Question #2 - Themes, Ideas, & Messages
Give a major theme/idea/message of the film. Discuss what you think the film’s point was (in relation to this theme) – and then comment on whether or not you think Scripture agrees with the way the theme was presented. Employ at least 1 Bible verse to make your point. Remember to use the Scripture in context. Again, feel free to comment on and disagree with other peoples’ ideas; and if you see someone else use Scripture that you think is out of context, please look it up and report back on your findings. Feel free to explore other themes than the ones mentioned already.
I found that false marriage is the idea or message in this film. I believe that the point they were trying to prove is that this is wrong. You should only marry someone who you are truly in love with, this is what the whole movie revolves around. Marrying someone who you will risk your life for, not who you would kill for your benefit, like the Prince. The verse I found is John 15:13. It describes love as being with someone who you would give your life for. I do however feel that this was necessary for the movie to make sense. If the Prince would have let Buttercup marry Wesley, then there would have been no conflict. It drove Wesley to fight for Buttercup, and also for Buttercup to threaten to commit suicide if she was forced to the marry Prince. The movie doesn't support false marriage because because Buttercup didn't want to marry, and they made this very clear. Buttercup threatened to kill herself if she was forced to marry someone she didn't love. Also she was never married, which further enforces that they did not like false marriage, and bolstered the powers of true love.
ReplyDeleteOne of the themes I said was true love. Like Izzy said, in the movie, it showed that you would give your life for the one you love. I think the movie did a great job of showing God's love for us, whether that was purposeful or not. Westley's love for Buttercup was like God's love for us. He knew that they could never be truly separated, for they had true love. Also, death could not separate the connection they had in life, and the fact that Westley never actually died makes the story even better. He did anything and everything he could for the girl he loved. Now I believe that only God can give us "true love" 100% of the time, because of what the verses I found say about what love is, and I think The Princess Bride did a great job of portraying love. "Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, it always trusts, it always hopes, it always perseveres." -1 Corinthians 13:4-8
ReplyDeleteAbby, it did a great job of showing God's love for us how? I think it showed love like God's love, but not entirely. I agree that the main theme was true love, but I feel the movie was trying to show how perfect Wesley was and how much he loved the princess. The movie did not show God's love because Buttercup and Wesley worshipped each other, not God. I found that they did not follow 1 Peter 4:19,"We love because he first loved us." They loved because they were like each other and both kind, loving people towards each other. Buttercup did not show love because she wanted to kill herself instead of marry the prince. God loves all of his created, and his love extends to everyone. Wesley never really died of his own accord anyway, he died because the prince killed him. I think he believed he would not die and if he had not he might not have tried to save the princess. He knew he could beat the giant, Inigo, and Vizzinni (pardon my spelling) so he went after the girl he loved. Christ, however, knew he would die but still came and didn't stop his death, though he could have.
ReplyDeleteTo S. Dare
DeleteTheme: true love prevails, yes, but but your right it's not God's love. I think the movie does show how Wesley and Buttercup idolize each other. Although their love is similar to how God loves us. Wesley resembles this love more than Buttercup because he never gives up on her and she gives up a few times.
What interesting thoughts. So how do they idolize each other? Give examples. I think you might be on to something.
DeleteIs their love sinful?
Anyone can respond to this question.
I don't believe that this love was sinful at first, but could become sinful. They obsess each other, and Wesley murders a man for her. She nearly kills herself for him. After all of the sin it caused, I think that Their relationship was too intense and involving and was negatively affecting their lives.
DeleteI didnt say that Westley and Buttercup had love completely like God's love. In the movie, it portrayed their love as God's love, although in real life, no love outside of God's love is true love, because nobody can love like 1 Corinthians 13:4-8 all the time except for God. Also, the movie never did mention God, and I'm aware of that. There were some circumstances, though, where Westley's love for Buttercup reminded me of God's love for us, such as dying for us and protecting us at all costs.
DeleteTo Sam:
DeleteI think you made a lot of good points in your comment. Like Abby said, certain points in the movie did illustrate how God loves, but definitely not all of them. Like you said, Wesley and Buttercups love was more idolizing and was therefor a sin. But true love definitely isn't a sin unless you put that person before God, like Buttercup and Wesley did.
