The Fisher King: The Story in the Movie.
In the movie "The Fisher King-, Perry tells Jack the story of the fisher king. Basically in the story a fire tells a king that he is "the keeper of the holy grail so that it may heal the hearts of men-. The king is more focused on power and glory and so he reaches into the fire to grab the Holy Grail, leaving him only with a wound. As he grows older his wound grows deeper until one day a fool comes to his castle and sees him poor and alone. The king asks for a cup of water and the beggar fills up the cup and as the king drinks it his wound heals. When asked how he did it the fool replied, "I don't know. I only knew that you were thirsty." When tied into the movie, the story can work in two different ways; making both characters play the fool and the king.
The first way the story ties into the movie is by making Jack the king and Perry the fool. It would appear at first that that is kind of what the situation is anyways, and so it works in the obvious ways. Jack lived a life full of power and glory until one of his "regulars- on his radio shows takes something he says the wrong way and goes to a café and kills seven people, one of which is Perry's wife. After meeting Perry, Jack realizes who he his and starts to feel really bad because he thinks he caused Perry's wife's death, therefore making Perry go crazy. So as Jack hangs out with Perry more, he definitely feels kind of superior to him, on account of he isn't crazy. Meanwhile as all this is going on, Jack is starting to become a very different person, a bit nicer and less egotistical. After Perry is in his coma, Jack tries to go back to work and start living his life the way it used to be again, but he realizes that he has changed. He speaks to Perry while he is unconscious and gets him the Holy Grail. When Perry wakes up, Jack goes and changes things in his life for the better and is a much happier person.
