Sounds Like A Cult - The Cult of Shrek

Episode Date: September 15, 2026

Grab your onions, this week, Reese and Iman are entering The Cult of Shrek, a fandom that somehow evolved from a beloved children’s movie into an online religion (or dare we say... cult). Joining them are Bechdel Cast hosts (@bechdelcast) Caitlin Durante (@caitlindurante) and Jamie Loftus (@jamiechristsuperstar), two certified Shrek scholars whose devotion includes transatlantic Shrek tourism, academic conferences, a $200 themed dinner, and, in Jamie’s case, selling roughly 200 green-painted Shrek nudes for Planned Parenthood. Together, they get into why Shrek inspires such a uniquely sincere brand of irony, why Shrek 2 may actually be a feminist masterpiece, and how fans apparently bullied DreamWorks into reconsidering Chad Shrek. Is Shrek love? Is Shrek life? We're heading far far away into the swamp to find out. Subscribe to Sounds Like A Cult on Youtube!Follow us on IG @soundslikeacultpod, @amanda_montell, @reesaronii, @chelseaxcharles, @imanharirikia.  Pre-order Iman's new book, Once in a Timeline, here! Your pre-order helps make more books possible! Sounds Like A Cult is coming to you LIVE from The Elysian in LA on October 15th! Get tickets at soundslikeacult.com! Thank you to our sponsors! Use code CULT at https://jonesroadbeauty.com to get a Free Gift with your first purchase! #JonesRoadBeauty #ad Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Do you wish you could just hit skip on the worst parts of your life? You know the same way you can skip an ad? I get it. I'm Siaiaa and I live in Ice Cove. I've made some questionable decisions that didn't end up the way I planned. And today I'm still figuring it out. Somehow things usually get worse before they get better. Apparently, that's how I roll.

So bundle up and come along for the bumpy ride. Stream a new episode of North of North Tuesdays on CBC Gem. New from Nespresso. Blend wellness into your coffee routine with a coffee plus range infused with functional benefits. Choose the coffee you love with added B vitamins, like coffee plus B12 to help support immune function, and coffee plus B6 to keep your day moving. Or go with the flow and choose ginseng delight. Our new double espresso with ginseng extract.

Whatever lies ahead, don't change your morning. Let your morning change you. Discover coffee plus on nispresso.com. The views expressed on this episode, as with all episodes of Sounds Like a Cult, are solely host opinions and quoted allegations. The content here should not be taken as indisputable fact. This podcast is for entertainment purposes only. We painted our bodies completely green and I took these nudes. I sold about 200 of the Shrek nudes and then gave the money to plan parenthood. There's lots of Shrek things I want to do, including something called Fork and Film that has these Shrek screenings that also bring out meals. associated with whatever movie. It's really expensive. It's $200 for some reason, but I will

spend the money to do this. This is Sounds Like a Cult, a show about the modern-day cults we all follow. I'm Reese Oliver, Sounds Like a Cult's resident rhetoric scholar. And I'm Imondri Kia, author of female fantasy, the most famous girl in the world, and a hundred other girls. Every week on this show, we discuss a different fanatical fringe group or guru that puts the cult in culture from fan fiction to the Manos. to try and answer the big question. This group sounds like a cult, but is it really? And if so, which of our cult categories does it fall into?

A live your life, a watch your back, or get the fuck out? After all, cults and cultish thinking fall on a spectrum, and not all cults are equally bad. Romance novels or Laboooo, for example, are quite as dangerous as, say, Christian nationalism or incels. And sometimes modern day cults show up in the most unexpected places like a swamp. They show up from the depths of the swamp. I was going to say that.

They bubble up. They ooze from the ashes. They ooze out. They do. From the ashes of millennial childhoods rises an unlikely green god. From his origins as a reclusive swamp creature to his beautiful transformation into a prince of the people. His name is known near and far, far away. His followers worship with memes as well as prayers,

and his church is built in online forums and real wedding altars. Today, we are talking about the cult of Shrek. Wow. Wow. Crowd goes wild. Amman, tell me a little bit about your relationship with our Lord and Savior Shrek. So Shrek was one of my family's favorite movies. when I was growing up. I don't remember watching it for the first time. Shrek was just like

a tenant in our household. My father especially really loved it and really loved doing the Mike Myers' Shrek voice or at least attempting to do it. He is Persian and is not really like fully equipped with the tools to pull off that accent in my opinion. So I watched it a lot as a kid. And as recently as like the last six months, I rewatched Shrek 2 with my husband. And we were amazed by how much that movie holds up. And also how adult so many of the jokes are and how many of them went way over my head when I was watching as a kid. But now hit so fucking different as a grown up. So I really feel like my love for Shrek has been secular.

