where did that appear from
- Where did that come from? - What?shrek-2001 · 2001 — Chapter 5 of 7 · 2'12" · B1
Pulling the Arrow from Shrek, Explained: the last thing on my mind
On the surface this is a slapstick rescue: an arrow is stuck, someone panics, and a blue flower with red thorns is supposed to help. Underneath, the flower is a way of getting rid of Donkey, and the yanking gets misread. "That's the last thing on my mind" is a denial, not a confession.
What happens
Someone praises a sudden bit of fighting. The answer breaks off when an arrow is spotted. Donkey hears that Shrek is hurt and panics, calling for a cough and the Heimlich. A blue flower with red thorns is only a way to send him off. While he is gone, the others yank the arrow out, and he walks back in at the worst moment.
Listen for
propose we doturn your head and coughstay away from the lightgetting rid of
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Phrase of the scene
the last thing on my mind
that thought never crossed my mind
The last thing on my mind snaps back at the privacy guess, impatient and absolute.
Renovation is the last thing on my mind until the rent is paid.
Also in this scene
- propose we do
what do you suggest we do
- turn your head and cough
a set phrase from a medical checkup
- stay away from the light
don't go toward death's light
- getting rid of
sending him off on purpose
- the opposite of help
effort that makes it worse
Everything marked in this scene
27 notes across 36 lines
where did you learn to do that
Where did you learn that?as a precaution if it happens
Well-- [Chuckles] When one lives alone, uh, one has to learn these things in case there's a-- - There's an arrow in your butt! - What?generic one: One means a person in general, so the excuse sounds mock-formal.
Well-- [Chuckles] When one lives alone, uh, one has to learn these things in case there's a-- - There's an arrow in your butt! - What?backside, said bluntly — Fine among friends; too blunt for a formal setting.
Well-- [Chuckles] When one lives alone, uh, one has to learn these things in case there's a-- - There's an arrow in your butt! - What?going to, in fast speech — Spoken panic only; write going to on the page.
- Shrek's hurt. - Shrek's hurt. Shrek's hurt? Oh, no, Shrek's gonna die.too young to lose you
- Donkey, I'm okay. - You can't do this to me. I'm too young for you to die.too-to result: Too young frames his death as a result the speaker cannot handle.
- Donkey, I'm okay. - You can't do this to me. I'm too young for you to die.Keep for you light so die can take the weight.
- Donkey, I'm okay. - You can't do this to me. I'm too young for you to die.a set phrase from a medical checkup
Turn your head and cough is delivered as real first aid, even though the wound is an arrow.
Keep your legs elevated. Turn your head and cough.who can do the choking rescue
- Does anyone know the Heimlich? - Donkey! Calm down.I'll handle it right now
Blue flower, red thorns. Okay, I'm on it. Blue flower, red thorns.don't go toward death's light
Stay away from the light is a plea aimed at Shrek, using the old picture of a dying person and a glow.
Don't die, Shrek. If you see a long tunnel, stay away from the light!sending him off on purpose
Getting rid of flips the helpful flower errand into a plan to send Donkey away.
- For getting rid of Donkey. - Ah.don't move at all
Now you hold still, and I'll yank this thing out.pull it out in one hard tug
Now you hold still, and I'll yank this thing out.don't pull so roughly
Ow! Hey! Easy with the yanking.a hard, careless pull — Use it to complain about a rough pull, not in formal writing.
Ow! Hey! Easy with the yanking.effort that makes it worse
The opposite of help judges the pulling itself: the effort is real and still making the arrow worse.
- What you're doing is the opposite of help. - Don't move.noun clause: What you're doing packs the action into the subject before the judgment.
- What you're doing is the opposite of help. - Don't move.stop; pause this
- Look, time out. - Would you-- [Grunts] Okay. What do you propose we do?it would be far simpler if
This would be so much easier if I wasn't colour-blind!Put the complaint on colour and keep wasn't small.
