🪨🗡️ #195 - Sword In The Stone
This is exactly how Lisan al Gaib would read a newsletter.
WOMAN
Well how’d you become king then?
ARTHUR
The Lady of the Lake, her arm clad in the purest shimmering samite held aloft Excalibur from the bosom of the water, signifying by divine providence that I, Arthur, was to carry Excalibur. THAT is why I am your king.
DENNIS
Listen, strange women lyin' in ponds distributin' swords is no basis for a system of government. Supreme executive power derives from a mandate from the masses, not from some farcical aquatic ceremony.
–Monty Python and the Holy Grail
Heroes often face tests to prove their worth. They may be The Chosen One, but how do they let others know about it? What difficult task can they accomplish or surprising power can they display to make it clear?
In Hook, Peter Banning gets a clear list of abilities he needs to display in order to win over the Lost Boys and prove he’s The Pan: Gotta fly. Gotta fight. Gotta crow. Rufio, the current leader, refuses to believe that this anxious adult was once Peter Pan. For a deeper dive into the transformations Peter needs to go through in Neverland, José Díaz-Cuesta, Mar Asensio Aróstegui, and David Caldevilla Domínguez analyze the different types of masculinity on display in Hook.1
That moment where a skeptic becomes a believer doesn’t just give credibility to the character with other characters in the story, but gives the audience reason to trust what they’re seeing.
There’s a similar moment in Captain America: The First Avenger:
Steve Rogers, along with several other candidates for the Super Soldier program are run through what seem like stock military training exercises. But it’s this moment, when Rogers acts differently than all the other candidates to what’s perceived as real danger, that it becomes clear what kind of test this really is: Finding a good person instead of just a good soldier.2 Toussaint Egan looks at how the storytellers of the MCU hone in on this principle with the selection of Rogers and the ascension of Sam Wilson as his replacement.
Another part of The First Avenger is how Dr. Erskine’s formula was used once before, and it failed horribly. The Red Skull, the film’s antagonist, acts as a dark mirror of what Rogers could become if he fails to combine equally strong morals with his increased physical strength.
Questioning the Chosen One provides tension to the moment they pass a difficult trial. Sometimes characters express their doubts, but what if the story itself casts doubt on its prophecies? In Dune: Part Two, Paul Atreides has two distinct challenges to prove his worth in the eyes of the Fremen. He must ride Shai halud (the big honkin’ sand worm), and he must consume the water of life and survive (which is freshly squeezed from the sand worm).
Denis Villeneuve explains in detail the scene where Paul succeeds in riding the sand worm:
Ezra Craker explores how the film shows that belief in false prophecies makes them come true, and how Dune shows a prophecy that’s nothing more than interstellar propaganda. Brian Philips also offers a take on Dune’s subversion of Chosen One narratives:
The Bene Gesserit haven’t been sitting around waiting for the foreordained birth of the Kwisatz Haderach. They’ve been actively attempting to create their messiah by breeding selected bloodlines together across untold generations. Paul is just the result of this breeding program. He’s not the chosen one. He’s a goldendoodle.
How does a person’s life change when they find out they’re the Chosen One? It’s not always terrific. Emmet Asher-Perrin sings the praises of Sarah Connor in the original Terminator, and how the film provides her a chance to slowly grow into the role that’s been thrust upon her.
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It’s not always easy being The Chosen One (or writing them)
This week’s issue is brought to you by Sword in the Stone, card number 37 in the Writer Emergency Pack XL deck:
From the twelve labors of Hercules to Ellen Ripley’s power loader, heroes often face tests to prove their worth. Public trials demonstrate their determination and specific talents.
The Writer Emergency Pack XL deck was made with one goal: Help writers get unstuck when something stalls in their story.
To find out more about the writing prompts on the 52 cards in the XL deck, check out the Writer Emergency site.
⏱️ Choose to Write Sprint
Each week we post a comment thread for writers to meet up, cheer each other on, and put some words on the page with a Write Sprint.
What’s a Write Sprint?
John wrote up an explanation, but here’s the short version: Set a timer for 60 minutes, close down all distractions, and do nothing but write until that timer goes off.
Sometimes that’s all it takes to get some momentum going with your writing: You set aside this time for writing and nothing else, so you’d better use it!
Shout out to Brian Matusz and Elyse Moretti Forbes for sprinting with us last week!
Previously on Inneresting…
In case you missed it, in last issue’s most clicked link Maggie Mae Fish digs deep into Sorry To Bother You, its critique of cultural scripts, and includes additional clips for context about how code switching is a performative tool for survival.
What else is inneresting?
At McSweeney’s, Mike Langley gives a voice to The New York Times paywall.
Alexandra Lustig dissects the new color of the Disney+ app icon.
Tony Maglio looks at a poll showing two-thirds of US adults would rather wait to watch movies on streaming instead of going to the theater.
And that’s what’s inneresting this week!
Inneresting is edited by Chris Csont, with contributions from readers like you and the entire Quote-Unquote team.
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Post-Credits Scene
This is a direct link to a PDF.
For another moment proving his worthiness, let’s not forget that Steve Rogers lifted the MCU equivalent of Excalibur.