She's a constant in your life. Exactly. It's ebbed and flowed, but I always find my way back to Shrek. Back to the swamp. What about you, Reese? I also don't remember the first time that I watched Shrek. Shrek came out two years before I came out. So I saw it sometime as a little kid. I think I had it on DVD, but I don't remember it being like, I remember watching it, but it was a more casual viewer. My real entree into the Shrek world was middle school, Shrek the musical Jr. Baby. wherein I played both the storybook elf and also I was like one of the narrators and I said can I narrate as the elf. The director was like, you know what? Sure. She made a choice. Go with it. So I was a storytelling elf and let me tell you Shrek the musical, fucking fantastic. If you like musical theater and for some reason have not seen or listened to it, it is genuinely actually so funny for both children and adults alike. It follows the movie pretty closely and the practical effects and costumes are absolutely hilarious. There is a filmed pro shot of the original Broadway cast, which I highly recommend. Christopher Seber as Lord Farquod is like one of my favorite

musical theater castings of all time. So I'm a Shrek the musical girlie. That's really my entree into this world as well as the Shrek is love Shrek is Life meme. I unfortunately you'd really remember that from middle school. And I remember being like, oh, okay, this is what Shrek culture is. I'm not that interested. So you took Shrek to the stage and I was playing the Shrek to game on my Game Boy. Those are respective what we bring to the cult. And that's crazy. Like, Shrek touched both the gamers and the theater kids. Like, that's kind of an accomplishment right there. And can I go out on a limb and say, neither of us have really engaged with the last two movies? No, I think the last two movies are pretty irrelevant. I don't write as hard for the second one as a lot of people do.

I think I haven't seen it recently enough. But that's just telling me that I need to see it again. I'm feeling the culty indoctrination power is pushing me to rewatch Shrek 2. The music in Shrek 2, I'm sorry, even better than the music in Shrek 1. And that's saying something because accidentally in love is one of my truly favorite songs. But let's get into the history of the cult of Shrek because as you mentioned, Shrek came out before you came out, but it has been a constant in your life for your entire life. So once upon a time. back in 1990, Shrek was published as a children's book by the cartoonist William Steig.

The twisted fairy tale romance follows an ugly little ogre named Shrek who leaves home to find adventure. Along the way he has run-ins with a witch, a knight, a dragon, and of course a princess. The book was adapted for the big screen in 2001, where the story shifted to include memorable and vastly quotable characters. such as Donkey, Lord Farquod, and of course the cursed princess Fiona. So the movie was an instant hit immediately popular. It won the first ever Academy Award for Best Animated Feature. This is an Oscar-winning film. Since then, the Shrek franchise has spawned three movie sequels with another on the way, lots of spin-offs.

Y'all remember Puss and Boots? Pousin' Boots is good. shorts, games, like Amman mentioned, spoofs, even a Broadway musical, like I said. Conventions, the whole Colty 9, Shrek has it all. And if you're wondering, okay, this is just like an animated kids movie, I don't really get what the hoopla is all about. According to a New York Times article by Gina Chavez, it's a combination of things, such as a bang-in soundtrack and adult appeal jokes that are for the parents as well as for the children. I think SpongeBob also does this really well. Sound off if you want a cult of SpongeBob episode. Today, the franchise is a multi-generational household classic as I'm on exemplified and is so embedded in the modern zeitguise that it is honestly

really difficult to know where canon ends and fanon meme culture begins. I feel like it's even worked its way into the cultural zeitgeist in that when I say you have a Lord Farquot haircut, immediately you know what I'm talking about. It's influenced style and beauty trends too. But according to a Kotaku article by Nathan Grayson, the internet's obsession with Shrek skyrocketed with the launch of the official Shrek Facebook page in 2009, where posts were written and shared in Shrek's signature voice. From there, meme culture really grabbed hold. In 2013, the infamous NSFW, Shrek is love, Shrek is life story, was posted to and was subsequently animated for YouTube.

It always comes back to fan fiction. The story which tells the tale of a Shrek worshipping boy having a sexual encounter with the Big Green Ogre himself launched a slew of sequels and related memes, many revolving around Shrek as a deity and a deeply, deeply sexual being. From there, the online church of Shrek was born. Guys, to be a middle schooler at this time was really scary. I just want to emphasize that. Yeah, I can imagine.

You would go to lunch break and you would just be sitting there minding your business, eating your bagel or whatever. And just from somewhere in the cafeteria, you hear, you touch my chal la la. And it's instantly chills. I graduated high school in 2013. Oh, wow. So I was like, why are we talking about Shrek? Like, get out of my room, mom. I'm too old for that now.

Like, this is Pass A. I'm done with it. So now it's time to get into some of the culty behaviors, the rituals. What exactly does the Shrek cult mean? What is it? Who are they? What do they do? So Element Abdel-Mahmood's 2021 BuzzFeed News article describes Shrek's following as devout.

And based on the Church of Shrek website, the followers of Shrekism are surely that. That sounded like a mad lib. Sorry. The church's teachings riff off of the Shrek movies. obviously, Shrek meme culture, and Abrahamic religions, of course. On the Church of Shrek website, you will find a Shrek-Fi Genesis story, Holy Hymns, the Shrek Commandments, the first of which is, Thou shalt order extra onions, and even a place to tithe in honor of the Oger Lord.