This would be so much easier if I wasn't colour-blind!almost able to see it head means the arrow's tip
-Okay. Okay, I can nearly see the head. - [Grunts] - It's just about-- - Ow! Ohh!a simple request would have been enough
All you had to do was ask sounds like a favor, but it has already decided the two of them wanted privacy.
Nothing happened. We were just, uh-- Look, if you wanted to be alone, all you had to do was ask.Keep the to in had to short before do.
Nothing happened. We were just, uh-- Look, if you wanted to be alone, all you had to do was ask.that thought never crossed my mind
The last thing on my mind snaps back at the privacy guess, impatient and absolute.
Oh, come on! That's the last thing on my mind.Pulling the Arrow from Shrek, explained
What's really going on
The panic is funny, and it is also useful. Someone asks "Where did you learn that?" and the answer breaks off: an arrow is still in place. Someone still says "I'm okay." The lines around that go to death anyway: legs elevated, a cough, the Heimlich, then "If you see a long tunnel, stay away from the light." A small wound gets a funeral speech. The flower gives the tactic away. Asked what a blue flower with red thorns is for, nobody mentions medicine. The line is "For getting rid of Donkey." Get the loud friend into the woods, then yank the arrow in peace. He is colour-blind, hears "Ow," and crashes back in. He reads the yanking as privacy. "If you wanted to be alone, all you had to do was ask" invents a motive. "That's the last thing on my mind" shoves it away. A line about the princess and a question about blood hang there. Nobody confesses anything.
Theme
Dark humorA stuck arrow becomes a deathbed routine, complete with a tunnel, a light, and a colour-blind flower hunt that was only meant to clear the room.
FriendshipDonkey will not let the wound stay small: he begs Shrek not to die and comes crashing back the second he hears pain.
Listen for
- for you to — Keep for you light so die can take the weight.
- wasn't colour-blind — Put the complaint on colour and keep wasn't small.
- had to do — Keep the to in had to short before do.
Don't die, Shrek. If you see a long tunnel, stay away from the light!The speaker piles a dying cliché onto a stuck arrow: do not head toward the tunnel or the light. It is panic, not a real goodbye.
This would be so much easier if I wasn't colour-blind!Hunting a blue flower with red thorns is hopeless when the colours will not separate. The errand was never going to be quick.
Nothing happened. We were just, uh-- Look, if you wanted to be alone, all you had to do was ask.Walked in on the arrow coming out, the speaker decides the two wanted privacy. Asking first treats the mess as a choice, not an accident.
Oh, come on! That's the last thing on my mind.A flat denial. Whatever the returnee thinks he saw, time alone is the last thing the speaker claims to have in mind.
Questions about this scene
Why do they ask for a blue flower with red thorns?
Asked what the flowers are for, the reply is "For getting rid of Donkey." It is an errand to send him into the woods. Nobody in the scene calls the flower a cure.
Is Shrek dying in this scene?
The panic says yes: "Shrek's gonna die," "Don't die, Shrek," and a long tunnel with a light. Set against that, someone tells Donkey "I'm okay," and the actual job is getting an arrow out because "it has to come out."
Why does the person who comes back think they wanted to be alone?
He walks in and says "Nothing happened" and "if you wanted to be alone, all you had to do was ask." He is reading the arrow-yanking as privacy. The reply is "That's the last thing on my mind."
Why can't the flower be found?
While repeating "Blue flower, red thorns," he says "This would be so much easier if I wasn't colour-blind." He is searching for two colours he cannot tell apart.
shrek-2001 · 7 chapters
All chapters →
Up next · Chapter 6wake up and smell the pheromonesShrek's Dinner with the Princess
Chapter 1worn outShrek Finds His Swamp Occupied
Chapter 2loaded pistolFarquaad Picks Princess Fiona
Chapter 3end of storyOgres Are Like Onions
Chapter 4Prince CharmingShrek Is Not Prince Charming
Watching · Chapter 5the last thing on my mindPulling the Arrow from Shrek
Chapter 6wake up and smell the pheromonesShrek's Dinner with the Princess
Chapter 7stabbing me in the backForgive You for the BackstabChapter 5 of 7 · about 6 min to go