Duloc

The Lordship of Duloc is a small city state in the first Shrek film. It seems to be in the countryside.

History
Long ago, a young peasant named Walter Duloc grew up on a farm where he lived with his family. Having a fondness for nature and fairy tales, he dreamed in creating a world of harmony where everyone would be in a perfect society with no issues in sight. Throughout the years, Walter had discovered new means of entertainment, telling classic stories to local villagers. He was a marionette performer, and would often collect tales around the land; with his breakout successes being performances of Snow White, Pinocchio, The Three Little Pigs, Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty, Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea, and Peter Pan. With widespread acclaim and the trust of many people, he had garnered enough motivation to create is own small village; where characters of both fairy tales, nursery rhymes, and classic literature could live together to find their happy endings. In the next few years, he had earned himself the new identity of Miser Duloc, a pioneer in both storytelling and social progress. Now turning the small area into a large civilization named after his last initial, Miser Duloc had been outlining his bold plans for the future; a near-perfect, peaceful community. As a start, he constructed his own theater, and conjoined it with a rather small, but beautiful castle. Things were looking bright for this new establishment, until he sadly died of a mysterious cause, which might've came from his trip to a plague-infested garden. Leaving the society in a state of panic, various storytellers tried to rival his success, with performances based on Robin Hood, Three Blind Mice, The Gingerbread Man, Little Red Riding Hood, Around the World in Eighty Days, Oliver Twist, and even the tales of Sherlock Holmes. Although none of them could rival the same magic that Miser Duloc provided.

After an extra few years of peril, an ambitious individual came forth and volunteered to become the new ruler of Duloc. His name was Maximus Farquaad, a local who had idolized Miser Duloc ever since his childhood. It seemed like he was the perfect choice, being well acquainted with the civilization and being an admirer of the late man's work. However, with Farquaad becoming ruler, he turned the establishment into a dictatorship, where he would be named Lord of Duloc. This was an act committed as a response to his own past; where his father, Daniel Farquaad, had fallen in a deep depression after the death of his former lover, Annabel Lee. Believing that angels had taken her away, Daniel had given little Maximus the impression that all supernatural beings were evil, and they all deserved to die. While Maximus never intended to go along with his dad's wishes of genocide, he certainly wanted the world to be rid of them. That way he could keep Miser Duloc's vision of the future in tact, along with making the spirit of his deceased mother happy. In fact, Lord Farquaad even replaced a portrait of Miser Duloc in the castle with his mother;  the artwork was painted by Farquaad himself when he was just 16-years old, attempting to truly bring his mom back to life. Luckily for him, his father was pleased with the painting, believing that Annabel Lee was still around. Once his father had passed, Farquaad painted a portrait of him as well, hanging it right next to Annabel's painting.

Lord Farquaad eventually took the civlized utopia, added some new facades (including the blue paint job), rebuilt the castle, and turned it into a totalitarian dictatorship/theme park hybrid. While controversial, the demolition of Miser Duloc's old theater was also a smart decision; since the locals enjoyed more action-packed tournament games as opposed to dramatic plays. Other changes included building an endless amount of gift shops and restaurants, a more squeeky-clean hub, and most importantly, the removal of all fairy tale creatures. An aspect that most citizens agreed to thanks to an "inspiring" speech, one local opposed the idea. Phileas Fogg, the man who travelled around the world in eighty days, was baffled by this movement; telling the Duloc citizens that they shouldn't support him, he almost convinced them through fairly solid evidence. Unfortunately, Lord Farquaad had his own scheme to fight back against Fogg. Getting his then-newly hired executioner, Thelonius (who's track record consisted of assisting Count Dracula and the infamous hanging of La Esmeralda), was told to come up with a lie about Fogg in order to have the civilians turn their backs on him. "Uh... I heard he robbed a bank one time... a nice man named Fix said so..."

This angered the people of Duloc, realizing that Phileas himself was just as guilty as the other fairy tale creatures. Despite Phileas Fogg having been proven innocent, everyone happened to forget that part of his story. Soon enough, the young man was banished from Duloc and migrated back to London. Now with Fogg out of the picture, Lord Farquaad could continue his plan to evict all magical beings from Duloc, opening several auctions where supernaturals can be sold off to various guards. While still on a path to success, Farquaad didn't realize the most fatal flaw with his rulership; the one glaring boulder blocking any further progress to being the "perfect kingdom". He needed to become a king. Being told this by a magic mirror, he was given the option to marry three princesses of his choosing, that way he'll gain access to becoming king of Duloc. Of the three, Farquaad chose to marry Princess Fiona, who was conviniently trapped in a tower just several miles away. Willing to find someone to rescue her, he holds a tournament where one of the selected knights will battle to the death; and whoever stands on top, will set forth on the journey to the Dragon's Keep.

Before the tournament could begin, a mysterious ogre and a donkey barged into the arena. While remaining anonymous, the ogre's real name was Shrek, and he somehow managed to beat up all the knights. Realizing the creature's potential in strength, Lord Farquaad declares him the winner and lets the ogre embark on a noble quest. However, he was already looking to get his swamp back, after it was littered with fairy tale creatures. In the end, a deal was set: Shrek rescues the princess, and he gains full ownership of his swamp. After a couple of nights awaiting the arrival of his princess, Lord Farquaad finally arrives near the windmill to pick up Princess Fiona. He soon asks for her hand in marriage, where she accepts. Unbeknownst to Farquaad however, Fiona had grown close to Shrek, and was hoping he would show up to save her yet again; this time from this forced marriage. Once the ogre had crashed the wedding, Fiona unveils her monstrous form, a hideous ogress. Disgusted, (now) King Farquaad calls his guards to escort Shrek and return Fiona to her tower. Much to his surprise, a giant dragon breaks through a stained glass window, and eats Farquaad with one bite. This marked the end of an era in Duloc's troubled history, with a demise which many had no remorse for. If anything, this meant a new beginning would be done to help bring the kingdom back to its former glory.

Trivia

 * It is seemingly a parody of Disneyland.