Oger Lord, that's culty and I like it, and someone has that tattooed. The site also has a place where followers can submit questions to a Shrekist priest and priestess. Questions range from how does Shrek feel about vaccinations to are we in the end times? People are really looking to our Lord and Savior Shrek for wisdom. And the Shrekism lore runs incredibly

deep. And it's not just the online communities engaging in culty behavior. Abdel Mahmoud's article also details the rise of IRL Shrek parties in which people dress up as Shrek movie characters for birthday celebrations, Halloween parties

and of course for TikTok content get-togethers. So from 2014 to 2023, 3GI Industries held an annual Shrek Fest where Shrek fanatics will deck themselves out in head-to-to-green paint and other Shrek paraphernalia and participate in raw onion eating contests. I'm sorry. Costume contests and, of course, Shrek soundtrack concerts. That I would pay good money to attend. Oh yeah. I'm looking at the website right now, and I'm trying to figure out where Madison and Milwaukee. Damn. Wisconsin.

Yeah. It's a little far. It's a little far, and it also makes sense. No offense, if you're from Milwaukee. So the cultiness does not end there, obviously for it to get to such a big IRL congregation point. There has to be deeper culty behavior happening. Shrek fanatics have their own language, guys. Shrek fans are often repurpers.

quotes from the Shrek canon for meme creation, but even cultier than that are the phrases and words that have been repurposed from fan content itself. It gets so meta, such as Shrek is love, Shrek his life. So more examples, it's all ogre now, or it's never ogre. So I think that's truly the sign of a good cult is when behavior within the group itself has transcended the culty status of the actual IP that the cult is based on. So followers of Shrek have fully developed a lingo. Shrekis referred to themselves as rogers and ogrels, and they refer to Shrek as their mighty ogre lord. It's very postmodern. Like the slang, the references no longer even contain like real Shrek canon. It's just all based on our own lore. The concept of Shrek as our overlord. Well, it's not all fun in games in Shrek land. Recently, Shrek made head lines after DreamWorks dropped a how do we say poorly received trailer for the franchise fifth installment. So as detailed in Callumbooth's 2025 Forbes article, DreamWorks' attempt to play on nostalgia and brand loyalty failed bitterly when they chose to change the beloved animation

style. And the fan backlash was so loud and so fast that soon after, Shrek 5's release date was actually pushed from Christmas 2006, so Christmas of this year, to summer of 27, next summer, with no formal explanation. Oops, sorry, guys. I kind of wonder if, well, the fact that they're taking so long

to make a new movie makes me think maybe not. But part of me is conspiratorial and is wondering if we were being tested to see how that would be received. Maybe they had like a version of it ready that was animated newly and a version of it that was animated in the old way.

I guess what I'm getting at is that I'm curious as to the thought process of these big corporate giants when they're like, okay, we're going to capitalize on this thing that everybody has really loved and built a relationship with and that everybody really expects to be this one specific way. And in order to do that and to keep that love going, we're going to change everything about it. I just really don't get it. And it's honestly, mind-boggling to think how bad this could have gone that the cost of all the Shrek fans of the original IP not going to see the movie opening weekend. It was larger than the

the cost that it made to create an entire original movie and animate an entire original movie. I have to assume it's expensive to animate like a two and a half hour movie. But like the profit loss that they were going to take was even worse because of how much people hated this. They actually had to go back to the literal drawing board, allegedly. But Shrek is still culturally relevant to this day. In fact, just recently, Sabrina Carpenter was asked on a. red carpet what her favorite movie was and she said Shrek and that makes the most sense in the entire

world to me because Sabrina Carpenter is kind of making the musical equivalent of the Shrek franchise. It's like semi-ironic, it's self-referential, you never really know if you're in on the joke. It's full of innuendo. Sabrina Carpenter's favorite movie being Shrek makes too much sense and I think that's why both of them are so popular sides of the same claim. Well, thank you so much for exposing an entire new generation of listeners to Shrek 1 and Shrek 2, Sabrina Carpenter. We are absolutely indebted to you on behalf of everyone in this cult.

And make sure you stick around because after the break, we are going to be in hot and Shrexie with our movie experts, Caitlin Durante and Jamie Loftus of The Bechtel cast. New from Nespresso. Blend wellness into your coffee routine with the coffee plus range infused with functional benefits. Choose the coffee you love with added B vitamins, like coffee plus B12 to help support immune function, and coffee plus B6 to keep your day moving. Or go with the flow and choose ginseng delight. Our new double espresso with ginseng extract. Whatever lies ahead, don't change your morning. Let your morning change you. Discover coffee plus on espresso.com. Hear that?

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Here to join us are movie experts, Caitlin Durante, and Jamie Loftus of The Bechtelcast podcast. Or as today, we are calling it the Shepter. Shrectalcast podcast, of course. Oh, yes. It's the Shrectalcast, you're right. It's happened before. It'll happen again. It should happen more. Of course. Could you introduce yourself to our listeners, please? My name's Jamie Loftus. I'm a writer and comedian, and today I'm here in the capacity of Becht co-hosts slash longtime Shrek enthusiasts. I don't know if we're getting into our personal Shrek history is Shristry is whatever we want to call it, but I'm all in. And I've been in the game for some time. So I'm very honored to be here. I, too, am a Shrekhead. I saw Shrek in theaters in 2001.

