princess bride westley and buttercup on set

(Hopefully not until the wedding night.) But, unlike just about every other fairytale, this is one princess who could take or leave that silver tiara they keep trying to get her to wear. What little girl doesn't dream of becoming a princess? You know, other than the ones who are raised by parents that instill in them a sense of self-worth? But like, how many of those could there be?Īnd so, when Buttercup, a lowly country girl, is given the chance to marry a prince and become a princess, she should be practically leaping out of her corset with joy. Then there are more minor characters filling up the screen than you can shake a sword at. Not until Westley returns from sea, of course. There are no minor characters to get in the way, no one to complicate their perfect courtship. So when Buttercup and Westley become loopy in love, their relative isolation makes the beauty of their romance all the more pronounced. In fairytales, we're asked to overlook such real-world concerns, suspend our disbelief, and focus more on the major events and driving emotions than on the minutiae of the people's lives. And we don't question why Little Red Riding Hood was oblivious to the fact that her grandmother was badly in need of a shave. It's the nature of fairytales to simplify and exaggerate its characters' circumstances.įor example, when reading the story of Rapunzel, we don't really worry about what awful sort of scalp condition she might be developing because of all that tugging and climbing. If there's a shortage of characters, or if things fit a little too neatly into boxes, or if all the loose ends get tied up too cleanly…well, that's okay. You don't have to be Nostradamus to predict what's going to happen in that scenario.ĭoes that make Westley and Buttercup's love any less pure, or their story any less moving?īecause The Princess Bride is a fairytale, it can get away with some stuff that most movies can't.

No parents, no kindly neighbors, not even a postman who stops by once a day to wave and give a friendly ' hi-di-ho!' It's just him and her, her and him, alone on a farm. If they're not in SAG, they can't be that important.)īuttercup and Westley fall for one another, but… of course they do. Unless you count the horses, cows, and chickens. When we first meet Westley and Buttercup, we only meet Westley and Buttercup.

Princess bride westley and buttercup on set