IS THIS IAGO MONTANA???

January 19, 2020 9:18 PM

OKAY. The Princess Bride. Super well known and beloved film, and I have absolutely no idea what it's about. Now I did initially think it was the one (also not seen) where the lady comes down on a meteor or something but apparently not so, and I think I also got it mixed up with Zorro? Idk i've not seen that one either. So my best guess is 1) there's a princess and 2) she's a bride. Now this seems, to me, pretty standard so idk why this movie is so beloved. […]

So... let's dive in? Twitter | Threadreader
posted by Johnny Wallflower (148 comments total)

h/t Etrigan
posted by Johnny Wallflower at 9:18 PM on January 19, 2020

God, yes, this thread won the internets today.
posted by rewil at 9:25 PM on January 19, 2020 [4 favorites]

I’m going to go the opposite route and say this tweetfeed not that interesting to me. Whether it’s my admiration for the film or that the writer is just a goddamn moron, either way, not enjoying it.

However, thank you to Johnny Wallflower for posting a link to the Threadreader version. I don’t have it in me today to create a new metaphor for getting squicked in the eye by Twitter.
posted by drivingmenuts at 9:35 PM on January 19, 2020 [13 favorites]

Hello, my name is Iago Montana. I have no particular beef with you. Go about your business.
posted by dannyboybell at 9:36 PM on January 19, 2020 [52 favorites]

Reminds me of the apocryphal (maybe) story of the New York society lady opining, "Not sure what all the fuss is over Shakespeare. All he seemed to do was string a lot of well-known quotes together."
posted by Barbara Spitzer at 9:39 PM on January 19, 2020 [63 favorites]

This thread is the exception to the Twitter rule that every day, there's a main character on Twitter, and you don't want to be it.
posted by fatbird at 9:40 PM on January 19, 2020 [4 favorites]

Obligatory XKCD.
posted by mephisjo at 9:43 PM on January 19, 2020 [23 favorites]

Whether it’s my admiration for the film or that the writer is just a goddamn moron

It's just someone who is unfamiliar with the film sharing their excited reactions as they watch it for the first time. What about that makes them a "goddamn moron"? That seems like a rather snobbish and mean-spirited way to read it.

And they liked it, so I don't get what admiring the film has to do with it.

(Actually, my admiration for the film makes me pleased that someone watched it and enjoyed it that much. I wish my friends hadn't all seen it so I could watch it with them for the first time, too!)
posted by Kutsuwamushi at 9:44 PM on January 19, 2020 [87 favorites]

OH FUCK SHE PUSHED HIM DOWN THE HILL HELL YES BUTTERCUP AVENGE YOUR PERFECT FARM BOY

.................. AS YOU WISH?

WAIT WHAT


I read all the way to find this spoiler and was not disappointed.
posted by jragon at 9:45 PM on January 19, 2020 [48 favorites]

That was delightful. I was actually excited for the writer as I read through it. Thanks for posting this.
posted by BigHeartedGuy at 10:03 PM on January 19, 2020 [14 favorites]

I think I first saw the film when I was a young teen, and I've watched it so many times since then.

I'm very happy to watch them experience the magic - and a little jealous to never be able to be so surprised.

And yes, young Mandy Patinkin was very pretty - as pretty as Carol Kane is hilarious.

"Liar!"

(older Mandy Patinkin is still pretty fine looking, though rocking more of a cool gramps look).
posted by jb at 10:03 PM on January 19, 2020 [4 favorites]

I just recently read the book and was pleased at how well the movie follows it, with the interruptions and asides about the author S. Morgenstern. I am imagining a version of this thread with the same meta-textual asides.
posted by migurski at 10:06 PM on January 19, 2020 [4 favorites]

That XKCD does remind me of the time I introduced an employer to the concept of furries. He never quite forgave for that.
posted by drivingmenuts at 10:13 PM on January 19, 2020 [10 favorites]

New York society lady opining, "Not sure what all the fuss is over Shakespeare. All he seemed to do was string a lot of well-known quotes together."

That sounds like the Platonic ideal of a New Yorker cartoon.
posted by Greg_Ace at 10:17 PM on January 19, 2020 [44 favorites]

THIS IS RUFIO ALL OVER AGAIN
posted by Maaik at 10:19 PM on January 19, 2020 [9 favorites]

Oddly I just re-watched the Princess Bride on Saturday, so it was perfect timing for this threadreader. Hilarious and wonderful, thank you for sharing!
posted by Athanassiel at 10:28 PM on January 19, 2020

I've watched this film so many times I don't remember my first watch. But as a fellow face blindness sufferer I have no doubt that Westleys disguise worked perfectly for me.

I wonder if @uzbadyubi has watched Monty Python's Holy Grail?
posted by Mitheral at 10:30 PM on January 19, 2020 [6 favorites]

This thread was delightful. The closest I can get to watching the movie again for the first time. Makes me want to watch it again.
posted by sleeping bear at 10:39 PM on January 19, 2020 [6 favorites]

i thought Fezzik was really big by CGI but i think he's actually just irl huge????

This is a young person learning why people complain about marvel movies looking fake.
posted by Going To Maine at 10:45 PM on January 19, 2020 [48 favorites]

the apocryphal (maybe) story of the New York society lady opining, "Not sure what all the fuss is over Shakespeare. All he seemed to do was string a lot of well-known quotes together."

I love this! Source?
posted by freebird at 10:46 PM on January 19, 2020

I think maybe some of you would also enjoy Cinema Wins' YouTube channel where there's a lot of Everything Great About <Movie>". It's a little bright note of positivism amongst the sea of ironic distance and teardowns.
posted by Harald74 at 10:46 PM on January 19, 2020 [8 favorites]

I'm an inveterate enjoyer of other people's first delighted experience of something I love. Those are some of the best moments of my life; not infrequently as wonderful as the thing was itself. I'll watch a beloved movie or show of whatever for the umpteenth time with someone for whom it's new. It's a bummer when the person doesn't like it so much; but I'll take those strikes for the home runs.

So, yeah, I loved this.
posted by Ivan Fyodorovich at 12:02 AM on January 20, 2020 [27 favorites]

There's a definite point in threads like this where the stated intention to snark along at the events of the film breaks down, because the film has managed to connect through their ironic distance, and they start emotionally reacting. You can usually tell when that is, and unless you want to be reminded of what it feels like to watch a good film for the first time, there's usually not much else going on.
posted by Merus at 12:03 AM on January 20, 2020 [5 favorites]

Ugh. I really hate these. They’re meant to be a record of someone’s spontaneous unmediated first impressions of a work and yet they’re always so embarrassingly overwritten and overwrought. Trying way too hard to go viral. At least, that how they come across to me.
posted by Atom Eyes at 12:30 AM on January 20, 2020 [26 favorites]

There's a definite point in threads like this where the stated intention to snark along at the events of the film breaks down

I didn't feel that the Twitter thread went into anything with the intention to snark. The author seemed to genuinely to want to diarise their reactions.

This thread, though? Thankfully, it looks as if we've had a bit of mod cleanup.

I honestly can't imagine myself writing an interesting tweet thread about seeing a film I've heard lots about but never seen before. But does that mean I don't believe other people can? No, not necessarily.
posted by ambrosen at 12:38 AM on January 20, 2020 [12 favorites]

unless you want to be reminded of what it feels like to watch a good film for the first time

Yeah, I suppose this sorta thing is okay if you're into feelings like joy or delight.
posted by straight at 1:31 AM on January 20, 2020 [83 favorites]

DFKJDKJDKJ - stands for?
posted by Meatbomb at 2:14 AM on January 20, 2020

SJSKJDSAJ - and this one?

