the princess and the pilgrim 2

A friend told me that he feels weird about it, but can't help but watch The Princess Diaries when it's on. The 2001 film about an American teen who discovers she's the princess of the Ruritanian kingdom of Genovia is another in the passel of recent princess movies that amount to pilgrim narratives. (See also my discussion of Sofia The First)

I like it, too, and invariably dissolve into tears throughout the show. Perhaps the reason we can't help it is that we love to hear the old old story.

It is, after all, a recounting of our human experience of the Gospel. It's a symbolic Pilgrim's Progress.

Mia (thoroughly inhabited by the fearless teen Anne Hathaway) leads an ordinary under-the-sun life, laden with sorrow and discomfort, till it's revealed to her that she has a royal destiny. She's a beloved daughter of the king.

Soon enough, she's besieged with rules and regulations about how to behave, which she is hopelessly inadequate to follow. She must learn that her identity as the king's daughter isn't dependent on her behavior and condition, though better behavior and condition should flow from her identity.

She runs away from her obligations. But then she connects directly with her Father, and reads his words to her. It completely changes her.

She shows up at the palace, dirty and wet and unworthy, but is accepted because she's ordained to be there. Finally, at the palace, she is *made* worthy — literally cleansed and clothed, to abide in the kingdom ever after.

This is why the movie taps so deeply into the human psyche: it's true in the deepest sense. It's the only true thing in all the world.