“The Dharma of ‘The Princess Bride’” by Ethan Nichtern

I have always enjoyed books that involve taking a closer look at popular culture and examining hidden meanings that they hold (hence this blog really). Nichtern here is taking aspects of the amazing book and movie, “The Princess Bride,” and using the characters and the storyline to explain aspects of Buddhism.

“The Princess Bride” has held audiences (readers and watchers alike) for years, probably because it is a fairytale that turns several fairytale tropes on their heads. The princess’s name is Buttercup, the scary giant is the most selfless character, the swashbuckling swordsman is also a drunk. The book version takes this to the next level, as it is written as though there is a longer unabridged version out there, and the author is cutting out the boring bits. (Of course there is no unabridged version.) The editor also frequently interrupts the storyline to explain the cuts that he has made, and to tell the story of how his grandfather would read this book to him when he was a child, which became the basis of the movie.

In analyzing the book through the lens of Buddhism, Nichtern primarily focuses on the different relationships present in the book. These can be distilled down to three categories: friendships, romantic relationships, and familial relationships. I was actually a little surprised by this seemingly odd focus on relationships, that is not what immediately comes to mind when I think of either Buddhism or “The Princess Bride.” But what Nichtern is trying to do here is to take Buddhism and apply it to everyday life. And as he says at some point in the novel, in his opinion, if we all lived alone and didn’t have any relationships, we would probably all be enlightened by now. He sees our relationships as our greatest obstacle to achieving enlightenment, and therefore will be using this pop culture phenomenon to give advice on how to overcome our relationship struggles.

Throughout his writings, Nichtern pulls anecdotes from his own life to demonstrate what he is talking about. We hear about his friendships that got him through the post-college years, and about the failed romantic relationships he held as he searched for his Buttercup (spoiler alert: she doesn’t really exist). He also throws in several more contemporary references (Sen. Ted Cruz comes up a couple times, as does my personal favorite, Trumperdink) to further bring home his points. It adds a personal touch to the story, and makes it seem less like he is preaching at us and more like we are having a conversation, and learning together. He does an excellent job of taking a topic as esoteric as Buddhism and bringing it down to a level where anyone can learn and benefit from it.

While I expected to learn more about Buddhism in general, as opposed to just relationship advice, this book was actually very illuminating. I thought about my relationships and the actions of myself and others in a different way with this book, and it left me with a couple ideas that I will be holding onto for a while. Nichtern clearly knows his stuff and how to get it across to us. The question is whether we will read the book and grow by it, bringing a dose of “The Princess Bride” into our minds, and a healthy dose of Buddhism into our lives.