OK, here is me being old and grumpy, so please skip if you do not want a critical comment.

I love Princess Bride, seen it a dozen times, know the lines. I am glad someone has watched for the first time and enjoyed it, good for them.

But there is something off about this kind of live blogging / twitter thread becoming popular to me. The person is basically just mashing the keyboard with caps lock on. There is zero consideration for the reader, it is just random stream of consciousness, and that is something we should all read and enjoy because...? It seems like such disposable pap. "I watched the Princess Bride and wow, it was so good and so many memes and callbacks now make much better sense to me." Done.

OMG OMG LMFAO PLEASE DO NOT DELETE because THIS THREAD BEST111!!!!!
posted by Meatbomb at 2:23 AM on January 20, 2020 [13 favorites]

> "That's the way I felt, reading the thread, echoes of my own time first seeing it"

I'm admittedly a bit emotional, these days, but reading

"I want my father back, you son of a bitch."

in the context of that Twitter thread has started me crying.

Literal, actual tears at my desk.
posted by kyrademon at 2:26 AM on January 20, 2020 [23 favorites]

DFKJDKJDKJ - stands for?
SJSKJDSAJ - and this one?

sksksksksk is an onomatopoeia used to express amazement, shock, and excitement, due to it being a common outcome when one types random letters on a keyboard. In practice, the letters are used in a similar manner to the phrase I Can't Even.

here is me being old and grumpy

Kids these days am I right
posted by EndsOfInvention at 3:17 AM on January 20, 2020 [15 favorites]

Reading that thread was a wonderful hero's journey of watching someone who comes off as an ironic millennial? gen Z-er? (Iago Montana? Zorro? "she's a bride. Now this seems, to me, pretty standard so idk why this movie is so beloved.") slowly get drawn in to, and eventually won over by something you really appreciated as a Gen X child, without betraying the tropes of their generation at all.

Maybe it's overwrought, but that's also kind of how 20 year olds behave. It's certainly how I behaved, but it doesn't feel fake. This person went through their own narrative arc, and it's fun watching that in response to the movie's narrative arc.
posted by fnerg at 3:18 AM on January 20, 2020 [19 favorites]

they thought andre the giant was big because of CGI and also didn't know it was andre the giant.
i. feel. old.
posted by affectionateborg at 3:40 AM on January 20, 2020 [25 favorites]

Andre died 28 years ago next week, which is about as long as his career was. He belongs to another age now.
posted by Etrigan at 3:43 AM on January 20, 2020 [33 favorites]

Hello, my name is Iago Montana. I have no particular beef with you. Go about your business.

I was once told I looked like a buffer Mandy Patinkin while in line at a grocery store. I was completely nonplussed because I am not buffer than Mandy Patinkin* (or almost anyone frankly), my father is still alive and I had no wish to duel. I had been in that grocery store line so long, that when it was almost over, I did not know what to do with the rest of my life. Then my wounds re-opened. I saved $3.84 on my shop.

[*I look more like Homeland Patinkin than Princess Bride Patinkin because I am a greying neckbeard but I choose to go with iconic pop culture reference over quality character acting]
posted by srboisvert at 3:54 AM on January 20, 2020 [4 favorites]

He belongs to another age now.

I mean, I read your comment, and I can’t in any way deny the utter and perfect truth of it, but

YOU TAKE THAT BACK, YOU MEAN NASTY PERSON! ANDRE THE GIANT (AND HIS POSSE) ARE FOREVER, FOR ALL ERAS!

/cries in total awareness of the match of time, the pace of age, and the waiting cool earth
posted by Ghidorah at 4:14 AM on January 20, 2020 [34 favorites]

MetaFilter: Complaining About Kids' Internet Slang Since 2004
posted by EndsOfInvention at 4:15 AM on January 20, 2020 [39 favorites]

And now, literally mashing the keyboard is how we communicate? Fuck me. And sorry to derail, someone needs to do an FPP about this LOL OMFG KIDS THESE DAYS!!

Gretchen McCulloch, internet linguist, actually has a whole bit in her book "Because Internet", on keyboard smash and how it's not actually literally smashing the keyboard. There are particular patterns- sksksk is a newer one, asfjglk; is an older one- and people do things like "correct" smashes that don't look right. The whole book is an excellent and does a pretty good job of explaining how creative kids these days are with language.
posted by damayanti at 4:35 AM on January 20, 2020 [71 favorites]

I'm not sure I'm emotionally prepared to think of Princess Bride as an "old movie".
posted by octothorpe at 5:01 AM on January 20, 2020 [8 favorites]

they seem to have enjoyed it, which is good. I wonder if they wanna watch some old scooby doo next time so they can finally find out the backstory on their other favorite reaction: "RUH ROH SCOOB"
posted by some loser at 5:07 AM on January 20, 2020 [4 favorites]

"But there is something off about this kind of live blogging / twitter thread becoming popular to me. The person is basically just mashing the keyboard with caps lock on. There is zero consideration for the reader, it is just random stream of consciousness, and that is something we should all read and enjoy because...?"

OK, sure, yes, not wrong. But to me these read the same way as watching a movie with a friend who's never seen it before. I get to share their stream of consciousness confusion and excitement and emotion while we laugh and gasp and chat with each other. I completely understand why this might seem obnoxious or fake, but this way of Doing Internet feels pretty natural to me given my Way of Internetting as someone in my third decade of life.

I don't necessarily want the world's 8,000th think-piece on The Princess Bride; I'm happy spending five minutes vicariously enjoying someone's experience and remembering my feelings about the movie/show/whatever. But also, if it's not your jam, that's cool too.

BRB texting my BF to ask if he wants to watch this movie for the umpteenth time tonight.
posted by wakannai at 5:11 AM on January 20, 2020 [17 favorites]

The writer's reactions to the movie feels a lot like the first time I watched Casablanca sometime in the 80s. If there'd been such a thing as live-blogging, I would have written a lot of "oh, that's where that line comes from".
posted by octothorpe at 5:14 AM on January 20, 2020 [13 favorites]

Very ironic: I didn't even see this thread until today, but yesterday I came up with the following D&D flaw (3.5/PF rules):

Face Blindness
Without obvious visual hints like hairstyles or clothing, you struggle to differentiate members of the same gender and species.

Effect: You suffer a -2 penalty on all Sense Motive checks and a -4 penalty on all Perception checks made to differentiate one creature from another of the same gender and species (subject to circumstance modifiers for the creatures' hairstyles, clothing, or speaking voices, as determined by the DM). Moreover, your Perception modifiers for familiarity when making an opposed roll against an impersonator's Disguise are all 6 points lower (i.e., are at -2, +0, +2, and +4).
posted by CheesesOfBrazil at 5:18 AM on January 20, 2020 [8 favorites]

that is something we should all read and enjoy because...?

No, it's absolutely not something we should all read and enjoy. Some people will enjoy it, and they should read it. Some others will not enjoy it, and they shouldn't read it. (Hopefully they weren't forced to go through the whole thing, and allowed themselves to bail once they realized it wasn't for them.)
posted by dfan at 5:29 AM on January 20, 2020 [13 favorites]

They’re meant to be a record of someone’s spontaneous unmediated first impressions of a work and yet they’re always so embarrassingly overwritten and overwrought.