I'm also a writer, comedian, co-host of the Bechtel cast, and I'm so excited to be here. Well, speaking of your shared Shrek Shristories, try saying that five times fast, Do you guys find touching a little bit more on how deep inside the cult of Shrek you actually are? Okay, let me tell you some things. In addition to seeing the first two movies in theaters, and I think Shrek 2 in theaters multiple times, I think two or three perhaps, I have attended something called Shrek's Adventure in London. I traveled overseas across oceans to do a Shrek thing. I'm wearing a Shrek shirt right now.

Jamie is also donned in Shrek apparel. I have Shrek makeup, which I think Jamie also has. There's like a palette of Shrek eye shadow and some lip gloss, stuff like that. We have yet to attend the Shrek rave, but I'm constantly on the website looking for dates that are coming to L.A. There's lots of Shrek things I want to do, including there's something called Fork and Film that has these Shrek screenings that also bring out meals associated with whatever movie. I'm sure there's like a Bloom and Onion situation. Shrek makes like an eyeball teeny when he's settling into his home in the swamp. For example, I think they bring that out. Anyway, it's really expensive. It's $200 for some reason, but I'm like, I will spend the money to do this. I've seen the first two Shrek's dozens of times each. The second two, not so much, because they're low-key bad, but I feel like I'm very immersed in Shrek. There was a Shrek ride at universal Hollywood that I wouldn't say ridden and it is kind of not a ride because you just go into a theater and like some wind blows on you. It's sort of like more of a like a 3D movie

experience. But the list goes on. I've been pretty deep into like Shrek meme culture specifically for not really as much now, but some of my earliest pieces and viral comedy projects were Shrek related. This would have gone back to when I was working at the Boston Globe years and years ago. At my first writing job, I went to see Shrek the musical five times in a row, five days in a row and wrote kind of this long essay of a regional production. And I sort of read about the like induced psychosis that this caused. That was really fun. I mean, I really do genuinely love Shrek the musical, but I did a, like this was like a one-off thing that later turned into a larger project where my dear friend Jake and I did a like naked Shrek performance at,

Improv Boston, where we painted our bodies completely green and did a synchronized dance to All-Star. And on that night, we were just painted green, but I took these nudes, and then I sold the nudes. I sold about 200 of the Shrek nudes and then gave the money to plan parenthood. So that was a big part of my Shrek journey. From there, I was involved with this incredible thing called Shrek R-Told, where they got an artist who was, like, obsessed with Shrek to re-animate or re-interpret a single minute of Shrek and then they strung it all together and re-released Shrek. I've attended a Shrek academic conference. There's been so many people who have genuinely like committed to the bit, but I've attended the seminars. I've read the texts. Shrek 2 is a feminist masterpiece.

And wait, Caitlin, I was going to give this to you later this week because it's almost Caitlin's birthday when we're recording this. But it's Shrek related. And I was like, okay, maybe I'll do it on Cam. Is that okay? I already had a feeling this was coming so this you're not spoiling any surprise. Okay. It's so exciting. I'm so honored here. I'm really excited because and I think I might end up getting one for myself as well, but it's a Shroaster. It's a Shroaster. Oh, my God, for people that I was listening. What were you? Oh, you were expecting the popcorn bucket. The AMC Popcorn. Yeah. It was sold out. So I had to go for the Shroaster. Thank you so much.

But for people who are just listening, it prints a little Shrek on your bread. I love this. Come on. I'm not excited. I want to receive this. Thank you so much. It's good. That is unbelievable.

Just goes to show like what a vast source for creativity Shrek is. I am learning already that the swamp is so much faster and so much deeper than I am aware of. Shrek has existed for my entire life. Shrek has existed before I existed. Shrek is older than me. And I'm learning that the Shrek lore I think it might go deeper than my lore too. So right up the bat, I want to ask you both what you think the cultiest thing about this group is. I mean, just it's long-term following and the fact that people, because I have sort of two relationships with Shrek. One is that I like it ironically, and one is that I like it very genuinely. And I don't know if they're at odds with each other or if they're

in tandem with each other. I don't know if that's culty, but things that tend to have a cult following are usually like kind of bad, but people love them anyway. But Shrek is not kind of bad, but I also kind of am embarrassed to like it, but also the first two movies are so good that I do genuinely like it. I think that Shrek is like very heavily associate, like Shrek meme culture started as a very intensely millennial thing. And so there's some generational shame that comes with it. But I was thinking about this in returning to some scholarly Shrek texts, some Shrex this morning to think about it. Because I feel like it lined up exactly right with a very particular kind of irony-pilled meme culture that you can engage with at multiple levels. Like there's some, I mean, Shrek is love, Shrek is life is like kind of genuinely disgusting.

And there's some really terrifying stuff. But you can also engage with it in a way that I think isn't indicating that you think Shrek sucks. There are multiple ways to engage. And Shrek itself, I feel like lends itself to this kind of culty following because it in many ways isn't like a sincere product in the first place. There is a good story in the first two as Caitlin and I will die on that hill. The first two are genuinely really good. But they're also sort of predicated on making fun of or like poking fun at existing stories.