Abby- I love the points you made and agree with the majority of them!
DeleteI am a little confused on how the relationship between Wesley and Buttercup. I didn't really think that they obsessed over each other. I think that Wesley was just determined to get Buttercup to safety. I do see how they were maybe getting a little too intense because she believed that she wouldn't be able to go on in life if she wasn't married to Wesley.
DeleteRachel, Wesley was obsessed with her because he went to extremes to get her back. He didn't necessarily treat her like an object, but he definitely had selfish desires for the relationship.
DeleteThough both of the girls above me have great thoughts, and I agree with both their statements, I believe the message of this movie is more about true love than false marriage. Buttercup’s and the Prince’s marriage was false, since she did not love the Prince and the Prince lusted Buttercup, but it was also forced. Way before the wedding, when Vizzini, Fezzik, and Montoya kidnap Buttercup it is because the Prince hired them to kill her and frame the neighboring country for it. There was supposed to be no marriage even before Wesley returned. The movie would have ended quickly though, so I’m glad they kept the marriage factor in. But I think the message is true love. Buttercup stayed faithful to Wesley, even when the Prince asked her she reluctantly went with it, and when he died, she was crushed. The Bible verse I chose to explain this is John 15:12-13, and this is Jesus preaching,“This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends.” Both Buttercup and Wesley love each other to the point of dying for one another. That is a strong force that drives them together, and dying for someone is a hard thing to do. But there is one statement that I don’t agree with that Abby said. I do not believe the movie references religion, at all. Like I say in my response to Question #1, I believe the directors made no connections to religion in The Princess Bride. There are ways that Christians can connect the story to the Bible, but it wasn’t purposeful. The only one who will truly love us is God, and because humans are sinful creatures, we don’t always love one another. Not as God does. I don’t believe anyone would dare make the choices God and Jesus made to save us.
ReplyDeletethe major theme in this movie was murder and also was being forced to marry someone you never loved or will love ever. it is not gods idea of of love but wesley and buttercups love was real for eachother unlike the prince and buttercups loves which he forced her to marry him.
ReplyDeleteHow was the major theme in this movie murder? I never saw any of them wanting to go and murder anyone. All I saw was Inigo wanting vengeance for his father, and Wesley’s true love to Buttercup, because they both they both fought for these two things they were killing not murdering. Because in this case when there is killing in any movie then the main theme is murder. And also when you say when you say “Wesley and Buttercup’s love was real for each other unlike the Prince and Buttercup’s loves which he forced her to marry him.” Isn’t this just saying that they had true love while the Prince was trying to start a war?
DeleteTo Mr. Scott
ReplyDeleteI think Buttercup idolizes Wesley a lot more than he does her. Wesley just never gives up fighting for her. Buttercup on the other hand is ready to commit suicide when she thinks that he isn't coming for her (right after she "marries" the prince guy) and in the beginning she "died" when she heard that the pirate guy killed Wesley.
I think the main idea was true love. The Bible in no way shape or from condemns true love and marriage ( it in fact says that marriage and love are very good). But the way Buttercup reacts to the death of wesley seems she was idolizing him and putting him before anything else. She says i will never love again and then sits in that seat for what seems like 5 years until Humperdinck makes her marry him. So at this point she is idolizing Wesley and putting him before God making it a sin for her. It only becomes a sin for her loving Wesley When it comes before God.
ReplyDeleteI think that the main theme is true love. I agree with Conner that the Bible does say that marriage is a good thing, also how he is a idol for her but i saw it as sacrificial love. She sacrificed herself by agreeing to marry Humperdink so that Westly could live, that is sort of like how God sacrificed Jesus for us even though it did not benefit him as much as it benifited us.
ReplyDeleteI found that the main theme of this movie was true love. I agree with a lot of what Abby said about how this movie somewhat portrays God's love for us. Throughout this book, Wesley always does what he can for Buttercup to show his immense love for her. He would die for her if he had to. And Christ showed his immense love for us when he died on the cross to save us. God is our one true love and no one could ever love us the way He does. A verse that I think goes along with this is Romans 5:8 - "But God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. However, I do feel like the love that Buttercup and Wesley shared was a little different than God's love. They seemed to idolize each other more than turning their attention to God. They felt that without each other, there was no possible way to survive.
