The 1987 comedy fantasy is the perfect reminder that everything gets better.
As the semester comes to a close and many, if not all of us, are becoming increasingly frazzled by the stress of finals and the hustle that goes along with preparing to shove all of our belongs in a car and go home for a couple months. I want to take the time to remind you that it is important to remember the simpler parts about living.
I have noticed lately in the last couple weeks that the lively and inviting air of my residence hall has quieted to a hush as all of us hold our breaths, hoping our grades turn out for the best (it also might have something to do with everyone becoming inexplicably ill all the sudden). If your grades are not exactly what you anticipated them to be this semester, don't be discouraged. If you’re not feeling the best this week, don’t push yourself harder. Everything is going to work out. Just be patient and persistent.
Anyway, in times like that, I like to take ample time to relax and watch movies that remind me of the aforementioned mantras. Anything simple in plot and relatively calm in tone will suffice, but this week I specifically recommend that everyone take another look at the 1987 fantasy movie The Princess Bride.
The Princess Bride tells the love story between Buttercup and Westley, characters in a book a grandfather reads to his preteen grandson. Though the central plot is a love story, the movie is so much more than your run-of-the-mill fantasy romance. It is also a witty comedy and an action-thriller filled with complex and interesting characters. Those characters include, but are not limited to Wallace Shawn as a cocky but unintentionally hilarious kidnapper, Billy Crystal as a quirky medicine man and Peter Cook as a clergyman with a speech impediment.
Despite the movie being essentially a fairy tale, it is not as juvenile as it looks. The Princess Bride, though a little over the top at times, contains the perfect amount of humor and cynicism so that people of all ages can enjoy it. It may appear as if it’s just for younger audiences, but I think any person of any age could enjoy it, and it could help people escape reality for a little bit.
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Even if you don’t recognize the movie initially, I’m sure some of you will recognize it once some of the more memorable lines are said. The movie has been “meme’d” to death. Everything from “inconceivable!” to “Hello, my name is Inigo Montoya” to “You keep saying that word. I do not think it means what you think it means” have been plastered on every picture imaginable and reposted to the Internet an innumerable amount of times. (The Internet thinks it is worth remembering so that must mean something).
This week, if the stress is starting to be just a little too much, take another look at The Princess Bride. Remember: “Life is pain, Highness. Anyone who says differently is selling something.”
Kaitlyn McGarvey is a freshman studying journalism. What do you think about The Princess Bride? Email her at km451814@ohio.edu or tweet @McGarveyKaitlyn.