And so it feels like it's really open to joining in on making fun of it because that's also sort of what it's about. I don't know. Most Shrek culture feels very like reverent. And the reverence is sometimes a joke. But then before you know it, like one of the first Shrek meme guys I followed in college probably later wrote a PhD on Shrek. So like he was serious about it. I don't know of any other meme culture that is like so reverent, but insistent that it's a joke. Wow. Getting your master's in Shrekology is next level. And just the fact that you return to the ancient. ancient Shrex to prepare for this podcast speaks volumes. Caitlin, you already mentioned transatlantic flights, a $200 prefix Shrek-themed meal.

But what are some entry costs to joining this cult? And would you say there are any exit costs as well? Well, what are the great things about dignity is an exit cost. One of the great things about Shrek is that there's a very low barrier for entry, which is what Shrek would want. He's a working class guy. He lives in a swamp. He rejects monarchy, except for him marrying a princess. But then he's like, Fiona.

He's going to fix it from the inside, guys. Exactly. Exactly. But anyway, it's whatever it costs to rent or buy the movies. I have both Shrek 1 and 2 on DVD. a collection I refuse to let go of. So I've been investing for a while, but you can enjoy Shrek in its purest form at a very low cost. Now, if you do want to do things such as the Shrek rave, a Shrek screening that's $200 that comes with all this food, there is also a Shrek theme park.

Universal Studios Singapore has like far, far away land. So there's like a whole area of the park that is Shrek oriented. So yeah, you can spend lots of money. You can go to Shrek's adventure in London, you know, buy the flights, the accommodations, the ticket for entry, etc. So it's a spectrum, I would say, for the entry cost. So obviously, Shrek himself is a very central figure to this cult. I'm wondering if, in your opinion, he operates as somewhat of a leader or if there is another figurehead kind of serving as a leader of this cult? Unfortunately, I do think, It is him. Like, I would love for it to be Fiona, but it's him.

We're not there yet. She does lead an army in, I believe, Shrek 4. So what happens in Shrek 4, if you'll indulge me, is that Shrek, he's overwhelmed with his parental responsibilities. He's sort of like, I don't know if I chose the right life for myself, being a husband and parent. What would it be like if I was still a bachelor living in my swamp? So he goes to Rumpel Stiltskin for a wish or something like that, and he kind of accidentally wishes his life away and ends up in this alternate reality where he never met Fiona and never got married to her and never had kids and all this stuff. So he comes upon Fiona again, who doesn't know him,

and she's leading this like rebellion, a revolutionary army to fight Rampel Stiltskin, who is now the king or something of some kingdom. So that's the plot of the movie. They have to like take down Rumpel still skin and reverse the wish or the curse or whatever to get Shrek's regular life back. I do kind of love that it's like what would happen if we had never met each other. And it's always like the dude's life would be falling apart. And of course, Fiona's like leading an army. Totally fine. She's better off without him, honestly.

Of course. Meanwhile, they're like, what if Shrek was an in-cell? Let's explore the only other possibility for Shrek, the male loneliness epidemic. 15 years ahead of schedule too, really impressive. I think that Shrek is the leader of the cult, but he's sort of like a reluctant hero. He didn't choose to be the leader, but others chose for him, I would say. Yeah, fate chose. Destiny chose Shrek, but we did too.

So from Shrek raves, which I guess we all are still dying to go to, and the Shrek amusement park that I assume Rees will be our next sounds like a cult field trip after this. Are there any rituals or ritualistic behaviors that you have seen performed by this specific cult? Well, there's a Shrek gathering every year. Shrek Fest. So there are multiple like gatherings, none of which seem at least, well, as a member, I guess maybe I don't have a clear opinion. But I'm like, there's nothing weird about Shrek Fest. It's just a bunch of Shreks getting together and sharing their passion. But I think there's Shrek raves. There's Shrek Fest.

I've heard of like Shrek drag shows. I think those are. Oh my God. That would be so good. I mean, I'm thinking obviously the Shrek wedding. Yes. I remember that. Yes. It went viral. Gosh, when like five years? It's so long ago. Like a really long time ago. But that just looks like a day at Shrek Fest to me. I wonder how many people have gotten married in Shrek and Fiona Garb. I kind of need to know. We've appeared in sort of Shrek drag on stage before. Well, yeah, because we did the Shrektanic tour together. It was a Bechtel-slash-Strechtel-cast thing.

We've covered all four Shrek movies on the podcast, which is weird because we've only ever covered, like, one Fast and the Furious movie. And there's 10 of those. And I feel like bigger franchises, we haven't engaged with as much. But with Shrek, we're like, no, we're going all the way. Yeah. I feel like it's kind of died off over the years, the Shrek fan culture, but Shrek 5's on the way. Yeah.

I wonder what a Shrek look-like competition would look like. Would everyone just have to show up green? I mean, God willing. I feel like that gets a little problematic because then it's like who looks the most like an ogre. I don't know if that's a good competition to be having. I also, I just want to say it quickly for the listeners who are unaware, I do think, as we were saying, the Shrek culture is kind of waning. I think Shrek wedding was kind of peak Shrek culture. For those who don't know, that was a wedding, videos of which went viral on the internet,

wherein a couple got buried, painted green, and in full Shrek and Fiona costume. Seemingly, the wedding was themed. It was a shredding. It was lovely. A shredding. It was much celebrated by all. Amazing. Don't you wish you could just hit skip on the worst parts of your life?

