3.04.2010
Watching "The Princess Bride" again for the first time
I managed to discover two fellow geeks who had never seen "The Princess Bride" (which I've always seen as a veritable initiation ritual to geekdom), so a movie night was arranged and on Sunday, I watched the movie with them and another friend.
I tried to watch it through the eyes of the newbies. To put this in perspective, the only piece of artwork in our living room is a framed, autographed poster of "The Princess Bride." And if you've read prior posts, you know swashbucklers were pretty instrumental in the development of my psyche.
So watching it without my nostalgia glasses was hard. And a little disconcerting. How can one justify the admittedly-hokey special effects, the overdramatic acting and over-the-top music to people seeing it for the first time as adults? Sure, it's a self-parody, but how does that hold up in the era that brought us "The Lord of the Rings" and "The Matrix"?
I think for me, the movie will always hold up, because it's such a part of who I am. But I have to be honest...I don't see the generation following mine gleefully crying out, "Have fun stormin' the castle!" And that makes me terribly sad, because I don't think this generation really has a similar common thread, a movie all geeks know and love that speaks their language and is oh-so-quotable.
Am I wrong? Tell me in the comments.
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5 comments:
I'd like to watch it with my 10-year-old niece and see what she thinks.
Yeah, The Princess Bride. I saw it with a group of about 15 people when it was released. I think it holds up as a good movie in its own right. So tongue-in-cheek and smart, and very well-cast. I can't watch Forrest Gump without seeing Princess ButterCup instead of Jenny, can you? It has it all: Fencing, Fighting, Torture, Revenge, Giants, Monsters,Chases, Escapes, True love, Miracles. And to Fred Savage's eternal dismay, it's a kissing book.
The Princess Bride still maintains it's charm after all this time, and as second and third generation geeks are brought up, they'll be shown this movie during their formative years, just as we were. While Fred Savage certainly isn't going to mean anything to them, and the cool of Andre the Giant as The Giant will be lost on them, the story and it's delivery won't be. While it might not have that impact it did with us, it'll still be there. And besides, from reports I've heard, kids these days do still enjoy it.
And, according to the commentary with William Goldman, he would love a chance to remake the movie, touching up the screen play a bit for another go. He doesn't know if it'll ever be made, but the author is totally ready to go if the chance presents itself.
I think that the trick is indoctrinating the young. We didn't see it as adults the first time. My parents made me watch all kinds of older movies as a kid – some of which were admittedly cheesy – but which I still go back and watch from time to time - many of which my family still quotes.
Mary's totally right. Watched it with our kids a few months ago, and my 9 year-old is an endless source of "Is this a kissing book?" and "Have fun stormin' the castle!" witticisms.
He even threw down a "I do not think that word means what you think it means" the other day.
So proud.
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