First, a little background. My two younger kids are going through a stage wherein they will ask me why something is named what it is. Sometimes, I can answer factually, but sometimes I just can’t (“Why are they called ‘trees?’”). Then I say, “Because they didn’t want to call them ‘fliggles.’” or some other nonsense word I can come up with, and we laugh. Today, it was my son, and I can’t remember what he asked about, but I said, “Because they didn’t want to call it a farkwad.” (I didn’t want to drop the “F-bomb” on my seven year old!)
That made me think about how that sounded like the bad guy from Shrek–Lord Farquaad. Chuckle, chuckle, and all that.
Then it hit me–had they actually and intentionally euphemistically named the villain “F***wad?” And if so, why did it take so long for me to realize it?
Or maybe it’s all just a big coincidence–what do you think?
I also got the feeling Farquaad was a play on the similarity to Fuckwad.
Cars is a little more blatant, having the racers competing for the “Piston Cup.” (say it out loud a few times)
These movies may be aimed at kids but there’s jokes for adults in them too… They just try to be subtle enough about them that kids won’t notice until much later in life.
Farquaad is definitely a Fuckwad, but I have always supposed the Piston Cup is the Winston Cup (now evidently called the NEXTEL Cup) for a universe in which none of the characters uses tobacco…
Lord Farquaad is supposed to be a dig at Michael Eisner, with whom the Dreamworks has/had a feud. There are supposed to be some physical similarities and it’s their way of calling him a f$ckwad. I remember reading this in a review when Shrek first came out. Of course they would never open themselves up to a suit by admitting it, and it could just be something read into by industry insiders.
Wasn’t there a Farquaad, mentioned only in passing, in Douglas Adams’ universe? Or maybe used as a curse? I hear it in my head in Zaphod’s voice. I assumed it was a shout-out to DNA. The Fuckwad pun never occurred to me.
Are you sure you’re not thinking of the Great Prophet Zarquon?
“Sirius Cybernetics? Oh Zarquon! Haven’t they collapsed yet?!”
And yeah, the Farquaad pun never occurred to me either, it seems a kind of subtle joke. More as an inside joke amongst the creators rather than a joke that was aimed at the audience. They don’t call attention to it or anything (like saying, “Man, that guy’s a Farquaad!”)
As many times as I’ve watched the Shrek movies, it never once occured to me that it was a play on “fuckwad”. I guess I never considered that a particularly typical or oft used expletive. In fact, with the exception of the Pit, I never even hear people use that term.
I thought it was pretty clear that was what it was.
Far-quad? WTF? Considering the crudeness that was an undercurrent to the rest of the movie, it isn’t a stretch that Fuckwad is precisely what was meant.