Conceivable
My name is gregorific. My girls are ready…prepared to watch The Princess Bride.
It was finally time. I’d waited, the DVD still in its plastic wrap, for years. I didn’t want the older daughter to watch it alone. We had to wait for the younger to be old enough to 'get it'. This movie had to be a family affair, a group experience. Because with the gregorifics, inside jokes must be shared…or else it’s called torture and we all suffer.
It was finally time. I’d waited, the DVD still in its plastic wrap, for years. I didn’t want the older daughter to watch it alone. We had to wait for the younger to be old enough to 'get it'. This movie had to be a family affair, a group experience. Because with the gregorifics, inside jokes must be shared…or else it’s called torture and we all suffer.
So, one rainy summer morning, we woke up and watched the PG rated movie, The Princess Bride. Eleven and nine years old, they were ready. We’d prepared them with other PG movies. You laugh, thinking, what could be more tame than PG? True, PG is the new G. (They do not really make G movies any longer. Talk about giving up on childhood innocence...)
Yet PG movies are getting more and more crude, violent, and risque. I’m not a prude. (Well, okay, I am one.) It's common knowledge that the movie industry is slowly sliding down the same slippery slope that our social media and commercial culture is, becoming more and more immune to explicit language, innuendo, and questionable morality, and more and more accepting of material that used to be PG-13.
Yet PG movies are getting more and more crude, violent, and risque. I’m not a prude. (Well, okay, I am one.) It's common knowledge that the movie industry is slowly sliding down the same slippery slope that our social media and commercial culture is, becoming more and more immune to explicit language, innuendo, and questionable morality, and more and more accepting of material that used to be PG-13.
The Princess Bride is from 1987. It’s hard to imagine what PG meant then. We found it to be more light-hearted than the 2015's Cinderella (less people died) and more funny than 2015's Inside Out (less jaded) and less nerve racking than 2015's Home (lower stakes).
The verdict? We loved it. The giant Fezzik was their favorite character. The death of the fire swamp MOUS was heart wrenching to my youngest, but the plight of true love was a plot they could get excited about, yet not too emotional over.
The verdict? We loved it. The giant Fezzik was their favorite character. The death of the fire swamp MOUS was heart wrenching to my youngest, but the plight of true love was a plot they could get excited about, yet not too emotional over.
They preferred it to plots from recent movies such as the search for a missing parent, the challenge of overcoming bullying and poor circumstances, and the coming-of-age issues like saying goodbye to your childhood (imaginary) friend.
The best part? Now they know why sometimes I say:
And I won’t be laughing alone when I remark:
Now the gregorific family is one cult-movie-following step ahead. Next I have to work toward getting them to laugh when I say, “Put it up to eleven.” (This is Spinal Tap.)
Smell the glove,
~gregorific
~gregorific
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