Young people’s writing is often like that, because young people’s feelings are often like that, and as far as I’m concerned it’s beautiful.
posted by mhoye at 5:39 AM on January 20, 2020 [40 favorites]

My favorite parts were the author discovering where a bunch of memes come from.

Also hey how's about we let people enjoy things in the way that they want. Just because someone doesn't communicate in the same style as you doesn't mean they're being disingenuous. This was all pretty standard Millennial (like, not even zoomer) internetting. I teach people used to teaching face to face how to teach online and one piece of advice we give us to dial up the emotion in your written comminication a bit because without the feedback of body language and facial expression, communication online can come off as really flat and impersonal. This is just that axiom moved to a completely informal nonprofessional realm. Kids who have grown up texting and using social media understand it kind of implicitly. (It's also why it feels weird when someone texts you "thanks" instead of "thanks!" or "no" instead of "nope!" Those punctuation-less and emotionless thanks and nos are ambiguous in their emotional tone which is unsettling. I changed the menu of possible text responses on my smartwatch from "Yes" and "No" to "Yep!" and "Nope!")
posted by soren_lorensen at 5:44 AM on January 20, 2020 [46 favorites]

I love this kind of thing, if it’s done with real enthusiasm, which it is.

Westley you do not get to wax poetical about true love you just nearly goddamn hit her

See, that’s exactly how I felt when I was a kid and saw this for the first time! Even now, it feels nice to have someone mirror my feelings, which I thought I had better keep to myself at the time.
posted by Countess Elena at 6:39 AM on January 20, 2020 [23 favorites]

Just noting I have never seen this film so I stopped reading TFA and TF thread so I could preserve my innocence just long enough to watch it now that I have come to understand that it is worth watching. Thanks, OP.
posted by Bella Donna at 6:39 AM on January 20, 2020 [26 favorites]

On the face blindness note I have an intern who I've supervised for 6 months . A few days ago She wore make up and had her hair in a ponytail and I asked her who she was for real. Because working 20 hours a week with someone in fact is not enough for me. I died inside and she was legit angry but seriously it is a thing.

I can't find my spouse in a crowded restruant either.

Loved this though.
posted by AlexiaSky at 6:43 AM on January 20, 2020 [21 favorites]

My favorite parts were the author discovering where a bunch of memes come from.

I loved those bits. The Princess Bride is kinda everywhere in GIFland but if you've never seen it, it's not always obvious that it's the source of things because the costuming is kinda just generic old-timey and the actors themselves aren't crazy recognizable, either. If you've seen it, it's very obvious which GIFs come from it, but if you haven't, [shrug].
posted by jacquilynne at 6:46 AM on January 20, 2020 [13 favorites]

In my old-millennial dotage, I have grown to hate the internet and all cultures spawned therefrom. So it does kind of sting to see something so purely pre-internet be dredged through and flavored by internet culture sewage.

That said, if the enthusiasm was genuine this really has me wanting to watch Princess Bride again.
posted by FakeFreyja at 6:58 AM on January 20, 2020 [3 favorites]

i thought Fezzik was really big by CGI but i think he's actually just irl huge????

I'm now hopeful that they'll look up who Andre the Giant was. Also, Mandy Patinkin and Peter Falk, but maybe you'd have to have grown up on Columbo-reruns-while-home-sick-from-school to get the specific comforting vibe of having Peter Falk as your substitute grandpa.
posted by pykrete jungle at 7:00 AM on January 20, 2020 [10 favorites]

See also: Funny or Die staff member records herself watching Princess Bride for the first time. It's adorable and funny and I re-watch it every few months.
posted by jomato at 7:07 AM on January 20, 2020 [5 favorites]

While I'm not a Princess Bride super fan nor a huge fan of this style of "tweeting while watching" (no offense to those that are), I will say I am a long time fan of Andre the Giant. One of my favourite anecdotes about Andre actually was introduced to me from this film (or at least its DVD extras). In Cary Elwes' behind the scenes diary he mentions that Andre knew Samuel Beckett (yeah THE Samuel Beckett) when he was a kid and he drove Andre to school because he couldn't fit in the school bus. Despite sounding pretty apocryphal, turns out it is kind of true - Snopes covers it at length. The story was later adapted into one of the more charming episodes of the British series, Urban Myths.
posted by Ashwagandha at 7:15 AM on January 20, 2020 [19 favorites]

DJSJAJDJDJKSJSJSJSJSJAKK
posted by sunset in snow country at 7:16 AM on January 20, 2020 [3 favorites]

I look forward to the live tweeting of this twitter thread in 10 years.
posted by mojopiano at 7:20 AM on January 20, 2020 [4 favorites]

Previously, on MeFi: Millennial hears Rage Against the Machine for the first time. I get the same sort of vibe from this.

Can people do these sorts of things cynically? Sure. But it's tapping into the joy we get from seeing people discover something new and good--one of the rewarding things about teaching stuff to people of any age. Unless it's completely staged, it's sort of like watching an amateur do a home project imperfectly--seeing the false starts and the learning process. It's not great if I want to know how to do the thing the best way, but it's often fun in itself.

And younger adults are in just the right space to do this for pop culture that's a few decades old--they're articulate enough to explain their own learning process, and make explicit connections and funny jokes, which works on Twitter--to get the same thrill from younger kids learning stuff, you need to see their faces--and watching older people get new concepts typically requires more niche concepts or media. Stuff from 20-40 years ago hits that sweet spot where there's lots of middle-aged people who share the same pop culture references and young people who are old enough to fully express their experience.
posted by pykrete jungle at 7:23 AM on January 20, 2020 [8 favorites]

Well, I guess they’ll understand the framing device used in Once Upon A Deadpool now.
posted by Robin Kestrel at 8:25 AM on January 20, 2020 [3 favorites]

I wonder if they wanna watch some old scooby doo next time so they can finally find out the backstory on their other favorite reaction: "RUH ROH SCOOB"

Scooby-Doo has, with the exception of a hiatus in the 1990s, been more or less constantly in production since 1969. The kidz aren't repeating your old memes; they're using their own knowledge of their Scooby-Doo.
posted by mightygodking at 8:26 AM on January 20, 2020 [7 favorites]

PB is such a well-written, fondly-remembered movie that the cheesiness of the soundtrack is always a bit of a shock (and some of the sets look a little cheap too). But it doesn't really matter.

(the costumes though, are a delight, very Upscale Prince Valiant)

The sexist bits have not aged well, but they bothered me then, too. Wesley is cute and brave but kind of a dick? Buttercup is either mean/dim or just dim but she's So Pretty It Doesn't Matter?

Eh, best not to think too hard about it.

(But also seeing Robin Wright with a Raging Amazon Badass role in Wonder Woman was one of my favorite things about that movie. Fuck you, Wesley, I'm a warrior now!)
posted by emjaybee at 8:29 AM on January 20, 2020 [19 favorites]

What about that makes them a "goddamn moron"?

I get that people watch movies in different ways and suchlike and even more so that I could be misremembering what's revealed/said when in TPB.

But the author's periodic confusion about what's going on or who someone is pretty unpleasantly reminded me of all those times I was watching a movie with someone [ie me mither] who didn't care enough to pay attention but did care enough to keep asking what's going on who is that I don't get it.
posted by GCU Sweet and Full of Grace at 8:43 AM on January 20, 2020 [2 favorites]

Now Yubi's ready for "Once Upon A Deadpool."
posted by panglos at 8:45 AM on January 20, 2020 [2 favorites]

The twitter author really does seem a bit like a "goddamn moron" until I got to the point where face blindness was mentioned, and then it was like, OK.
I realized as soon as I saw the Man In Black that it was the same actor who played Westly, so my first experience of the chase and fight scenes was quite different.
posted by The Devil's Grandmother at 8:50 AM on January 20, 2020 [1 favorite]

The twitter author really does seem a bit like a "goddamn moron" until I got to the point where face blindness was mentioned, and then it was like, OK.

Yeah that was the point where my "Am I the asshole?" detector started firing.
posted by GCU Sweet and Full of Grace at 8:56 AM on January 20, 2020 [10 favorites]

There is zero consideration for the reader, it is just random stream of consciousness, and that is something we should all read and enjoy because...? It seems like such disposable pap.

Like practically all entertainment.

But the author's periodic confusion about what's going on or who someone is pretty unpleasantly reminded me of all those times I was watching a movie with someone [ie me mither] who didn't care enough to pay attention but did care enough to keep asking what's going on who is that I don't get it.

If you have face blindness it doesn't matter how much attention you are paying; you don't recognize people. Even people you've known for months/years. AlexiaSky's comment is right on the mark. I often have to think about how my spouse styled her hair in the morning to find her in a supermarket (with the hint that I know what jackets she owns). I could see someone at work every day for years; but if I encounter them outside work it's about 50/50 I'll recognize them. And if they cut their hair or something it's about 60/40 I'll recognize them at work where I have the clues of location and context of work to help me out.

Actually it's worse than 50/50 to recognize an average co-worker outside of work because we all wear safety eye-ware at work and taking that off totally changes how you look (to me). Lois Lane not making the Clark Kent <> Superman connection it 100% believable for me.
posted by Mitheral at 9:06 AM on January 20, 2020 [16 favorites]

jeezy creezy, what are some of y'all doing on the internet at all?
posted by Maaik at 9:16 AM on January 20, 2020 [37 favorites]

Tbh, I have no face blindness, and I get actors confused all the time if they are all attractive, well-dressed people with symmetrical faces, which in American movies they tend to be. I remember being only, say, 80% sure that the Dread Pirate Roberts was Westley.

In real life, I can also confuse plainly dressed people with symmetrical faces, but if they stick around, I quickly learn their voices, garments, scents (for good or ill), and general demeanors. In movies, you don't have this.
posted by Countess Elena at 9:28 AM on January 20, 2020 [6 favorites]

I saw this thread yesterday and thoroughly enjoyed it. I went in with some trepidation, because I really didn't want to read a thread of someone dissing one of my favorite movies, but that fear was unfounded.

For me, reading a thread like this triggers visceral memories of my first viewing of the movie.

I find the generational(?) divide between those who enjoyed this and those who didn't interesting. I'm fifty-four, but I've been immersed in online communities pretty much as online communities have existed. I didn't do much social media for a long time, but once I came out to myself as trans, I looked to various social media (starting with Tumblr) for community, so I've been immersed in meme culture, at least as an observer, for around four years now.
posted by Tabitha Someday at 9:32 AM on January 20, 2020 [10 favorites]

Metafilter: DHAFIJADSKJHADSKDA
posted by Naberius at 9:35 AM on January 20, 2020 [14 favorites]

Trying way too hard to go viral.

honestly probably, since internet, but i also do liveblogs in the style of keysmashing on my tumblr of like 2 friends when i watch something for the first time that's Their Thing and they enjoy it and vice versa. or honestly just anything they're getting into, it's fun to watch them get excited and talk about something they like! but maybe less so for a stranger

also seconding that trying to follow anything live action with face blindness is a fucking hell
posted by gaybobbie at 9:39 AM on January 20, 2020 [2 favorites]

This was delightful. I went in really worried that they were going to (intentionally? generationally?) pee all over my happiness, while telling myself "no, it's not possible, that movie is too perfect and there's no way they won't love it."

Fortunately, that movie is too perfect and there's no way they wouldn't love it.
posted by Mchelly at 9:52 AM on January 20, 2020 [9 favorites]

Twitter has a baseline level of unbound performativity that will always induce nausea in some percentage of the population. This kind of Twitter thread is, in that sense, a Gravitron ride. You loved it, it made me want to puke, neither of us are wrong.
posted by lefty lucky cat at 9:53 AM on January 20, 2020 [16 favorites]

That XKCD does remind me of the time I introduced an employer to the concept of furries. He never quite forgave for that.

You can probably blow his mind all over again when you tell him Nazi furries are a thing.
posted by loquacious at 9:54 AM on January 20, 2020 [2 favorites]

You loved it, it made me want to puke, neither of us are wrong.

Peak "Metafilter:" y/n?
posted by mhoye at 9:56 AM on January 20, 2020 [8 favorites]

But the author's periodic confusion about what's going on or who someone is pretty unpleasantly reminded me of all those times I was watching a movie with someone [ie me mither] who didn't care enough to pay attention but did care enough to keep asking what's going on who is that I don't get it.

It must have been horrible for you, being stuck in a room with someone acting out this Twitter thread for you, incapable of doing literally anything else with those precious few minutes.

Yeah that was the point where my "Am I the asshole?" detector started firing.

No, of course you weren't. Unless you then proceeded to shit all over someone's pure joy after knowing that they perceived the movie and in fact the world in a different way from you.
posted by Etrigan at 9:57 AM on January 20, 2020 [12 favorites]

it's tapping into the joy we get from seeing people discover something new and good

It struck me late last night that this kind of "first watch" thread is sort of related to unboxing videos in the way mentioned in that quote.
posted by Greg_Ace at 10:08 AM on January 20, 2020 [3 favorites]

I will take the random caps of keyboard smashing emotion over the smug “I’m an Elder of the Internet” ^H^H^H joke any day of the week.
posted by kimberussell at 10:09 AM on January 20, 2020 [11 favorites]

Keyboard smash is hardly new, says this Gen Xer. I mean I wouldn’t be shocked if I went back to old chats of 15 years ago and found it.
posted by praemunire at 10:17 AM on January 20, 2020 [11 favorites]

It seemed contrived to me. The multiple set-up tweets ("I have NO IDEA what is in this movie," "I live in a LITERAL CAVE" etc. etc.), the self-promoting hashtag, and the suggestions for support through Patreon etc. elsewhere in the feed suggest to me someone trying hard to push the right buttons to get big viral mojo. No shame in any of that, but it does not strike me as guileless joy.
posted by Mid at 10:33 AM on January 20, 2020 [3 favorites]

The shame in the Patreon thing comes from us, as a society, for failing to provide for people on even a basic level so badly, that "the hustle" is all that people have left to try to scratch out a living. We wouldn't all be promoting our Soundclouds and Patreons so hard if it weren't so soul-crushingly necessary.
posted by Imperfect at 10:48 AM on January 20, 2020 [51 favorites]

I loved this. Now contemplating what age is old enough for kids to see Princess Bride.
posted by medusa at 10:49 AM on January 20, 2020 [2 favorites]

I liked that even a world-weary young cynic like the tweeter never noticed the various glaring plot holes in the movie (how did Inigo end up with the sword? how does Westley appear on the scene just in time to save Buttercup? etc.), any more than I did first watching it at the age of nine. Shows you that narrative momentum and brilliant dialogue can cover up for just about anything.

