A Quotable Year
In the era of catch phrases and hashtags... I think 2020 wins for the most quotable year!
One of my favourite movies of all time is The Princess Bride (1987). If you haven't seen this film... I highly recommend it. I'll give you a brief bullet point synopsis:
A man (Westley) and woman (Buttercup) meet.
They fall in love but cannot be together until the man can afford a bride.
Westley goes away to find work but gets captured by pirates and is reported dead.
Buttercup mourns and swears to never love again but the Prince Humperdinck finds beauty in her and names Buttercup as his chosen bride.
Buttercup (The Princess Bride) does not love the Prince but is due to be wed soon.
Buttercup is captured by thieves in cahoots with the Prince who is interested in starting a war.
Along the way, a bandit steals Buttercup from the thieves and the bandit turns out to be her beloved Westley.
The Prince finds them both, takes Buttercup back to the palace and tortures Westley.
Without spoiling too much... Eventually, everyone gets what they deserve.
There are so many twists and turns that I failed to mention in this brief overview. However, we see that there were many obstacles Wesley and Buttercup needed to face in order to survive each day & in order for their love to survive.
This got me thinking about our time in 2020! I re-watched the movie and certain quotes started resonating with me in ways they hadn't previously. The symbolism for experiences in 2020 and emotions felt inwardly, outward, and toward this year in its entirety, was just too prevalent not to make note of. So, I made a list of 10 quotes from the movie that I feel most depict my experience (and many others) this past year:
1) Buttercup: "We'll never survive." Westley: "Nonsense. You're only saying that because no one ever has."
2) Miracle Max: "It just so happens that your friend here is only MOSTLY dead. There's a big difference between mostly dead and all dead. Mostly dead is slightly alive. With all dead, well, with all dead there's usually only one thing you can do." Inigo Montoya: "What's that?" Miracle Max: "Search his clothes for loose change, hehe."
3) Miracle Max: "You rush a miracle man, you get rotten miracles."
4) Westley: "I'll explain and I'll use small words so you'll be sure to understand, you warthog faced buffoon."
5) Miracle Max: "The King's stinking son fired me and thank you so much for bringing up such a rotten subject. While you're at it, why don't you give me a nice paper cut and pore lemon juice on it. We're closed!"
6) Count Rugen: "Are you coming down into the pit? Westly's got his strength back, I'm starting him on the machine tonight." Prince Humperdinck: "You know how much I love watching you work, but I've got my country's 500th anniversary to plan, my wedding to arrange, my wife to murder, and Gilda to blame for it. I'm swamped."
7) Prince Humperdinck: "Skip to the end!"
8) Vizzini: "I suppose you think you're brave, don't you?" Buttercup: "Only compared to some."
9) Vizzini: "INCONCEIVABLE!" Inigo Montoya: "You keep using that word, I don't think you know what it means."
10) Inigo Montoya: "Hey Fezzik, you did something right." Fezzik: "I won't let it go to my head."
I thought about writing my thoughts about the significance of each quote in detail and disclosing the way I interpreted each. However, I felt this would be better explored in a discussion format - kind of like a book club (for a movie?). I'd be interested to know your takeaway from this blog post. Do any of these quotes resonate with your experiences in 2020? Do any of these quotes inspire a feeling to take with you into the New Year? Leave a comment & I'll share my thoughts with you as well.
I'm hopeful. I'm incredibly grateful to have made it through another year. As tough and as challenging as it was... I'm holding on to the hope that great things are bound to happen.
Thank you for being part of this community! I wish you all the love, success, determination, strength, beauty, joy, and motivation in 2021.
Your friend in community,
xoxo Hayley
P.S. Just for fun... Here's my favourite scene from the movie:
