Growing up I had my fair share of princess movies and of course the Princess Bride. We used to watch it all the time at my babysitters and it easily became one of my favorite movies. The characters were so interesting to my 8 year old self. They were all so brave and beautiful that I never knew what was going to happen next even if it was the third time I had watched it that day. But as I grew up, just as much of other things I grew out of, I saw the the Princess Bride for what it truly is.
The characters weren’t so much brave and beautiful, I could soon predict everything that was coming up and not because I had seen it so uch but it was just obvious. Sadly, now I hate the movie for all its worth. I always continued to think about how much I was absolutely in love with the movie, until we watched it in English the other day. I started to analyze Buttercup, for one she was extremely lazy, two was she ever really in love with Westley because she really only decided she loved him until she thought she couldn’t have him.
Plus she is really annoying with the whole I’m waiting for Westley, who by the way, up until halfway through the movie was dead and then dead again, so like girl get over him. Next was Fezzik, oh sweet Fezzik, only ever doing hat he is told to do because he absolutely has no brain anywhere in that huge body of his, not even one little brain cell. Finally, Prince Humpernick, a total low life. He is truly good for nothing and bless his heart because he thinks he is but all the man wants is to be king and to have all the power in the world.
He finds a girl he believes he pretty enough to make his queen and then finds out she will never love him because they both suck and decides to kill her because even with a widowed wife he can still rule the kingdom. It was a very hard choice to only pick two characters after watching them all my life and esearching them for the past few weeks or so. But finally I picked Westley and Inigo because they had something in common and well I have something I knew would help me out. While doing my research I stumbled across an article about how Inigo was the real hero of the story and not Westley.
At first I thought no it’s Westley but I continued reading and it compared Princess Bride to Star Wars and how Indigo was Luke and Westley was Hans. I read all of the article multiple times and then it just clicked in my brain that Inigo was the real hero. He was to avenge his father and do whatever it took to get there. He helped Westley get Buttercup and then he found the man who killed his father and didn’t even care about his own safety he just went for it and tried to kill this man who had stabbed him but Inigo continued to fight.
That’s a true hero, Westley not so much. Westley only cared about getting about getting Buttercup and getting to free Buttercup. Get a grip on life. The girl doesn’t even bathe or comb her hair, okay I can’t really say anything about the hair but seriously the bathing? When Westley became the Man in Black, he learned a lot about life, love, and the desire to live. He could beat Inigo in sword fighting, e could take down Fezzik, and fool the poison guy who hired Fezzik and Inigo, into drinking the poison.
The Man in Black is extremely smart and a person you should not mess with. Westley on the other still very smart but all he cares about is Buttercup. Which is sweet and all but when he puts on the black ensemble he transforms himself into something so much greater and aspires to greater things. It’s not that Westley couldn’t do the things the Man in Black could it’s just he only cares about one thing and it’s quite ridiculous. Hello, my name is Inigo Montoya, you killed my father, prepare to die. The amous line from the movie and books. But it got annoying real fast.
Though it shows massive respect that he wants to avenge his father, like really man, the guy who killed your father could be halfway across the world or even six feet under. Don’t spend your entire life searching for him when you have no way of knowing where in the world he might even be or further more whom he even is. Plus then he didn’t make the situation any better by becoming an alcoholic and drinking his life away. But I will give him props for never giving up. That is something we can all take away from Inigo, even though he had no idea who this an was or where he might even be, he never gave up and that is the sign of a true hero.
When reading the story or watching the movie you can obviously tell the author wanted an action packed novel that everyone would get hooked on and just fall head over heals for. But I think once you start to grow up and see how the story works and understand a character you don’t get the action. You start to realize that all of these characters are static and have one main goal in the story and it will never change. The only dynamic person in this story was the magic man or the man that brought Westley from the dead. He hanged from saying I will not help this man to giving him a chocolate covered pill that would bring him back.
Other than that one man nobody else changes. The story line is meant, in my opinion, for younger ages. The characters are locked into this little world of nothing and can’t escape. Honestly why can’t Buttercup someday love Humpernick? Why can’t Westley combine the Man in Black with himself and move on to greater things? Why can’t Inigo realize that he has spent his entire life dedicated to one man and even though it’s great that he takes him down, will never again amount to anything else in his life ecause he is an alcoholic who will never change?
Now I would ask a question about Fezzik but I am very positive he will never become of anything else in his life because there isn’t even half a cell working in his brain. You see it’s not that I believe the author’s wrote bad books or anything, I just don’t believe these characters have enough depth to them. Sure you can relate to a few things the characters bring, Inigo’s never giving up attitude, the love Buttercup and Westley share, the loyalty of Fezzik, and drive Humpernick has for power. There is some great things the haracters do with their lives but in all honesty they aren’t very good.
This coming from a girl who once believed this was one of the best movies I had ever seen and how it was full of action, bravery, love, and everything a princess movie needed. But sooner or later you start to analyze things differently and soon the hero you thought was the man of the hour loses his title to the man who truly cares about something and his loyalty is something money can’t even buy. In the end I still believe that all the characters are static with some great qualities and the Inigo will now forever be the hero of the Princess Bride.