OTOH I now wish I could go back in time and get William Goldman to edit out the perfect breasts line. Never one of his best inventions and it's only gotten ickier with time.
posted by zeri at 11:11 AM on January 20, 2020 [7 favorites]

Now contemplating what age is old enough for kids to see Princess Bride.

Well - it skips over most of the kissing parts. And there are warnings that people don't die. Those help!

More seriously: I think once a kid is old enough to understand The Princess Bride (what's going on, the relationships, the humour), they are probably old enough to see it. But I think different kids would come to that at different times (anywhere from 8 through 13 or 14).

But maybe one reason to hold out and show it later is to capture this kind of magical experience of coming to the movie old enough to really appreciate it when seeing it for the first time.

I can't remember when I didn't know that Westley was the Dread Pirate Roberts, I can't even remember how I first saw it, except that it must have been between age 10 and 11 - the movie came out when I was 10, and I dressed up like the Dread Pirate Roberts for Halloween when I was 11. But I also forgot that he was "the man in black" (no VHS), so I wore a white shirt and everyone thought I was Zorro. (In their defence, I looked more like Zorro).
posted by jb at 11:16 AM on January 20, 2020 [3 favorites]

It takes at most, what, three tweets to realize that someone is doing one of these running commentaries and move on to something else if you don't like the format?

Seriously I don't understand how people survive the internet without developing the skill of recognizing you don't like something and moving on before you read/hear/see enough to really bother you. (And yeah obviously some stuff is instantly horrible in a way that this skill can't save you from, but this seems very much not in that category.)
posted by straight at 11:42 AM on January 20, 2020 [17 favorites]

I wonder if they wanna watch some old scooby doo next time so they can finally find out the backstory on their other favorite reaction: "RUH ROH SCOOB"

Scooby-Doo has, with the exception of a hiatus in the 1990s, been more or less constantly in production since 1969. The kidz aren't repeating your old memes; they're using their own knowledge of their Scooby-Doo.

I kind of faded out of the Scooby-Doo fandom scene a while back so I wasn't aware of this.
Imagine my shame.
posted by some loser at 11:55 AM on January 20, 2020 [2 favorites]

I am old enough that the Twitter thread makes me feel very old indeed, but young enough that all the grumping about kids these days and their dumb internet speak makes me feel like a rebellious teen all over again, so now I feel exactly my age I guess?
posted by Basil Stag Hare at 11:58 AM on January 20, 2020 [9 favorites]

> OTOH I now wish I could go back in time and get William Goldman to edit out the perfect breasts line. Never one of his best inventions and it's only gotten ickier with time.

Yeah, the movie has enough ick that I've never been able to fully enjoy it. I wish I could -- lord knows most of my faves are problematic -- but Buttercup being so bland and unpleaseant but worthy because she's pretty has always dragged me out of it. Maybe I hold it to a higher standard because it has such potential.
posted by The corpse in the library at 12:08 PM on January 20, 2020 [2 favorites]

I enjoyed the Twitter thread -- thank you for sharing it, Johnny Wallflower! I'd forgotten just how much fun banter is in that film.

For those of you who didn't like the thread - sorry it was unpleasant, and I hope you are enjoying something else now and we get to hear about it and what you liked about it!
posted by brainwane at 12:12 PM on January 20, 2020 [8 favorites]

If you're bothered that Buttercup is such a non-entity, don't read Adventures in the Screen Trade. It's a long book to realise that Goldman never thought of female characters as anything else than either love interests or mothers to his protagonists.

I do try to keep that out of my mind when watching PB because... it's such a *good* movie if you shut your brain about feminism for two hours.
posted by sukeban at 12:14 PM on January 20, 2020 [16 favorites]

the grumpiness in this thread is both baffling and depressing

Tbh it's one of the reasons why I never make posts here. If people don't like it they can't just move on, they have to make sure that we know they don't like it and that it's bad because of X, Y, Z reasons.

And it's not just like ... raising questions about things that are really worth thinking about, like the problematic elements of a media property. (I'm a fan of the movie; it doesn't bother me that people are bringing up its sexism.) It's the poo-pooing "Well, I for one hated it" tone.
posted by Kutsuwamushi at 12:16 PM on January 20, 2020 [33 favorites]

IAGO MONTANA: I will in Nicki's lodging lose this receipt,
And let her find it. Trifles light as air
Are to the fandom confirmations strong
As proofs of holy writ: this may do something.
The stans already change now with my poison:
Dangerous conceits are, in their natures, poisons.
Which at the first are scarce found to distaste,
But with a little act upon the blood.
Burn like the mines of Sulphur. I did say so:
Look, where she comes!
posted by pykrete jungle at 12:20 PM on January 20, 2020 [10 favorites]

My parents showed me an even gooder parts version when I was 6 - I think they fastforwarded through the machine, the death of the ROUS, and the bloodier parts of the Inigo-Count Rugen battle - but I have amazing memories of them taking me to the Michigan State Theater for my 8th birthday to see it on the big screen.
posted by ChuraChura at 12:25 PM on January 20, 2020 [4 favorites]

Thank you for sharing this; my husband and I love this movie, read the Twitter thread together and were delighted! We both laughed (yes, “out loud”) at reactions to well known lines, and the realizations of “THAT’S where that gif comes from!?”

I try to follow the motto “Don’t yuck people’s yums”, so I’ve never understood people who enter a thread that is basically “look at this fun thing!” to say “Well *I* didn’t find it fun.” [*] Worse are those who insist on adding “and that’s because this thing/this type of thing isn’t fun.” Surely we all can be better than “you are having fun wrong” style comments?

Also, good lord people, it was a ONE HUNDRED AND THIRTY NINE tweet thread! If you weren’t enjoying it, nothing requires you to finish reading it. If you finished reading it to confirm that you hated it, or that it kept doing the thing that annoyed you, then CAME HERE TO SHARE, maybe question your life choices?

* Exceptions, of course, as Kutsuwamushi mentioned. Actual problematic stuff is fair game, “eh, not for me so I’m gonna shit on it” is not cool.
posted by booksherpa at 12:51 PM on January 20, 2020 [22 favorites]

MetaFilter: both baffling and depressing
posted by Johnny Wallflower at 2:02 PM on January 20, 2020 [8 favorites]

Now contemplating what age is old enough for kids to see Princess Bride.

I showed it to my seven-year-old daughter and she went through the exact journey of the kid in the movie.
"This is boring!" "There's kissing!" "Do you want me to turn it off?" "No." "I loved it!"
posted by kirkaracha at 2:04 PM on January 20, 2020 [10 favorites]

The reason threads like this are so popular and beloved because we've all had the experience of exposing a friend, multiple friends, to something great, like The Princess Bride, or The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, or Discworld, and had them basically go "Meh, but here's something you'll LOVE" and then get introduced to freaking Bleach or some shit. This thread is someone reacting to being shown The Princess Bride for the first time and responding in the proper way.
posted by JHarris at 2:09 PM on January 20, 2020 [9 favorites]

(which, let's be clear, is not to denigrate Bleach fans, but there is no universe in which someone convinces me that it is the equal to any of those things I mentioned)
posted by JHarris at 2:11 PM on January 20, 2020 [3 favorites]

Sokka shot first - I had no idea Yubi had just done something similar with A:TLA! Reading their thread on TPB this weekend was utterly delightful, I can't wait to see what they made of Avatar - thanks for the pointer :)

Knowing that ATLA is 30-odd hours long, I have to save that thread to read later, but a quick preview of them comparing Zuko to Kylo Ren is pretty much peak 2019 and I anticipate further delightful mindfsck revelations like that.