You know the same way you can skip an ad? I get it. I'm Siyaya and I live in Ice Cove. I've made some questionable decisions that didn't end up the way I planned, and today I'm still figuring it out. Somehow things usually get worse before they get better. Apparently, that's how I roll. So bundle up and come along for the bumpy ride.

Stream a new episode of North of North Tuesdays on CBC Gem. New from Nespresso. Blend wellness into your coffee routine with a coffee plus range, infused with functional benefits. Choose the coffee you love with added B vitamins, like coffee plus B12 to help support immune function and coffee plus B6 to keep your day moving or go with the flow and choose ginseng delight

our new double espresso with ginseng extract. Whatever lies ahead, don't change your morning. Let your morning change you. Discover coffee plus on espresso.com. Alrighty. So moving forward, I kind of get like Star Wars vibes on like prequels versus sequels, like the first two versus the second two. I'm wondering if there is any kind of us versus them dichotomy within the Shrek fandom,

like, is there any infighting or, like, generally, what is the us versus them dichotomy that the Shrek fandom poses if there is one? Years ago, and I only know this because I have studied it for my academic Shrek work, is that there used to be, like, a Shrek Chan, like, there used to be a big Shrek forum where there would be a fair amount of infighting that I feel like is maybe historically significant in like how we view irony culture on the internet where there be a lot of infighting about what level of irony or engagement with Shrek is funny, what's overkill, like where is the line kind of thing. But it's too silly to be like Star Wars who I think are, there are certain

fandoms that I find genuinely terrifying. And while the Shrek fandom can get extreme, I've never found it scary. It's never really made me feel. bad. I also wanted to shout out, I feel like a big moment in Shrek culture in building this ironic fan base around Shrek was Tim and Eric, I think, did like fake commercials for Shrek 3 in 2007 and made it seem like they had been hired at like peak Tim and Eric to promote Shrek 3. And I think that they sort of built a lot of momentum for ironic Shrek appreciation. I think the reason that the Shrek community is not like a scary, exclusive place to be, is that the message of Shrek, the themes of Shrek are all about acceptance and loving yourself for who you are and loving others for who they are.

So it would be an antithetical to Shrek and Shrek lore to be exclusionary for anyone who wants to be a part of the Shrek community. And Shrek 2 is a feminist masterpiece. So like there's always going to be new Shrek heads coming into the mix. I think via the first two Shrecks. Yeah. The dogma feels very wholesome to me. Also, I think Shrek the musical is just evidence. Like I think if there's a group of people that Shrek is for, it's like theater kids and like weird. It's very inclusive in that way. Which makes Shrek the musicals so great. I love that theater kids are forced to interact with Shrek constantly. It was my big in to Shrek culture and I'm very thankful for it. Just to head back really quick. I'm very curious. Like I said, I watched Shrek 1 this morning in preparation for this recording. Shrek 2, it has been a very long time since I've seen. And honestly, all I really remember is the Kunti Fairy godmother. Can we get some more background on what makes it such a feminist masterpiece? Caitlin, I feel like you've been preparing for this your whole life. Oh, wow. Okay. Yes. I watched Shrek 2 this morning. So I feel...

Wait, really? You be me. My favorite thing about Shrek 2 outside of the actual plot is that it premiered at Cannes, which is, iconic. That's so funny. I believe Shrek 1 also did, and it beat Toy Story 2 for the first animated Oscar ever. So it's also prestige. It was also the highest grossing comedy film for a while. I'm laughing. I mean, it is funny. And there are so many jokes that I'm laughing my ass off. Ass, donkey, okay, when I'm watching especially Shrek 2. Now, some of the jokes, are problematic and dated, and that's what we largely talk about on our episodes of the Bechtel cast. But, okay, feminist masterpiece, feminist icon, Kunti Fairy Godmother, don't ask any follow-up questions.

That's just a fact. That's just a factual statement. You've got Fiona being like, you know what, Shrek, you need to respect me and my wishes and listen to me and stop ignoring my feelings. And so she demands, you know, accountability from her husband. As I recall, that is the Shrek movie where, I mean, there's a lot of body image stuff discussed in Shrek in general, but it has a lot to do with like Fiona standing up to her parents and standing up to her parents for judging Shrek, human Shrek, who we don't talk about because we don't want him. We don't claim hot Shrek. It's not true Shrek. But I think that what people

like about Shrek 2 is that it is actually the only Shrek movie you can actually call Fiona's story. She is the driving force. And Shrek has his own art, but he's sort of subject to the hijinks. And Fiona's driving the story. And it's about her relationship with her family. It's about her deciding how she feels about marriage. She's also pushing back against ogre racism throughout the movie. I don't remember this exactly, but I feel like when the writers were writing this movie,

I think they cited, guess who's coming to dinner as? that, yeah. And should they have said that? I do. Right. But then we also noticed the parallels between Shrek 2 and Get Out on our Shrek 2 episode. So there's a lot. Look, it's a rich, it's a rich text. Listeners will have to go listen to that. Yes. I'm so glad you refreshed all of our memories about looks maxed Shrek post spell. We all want Shrek as he is. I think we can agree on that. You mentioned. that there is in fact a Shrek 5 on route, but I wanted to know, what do you guys make of the backlash from the recent Shrek trailer drop? And do you think that its cult influence at its peak popularity that it can actually influence major studio decisions when it comes to

