Movie 2: Princess Bride

[xela]

This has to be at least the fifth time I"ve watched Princess Bride, a movie I find simply delightful. A satire of Medieval fantasy that is itself a great medieval fantasy; a movie that is fun for children of all ages. I recommend it wholeheartedly. And if by some miracle you are one of those people who has never seen it, for heaven's sake don't read my second paragraph.

What I do not recommend is thinking about it very hard. As I've thought about writing this entry over the past couple of days, I found my feelings increasingly mixed. Should it be praised for breaking the genre's female stereotype when Buttercup picks up a stick and whacks the rodent of unusual size? Or condemned for promulgating that stereotype when she turns out to be so damned useless with that stick? If you squint a certain way, it is fundamentally the story of how a gang of small-time crooks beat a gang of big-time crooks: what kind of ethical message is that? I could go on, but I'll spare you. In the end, I decided to just let the damned movie be fun, and not pick at it.

Comments

[pwaa.livejournal.com]

The movie's great. The book is even better....