The Princess Bride Film Analysis

The Princess Bride undermines the cheesy ideals of classic fairytales while celebrating true love? Westley’s reinvention of himself throughout the movie? Is the young boy a spoiled brat? Is life “unfair”? What are the examples of true love in the movie?

Despite having an archetypal storyline, The Princess Bride proves to be anything but predictable. From the moment the title appears onscreen in a font that evokes classic fairy tales such as Sleeping Beauty, it is clear the story is going to be rooted in fantasy. Following the appearance of the title comes the sound of a child’s cough as the black screen gives way to the graphics a baseball video game. The camera pans around the room to reveal posters of Chicago Cubs and Bears players, and soon rests on a child, presumably the source of the cough. Thus, the mise-en-scene has introduced to one of our two narrators, the other being the child’s grandfather who comes to read him a story. Though the novel read by the grandfather conveys a hackneyed tale of undying love, the film frames this in a self-aware way with periodic interruption of the story’s narrative by comments from young boy which are cynical at first, by grow to reflect a genuine interest as the movie progresses. This move is self-reflexive in that it reminds the audience that they are, in fact, watching a move; however, this serves to elevate the meaning of the film. Through the use of sound, editing, and mise-en-scene, The Princess Bride emphasizes that even though the concept of true love has saturated society and become cliché, it’s no less potent because of the cultural overplay. I will specifically discuss the utilization of deep focus shots, color, and lighting that caricaturize the traditional fairy tale,

In the past, there have been countless princess movies or so-called “Cinderella” films. However, the general message that each one of these movies have given has changed as time has progressed. With this change, expectations placed on the princesses have been modified as well. This change in expectations has been thoroughly discussed by two authors, James Poniewozik and Peggy Orenstein. Poniewozik, a media and television critic for Time magazine, wrote an article entitled “The Princess Paradox” where he discusses this evolution of expectations. As well as him, Orenstein, a contributing writer for the New York Times Magazine, wrote an article with the title of “Cinderella and Princess Culture” where she also discusses the development of the expectations on girls. Even though Poniewozik and Orenstein discuss the evolution of expectations portrayed on girls, Orenstein is able to illuminate the more complex ideas that Poniewozik is attempting to express based on the expectations of girls.

The Princess Bride is a timeless classic written in 1973 by William Goldman that was later on, in 1987, turned into a movie. The Princess Bride is a fairy-tale adventure of a young couple madly in love that must fight and overcome tough obstacles to be together, one of them being the evil prince, which has demanded her hand in marriage. Although the Princess Bride is an all-time classic, there are many character flaws. The characters seem to be extremely static and typical; the princess looks like any other princess, the hero saves the day, and the villain is defeated. The stale characters make the witty humor priceless and unbelievably entertaining which makes you fall in love with these boring characters. Buttercup’s princess looks; Westley’s

The Princess Bride’s purpose is to entertain, but the entire book is filled with satire that, in my opinion, informs readers of numerous flaws that are overlooked in the world today. Satire, which is the use of humor, irony, exaggeration, or ridicule to expose and criticize people's stupidity or vices, is recurrent throughout the novel, and today’s society is able to relate to many of them. Frequently, the satires in the book emphasize parenting, beauty, and brand names, and today’s society is so caught up in those things. With evidence from the satires throughout the book, they are easily relatable to everyday life.

Since the creation of Hollywood, every decade has had a handful of films that become timeless classics which have a profound impact on our popular culture. The 1980s was a decade that released several classics, including The Breakfast Club, Ghostbusters, and Back to the Future among many others. One of the greatest pieces of cinema from the 1980s is The Princess Bride. This film is an adaptation of William Goldman’s novel and is directed by Rob Reiner. Goldman and Reiner made several brilliant cinematic choices while making the film. These choices include casting actors that fit the characters, developing a great fairy-tale atmosphere, and balancing the action and comedy. The choices that Goldman and Reiner made while creating the world of The Princess Bride lead the film to become the cult classic it is today.

From a young age, princess culture has impacted the lives of numerous people. Some individuals may have spent their childhood in the attire of their favorite Disney princess while they put on their best rendition of the character they admired most. Other children went seemingly unfazed by the phenomenon, as their peers remained spellbound by the magical world of princesses. With Disney’s debut of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, princess movies provided the defining factor of the Disney entertainment empire for years to come. From this, fairy tales embarked into a territory that would touch the lives of many in a new way. However, since princess culture has considerably grown, opponents, such as Monika Bartyzel, question if princess

Each of these scenes have their own uniqueness to them, they may both be fight scenes but they are practically complete opposites. If we are to strip away the context of each scene and just look at them from strictly a fight choreographer point of view there is some slight similarities in the way they fight. Light sabers are a cooler version of a sword so the zapping of their collins and the clanging of swords is very similar. When the context of the scenes is brought into play, involving the sound track, it is when they begin to differ.