ReplyDeleteAlthough The Princess Bride is an exaggerated fairy-tale, it keeps with the tradition of intertwining Christian themes within the story just as in classic fairy-tales. It starts with the title, The Princess Bride, reminding us of the Church, the Bride of Christ. The story is based upon a book that the grandfather is reading to his sick grandson – but just the “Good Parts.” He is not reading the whole book, skipping the unneeded, boring details and reading just the central story-line (or perhaps how the Old Testament and the Gospel relate to each other). Although the story is not a pure allegory, that the princess bride’s true love comes back from the (almost) dead to save and to marry her is a parallel of Christ and the Church. Westley is a poor farm boy (cp. Isaiah 53:2—“He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him; nothing in his appearance that we should desire him”), and when he has to leave Buttercup he tells her “I will always come for you” (i.e., representing the Messiah, the “Coming One”). The often repeated, “As you wish,” comes to be understood as a sacrificial service that eventually teaches Buttercup to wish for the best. In the storyline, Buttercup is used by Humperdinck, Satan, as a pawn in his war against God. Buttercup is kidnapped by the trio of thieves representing brawn (body), skill (soul), and brains (spirit). The trio is out-done by the masked Westley, who’s identity was hidden as Christ’s was. Buttercup fails to recognize who he is (Israel failed to recognize Christ) and is scolded for her unfaithfulness. Buttercup pushes him down the embankment thinking it is the Dread Pirate Robert to kill him (Luke 4:29), only to throw herself down the embankment after him when she recognizes his parting cry of “As you wish!” (i.e. the Christian idea of being buried with Christ in his death as symbolized in baptism). Their restoration is completed by their journey through the Fire Swamp. Later Westley is (almost) killed by Humperdinck and then brought back to life. The final judgment/salvation is accomplished by the power of the Word. Westley holding his sword straight out in a manner reminding us of “and out of his mouth went a sharp two-edged sword” (Revelation 1:16), and commands Prince Humperdinck to “Drop... your... sword.” Humperdinck obeys. There is one more important detail; the story changes the relationship between the grandfather and the grandson.
ReplyDeleteNice connections from Princess Bride to the Bible. But what were the three kidnappers representing? I can't remember any part of the Bible where several bad guys try to take some one away from satan only to burry them deeper in misery. If there is, please enlighten me.
DeleteTo M. Mckinnis
DeleteI agree with your statement which is why I mentioned that the movie is not a pure or strict allegory. A consistent, complete one-to-one correspondence with all of the movie characters and Biblical characters does not hold up. I don’t believe that it has to be that strict to be successful. (C.S. Lewis’s Narnia also allows the characters to exist on multiple levels.) You could say that the revenge-seeking Inigo’s desire to resurrect Westley was so that a Christ-like fiery judgment (Revelation) could happen – but this is a stretch. Even so, we can still take higher meanings from the overall story. The story can still be appreciated on many levels.
I think a theme of the movie was that, with true love, you can conquer anything. Throughout the film, Westley and Buttercup overcome many challenges because they believe in each other. Westley came back to life because of Buttercup. He wanted her for himself because they were in love. At the end, it did work out for them. I do not think the bible agrees with this theme. In Deuteronomy 6:5, it says, "Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength." This means we should have our undivided and full belief in God. In the film, they put their belief in other people for saving and redemption.
ReplyDeleteI think the Bible agrees that if the love is directed at God, it is able to overcome anything. At people, though, it is just a saying to try and pardon someone idolizing another person. With God, we can overcome any obstacle. Ailment, friendship troubles, and sorrow are all things we can overcome with love for God.
