1 - The Cervantean Paradigm: Comedy, Madness and Meta-Medievalism in Don Quixote

Summary

The man crashes to the dirt floor and lies motionless, unhorsed by the blow of a lance to his chest. His alarmed opponent leaps from his horse and runs to the man's aid. ‘Well done, good sir’, says the vanquished knight, ‘you are the victor; but we will meet again.’ As the weary men rise, gauntlets clasped above their heads in camaraderie, the crowd roars at the lengthy and violent spectacle it has just witnessed. The date is 1996; the place is the Buena Park outlet of the theatre-restaurant chain Medieval Times; and the men are Chip Douglas and Steven Kovacs, the two protagonists of the dark comedy The Cable Guy, directed by Ben Stiller. In this, the film's famous ‘Medieval Times’ scene, the unstable Chip (the eponymous cable guy), obsessed with gaining Steven's friendship but also consumed by lonely malice, has secretly arranged for the two of them to engage in public mock combat ‘to the death’, according to the ‘King’ of Medieval Times, ‘to resolve a grievance’. What ensues is an onslaught in which reality dissolves into violent chivalric fantasy, with Chip wielding a sword, a flail, a battle axe and a lance with such clear intent to harm that the Medieval Times performers are as frightened of him as Steven is.