Shrek? Shrek and Fiona look different. I wonder if, because this movie was announced a long time ago and it doesn't come out until 2027. I wonder if it's getting the Sonic the Hedgehog treatment. The way Sonic was originally animated in that first movie from a few years back, the proportions were all wrong and everyone was like, what the fuck is this? The teeth were scary. The legs were too long. Like everything about it was very bizarre looking. And so they like reanimated him and then released the movie. Yeah. I think most fans, are furious that they chose to change the animation style, which, I mean, Shrek has such a distinct and unique animation style. And because of fan backlash, Shrek 5's release date was actually moved

from, it was supposed to be Christmas of this year. Now it's coming out in summer of 27 and there was never any like formal explanation for why. So they were bullied into making Shrek himself again. I mean, that is kind of culty, right? I feel like that happens with almost every nostalgia property too is that like even like going back like gen x and on literally cannot tolerate something not being exactly the way it was when they were eight years old in a way that is like guys guys come on think time changes it passes yeah i do think though that like if you are making a shrek five how many years after the first one at this point i think you are pandering to the cole and you are a little bit at the of those people and their opinions should matter to you. Yeah. I mean, and the fact that it just like,

it's straight up worked and that they bullied Shrek into being himself and not Chad Shrek. I want to be hopeful. Obviously, Caitlin and I will be there seated at the midnight screening. But like, it's going to be a shame for all of that reanimation to be done and then for the movie to still suck so bad. You never, it might be good. It might be good. I don't know. We can only dream. We can only hope. I feel like there's no way for it to measure up to people's nostalgic appetite for Shrek 1 and 2. So it's doom from the start. Yeah. And I think some of that nostalgia is just because Shrek had so many peripheral effects.

And like it bled into the rest of mainstream media so heavily. So I want to hear from you guys what you think some of the other cultural impacts of this cult are. Like I'm thinking about the soundtrack, for example, iconic. Like, songbody. And plays into the cult so heavily, too. I think the Shrek cult was a great source of distress and annoyance to smash-mouth Steve Harwell until his dying day. Because the Shrek community, like many cults, can be annoying. I don't know.

I think that, like, definitely with children's movies and, like, humor, we talk about this actually weirdly a lot on the Bectal cast where you can feel Shrek's influence go through children's media for, like, a long time to the point where the Shrek, which is like built on making fun of fairy tale adaptations, making fun of Disney movies, about 10 years later is fully like incorporated into Disney movies because it was so successful, like this sarcastic, very insincere

kind of thing. You can see in like Frozen and like Moana and where they're stating the trope and being like, oh, I'm not going to marry a guy I just met. What do you mean? Like I feel like there's so many things that Shrek movies do that wouldn't have been like called out or made a joke of in like mainstream children's

media before this that definitely do afterwards and do to this day. Which is interesting because Shrek is also influenced by so many things before it, either direct references where there's a Matrix reference, there's a Mission Impossible reference, there's Lord of the Rings reference in Shrek 2, like all these things that it's directly referencing and then also just kind of mapping onto traditional fairy tales, but then subverting a lot of those tropes. But then that like came back around and is influencing fairy tale stories afterward. It's cyclical. I think that's like part of why you probably get the kind of culty following that it has. Because I'm like, I don't know if we've talked about this before, but like how

Shrek is a children's movie that is equally for the parents, which again, most Disney movies prior weren't. Because when I saw Shrek for the first time, I didn't know. what The Matrix was. I wasn't allowed to see so many of the references. So you have these making fun of movies kids have seen jokes and making fun of movies, adults have seen jokes that like

automatically lends itself to an adult fan base as well. There's also a bunch of like sexual innuendos in the Shrek movies. Compensating for something. Come on. I love the Shrek sex jokes. The Shrex. The Shrex jokes. Yeah. And it makes

it even better on rewatch. because your experience watching and loving Shrek as a kid is just like so vastly different than your experience watching and loving Shrek as an adult. Well, when I saw it in 2001 in theaters, I was a teenager already. And I already understood the more adult humor joke. So I don't even know what it was like to watch Shrek as a child. I'm that old. But either way, it was great.

And still hit. And Shrek has touched all of our lives so deeply. And yet we encountered it at such different points in our lives. And that's just the transcendent power of Shrek. Yeah. Well, speaking of which, like, we all have such different relationships to Shrek, but also beloved. What do you think followers of this cult are actually getting out of being in the cult of Shrek? Do you think it's all about the community? Is it just good vibes and laughs? I'm just curious.

All of the above, joy, validation, lessons learned. The friends made a longer way. Yes. I think it's also like a uniquely kind of creative community in a fun way, or at least that's been my experience of it, where like, especially in, I don't know, in any like meme-driven community, there's going to be a lot of like original art and like that I again was just like thinking about Shrek Ritold that became this like really intensely difficult collaborative art project or like something to build a festival around and it's not hurting anyone.

