Change Your Stars: A Knight's Tale

One good thing about cable (and one of the things that would make me pay for it if cable companies weren't the literal devil) is that you can flip through the channels and find magical things. Why, just yesterday, my mom was flipping through the channels and found A Knight's Tale, which I immediately made her turn to.

A Knight's Tale is probably one of three movies that you remember Heath Ledger being in off the top of your head, when you're feeling sad about how unfair the universe is, the other two being The Dark Knight and Ten Things I Hate About You. A Knight's Tale is the first one of those movies that I saw and in my brain, it's filed away with movies like The Princess Bride and Robin Hood: Men in Tights, where someone really wanted to have some chivalry in addition to their modern-day jokes, but it also earns its place beside The Princess Bride with its heart. There are some really nice moments in this movie.

If you haven't seen it (and it's like $3 on Google Play, so take this opportunity to make your life a little bit better by watching it right now, or just risk the spoilers for a 14 year old movie ahead), A Knight's Tale is about a peasant (Heath Ledger) who becomes a knight. There's a bunch of jousting, there's this whole thing with Geoffrey Chaucer (Paul Bettany, who you might know as Vision from the new Avengers movie), there's a lady blacksmith (Kate, played by Laura Fraser), there's Alan Tudyk, and there's this wonderful moment from the strong sassy actual-lady lady (Jocelyn, played by Shannyn Sossamon):

gif source: http://karenandthababes.tumblr.com/

And a dance scene set to this song:

What I love best, though, are the speeches.

gif source: http://lockelamoras.tumblr.com/

When I worry about getting stuck, I remember that a man can change his stars.

When I worry that I'm abandoning my roots, I remember that all you have to do is follow your feet.

When I take that split second to worry if something I'm doing is too bold, I remember that it is knightly too to tilt when you should withdraw.

When I worry that when I find somebody, I won't want love after all, I remember the way they write a love letter.

That's the thing about stories that I like- they all have some kind of heart in them. I'll forgive all manner of sins if you can make me feel something. (Though, to be clear, I think the modern-day soundtrack really works with the way this story is told and I like the Chaucer conceit as a way of explaining the movie's narrative.) It hits all my buttons. Plus, it's an underdog story and it has two solid female characters when it really could have exclusively been a boy's club. And I can never say no to a little bashing of the societal elites.

So, A Knight's Tale. Come for Heath Ledger's imperfectly curled hair, stay for the hope underwriting the inevitability of changing social structures.

I think if you clicked all the links, you've seen plenty of the internet today, but just in case, here's my internet find of the week- Running Through Rivers by Carrie Hope Fletcher, which is a magic little song about stories and adventures.

Happy Monday!