Line #20 YMMV/TheScarletPimpernel


1	!!The original novel
2	%%Complete Monster needs to be discussed first before adding in Special Efforts thread.
3	* IronWoobie: Lady Marguerite Blakeney.
4	* ItWasHisSled: The dramatic revelation, two-thirds of the way through, that the demmed idiot Sir Percy Blakeney is the Scarlet Pimpernel, to the point that ''no'' adaptations tries to hide this.
5	* OlderThanTheyThink: The idea of a rich playboy using ObfuscatingStupidity to disguise his vigilante persona? Franchise/{{Superman}} and Franchise/{{Batman}} got their inspirations from him.
6	* OnceOriginalNowCommon: Chauvelin, for one, would be guilty of unforgiveable GenreBlindness... except his genre didn't exist yet.
7	* ProtagonistTitleFallacy: Poor Marguerite...
8	* UnintentionallySympathetic: Modern readers would find the Jew who aids Percy despite the potential danger to himself and his family much more heroic than Orczy would probably have intended.
9	* ValuesDissonance:
10	** It was easier in the earlier 20th century to completely [[TheRevolutionWillNotBeCivilized vilify the French Revolution]] and have more sympathy for the [[BlueBlood French aristocracy]]. Granted the titular hero focused his attention on innocent families, and considering [[ReignOfTerror the events following the revolution]], it's easier to sympathize with the people being rescued.
11	** Similarly, the depiction of the Jewish prisoner [[spoiler:or rather, Sir Percy's depiction of the Jewish prisoner]] might be read with some discomfort by modern readers. [[spoiler:Note that Percy is deliberately playing to the Frenchmen's prejudices.]]
12	*** There's also perhaps a touch of RealitySubtext here: at the time the Baroness wrote the novel France was still hashing out [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dreyfus_affair the Dreyfus Affair]], which wouldn't be satisfactorily resolved until 1906.
13	* ValuesResonance: Despite the above issues, in a broad sense, depicting rescuing persecuted refugees and helping them resettle in a new country seems even more relevant amid a number of serious refugee crises in the twenty-first century.
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15	!!The sequel novels
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17	* HilariousInHindsight:
18	** ''Sir Percy Hits Back'' reveals that Chauvelin has an 18-year-old daughter. Count how many adaptations [[PromotedToLoveInterest make him an ex-suitor or love interest]] for the [[MayDecemberRomance 25-year-old Marguerite.]] Not a lot of hindsight is even required here, since almost the first thing the original novel says about him (even before the first "fox-like") is that he's "nearer forty than thirty".
19	** In ''The Life and Exploits of the Scarlet Pimpernel'', written by Baroness Orczy's son, Sir Andrew recalls the day Blakeney explained his reasoning behind adopting the scarlet pimpernel motif and his m.o. of leaving his calling card whenever he made a rescue:
20	--->''"He told me that our best chance of safety lay in making ourselves feared. [[Franchise/{{Batman}} To superstitious, half-educated people, the mysterious device ... would reduce many to a state of fear.]]"''
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22	!!The adaptations
23	* SugarWiki/AwesomeMusic: The song ''The Scarlett Pimpernel'' from the musical.
24	* CompleteMonster:
25	** 1937's ''The Return of the Scarlet Pimpernel'', UsefulNotes/MaximilienRobespierre is the head of the Committee that rules France. Responsible for the ReignOfTerror, Robespierre sentences countless people to the [[OffWithHisHead guillotine]], enemies of the state and rivals alike. Plotting his own coup and [[ThePurge a purge]] of any potential rivals, Robespierre also sends his agent Chauvelin to kidnap the Pimpernel, Percy Blakeney's wife Marguerite, while she is pregnant, deciding to have her sent to the guillotine regardless of her value as a hostage before providing twenty more names to be arrested and executed.
26	** [[YMMV/TheScarletPimpernel1982 1982 TV film]]
27	** Musical: [[AdaptationalVillainy Citizen Chauvelin]] is a ruthless agent of UsefulNotes/TheFrenchRevolution who delights in sentencing people to the [[OffWithHisHead guillotine]], [[EstablishingCharacterMoment opening the musical]] with the execution of the good-hearted Marquis de St. Cyr. Hunting others to send to their beheadings, Chauvelin also {{blackmail}}s his former lover Marguerite by threatening to ruin her marriage to Percy Blakeney, also using the threat of her brother's execution to control her. Intending on killing them all when he realizes Percy is the heroic Scarlet Pimpernel, Chauvelin embraces nothing so much as spite and rage in his attempt to purge all he despises.
28	* RetroactiveRecognition: The 1982 version features Creator/IanMcKellen as Chauvelin in one of his first recognizable roles.
29	* TheWoobie: The [[Series/TheScarletPimpernel 1999 TV version]] has Tony Dewhurst, played by Creator/JamieBamber in the middle of the [[Series/{{Horatio Hornblower}} Professional Woobie stage of his career]]. Such a [[TheCutie Cutie]] and killed off so quickly, becoming the first of ''many'' of Bamber's characters to bite the dust (adding insult to injury is that Dewhurst did ''not'' die in the books the series is based on). Website/TVTropes send the guy a hug.

Context YMMV / TheScarletPimpernel