About the Princess Bride analysis

analysis
#1

Okay, I’ve been waiting to share this story for a while. This is how I happened upon The Princess Bride storyform…

I was lying awake in bed one morning, for some reason started thinking of Princess Bride. (I can’t remember why, probably thinking about Dramatica and how a great narrative makes you want to experience it over and over, and Princess Bride was one of the 3 most re-watched films in my house growing up along with Star Wars and Dirty Dancing.)

Anyway, I was thinking OS was probably Manipulation because of Humperdink’s plot being the main source of trouble, but hadn’t thought about OS Concern yet. Then I was thinking, Buttercup had to be a Be-er, putting Westley in Situation. That seemed a bit weird – although he’s in plenty of bad situations, it was missing an overarching one – until I realized he was stuck away from his true love. Perfect. Contemplation seemed to fit Buttercup really well, so I thought “hmm does The Present fit Westley?”; it definitely did. Then suddenly I realized that put the OS in Conceiving, and I was like Inconceivable! and jumped out of bed, ran to my computer and checked the Dramatica site, as I thought it was already analyzed. When I saw it wasn’t, I tried for the full storyform.

Up until that point I’d found analyzing down to a full storyform very tricky, I’d always get stuck somehwere, but this one I got in about 5 or 10 minutes. I went down one wrong path with Issues, but as soon as I realized how well Doubt fit Buttercup I got it!

I’ll post later about the understanding and even joy I got out of doing the analysis, and what my favorite parts are. I felt like I was mind-melding with William Goldman which is a great feeling for an aspiring writer!

Thanks again to Jim @jhull for mentoring me to the point where I could manage it. Also to Brant @LunarDynasty whose guidance in the A Man For All Seasons analysis helped me grok those Concerns (same Domain/Concern arrangement as Princess Bride, BTW).

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Challenge: Dramatica guessing game!
#2

Thanks so much for sharing this!

That’s been pretty much my experience, though it took me a bit longer to get to that point where you can find a storyform that quickly (years in fact). That’s when I think you’ve got it down, when you can quickly jump to a place on the Table of Story Elements and say - it’s here, I’m not sure exactly where, but I know its around here somewhere.

The breadth of your examples though is the amazing part…can’t wait to find even more!

#3

Holy crap! I just thought of another hilarious illustration for OS Issue of Deficiency… the IMPRESSIVE CLERGYMAN and his speech impediment! “Mawidge…mawidge is what bwings us togewer today…” :smile:

Talk about being inadequate (deficient) when he’s an orator with a speech impediment. Can’t believe I missed that one!

EDIT: although this illustration may seem only humorous, there is true conflict coming from Deficiency here. The clergyman’s speech impediment is contributing to the pressure cooker that Humperdink suddenly finds himself in, with the sounds of fighting at the gate, and the wedding ceremony seems to be taking forever. This leads Humperdink to “skip to the end”, which makes the marriage legally deficient – because they skipped saying “I do” (Permission counterpoint).

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#4

LOL. I will add this to the official one. Thanks!

#5

Updated on the main site! Thanks again…

1 Like
#6

Thanks Mike, this is great. Makes me want to watch the film again (for the 32nd time)!