Cameron Diaz’s Princess Fiona has been a pillar of the Shrek franchise since the beginning, but Shrek 5 could do with giving her a better individual story. Fiona started out as the archetype of a storybook princess in need of rescuing, who realized along the way that this typical fairy tale wasn’t what she wanted, through Shrek (Mike Myers) and Donkey (Eddie Murphy) only rescuing her at the behest of someone else. The way her and Shrek’s characters grow alongside each other in the first movie is beautiful, as their insecurities about themselves are conquered by the other’s adoration.
Fiona goes through some big life changes throughout the series, as she introduces Shrek to her parents, stands by the choice she made, becomes something of a leader among the princesses of Far Far Away, and eventually settles into life as a steadfast, organized mother. However, Fiona’s character lost some of her spark after the first two installments, undeniably the best Shrek movies. Now, I think directing attention back to Fiona’s character could help Shrek 5 feel fresh and do better by Fiona than the franchise has in a long time.
Fiona Hasn’t Had A Substantial Arc Since The First Shrek
Fiona’s Original Arc Was Great, But She Is Mostly There To Support Shrek After
Fiona hasn’t gone through any evolution, at least not the kind that is given major attention by the story, since the first Shrek. Presumably, she has changed as a person as she and Shrek spent more time married and had children, but how this affects her isn’t the focus. Fiona has a great arc in the first movie, as she realizes that she is striving for a fictionalized fairy tale ending and telling herself she needs to look a certain way to achieve it, only to feel worse about herself as she is.
[Shrek 4] shows Fiona as more independent than ever and reflects on the damsel dynamic of the first movie.
She finds someone who makes her feel beautiful and admires her strength and sticks with that choice for the rest of her life. The reason the subverted damsel in distress trope works so well in the first movie is that Shrek and Donkey do rescue Fiona, and she allows it, mostly because they are all just going through the motions. When Shrek realizes that she can just as easily save him from the Merry Men, he isn’t threatened by it, but only more attracted to her.
However, after this, we never see the same kind of internal struggle in Fiona about what parts of herself to reveal to the world. She has a bit of a road bump in getting angry at Shrek for the bad first meeting with her parents, then realizes she needs to stick up for him. However, the next couple of movies are merely about her wanting to take the next steps in their relationship — deciding where to settle down and wanting to have kids — and how this freaks Shrek out.
Shrek Forever After Was Actually Great For Fiona’s Character, But The Story Downplays It
I Loved Fiona Saving Herself & Becoming A Leader In Shrek 4
Shrek 2 is mainly about Fiona sticking to her guns with the choices she made in the first movie; Shrek the Third is about her wanting children before she gets sucked into a totally superficial “princesses who kick ʙuтт” subplot; Shrek Forever After shows her happy with busy domesticity while Shrek suffers a midlife crisis. However, what happens to Fiona in the alternate reality that Shrek accidentally creates is worth exploring. It shows Fiona as more independent than ever and reflects on the damsel dynamic of the first movie.
In a world where Shrek never came to save her, Fiona eventually got tired of waiting and left the dragon’s keep herself, something we could have guessed she was always capable of doing. It’s a different way of her rejecting the traditional fairy tale she had been conditioned to aspire to, and she goes on to become a formidable leader of the other ogres. Yet Shrek 4 downplays this fascinating turn for her, because the story ultimately needs to get back to the regular world, so it heavily implies that she’s not really happy but lonely without the husband and children she doesn’t know she has.
How Shrek 5 Can Revitalize Fiona’s Story
Shrek 5 Should Focus More On Fiona’s Later Parenting Challenges
Shrek 5 might actually be better off if it moves away from Shrek when the series has done just about every marital-parenthood-midlife crisis it can for him. He and Fiona are both likely to face new challenges as the parents of teen-to-adult children, but focusing more on Fiona maybe struggling with this and Shrek trying to help her through it could better facilitate both their arcs. Fiona was once a pretty great modern-age princess, but her story has since been either superficial or boring, and she should be shown adapting to new things in life that resonate with audiences.
