A Knight's Tale: Difference between revisions

Pretty standard, then. Except... oh yeah, it's set in Medieval Europe. The sport is jousting. The struggling underdog is a peasant posing as a noble knight. The big boss is Edward of England, aka the Black Prince.

 

 

A major, completely unashamed [[Anachronism Stew]]. Features 14th-century courtiers dancing to [[David Bowie]] and peasants doing the ''stomp-stomp-clap'' cadence from [[Queen|We Will Rock You]] ([[Throw It In|which was actually filmed by the second unit as a joke]], but was [[Rule of Funny|considered funny enough to use anyway]]).

* [[Advantage Ball]]: Carefully minded throughout. At the beginning, Adhemar has the advantage by virtue of his greater experience, but once William finds his feet and begins to feel more confident, he begins to win easily. At the end, Chaucer's [[Rousing Speech]] gives him the edge he needs.

* [[Aluminum Christmas Trees]]:

** The real Ulrich Von Lichtenstein -- yes there was a real one! -- was a 13th c. knight who, on one occassion in his career of errantry, rode the tournament circuit in the guise of 'Queen Venus' complete with silk gown over his armor and long braids of false hair dangled beneath his helmet. He was a huge hit and the tour a massive success with a final score of three hundred broken lances without a single fall. Somebody really did [[Shown Their Work|their research]] to unearth Ulrich. That or they read the ''[[Horrible Histories]]'' book on knights.

** During the middle ages, blacksmiths paid their taxes to the local feudal lord in arrowheads instead of gold, so [[Truth in Television|nearly all blacksmiths' wives were trained in basic smithing]] in order to make arrowheads and free up their husband to do the earning jobs.

* [[Hollywood Healing]]: As soon as William wins the championship, he can move his arm without difficulty. And there's no mention of removing the piece of lance stuck in his shoulder, which would be very risky surgery in that age.

** His arm was never the problem, he had no trouble aiming the lance, he just couldn't grip it.

* [[Huddle Shot]]: The [[Crowning Moment of Awesome]] at the end, spoken by the main characters, in turn:

{{quote| '''Watt:''' You have been weighed...<br />

* [[Purple Prose]]: Geoffrey Chaucer's job.

* [[Refuge in Audacity]]: One way of getting around historical accuracy.

* [[Rule of Cool]]: Face it, this is pretty much the entire point of this movie. [[Tropes Are Not Bad|Not that we're complaining...]]

* [[Running Gag]]: "Well, maybe not ''you''..."

** Interestingly enough, William is the one who does it.

* [[Screw the Rules, I Have Money|Screw The Rules I Have Nobility]]: The Black Prince pulls one of these. Nice.

* [[Shaming the Mob]]: Subverted in the theatrical cut; Chaucer, having previously demonstrated his ability to work a crowd, tries to shame the mob that gathers around William when he's in the stocks. He gets as far as three words in before the mob silences him with a volley of rotten vegetables. However, in the extended cut of the film, Chaucer succeeds in [[Shaming the Mob]] into chastened silence before Prince Edward steps in. This scene was cut to beef up Prince Edward's role.

* [[So Beautiful It's a Curse]]: Mocked; Jocelyn, admonished for her beauty by a priest, laments it in a deadpan monotone to get him off her back.

* [[Spoiled Sweet]]:

[[Category:Sports Stories]]

[[Category:A Knights Tale]]