The Princess Bride (student choice, Elizabeth White)

     The Princess Bride deals with the reading from C.S. Lewis we were assigned when we watched Big Fish. The film is about the love story and adventures of Buttercup and Westley, set within a frame story about a grandfather reading to his sick grandson in bed. In the novel, the author, Goldman, has footnotes explaining that his father read him the story when he was young, but when he bought it as an adult he realized that it was a lengthy and boring history book. His father chose to read him only the “good” parts and he wants to share those good parts with his son. The story itself is a bit silly. I say this as someone who’s loved the film since I watched it with my mother when I was around six years old. The dialogue is hilariously unrealistic (Inigo and Westley’s “duel”), the characters are comically sure of themselves (Inigo’s revenge, Buttercup’s attitude), and the plot is fast moving and just… silly. However, it is a film about the importance of silly stories. The humanity of storytelling lies in the fantasy and author’s lose the heart of the art when they attempt to make it too realistic. 

Goldman’s book emphasizes the importance of storytelling and how the fictional author, Morgenstern, loses the humanity of the story by bogging it down with boring details. The film cuts these comments, but it keeps the idea that storytelling is important to people, no matter how silly the story may seem. The film cuts back to the frame at the beginning, with the grandfather telling his grandson that he looks nervous and assuring him that the princess does not get eaten by eels. The choice to cut back to the “real world” in this moment is to show how affected he is by the story. It may be a silly, unrealistic fiction piece about a princess being threatened by giant eels, but to the grandson (and to the audience of the film), the concern for Buttercup’s safety is real. Without the author’s commentary, the film strengthens his message by allowing the story to speak for itself. The frame story allows the audience to allow themselves to truly enjoy the fantasy of it, without worrying about if it is childish or ridiculous. C.S. Lewis writes, “The more lucidly we think, the more we are cut off: the more deeply we enter reality, the less we can think. You cannot study Pleasure in the moment of the nuptial embrace, nor repentance while repenting, nor analyze the nature of humour while roaring with laughter.” Goldman’s fictional author, Morgenstern, is guilty of, as Lewis states, studying repentance while repenting. He is so caught up in writing a grand history, that no one will ever enjoy reading it because he cannot see the full picture. He is too stuck in reality. As a historian myself, I have to say I agree with him to some degree. Obviously, boring “real” stories have a place in the world, but so do stories like Westley and Buttercup’s.