The Visual Data Storytelling
of The Princess Bride (1987)
The Princess Bride (1987), directed by Rob Reiner, is a story a grandfather who reads to his grandson a fairy tale filled with true love, adventure, and friendship. The tone of the filmmakers suggest the movie's purpose is not escapism, but reflections on the state of storytelling and audience distrust of a storyteller's promise to weave a compelling tale.
Storybook Characters and Plot Lines
Wesley and Buttercup
Wesley is a farmhand-turned-pirate on a mission to reunite with his true love, Buttercup.
Prince Humperdinck
Ruthless monarch of Florin. Prince Humperdinck forces Buttercup into a wedding engagement due to her evident charm and beauty appeal that enchants the Forin people. Furthermore Humperdinck hires a gang, led by Vizini, to kidnap, and murder Buttercup, so he has reason to start a war with the country of Guilder. After Buttercup's disappearance, Humperdinck leads a royal search party tracking the kidnappers, while putting on the appearance of committing to bring Buttercup safely back.
Iñigo Montoya and Fezzik
Are first introduced as two-thirds of the gang that kidnaps Buttercup. However, as soon as they start interacting with each others and surrounding individuals, the audience sympathize with the two characters. Iñigo is a master swordsman on a lifelong quest to avenge the death of his father by the six-fingered man, later revealed as the Florin royal assistant, Count Rugen. Fezzik, large physique individual, who is willing to assist his friends when needed.
Figure 1-1
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Analysis
The Princess Bride’s narrative effectively tells a compelling story. One reason why the movie succeeds is the use of callbacks. As characters progress in their journeys, earlier mentions are recalled to fill in missing pieces of information. The Figure 1-1 infographic includes tangent notes. For example, the detail "Iñigo tells the origin story of his revenge against the six-fingered man" . This detail signals the significance of "Wesley notices Rugen's six fingers," which allows "Fezzik informs Iñigo that Count Rugen is the six-fingered man. How Wesley's discovery was communicated to Fezzik was not addressed, but by this point in the story, the filmmakers earned the trust of their audience. Being shown characters possessing and making informed decisions with more complete background details, creates the impression of intelligent filmmaking. By creating a cinematic world with strong ethos, the filmmakers not only effectively capture the attention of their audience, but are granted allowances when minor details are not explained.
Multi-Verse Diegetic Timeline Interruptions
The Princess Bride (1987), takes place in two different worlds. The Grandfather and Grandson live in the world shared with the 1987 movie's audience, whereas the fairy tale world allows for fantastical creatures and magic.
The Narrative Roles of the Grandfather and Grandson
Grandfather and Grandson
The movie begins with a loving grandfather who visits his reluctant grandson and reads to him the book, The Princess Bride. The Grandfather is the main narrator. The Grandson acts as a reactionary surrogate to the movie's audience. Although the two characters are present at the film's beginning and end, their presence occasionally interrupts the fairy tale world through voiceover and onscreen reactionary response.
Figure 2-1
Click to expand.
Analysis
The Princess Bride’s narrative effectively tells a compelling story. One reason why the movie succeeds is the use of callbacks. As characters progress in their journeys, earlier mentions are recalled to fill in missing pieces of information. The Figure 1-1 infographic includes tangent notes. For example, the detail "Iñigo tells the origin story of his revenge against the six-fingered man" . This detail signals the significance of "Wesley notices Rugen's six fingers," which allows "Fezzik informs Iñigo that Count Rugen is the six-fingered man. How Wesley's discovery was communicated to Fezzik was not addressed, but by this point in the story, the filmmakers earned the trust of their audience. Being shown characters possessing and making informed decisions with more complete background details, creates the impression of intelligent filmmaking. By creating a cinematic world with strong ethos, the filmmakers not only effectively capture the attention of their audience, but are granted allowances when minor details are not explained.
On the other hand, Grandson’s injections, reveals an evolving character development from untrusting and stereotypical masculine youth to an emotional committed audience. Not convinced that he will like the story, at 0:04:42, Grandson interrupts with “Is this a kissing book?”. Later, at 0:54:50, the Grandson exhales with relief because the awful events that occurred were a figment of Buttercup’s imagination. If the Grandson had not developed an emotional attachment, he would have either contributed another skeptical remark or not commented
Figure 2-2
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Analysis
Translating the data presented on the Figure 2-1 timeline, into a box-and-whisker plot (Figure 2-2), one can examine interruption occurrence density. Figure 2-2 reveals that that the majority of the Grandfather/Grandson's interruptions happens between approximately 8 and 47 minutes. As the film progresses, these interruptions are less frequent. Using the box-and-whisker plot to compliment the timeline graphic, one can see how and when the Grandson's resistance fades and becomes emotionally invested in the storybook charactersOn the other hand, Grandson’s injections, reveals an evolving character development from untrusting and stereotypical masculine youth to an emotional committed audience. Not convinced that he will like the story, at 0:04:42, Grandson interrupts with “Is this a kissing book?”. Later, at 0:54:50, the Grandson exhales with relief because the awful events that occurred were a figment of Buttercup’s imagination. If the Grandson had not developed an emotional attachment, he would have either contributed another skeptical remark or not commented
How Interruptions Impact The Princess Bride’s Running Time
Focusing on the interruptions as it relates to time duration, one can see that these interjects do not consume a significant amount of the movie’s approximately 90-minute running time. The fact that one can immerse themselves exploring the Grandfather and Grandson characters even though they only take up a few minutes of screen time, is evidence that the filmmaker succeeds in presenting fully-developed characters without spending a great deal of time pulling the audience away from the narrative progression.
Conclusion
The Princess Bride‘s filmmakers succeeded in crafting effective cinematic storytelling. Through narrative recalls, as seen in the Figure 1-1, the audience sees the movie characters making informed decisions that progress the storyline, rather than leaving audience asking why the character acted the way they did or relying too heavily on the presumed ethos the filmmakers have with the audience. The moments when the Grandfather and Grandson interrupt the storybook narrative can be interpreted as the filmmakers’ alternative to breaking the fourth wall. The Grandfather, as onscreen storyteller, acts as a surrogate the filmmakers, and the Grandson appears as the audience surrogate. The Figure 2-1 timeline marks when these interruptions occur and context of what is happening in the story to evoke the comments. The markers also show the Grandson’s (audience’s) shifting tone from skepticism to emotional commitment to the storybook characters. Figure 2-2 compliments Figure 2-1, by visualizing the interruption occurrence density. By displaying the intercepting moments through a timeline and box-and-whisker plot, one can see how as audience commitment strengthens (Figure 2-1) and time elapses, the interruptions become less frequent. One can argue that The Princess Bride‘s filmmakers’ message to its 1987 audience was give the filmmaker, as a storyteller, time to show genres that are most often formulaic, such as fairy tales, can be told in a new and compelling way. But further research may be needed.
References
The Princess Bride (1987). IMDb. https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0093779/?ref_=tt_ch
Reiner, R. (Director). (1987). The Princess Bride [Film]. Act III Communications.