Escapism In Stardust

In the early 1800s, a period movement took place as “The New Age of Revolution” in literature, and it was called Romanticism (White). It started off and continues today as a readers’ escapism, to see themselves or others performing extraordinary tasks that cannot normally be accomplished. Romance took a more of an inventive turn towards fantasy, in order to keep a reader’s attention for something bigger than himself or herself. Many stories include a quest, heroic archetypes, the trusty sidekick, and a damsel in distress, villains, and an ultimate battle scene. Escapism has evolved into other sources such as music and movies, but books prevail because they tell more of a story. Books provide more details and descriptions that draw the reader
Neil Gaiman sets the story with a Victorian time tale, giving a chosen hero, Tristran Thorin, a quest to find a fallen star for his one true love. Gaiman uses this common trope that most fantasy stories have to build a structure, and once he gave the character a journey to go forth, Gaiman was able to play with the plot line to make it his own. Amy Allison’s review on his work “Overcoming a slow beginning and occasionally clunky dialogue, Gaiman ends up pulling off a feat of storytelling, whose spell lingers like a dream upon awakening (Allison).” Allison tells how through the trope, Gaiman skillfully writes a mystical and “conjuring the unearthly beauty and terror of the world where Tristan discovers his destiny (Allison).” Within the story, Tristran enters a world of magic, like how the reader feels when they open the book. Tristran advances through the magic world called Faerie and comes face to face with creatures, magical forests, witches, princes, a fallen star, a unicorn, and sky pirates. Neil Gaiman wrote an article explaining how this book was for adults, due to the primary focus towards adults. For example, “At the end, he would have pulled out, but she held him inside her, wrapped her legs around him, pushed against him so hard that he felt that the two of them occupied the same place in the universe (Gaiman 28).” Typically a novel that displays this content was not suited for children
The Princess Bride turned into a classic movie with its famous quotes and wisecracking dialogue that was well executed by talented actors. With the word “Inconceivable,” people cannot help but remember the book, or even retort back with the quote “Hello. My name is Indigo Montoya. You killed my father. Prepare to die (Goldman 69),” said by the talented Mandy Patinkin. Memorable dialogue such as the ones in The Princess Bride, gives people a sense of nostalgia. The actors of the movie loved that they had a chance to act in such a fantastic film. For example, “Mandy Patinkin has said that the role of Inigo Montoya is his personal favourite over the course of his entire career (“Trivia” IMDb).” The popularity of the movie helped to further push the desire to read the book. The Princess Bride turned into a classic story both in book and movie. However, Stardust became more of a cult classic when production hit the theaters. According to IMDb, reviews only gave the movie 7.7 stars out of 10 (Stardust IMDb), while The Princess Bride received 8.2 out of 10 stars (TPB IMDb). Stardust had success in the box office, while The Princess Bride had not in the beginning. The Princess Bride picked up steam and grew onto people with its satire and adventurous plot. Stardust included a well-rounded cast with Robert De Niro, Michelle Pfeiffer, and Ian McKellen, while introducing new actors. Matthew Vaughn wanted an