People fantasize about their perfect love story and find comfort in movies that fuels their imagination, like “The Princess Bride”. Recently the film has been re-released for its 30th anniversary because its ability to capture the audience into the personified version of the perfect love story. The movie shows the struggles and triumphs that Westley and Princess Buttercup face in order to be together as a couple. In order for them to accomplish this, Westley has to save Princess Buttercup from Prince Humperdinck before their wedding. As they tackle each obstacle, Westley gains allies with Inigo and Fezzick after choosing to save their lives. Both characters were ordered to kill Westley, but soon discovered they were no match to Westley’s skills. Westley’s spares their lives because each fight was respectful leading him to see they both were morally good people. When Westley finds himself in danger, they come to the rescue and fight for him to stay alive with the help of Miracle Max, the miracle worker. Each character finds their own happily ever after by persevering through their personal struggles in order to gain their full happiness.

Combining the elements of adventure, ironic romance, and comedy make The Princess Bride an entertaining, fantasy romance novel. The story’s setting takes place in cities of Guilder and Floren, where Prince Humperdink lives. He decides to force Buttercup to marry him. However, Buttercup confesses her love for farmhand Westly. When she moves to the princes castle she is captured by three men named Inigo, Fezzik, and Vinzzini.

Disney’s princess movies from the Classic era have translated the society’s definition of women and their roles during the 1930s.

In addition, he was definitely a hopeless romantic and has great affection for adventures, which was the only fantasy part of his book. Throughout the book, the plot moved from romance to despair to adventures, and then back to romance. Goldman specifically claimed that he decided to cut off the boring parts of the book, also known as the history side of it, and to focus on love and adventures. Other than that, the rest of the story is pretty normal, whereby the main lead would always win in the end, and have happy endings. Morals of the novel were similar to other classic fairytale as well.

Ewa Mazierska argues that films such as In Desert and Wilderness(2001) play on the nostalgia of a male-dominated kingdom by portraying powerful woman as “deeply shadowy”(Mazierska 176) while portraying princesses as “completely helpless and dependent on men”(177). However, the films also rely on the nostalgia shown for the “revitalization of Polish history”(168). The films gain nostalgia because they are portrayed as “courageous and deeply religious knights” who are “morally and intellectually superior” to those around them(169).This creates a sense of nationalism that boosts the film's success. Similarly, Barbara Klonowska argues that magical realism in polish films relies on the nostalgia for the“idyllic versions of Polish past” (Klonowska 186) that was heavily ordered and male-dominated. She uses an example from Andrzej Wajda’s Chronicle of Amorous Accident(1986) in which a traditional polish village is under attack of the “magic” of “encroaching technological and consumerist civilization”(189). Both studies expand on the traditional nostalgia of princess films and open new pathways for others to explore the combination of nostalgia of kingdoms, nationalism, and magical

Nothing will ever go according to plan. Tests are failed, people are changed, loves are lost. As is the case with Tim Burton’s The Corpse Bride, following the story of an elegiac young man, the son of newly rich fishmongers. Victor Van Dort (Johnny Depp) is betrothed to Victoria Everglot (Emily Watson), the daughter of penniless aristocrats, to heighten both of their families, and despite his initial terror, he falls in love with her. Unfortunately, Victor has a horrible time at the rehearsal and cannot remember his vows, leading him off into the words where, while practicing, he inadvertently puts the wedding ring on the Corpse Bride (Helena Bonham Carter), a young woman who was murdered on her wedding day for her parent 's money. Victor’s adventures in the land of the dead tear him between his new wife and his intended bride, while teaching him more about himself and those around him. Throughout the film, the elegantly lifelike clay figures portray the lifelessness of the living juxtaposed with the liveliness of the dead in Victorian Europe.

I selected the film Princess Mononoke from director Hayao Miyazaki and Studio Ghibli. The animated film consists of the genres action, adventure, fantasy, drama, and historical. Mamoru Fujisawa, also known professionally as Joe Hisaishi, is the sole composer of the film Princess Mononoke. The music pinpointed the battles that would take place in the film and even introductions of some integral characters that would have an affect on the story. The music even highlighted and enhanced the climax of the film.