{"id":31449,"date":"2016-02-17T06:30:47","date_gmt":"2016-02-16T17:30:47","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/helenlowe.info\/blog\/?p=31449"},"modified":"2016-02-16T22:04:31","modified_gmt":"2016-02-16T09:04:31","slug":"big-worlds-on-small-screens-fantasy-films-from-the-eighties-that-werent-that-bad-rebecca-fisher-discusses-the-princess-bride","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/helenlowe.info\/blog\/2016\/02\/17\/big-worlds-on-small-screens-fantasy-films-from-the-eighties-that-werent-that-bad-rebecca-fisher-discusses-the-princess-bride\/","title":{"rendered":"Big Worlds On Small Screens & \u201cFantasy Films From the Eighties That Weren\u2019t That Bad\u201d\u2014Rebecca Fisher Discusses “The Princess Bride”"},"content":{"rendered":"

~ by Rebecca Fisher<\/em><\/p>\n

Of all the fantasy cult classics, this one is the cultiest. It’s hard to imagine anyone who hasn’t seen it (though I’m sure they exist) and its appeal lies in the fact it combines all<\/em> the staple parts of a fantasy-adventure-romance, managing to poke fun at the familiar tropes while simultaneously embracing them.<\/p>\n

\"Princess<\/a><\/p>\n

This blend of raw cynicism and total belief in the power of true love gives The Princess Bride<\/strong> its unique tone, one that’s found throughout its cast of characters. The titular princess is pure-hearted but also a bit of a brat. Its romantic lead is both a dreamer and a smartass. The Spaniard searching for vengeance is also the embodiment of chivalry and amicability. The giant can crush a man with his bare hands, but finds his greatest joy in making rhymes. The prince can make passionate declarations of love about his fianc\u00e9e, before giving aside orders about how he plans to murder her.<\/p>\n

It’s based on the book by William Golding, which is itself a satire of fantasy\/adventure clich\u00e9s, though the film dispenses with its framing device of a pessimistic author editing a book read to him as a child to make it more interesting, with one of a grandfather offering to read to his sick grandson.<\/p>\n

\"princess<\/a>Fred Savage agrees to try to stay awake.<\/em><\/p>\n

As the story goes on the little boy goes from cynical to engrossed, and it’s no surprise. In his grandfather’s words, this is a story about: “fencing, fighting, torture, revenge, giants, monsters, chases, escapes, true love, miracles!”<\/em><\/p>\n

Princess Buttercup and Westley the stable boy fall in love, but when Westley is believed to have been killed by pirates, the grieving Buttercup consents to marry Prince Humperdink of Florin instead. Little does she know she’s just a pawn in Humperdink’s plan to wage war on the neighbouring kingdom of Guilder. He hires three mercenaries to kidnap her, carry her to the border, and leave her body there for the prince and his soldiers to find: the perfect pretext for war.<\/p>\n

But soon Buttercup’s kidnappers realize they’re being followed by a mysterious man in black \u2013 one who isn’t easily swayed from his purpose.<\/p>\n

\"princess<\/a>No prizes for guessing who it is. <\/em><\/p>\n

The Princess Bride<\/strong> contains elements that have since become well-known narrative devices: The Poisoned Chalice Switcheroo (Westley’s battle of wits with Vizzeni), As You Wish<\/a> (when a phrase is used to identify someone in disguise), Dread Pirate Roberts<\/a> (when the identity of a renowned figure is maintained by several different people), Only Mostly Dead<\/a> (when a main character is presumed dead, though a speck<\/em> of life still remains within them) \u2013 and of course, Rodents of Unusual Size<\/a>.<\/p>\n

At times it’s rather irreverent, for despite being set in a fantasy kingdom there are casual mentions of Australia, brute squads and famous philosophers, bur for long-time fans, images of the six-fingered man, the old woman who boos at the wedding, and Buttercup’s red dress \u2013 a splash of scarlet in the green countryside \u2013 conjure up memories of childhood.<\/p>\n

Most of all, you can tell a cult movie by how many famous phrases it spawns, and The Princess Bride<\/strong> is brimming with them: “This is true love. Do you think this happens every day?”; “You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means”; “Hello, my name is Inigo Montoya, you killed my father: prepare to die”; “I am not left-handed!” ;”Life is pain, everyone who says differently is selling something”; “Mwarriage! That dweam wiffin a dweam.”<\/p>\n

\"princess<\/a>\u201cSince the invention of the kiss, there have only been five kisses that were rated the most passionate, the most pure. This one left them all behind.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

In short, The Princess Bride<\/strong> is a film that doesn’t really belong under the category of “Fantasy Films from the Eighties that Aren’t that Bad” \u2013 because it’s widely recognized as being very, very good<\/em>.
\n.<\/span><\/p>\n

Next Time: Ladyhawke
\n<\/strong><\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

Though not as well-known as The Princess Bride<\/strong>, our next film bears several similarities: a medieval European setting, a beautiful damsel in distress, a noble hero on a white horse, a young thief with a tendency to talk to God… hmmm, maybe it’s not exactly the same, but I’ll let you decide for yourself when I review Ladyhawke<\/strong>.<\/em><\/span>
\n.<\/span><\/p>\n

About The Reviewer:<\/h3>\n

\"\"<\/a>Rebecca Fisher is a graduate of the University of Canterbury with a Masters degree in English Literature, mainly, she claims, because she was able to get away with writing her thesis on C.S. Lewis and Philip Pullman. She is a reviewer for FantasyLiterature.com<\/a>, a large website that specializes in fantasy and science-fiction novels, as well as posting reviews to Amazon.com<\/a> and her They\u2019re All Fictional<\/a> blog.<\/p>\n

To read Rebecca\u2019s detailed introduction of both herself and the series, as well as preceding reviews, click on:<\/p>\n

Big Worlds On Small Screens<\/a><\/h3>\n

Rebecca won the 2015 Sir Julius Vogel Award<\/a> for Best Fan Writer, for writing that included Big Worlds On Small Screens<\/em>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

~ by Rebecca Fisher Of all the fantasy cult classics, this one is the cultiest. It’s hard to imagine anyone who hasn’t seen it (though I’m sure they exist) and its appeal lies in the fact it combines all the staple parts of a fantasy-adventure-romance, managing to poke fun at the familiar tropes while simultaneously […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[49],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-31449","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-big-worlds-on-small-screens-with-rebecca-fisher"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/helenlowe.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31449","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/helenlowe.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/helenlowe.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/helenlowe.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/helenlowe.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=31449"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/helenlowe.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31449\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":31459,"href":"https:\/\/helenlowe.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31449\/revisions\/31459"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/helenlowe.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=31449"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/helenlowe.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=31449"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/helenlowe.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=31449"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}