A Knight's Tale/YMMV
- Cliché Storm: Some would argue that there isn't very much that's original in this film beyond the main gimmick.
- Crowning Music of Awesome: The songs the rest of the Five-Man Band sing in a tavern about William.
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He's blonde/he's pissed/he'll see you in the lists/Lichtenstein/Lichtenstein! |
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- Chaucer has a solo act later, when collecting the group's money from the Frenchmen betting against William.
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Chaucer: He's blonde/he's funny/he makes me lots of money/Lichtenstein/Lichtenstein... |
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- Fan-Preferred Couple: Will and Kate.
- He goes with the noblewoman. A small consolation being that this makes Kate's dead husband a rare example of a male Lost Lenore.
- Ho Yay: Chaucer and Wat. They are also a major Fan-Preferred Couple.
- Historical Hero Upgrade: Edward the Black Prince is portrayed as a heroic and likeable individual who values William's courage and knights him despite his common birth. The historical Black Prince was well-known for conducting brutal scorched-earth campaigns that ravaged the French countryside, and to have despised and scorned the lower classes.
- The characters do mention his pillaging and burning of villages and appear very afraid to the point of immediately submitting defeat when finding out his true identity at one of the early tournaments. Edward's fondness of William despite him being lower class is motivated by William doing him two big favours earlier in the movie when he had no reason to do so, and willingly let himself be arrested instead of fleeing. He also likely did it to spite Adhemar who if not for William, would have become the World Champion.
- They surrendered rather than facing him because wounding a royal, even in a tournament, was a big mistake. This is explicitly stated in the film.
- The characters do mention his pillaging and burning of villages and appear very afraid to the point of immediately submitting defeat when finding out his true identity at one of the early tournaments. Edward's fondness of William despite him being lower class is motivated by William doing him two big favours earlier in the movie when he had no reason to do so, and willingly let himself be arrested instead of fleeing. He also likely did it to spite Adhemar who if not for William, would have become the World Champion.
- Launcher of a Thousand Ships: There's fanfiction of Kate/Will, Kate/Wat, Kate/Chaucer, Kate/Roland, and Kate/Adhemar.
- Magnificent Bastard: A protagonist-friendly example in Edward, the Black Prince of Wales.
- Nearly every bad thing that has happened to Adhemar in this movie has been at least an indirect result of Prince Edward -- or more accurately, Adhemar's own refusal to joust him. A short time after this occurs, Adhemar is called away to war -- on the Black Prince's orders -- where he frequently sees the results of the tournaments that have taken place in his absence, all of them being won by William and the fact of it all causing him great anger. Then, when he comes back, he manages to expose 'Ulrich von Lichtenstein' as William Thatcher; Edward's retaliation is to fully pardon and knight William, urge him to fight in the tournament and then cheer him on.
- There's also his speech when he knights William:
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This is my word and as such it is beyond contestation |
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- Narm: The romantic dialogue can sometimes come off this way.
- Retroactive Recognition: You know Jocelyn's maid? Believe it or not, but that's actually Berenice Bejo, who would go on to receive major critical praise and recognition for her role in The Artist and be nominated for an Academy Award.
- The Scrappy: Jocelyn. Despite having some good lines and moments, for whatever reason (her status as The Obstructive Love Interest, her actress, the fact that Kate's way cooler, her hair?) she grates on the nerves of a lot of people who otherwise love the movie.
- Made worse when people invoke feminism as a reason to hate Jocelyn, saying that Kate was a better romantic option for Will due to being a "strong female character". You know, there's the small fact that if the fangirls were as "feminist" as they claimed, they wouldn't say that a "strong female character" needs a (male) romantic interest to make her truly whole, not to mention Kate is a widow going through The Mourning After...
- There's also her insane Engagement Challenge to will, which a good deal of viewers don't forgive.
- Made worse when people invoke feminism as a reason to hate Jocelyn, saying that Kate was a better romantic option for Will due to being a "strong female character". You know, there's the small fact that if the fangirls were as "feminist" as they claimed, they wouldn't say that a "strong female character" needs a (male) romantic interest to make her truly whole, not to mention Kate is a widow going through The Mourning After...
- Tear Jerker: In-Universe example; William's friends all suffer some amount of this when he is about to be taken away for impersonating a knight.
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William: Roland, you would see me run? |
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- And when they were all helping Will compose a love letter. "I miss you like the sun misses the flower".
- Woolseyism: The idea was that modern audiences would perceive the tournaments the same way a medieval audience would have. It's sort of a transculturation convention.
- Tilting (the actual name for it, jousting was the name for the whole series of competitions) isn't a very hard sport to follow in the first place; you knock someone off their horse and you win, if neither falls the winner is determined by who broke more lances (or who scored more hits) on his opponent.