I feel like it's almost like encouraging you to make like. silly, irony-pilled, elevated fan art in a way that I love. I love that. Take everything a little less seriously, but also kind of not, because like we were saying, the messaging of the movie is quite serious. Yeah, but also write your doctoral thesis on Shrek. Yeah. Yeah. Right. It's so funny we keep mentioning that. I'm pursuing a master's degree right now, and I talked about Shrek in a final paper for one of my courses last semester. The Shrekademia world is large. It was a paper about, like, cultural representations of wolfhood and manhood and like doghood and womanhood and thus like the big bad wolf has like a transphobic representation of yeah which yeah shrek fully plays into

whoa that's so interesting it was a fun paper to write and with that we are going to get into a game yay okay this is a classic sounds like a cult game we are going to play what's cultier we are going to list a bunch of past slack episode topics and you are to tell you are to us whether you think Shrek is cultier than that thing or not. Awesome. Okay. So to start us off, what's cultier? Shrek or Labubu?

Ooh, Shrek has staying power. Yeah. Bubu's come and gone. She's tired. So Shrek, yeah, I agree. Okay. Shrek or Pantone. I don't even know what Pantone is.

So Shrek by default. I don't know. I know that Pantone people get really intense. I'm still going to go to Shrek. What's cultier, Shrek or Swear? Swifties. Oh, Swifties. Yeah, probably. Yeah. Swifties, like, I mean that complimentary and with fear, with Shrek.

Swifties is a tough one to talk. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Nostalgia-based round. Shrek or American Girl Dolls. That's hard. I think. I think Shrek has more prominence than the American Girl Doll cult. I think. I think so too. Like American Girl dolls are the narrower generationally and like with gender dynamics, I feel like Shrek's got more pull. But I say that would love to my girls. Of course.

I feel Shrek has a greater cultural impact, but I think the Julie Girls specifically could maybe send Shrek. The Julie girls are scary. The Julie girls rode really fucking hard. Shrek or Love Island? Ooh. I don't think that Love Island is going to have. again, the cultural staying power that Shrek has to this day. So I say Shrek. I say Love Island derogatory. And to finish us off, Shrek or Horse Girls?

Whoa, full circle. Full circle. Full, full gallop, full trot. Nothing's topping the Horse Girls. The Horse Girls have been around for millennia. They will prevail. Long after Shrek has passed someone's lips for the final. time horse girls will endure. They shall persevere. Whether we like it or not. The symbiotic relationship of humans and horses. There's plenty of horses and there's but one Shrek.

I think that's really what it comes down to. We even see a glimmer of horse girl energy in Shrek 2 when donkey becomes a noble steed. Oh, yes. Wow. Wow. Yeah, donkey is the horse of Shrek, which would make me a horse girl in that. context. Well, thank you so much for joining us. If our listeners want to follow you and your cult, where can they do such a thing? You can listen to the Bechtelcast, wherever you find podcast.

You can follow us on Instagram at Bechtelcast. And again, we've covered all four Shrek movies. Boy, how sweet. Yeah, so check us out over there. So, Amman, I think it is that time. Out of our three cult categories, a live your life, a watch your back, get the fuck out of the swamp. Where do you think our ogre lord belongs? I think that this cult falls firmly in the camp of live your life. I think that the only person that appears to be hurting are the pockets of the movie executives who made Shrek 5. Correct me if I'm wrong, but this cult seems to really just be a celebration of irony and joy. and letting your freak flag fly.

And yeah, it's a party at the swamp every single day. Every day. Everyone's invited. I think that's another thing is like beyond Farquod, there's not a ton of toxicity for people to latch onto. Like, overall, it's pretty wholesome. So I think for that reason, I'm going to agree. I think it's a live your life.

I think it teaches overall good things, like acceptance. And I think that honestly, if you're still participating in it today, I feel like it has lost its potency to the point where it's more for you than it is for the cultural impact. And I think that that's beautiful. Well, Coltis, that's our show. Thank you so much for listening. Join us for a new cult next week. And in the meantime, stay culty.

But not too culty. Sounds like a cult was created by Amanda Montel and edited by Jordan Moore of the pod cabin. This episode was hosted by Reese Oliver and Amon Haririakia. Our managing producer is Katie Epperson. Our coordinator is Meg Farrell. Our theme music is by Casey Cole. If you enjoyed the show, we'd really appreciate it if you could leave it five stars on Spotify or Apple Podcasts.

It really helps the show a lot. And if you like this podcast, feel free to check out my book, Cultish, the Language of Fanaticism, which inspired the show. You might also enjoy my other books, The Age of Magical O overthinking, notes on Modern Irrationality, and Wordslet, a Feminist Guide, to Taking Back the English Language. Thanks as well to our network studio 71. And be sure to follow the Sounds Like a Cult cult cult on Instagram for all the discourse at Sounds Like a Cult pod or support us on Patreon to listen to the show ad-free at patreon.com slash sounds like a cult. Don't you wish you could just hit skip on the worst parts of your life?

You know the same way you can skip an ad? I get it. I'm Siyaya and I live in Ice Cove. I've made some questionable decisions that didn't end up the way I planned. And today I'm still figuring it out. Somehow things usually get worse before they get better. Apparently, that's how I roll. So bundle up and come along for the bumpy ride.

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