Analysis the Story “Metamorphosis” Written by Franz Kafka and the Movie Shrek in Terms from a Sociological Perspective

The story “Metamorphosis” written by Franz Kafka is an interesting story about a young salesman, Gregor, who turns into a large bug and struggles to find acceptance from his family and others. This theme shares the same characteristics as many other stories and movies created today. One of the most well known stories today that mimics this theme is the movies “Shrek.” In this movie, one of the main characters, Fiona, turns from a princess into a grotesque ogre whenever the sun goes down.

The two character Gregor and Fiona struggle with similar obstacles and must overcome several concepts such as abjection, hegemony, and being a proletariat.

One of the most obvious concepts we can see shared between the two characters is abjection. Abjection is when a character or person is put down because of the way they are or how different they are. Both Gregor and Fiona are outcasts to their respected society due to their “Infomaties.” When Gregor is turned into a bug, his family locks him in his room and does not let anyone else see what has become of him. Fiona’s family does the same to her. When she begins turning in to an ogre, her family locks her away in a far off castle that is protected by a dragon. When these two characters are locked away from society it belittles them and causes them to feel less important. Both Characters feel the same grief from being unaccepted members of their community.

The concept of Hegemony is also present in both characters situations. Hegemony is when the dominant class leads and makes the decisions for the lesser society. In “Metamorphosis” we can see this when the family makes all the decisions for Gregor. They lock him in his room, arrange the way he lives, and banish him from any social interactions with anyone outside of the family. He has to follow the rules and way of life of his family. We can see almost the exact same thing happen in the movie “shrek.” The “normal class,” not the ogres, set their own way of living and the ogres have to find their way around it. The people have their way of living and do not accept the ogres in to their society because their beliefs and culture is different and deemed beneath them.

Shrek and Gregor can also be considered proletariats in their bourgeoisie society. Gregor in his story is of the working class and works extremely hard to help his family pay off debt and send his sister to school. His family is not well-off like many others, such as his boss, which makes them bourgeoisie characters. We can see this same identity not in just Fiona in the story “Shrek” but in all of the ogres. Ogres are outcasts which leads them to have to work and survive on their own while they are also being beat down by the other classes that do not accept them. These characters are forced to strive for acceptance and basic needs due to their position of being lower class in an upper classes world.

These two stories show several characteristics between not only the theme but also the characters. The characters similarities are comparable not just through the fact that they both transform into “monsters,” but also that they share several concepts such as abjection, hegemony, and being proletariat.

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