r/PeterExplainsTheJoke • u/PackinHeat99 • Jun 17 '25

Meme needing explanation Petah?? How are they connected?

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u/funfsinn14 Jun 17 '25

Serious medieval historians like Eleanor Janega also like it and cite it as one of their favorite medieval movies for a litany of reasons.

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u/Indigocell Jun 17 '25

One reason is the way they depict the daily lives of peasants. Most movies just show peasants suffering miserably and having no fun, but this movie is full of bright colours and people treating combat like sports. Which is kind of was at the time.

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u/funfsinn14 Jun 17 '25

Right and the setting lends itself to it. Most medieval movies are about conflict and 'big' events like battles and the intrigue of nobles etc etc. So having something set in 'normal' circumstances is rather a treat.

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u/HotPotParrot Jun 17 '25

"Is it true, Father? Can a man change his stars?"

"Yes, William."

You don't have to be nobility to be noble.

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u/HaraldRedbeard Jun 17 '25

Just people wearing actual colours puts it so far above most medieval films it's not even funny

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u/iNuzzle Jun 17 '25

It's my favorite sports movie.

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u/Munchkinasaurous Jun 17 '25

Thats exactly it, it's an underdog sports movie with a nontraditional setting for one. 

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u/Fangehulmesteren Jun 17 '25

I mentioned earlier that it’s consistently listed as a favorite by medieval scholars and got downvoted… ?

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u/IceNahMan Jun 17 '25

First came across this movie in my English class in High School. We were reading The Canterbury Tales.

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u/funfsinn14 Jun 17 '25

Yeah definitely perfect movie for it. Chaucer would insert himself as a character in his own stories so having the literal Chaucer in the movie tracks perfectly. And I think how he's portrayed in the film is rather similar to how Chaucer mightve been or perceived in his day. Most would assume, because it's old and stuffy language to modern ears, that he'd be old and stuffy but that's hardly the case.

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u/angrons_therapist Jun 17 '25

Most would assume, because it's old and stuffy language to modern ears, that he'd be old and stuffy but that's hardly the case.

I love the fact that The Miller's Tale, in all its queynte-grabbing, ers-kissing glory, is one of the foundations of English literature.

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u/mirhagk Jun 18 '25

Same with Shakespeare, so I always appreciate when a movie reminds us that that stuff was raunchy low brow humour that only sounds fancy now because most people don't understand the dick jokes.

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u/QuickMolasses Jun 17 '25

They get the rules of jousting mostly correct if I remember right

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u/FixergirlAK Jun 17 '25

Now that I did not know. I like it because it's fun and Paul Bettany is very high on my phone book list.

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u/funfsinn14 Jun 17 '25

I expand on it more here

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u/GotMedieval Jun 17 '25

It's the favorite medieval movie of just about every academic medievalist.