Back to The Princess Bride - it's interesting to see what's held up after 31 years. Comparing what I as a late GenX/early Millennial (who makes ^H^H^H^H jokes on Twitter yet finds SKSKSKSKSK equally communicative and comprehensible) thought of it then as a tween (though of course that word to describe my age wouldn't come into fashion for another decade or two), vs. my current perceptions of it as a middle-aged adult, vs. how a Gen Z young adult contextualizes it.
posted by Pandora Kouti at 2:16 PM on January 20, 2020 [2 favorites]

Seriously I don't understand how people survive the internet without developing the skill of recognizing you don't like something and moving on

But has one really hated something without noting one's disgruntlement online?* "Snarks or it didn't happen."

* Yes, one has. Get over oneself.
posted by Greg_Ace at 2:20 PM on January 20, 2020 [2 favorites]

Threadreader for Avatar: The Last Airbender. (Or most of it -- it cuts off at 2011/2642.)
posted by fings at 2:39 PM on January 20, 2020 [1 favorite]

It seemed contrived to me.

I gave this some thought and have come to the conclusion that even if it was the twitter thread was _FUNNY_ and at least plausible. And I'm not really expecting documentary level story telling from twitter.

However personally I figure it is real. If someone who'd seen the movie multiple times and had had time to digest it and experience the memes on the internet they would have made more of a big deal about the mostly dead line, it's such a fixture of gaming. As it was they almost missed it entirely.
posted by Mitheral at 2:40 PM on January 20, 2020 [1 favorite]

I sometimes suspect Fred Savage's adorable "Ew" reaction to the kissing might have been scripted too.
posted by straight at 3:32 PM on January 20, 2020 [9 favorites]

I am an old (50) but I really enjoyed this. Aren't the complainers just doing "your favorite band sucks"? (Where the band is not the movie but the reaction style?) It won't be for everyone, and that's ok you guys! (Note: I read the Threadreader version)

It's been a long time, but I've probably seen this movie more than a dozen times and like many of you, I remember all the lines. I was worried it wouldn't hold up for a new generation but it did spectacularly! It made me laugh and I dug this.

Yes, there's tons of grump in this thread but probably less than half? Meanwhile if anyone is still down here and want another delightful reaction to a thing, try this and if you like it, this! (I just sent someone I don't know a MeMail about this based on their response in this thread because I have been obsessed with it for days.)
posted by Glinn at 3:53 PM on January 20, 2020 [1 favorite]

I loved this with complete delight when I came across it on the twitters yesterday.

I'm pretty sure we were asdf asdf asdf-ing on LiveJournal more than 15 years ago, for what it's worth.

Sometimes I think I would be a good candidate to post this kind of stuff, because I've seen shockingly few movies everyone has seen. I feel like celebrities would like having me as their neighbor/waiter/whatever because I wouldn't realize who they were.
posted by Occula at 4:12 PM on January 20, 2020 [2 favorites]

I finally got a chance to read the thread and man, it completely made my day. Loved watching this person discover so much about the movie!
posted by obfuscation at 4:16 PM on January 20, 2020 [4 favorites]

Sorta surprised they need to make more Scooby Dos. I mean they could just loop around to the old ones and nobody would know the difference, right?

Something similar occurred to me when my kids were little and watched the Power Rangers. They kept making new ones and the quality really went downhill (it was hilarious* at first). But 5 years of Power Rangers is surely enough as kids age in and out of the target age range.

*I still laugh thinking about evil Rita Repulsa watching the goings on on Earth from her moon base. Of course, her telescope was pointing down. And of course what she saw was in profile.
posted by sjswitzer at 5:06 PM on January 20, 2020 [2 favorites]

At least one Scooby Doo reboot I saw due to honorary niece had *actual ghosts*, which I believe to be a mortal sin against scooby-dooing.
posted by tavella at 5:28 PM on January 20, 2020 [11 favorites]

...the cheesiness of the soundtrack is always a bit of a shock

Bite your damn tongue! The soundtrack was composed and produced by Mark freakin' Knopfler.
posted by MrGuilt at 5:31 PM on January 20, 2020 [6 favorites]

Saw this the other day and found it delightful! And every time my elderly mother asks me "is this a kissing movie?" when we are watching something together, it warms my cold and frozen heart a little, which I highly recommend also.
posted by Coaticass at 5:34 PM on January 20, 2020 [5 favorites]

At least one Scooby Doo reboot I saw due to honorary niece had *actual ghosts*, which I believe to be a mortal sin against scooby-dooing.

I don't see how that could even work. How could it have ended, as required, with, "And I would have gotten away with it too, if it weren't for you meddling kids?"
posted by sjswitzer at 5:41 PM on January 20, 2020 [3 favorites]

> Sorta surprised they need to make more Scooby Dos. I mean they could just loop around to the old ones and nobody would know the difference, right?

It is only via Scooby Doo & Hawaii Five-O that my engineering friends & I were able to pass linear algebra.

See, the key concept there is the concept of a "basis", which in essence means a small collection of things--in the case of Scooby & H50, a very small collection of tropes & plot devices--from which the entire space can be generated via simple linear combinations.

We would work linear algebra problems all evening and then watch Hawaii Five-O every night at 11, and hoo-boy, it really stuck. Once you had about 3 linearly independent episodes, that was more than enough to generate all the rest . . .
posted by flug at 5:48 PM on January 20, 2020 [6 favorites]

You just made me realize that Miami Vice was just a worse version of Hawaii Five-O. How was I so blind? (Could probably make the same claim about H50 and Dragnet, but TBH I barely remember Dragnet.)
posted by sjswitzer at 6:11 PM on January 20, 2020 [2 favorites]

“who makes ^H^H^H^H jokes on Twitter yet finds SKSKSKSKSK equally communicative and comprehensible”

Our demo desperately needs a name.

I get being wearied or put off by the nonstop hyperbole that characterizes much Internet rhetoric of the day, but this was a very sweet and wholesome instantiation of it.
posted by praemunire at 6:58 PM on January 20, 2020 [3 favorites]

I am having a hard time expressing how much it pisses me off that people are telling others they can only have positive reactions to things or they should just keep them to themselves. An echo chamber is an echo chamber is an echo chamber. When I was six (55 years ago) I was told "if you can't say anything nice, don't say anything at all." I (and, I am guessing most posters) are not six anymore.

On the issue of the actual post, while I didn't enjoy the toot-storm, I did enjoy The Princess Bride and recall my first watching, sinfully late in life. The experience of "*that's* where that line came from" is still vivid. And it is sad that Andre is no longer with us.

As an aside, a police officer I once knew from Wisconsin told of stoping a car driving erratically early one morning. When he asked the driver to "step out of the vehicle," he described the guy rising and rising ... and rising to his feet till he blotted out the stars. Turned out it was Andre on his way from one wrestling gig to another, and the reason he seemed a little erratic is that he was tired and his rental car was a really tight fit.
posted by Gilgamesh's Chauffeur at 7:00 PM on January 20, 2020 [5 favorites]

from twitter
:I've got a great idea!
:It's a bunch of kids.
:Solving crimes
:With a dog that can sort of talk.
:The crooks are all monsters, ghosts & zombies!
:But not really
:And every crime is exclusively building valuation fraud
posted by straight at 7:24 PM on January 20, 2020 [5 favorites]

One indication that the group was going to jell came on the first day, Elwes said, when wrestler André the Giant, who played Fezzik in the movie, "let out a 16 second fart and brought production to a standstill." "It could be heard three counties away," Elwes said with a laugh. "Nobody said anything except Rob, who said 'Are you OK, André?' and André replied, 'I am now, boss.'“

Source

I think of this every time I think of the late Mr. the Giant, which he probably would have found pretty funny.
posted by Countess Elena at 7:27 PM on January 20, 2020 [6 favorites]

I still can't believe the author was called a "goddamn moron" in the first five comments of this thread for, presumably, their choice of narrative style. That's really disappointing to me.

