#the sword in the stone

pazpazpaz:

necarion:

A term I’ve been using to describe a certain type of climactic fight sequence, the type where it’s entirely mediated by force powers, or a wand-to-want beam, or a close grapple, or, is “pooping contest”. 

There are either one or two things that tell you how well someone is Winning.  The definite one is “who is grimacing hardest at the other” as indicator of effort. And sometimes you get the other one: how far from one side to the other is the progress bar special effect.

Some examples (spoilers follow):

See the final fight between Harry and Voldemort (same for Dumbledore and Grindlewald in the stupid Fantastic Beasts movie) (Timestamp 1:15):

Now, here’s how it happens in the book:

A red-glow burst suddenly across the enchanted sky above them as an edge of dazzling sun appeared over the sill of the nearest window. The light hit both of their faces at the same time, so that Voldemort’s was suddenly a flaming blur. Harry heard the high voice shriek as he too yelled his best hope to the heavens, pointing Draco’s wand:

“Avada Kedavra!”

“Expelliarmus!”

The bang was like a cannon blast, and the golden flames that erupted between them, at the dead center of the circle they had been treading, marked the point where the spells collided. Harry saw Voldemort’s green jet meet his own spell, saw the Elder Wand fly high, dark against the sunrise, spinning across the enchanted ceiling like the head of Nagini, spinning through the air toward the master it would not kill, who had come to take full possession of it at last. And Harry, with the unerring skill of the Seeker, caught the wand in his free hand as Voldemort fell backward, arms splayed, the slit pupils of the scarlet eyes rolling upward. Tom Riddle hit the floor with a mundane finality, his body feeble and shrunken, the white hands empty, the snakelike face vacant and unknowing. Voldemort was dead, killed by his own rebounding curse, and Harry stood with two wands in his hand, staring down at his enemy’s shell.

The final confrontation was (a) in front of everyone [note 1], and (b) over in a single moment. This was not a contest of wills. The fight was already over, and Voldemort just didn’t know it yet.

…

For a slightly less silly version, there’s the final final confrontation between Aang and Ozai (Timestamp 11:05). The only way you know who’s winning is by the progression of the colors. And the music.

…

Or every time you have the final part of the dagger with the two fighters facing each other forcing the dagger slowly back and forth making faces.

…

Sometimes you get it in books as well, like the final fight between Egwene and Mesaana in TAR. Literally nothing happens “on screen” except that Egwene convinces herself that she is stronger, she is better, and then she wins. This would probably be captured in a movie with some sort of energy beam going between them, because otherwise nothing happens but Concentratin’ Hard.

…

I think this trend is terrible, lazy visual filmmaking. There is basically no tension left in these confrontations - you know who’s going to win. There is no sign of skill or cleverness, only one of raw, invisible strength. It robs you of the chance to see a wizard duel, or one party to truly triumph through anything other than the invisible strength. And it robs the actors of much of their chance to showcase anything other than a strained expression on their face.

This ties into the problem of a lot of Aerial Battles as the climactic final scene.  A bunch of people fly around punching each other into buildings, with no grounding (heh) and no sense of skill or strength, and then one gets knocked to the ground, and then they fight it out there (and also, usually, have a strength-based pooping contest).

There are plenty of examples of this being done well. I won’t show clips for all of them, but a completely non-exhaustive lists follows:

• All the major confrontations in the Princess Bride. Westley vs Inigo ends in a battle of skill where Westley comes out on top. “End it quickly” “I would sooner destroy a stained glass window as an artist like yourself”. Westley vs Humperdinck isn’t even a fight. And Inigo vs the Six Fingered Man ends with dialogue, a quick strike, and a fantastic sendoff: “I want my father back, you son of a bitch.” Even the most obvious “test of strength” of Westley vs Fezzik isn’t really that. It’s Westley outsmarting and out DEXing Fezzik and simply holding on.
• Gunfights in old Westerns. Swordfights in old Samurai films. There is a lot of tension, little movements, focus, camera work. And then it just ends with a single strike. This one comes closest, but there is no expression of Raw Strength, just focus and skill. And you can absolutely see who wins and why.
• The Matrix Revolutions has a sky fight, and then a brief amount of pooping contest, but it gets subverted when Neo surrenders and lets go.
• Proper Wizard Duels.
• Such as Dumbledore vs Voldemort whichdoesn’t end in one of those fights, and is easily the best fight in the movie series.

But all of these are way harder than showing a fight with a manly intensity-based progress bar. 

It’s mentioned in the Youtube “wizard duels” bit, even though it violates one of his three rules; but your list makes me think of the Merlin/Madam Mim duel in The Sword in The Stone. (Mim sets the rules: transform into animals, no vegetables or minerals; no make-believe things like pink dragons; no disappearing.)

I’ve also seen pooping contest fights in novels, where they’re even less interesting than in movies. You have to describe the progress bar. (At least the Wheel of Time one involves introspection and a character moment; the one in the Deryni Chronicles it just turns out that the protagonist is stronger than the antagonist and so his progress bar beats hers.)

Recycled disney animations