DeleteI think the major theme in this film is that true love endures through all hardships. This theme is the most recognizable one because it leads the plot. This is not biblical because human love is imperfect and impure. God's love is enduring and whole. The love that this movie is attempting to represent is shown in 1 Corinthians 13:4-7. (Love is patient, love is kind, it does not envy, it does not boast....) In the film Princess Buttercup's love is not patient because she gives up on Wesley coming back for her. Although Wesley's is repeatedly patient and kind. (but not perfect like God's)
ReplyDeleteI think the whole theme of this movie was true love, with true love, you have the strength to do anything like what Matthew said. Since Westley and Buttercup loved each other they thought they could accomplish anything and they did in the movie. They went through many challenges and won them since they had and loved each other.I believe the theme does not agree with the scripture because in 1 John 4:16, it says," And so we know and rely on the love God has for us. God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in him." This means that the definition of love is God. If we don't really don't know who God is, then we don't understand what true love means. Westley and Buttercup didn't know God, but only themselves. So, they think that what's going own between them two is true love when it really isn't.
ReplyDeleteI think another theme of the film was revenge; or more specifically, killing. Almost any time someone sinned against another, they got upset. This meant that the sin was looked upon as bad and was not glorified. The problem was that after the unglorified sin happened, another sin was committed against them. This sin was thought of as right and they glorified it. Revenge is not good. In Romans 12:21, it says, "Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good." This means we should no sin against our neighbor even if they deserve it. You have to be nice to your enemies until God brings justice to them.
ReplyDeleteCan the theme of a movie actually be killing? Because in war movies (any movies about war) people get shoot by other people. Would those movie's themes also be killing or would it be fighting for your country. In movies where there is killing I don't think you can make that a theme.
DeleteI disagree with you, David, I think a theme of a movie can be killing. Look at the Hunger Games, it’s about a game where they fight to the death. The killing is somewhat glorified, because it is Katniss’s goal to kill everyone and win, but then it’s killing, and no one wants to be killed, so then it’s looked down upon. Matthew, I agree that killing and revenge can be a theme for this, but it seems to be a secondary theme, since the movie nevers stops talking about true love. I can see why you picked it as a theme, since it is Montoya’s goal to avenge his father’s death by killing the six-fingered man and Humperdink wanting to kill Buttercup (and also Wesley) then frame her death and start a war, leading to more killing.
DeleteOne theme I thought of is true love. THeir love was so strong for each other that Buttercup was willing to commit suicide and Wesley travelled a lot of miles and hurt a lot of people to get back to her. The Bible doesnt say that love is bad, but putting your love before God is a sin (idolatry). The verse I found was John 15:13 "Greater love has no one than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends." Wesley and Buttercup were both more than willing to do this for each other.
ReplyDelete"Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave it to the wrath of God, for it is written, 'Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord.'" -Romans 12:19. A major theme of this movie is revenge. Although one of the 5 questions is about Inigo Montoya's revenge, I'll talk about it here as well, because it is a big theme. I mean, one of the main characters dedicated his life to getting revenge on the man who killed his father. In some movies, a theme can be condemned. The bad thing is, revenge is a sin, and in The Princess Bride, it is glorified. That's just not good for children to see, because it's a possibility that they'll grow up thinking that revenge is awesome. Inigo is looked at as a hero in the scene where he kills the 6-fingered-man. Although, he was giving the man what he deserved, it was considered revenge, not justice, because he didn't let God do the work.
ReplyDeleteI think that the main theme was, like some of the other people said, true love. True love was what drove the characters to do some of the dangerous and adventurous things they did. I also like what Abby said about revenge. I also had it in my mind that true love was the theme because that was the most obvious theme. Now that I think about it though, I do see how revenge was a tremendous theme. I don't think that Scripture went along with the way revenge was presented. Of course, God doesn't ever want us to take revenge on others. Therefore, I don't think it coincides with Scripture.
ReplyDeleteAnother message/theme I found is true love. This one is slightly obvious. A verse that I am going to use is John 15:13. As Abby pointed out earlier, I believe that God's love is reflected in this movie. Wesley loves Buttercup, and she loves him. Just like how God loves us no matter what, and we should love him. Then Wesley leaves and and tells her to wait for him. Occasionally we will lose our faith and stray from God. The when Wesley comes and takes Buttercup back as part of his plan. This compares to God coming and finding his way back to our life. As a part of his plan for us. I am not saying that everybody strays from God, but am just using this as an example. There is nothing wrong with loving another a lot, but I think that Wesley loved Buttercup a "little too much" you could say. They kind of made an idol of each other.
ReplyDelete