Anyway, I can't remember my first PB viewing, but I loved the livetweeting reactions. I could follow along in my head and it was a fun read.

N.B. In addition to the author specifically being asked to livetweet PB, a big reason people use unique hashtags is so followers can temporarily/permanently mute the thread if they don't want their feed cluttered. Or easily follow along. And I can hardly begrudge someone for having a Patreon if people are willing to pay them for their content.
posted by lesser weasel at 7:46 PM on January 20, 2020 [6 favorites]

I am having a hard time expressing how much it pisses me off that people are telling others they can only have positive reactions to things or they should just keep them to themselves.

People should feel free to have a negative reaction to this Twitter thread and express it in public in any of a number of ways, but read the room. Post on Facebook, tweet, blog, write a Medium article, draw a New Yorker cartoon, but perhaps refrain from responding to a bunch of schmoopy about how lovely this with one's contrary opinion about how one didn't like it.

Or, better yet, AVOID THE POST ALL TOGETHER and make one about something YOU liked. Contrary to popular opinion, it is okay to skip a thread on Metafilter talking about something one doesn't like. There's enough negativity in the world without adding to it unnecessarily.
posted by booksherpa at 7:51 PM on January 20, 2020 [7 favorites]

"Ask yourself the three things you must always ask yourself before you say anything. 1) Does this need to be said 2) Does this need to be said by me? 3) Does this need to be said by me right now?"

--Craig Ferguson

By all means ignore that advice, but everyone else also has the freedom to tell you what they think about the choice you made. It's the circle if discourse, I guess.
posted by soren_lorensen at 8:04 PM on January 20, 2020 [10 favorites]

Also, the OP is literally a link to a twitter thread of someone having an overwhelmingly positive reaction to what is almost universally regarded as a Good Movie.

Have yourself a time peeing on that I guess? But also go do that over there if you could
posted by Maaik at 8:10 PM on January 20, 2020 [5 favorites]

Someone posted a piece of harmless internet fluff and then someone who didn't like it called the author a goddamn moron. Boom, a sneering, negative comment right off the bat.

We're not talking about a famous piece of media, a politician's platform, or anything of any import. We're talking about a twitter thread about a movie many people liked. Giving people space to enjoy it is not the same as wanting an "echo chamber," jfc.

Whenever I want to post about disliking something, I try to ask myself what I'm adding to the thread. Is there some issue I think is worth calling attention to? Is it a thread that is less about squee and more about a nuanced discussion of the thing's merits, so it fits the tenor of the thread? Do I have more to say than "it sucks"?

Or do I just want to make sure people know I think it sucks?

Because my opinion that something sucks is just not that important.

Some of the lessons we learn as children are meant to be carried with us when we become adults. "If you can't say anything nice, don't say anything at all" might be way too simplistic for adult life, but the answer isn't to toss it out entirely; it's to understand it with some nuance.
posted by Kutsuwamushi at 8:17 PM on January 20, 2020 [21 favorites]

All I know is that Samuel Beckett drove Andre The Giant to school.
posted by ovvl at 9:26 PM on January 20, 2020 [3 favorites]

I remember being only, say, 80% sure that the Dread Pirate Roberts was Westley.

To be fair, you only see Westley for a few minutes and he doesn't say a lot (whereas the pirate is quite chatty) and his distinguishing feature is his floppy hair (which the pirate mostly has covered up top) and then there's a 'stashe now.

Also, on television, film, Shakespeare, etc. nobody recognizes anybody. Meanwhile people continue to recognize me IRL when I remove my glasses, dye my hair/get a wig, etc. I am very disappointed that I can't pull off disguises like I'm Elizabeth in The Americans.
posted by jenfullmoon at 9:33 PM on January 20, 2020 [6 favorites]

I, too, disliked this, but only because I never understood the popular appeal of Princess Bride and am kind of jealous this person fell in love with it so easily. And I normally like '80s fantasy comedy! It's a little before my time, but Labyrinth and Spaceballs and Monty Python are some of my all-time faves. But every time I've tried watching PB it leaves me cold -- such long stretches where they play it boringly straight, and when the comedy does come in it's... okay? Kind of droll? Like not bad, but I can't see why people adore it so much. I remember reading how Crystal's Miracle Max scenes had the crew literally hurting themselves from laughter and was baffled anybody would feel that way.

Not knocking the movie at all, it's just strange having something you thought was banking on Gen X nostalgia win over somebody *younger* than you so easily.
posted by Rhaomi at 9:38 PM on January 20, 2020 [1 favorite]

Rhaomi: I can't see why people adore it so much.

Perhaps a mix of different tastes, and the height of the praise not matching your expectations?

From the Twitter thread, it's clear the viewer had bits and pieces of information about the film, but much of it from memes and gifs, so without the general "THIS IS AN AWESOME MOVIE!" hype that you might get when a group of friends all loves a movie, and you haven't yet seen it.

This makes me think of Napoleon Dynamite -- my wife hasn't seen it, and had no interest in seeing it after a college classmate quoted it non-stop. She felt that the hype already exceeded any potential movie.

Anyway, this twitter feed and this take on Yoda being so tired of Luke's questions he up and dies is the scope of my feelings on having kids or spending time with young people. It's a mix of being excited for their excitement, and wanting them to be quiet already ;)
posted by filthy light thief at 10:12 PM on January 20, 2020 [1 favorite]

It's totally okay to not be completely bowled over by PB! I just want to be sure I say that. It's totally just a matter of taste, and if it doesn't do the thing that makes you love it, that's okay—like it's not your fault or anything, as if you're not trying hard enough.

I think though, that where like Monty Python and the Holy Grail is basically a series of sketches that gets really wacky, or Spaceballs is...well, it's a Mel Brooks Borscht Belt comedy with the veneer of sci-fi on it, Princess Bride is way more of a straight genre film. Even though it's got the very meta framing device, ultimately the story it wants to tell is about a princess and her hero and how they fight the bad guys and fall in love. It sets the viewer up to experience this very familiar trope at an ironic distance and then works to get them to drop that guard through very charming characters engaging in clever wordplay and swashbuckling antics. It's winking and meta, but it also really wants the audience to buy in and, like Fred Savage by the end of it, not mind the mushy stuff so much. Spaceballs and Holy Grail are lampooning the genres they're using, PB is trying to get people to love the medieval adventure romance by injecting it with some (for the day) modern comedic elements.
posted by Maaik at 10:14 PM on January 20, 2020 [14 favorites]

I think you can also make a pretty good case that The Princess Bride is the story of How Inigo Montoya Avenged His Father and Became The Dread Pirate Roberts (and saved Florin along the way). Also there is a romantic B-Plot.
posted by straight at 12:47 AM on January 21, 2020 [12 favorites]

Watching it along with a child is the best way to see it. The Criterion Collection essay The Princess Bride: Let Me Sum Up was all about watching it with an 8 year old.

