shrek, and while he is a thematically appropriate obstacle, he’s sort of generic.

Actor: John Lithgow is the real big draw of this little man; his vocal performance, much like any great actor, adds an air of pompous grandeur to the character that makes him appear larger than life (and larger than he actually is, as well). However, though I can’t help but lavish praise on the performance and note that Lithgow is a fantastic actor, I don’t neccesarily think he elevates Farquaad to a high level like some other actors do for their animated movie villains. This is not a knock at Lithgow’s talents, it more has to do with how basic Farquaad is in principle. I think the best point of comparison would be BRIAN BLESSED as El Supremo in the animated masterpiece Freddie as F.R.0.7. El Supremo is also an incredibly basic, cliche villain who would be pretty unremarkable if not for the talent voicing him, and said talent manages to even him out. I think Farquaad fits that bill pretty nicely as well.

Motivation/Goals: Farquaad’s goals are simple fairy tale villain stuff, which is especially ironic all things considered: Farquaad wants to marry a princess so that he will be completely eligible to the throne of Duloc. It’s nothing super complex or interesting, but it is enough to drive the plot forward. Still, unlike later villains like Fairy Godmother or Rumpelstiltskin, there’s not really any sort of background we can infer about Farquaad or any sort of backstory that can be gleaned, at least not within the film itself.

On a meta level, Faruqaad may or may not be an incredibly unsubtle “take that” at Michael Eisner, who Jeffery Katzenberg of Dreamworks had a grudge against from his time at Disney. One could easily read some symbolism into a guy whose name sounds suspiciously like a profanity if spoken quickly and who has an intense, nearly genocidal hatred of fairy tale creatures being based off of the CEO of Disney, but that honestly only helps if you already know behind-the-scenes drama; as is, in the film Farquaad really doesn’t have much in the way of explaining his motivations. He’s just a jerk, and that’s kind of all he needs to be.

Personality: Out of all of the Shrek villains, Farquaad probably has the most one-note personality of them all: he’s a jerk. He’s a funny jerk, but he’s still just a jerk. It could be argued that a lot of his more toxic qualities are caused by his desire to overcompensate for his small stature, but that’s not really used dramatically in any way, it’s only used for jokes. I will give him this, though; as one-note as he is, he’s still a better and funnier antagonist than Prince Charming was.

Final Fate: He gets eaten by Dragon in an anti-climactic but also really cool and dramatic moment right after he tries to kill Shrek and Fiona. It’s kind of silly to expect a big showdown with this little man anyway, and boy is it cathartic to see the little snot get his just desserts... and become just desserts.

Best Scene: Probably the scene where he tortures Gingy, which is darkly humorous while also cementing what a jerk he is. It’s probably one of the most iconic scenes in the entire franchise. Special mention though to the scene where he gets a boner while forcing the magic mirror to rewind Fiona’s face multiple times, with the implication he’s jacking off to her, if only for the sheer fact that they even thought to slip a joke like that in.

Best Quote: From the aforementioned torture scene is his “Muffin Man” exchange with Gingy, which may be a pretty obvious joke to make but damn if it doesn’t get a chuckle out of me every time.

Final Thoughts & Score: While Farquaad is funny in the film, and funny as a memetic figure, I just can’t say he’s all that amazing as a villain in terms of what he does. For most of the movie, he’s basically back at his kingdom, being a jerk, and his one attempt at doing something more direct leads directly to him getting devoured. He’s effective at moving the plot along, but that’s about it, which leads me to say he can sit comfortably at a 5/10.

Don’t take this as me disliking Farquaad or anything; I do enjoy him, and as I figure I should point out, a 5 on the scale I use to rank villains means I think he’s average. I just feel that despite how amusing he is and how great Lithgow’s performance makes him, he just overall doesn’t add much to the movie besides laughs and an obstacle to overcome. In fact, he’s actually more important to the plot of the sequels, where it’s revealed that him sending Shrek to rescue Fiona ruined Fairy Godmother and Rumpelstiltskin’s plans. It’s kind of sad his biggest claim to fame is that he managed to lead to schemes from far cooler villains. I find it hard to really be super upset he isn’t on the same level as Fairy Godmother or Rumpelstiltskin, though; this was the first movie in the franchise, and the whole thing was more about Shrek and Fiona’s arc than anything, so Farquaad acts as the perfectly serviceable wedge in between to them to create conflict.

Farquaad is ultimately just an okay villain who happens to be a catalyst for more interesting villains, and on top of being pretty entertaining in his own right, that is enough to keep him from being poorly regarded in terms of villainy. At the very least he is a thematically appropriate antagonist who manages to hekp kickstart the beloved trilogy of Shrek, Shrek 2, and Shrek Forever After with his actions.

#Psycho Analysis #Lord Farquaad #Shrek #john lithgow

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