Zoe: It will definitely be fun! It’s the best movie.

Me: Well, I’m also curious how you would recommend it to someone who hasn’t seen it a billion times.

Zoe: Hmmm. I would say that if you like revenge and fencing and true love and miracles, you’ll like this. But if you don’t, you probably won’t.

posted by WhackyparseThis at 3:35 AM on January 21, 2020 [4 favorites]

Careful y'all, I think we're creating a Princess Bride echo chamber

MAWWIGE MAWWIGE mawwige awwige awwige awige

Yup. Lord help us.
posted by Maaik at 5:35 AM on January 21, 2020 [3 favorites]

First watch: in the theater, with my mom and dad, just the three of us (because for some reason my two brothers and sister were not with us when mom decided it was a good day for a movie)

That was the last movie I ever saw with her. It remains one of my very favorites. My wife and son love it too. Just picked up the Criterion Collection release and am happy.

First watches are fun. I made my cousins watch Star Wars years ago. The middle child of the three was dissing the movie at the start. She said the robots were dumb. Near the end, after “I lost Artoo!” she went dead silent, and after a moment said in a very small hopeful voice “but they can fix him, right?” At that point I knew she was hooked.

(I don’t know how one does a first watch on Twitter, do you need to keep pausing the movie every few seconds to mash out a tweet + screenshot? How does one watch a movie where the closed captioning is positioned directly over the faces of the actors, as it seems to be in this thread? I would find that most aggravating ...)
posted by caution live frogs at 5:40 AM on January 21, 2020 [3 favorites]

I came to the comments to figure out what the fuck the movie about a woman on a meteor is, not read a bunch of comments defending the Twitter thread against a couple of obnoxious "father, I cannot click the book" takes.
posted by tobascodagama at 5:44 AM on January 21, 2020 [2 favorites]

The woman on a meteor movie is Stardust.
posted by Mr.Encyclopedia at 5:55 AM on January 21, 2020 [5 favorites]

Which makes me wonder how large Samuel Beckett's car was.

They had to get it specially expanded, but it took forever to get the parts. They were waiting for Peugeot.
posted by Mr. Bad Example at 7:20 AM on January 21, 2020 [15 favorites]

The woman on a meteor movie is Stardust.

Oh, of course! Can't believe I forgot about that one.
posted by tobascodagama at 7:59 AM on January 21, 2020

Careful y'all, I think we're creating a Princess Bride echo chamber

There's a shortage of perfect discursive ouroboroses in the world, it would be a shame to damage this one.
posted by cortex at 8:02 AM on January 21, 2020 [14 favorites]

No more movie quotes now—I mean it!
posted by Atom Eyes at 8:54 AM on January 21, 2020 [3 favorites]

Anybody want a peanut?
posted by kirkaracha at 8:59 AM on January 21, 2020 [6 favorites]

One indication that the group was going to jell came on the first day, Elwes said, when wrestler André the Giant, who played Fezzik in the movie, "let out a 16 second fart and brought production to a standstill." "It could be heard three counties away," Elwes said with a laugh. "Nobody said anything except Rob, who said 'Are you OK, André?' and André replied, 'I am now, boss.'“

but my favorite part of this is reading it without the comma and having André declare himself the boss after his sick fart
posted by gaybobbie at 9:03 AM on January 21, 2020 [6 favorites]

Perhaps a mix of different tastes, and the height of the praise not matching your expectations?

I was an 80s kid, but for a variety of reasons, I hadn't seen any of the Star Wars films until the mid-1990s. By the time I did see them, I was an adult - and I could see what people loved in them, why they had such a following, and yet didn't feel pulled to that myself. I wasn't as impressionable and they couldn't live up to the expectations. It wasn't (entirely) the movies, it was also me.

Of course, there is also different strokes for different folks: not everything is going to like everything. There is so much good art that I just don't care for, and that's fine; it's not bad, it's just not for me.
posted by jb at 9:31 AM on January 21, 2020

If you're bothered that Buttercup is such a non-entity, don't read Adventures in the Screen Trade. It's a long book to realise that Goldman never thought of female characters as anything else than either love interests or mothers to his protagonists. - I will say that this helps explain how much more upsetting I found the framing story in the book of The Princess Bride vs the one in the movie. (I read the book and saw the movie when I was 12 or 13.)

(And I really enjoyed this internet youth's enthusiasm; that "oh THAT'S where that came from" experience feels very familiar as someone who watched a lot of MST3K in her teens and then figured out some of the more obscure references later.)
posted by epersonae at 3:49 PM on January 21, 2020 [2 favorites]

Buttercup being so bland and unpleaseant but worthy because she's pretty

I always thought that was part of the satire, like how the Dread Pirate Roberts is actually a series of guys. The heroines and heroes in adventure stories and fairy tales are always pretty bland and interchangeable, at least until the Disney Renaissance (which came after this movie) starting giving us the backstory and psychological development of the lead. But until then, there is basically no difference between Snow White and Sleeping Beauty, for instance. Both are poisoned (apple, spindle), both fall into a mostly-dead state, both are rescued by True Love's First Kiss (TM). They're archetypes, stand-ins for whoever is viewing/reading/listening to the tale.

Buttercup, though, is actually kind of a jerk, which lampshades how ridiculous it is to assume goodness from beauty.
posted by basalganglia at 4:12 PM on January 21, 2020 [7 favorites]

I think I read that Samuel Beckett used a golf cart while doing his giant delivering.
posted by Occula at 7:55 PM on January 21, 2020

Watching it along with a child is the best way to see it.

As a parent I can assure you that most things have been better this way. Well maybe not the films in the Hotel Transylvania series but most other things.
posted by Ashwagandha at 7:53 AM on January 22, 2020

Isn't the Samuel Beckett thing more "as one of the few people in the village with a vehicle, he occasionally gave rides to the local children, including Andre" rather than the canonical "drove Andrew to school on a regular basis"?
posted by tavella at 8:24 AM on January 22, 2020 [1 favorite]

Isn't the Samuel Beckett thing more "as one of the few people in the village with a vehicle, he occasionally gave rides to the local children, including Andre" rather than the canonical "drove Andrew to school on a regular basis"?

According to the Snopes article I linked to yes. But it is still a funny story.
posted by Ashwagandha at 8:29 AM on January 22, 2020

Just to throw some ice on this fire, this movie is also a Christmas movie based on the decorations around the room -ie: Santa Claus on the wall. So is it better than Die Hard? In the running for best Christmas movie? Hmm!
posted by The_Vegetables at 3:22 PM on January 23, 2020 [1 favorite]

One of my kids just asked to see this, as he didn't remember watching it before (he was little). Buttercup is as neutral as I remembered; during that whole poisoning scene, she looks like she's bored and daydreaming. Westley has a "m'lady" meanness and superiority that I didn't like when I was a teenager and I don't like now.

Overall it was funnier than I remembered, and I enjoyed it.
posted by The corpse in the library at 8:20 PM on February 1, 2020

The poisoning scene- isn't that before the Pirate/Westley reveal? So basically Buttercup is bereaved, depressed and almost past caring. Seems relatable enough to me. (I have more objection to her lack of assistance during the ROUS attack, but I guess she has been through a lot by then.)
posted by Coaticass at 10:08 PM on February 2, 2020 [1 favorite]

Yes, that could be what they were going for. She'd put up a fight before (jumping overboard) but for whatever reason she's entirely passive in that scene.
posted by The corpse in the library at 8:23 AM on February 3, 2020