Modern Fairy Tale Assignment

I decided that I would evaluate and explicate Allison's fairy tale because Allison rocks my socks and cracks me up.

As far as the level of displacement in her "Brass Ring" story, I think she did quite well. Using a cellphone instead of the golden ball was a great way to bring the story into modernity. Not only do cellphones provide entertainment if one enjoys gabbing for hours and playing little video games, they are also incredibly important for storing information. I don't keep my formal address book updated, but I do keep my cellphone loaded with recent numbers. I would forget some birthdays without my little reminder screen that pops up. Sometimes the phone even tells me what day it is if it's been an especially long week. :O) So in that way, the cellphone really worked well for Sarah to lose because what would she do without it? A golden ball?...Just entertainment compared to the necessity of the phone.

Allison has also definitely brought in our modern superficiality and celebrity obsession. The merger is described as "a gala affair, all B list celebrities, minor society folk, and recent reality TV expatriates". That is a perfect description of the people that we see in the pages of weekly entertainment gossip magazines and on "The Surreal Life." Sarah's big break is on "Oprah". Allison places Sarah in a situation with the Pepin family in which she must fake them out to make herself look good. She ends up being like those minor celebrity folk whose identities are tied up in the marketability of themselves. I think that Allison is commenting, whether consciously or not, on the personas that we perform to the public compared to the people we really are and our true motivations.

Allison's tale is definitely literary. She is an excellent writer. Her description of people and places in engaging and makes the scene appear in my mind. She also does an excellent job of tying past with present in the form of Sarah's attempted business ventures. There is a clear explanation as to why this guy is so important to her future. However, Amir's importance to Sarah is not in his ability to support, love, and provide for her like it would be in a traditional fairy tale relationship. No, Amir is, for Sarah, a key to her own success as a business woman. I love that twist. Give the lady some independence outside of love. The ladies of "Sex and the City" would be pleased.

The names Allison uses are perfect, of course, for these characters. Sarah is the Hebrew for "princess" while Amir means "prince". The names themselves put the characters on a higher level once we read beyond the literal level. I must admit, Allison told me the significance of the name Amir. I knew Sarah, but, Allison explained her name choice to me prior to my reading the text.

Now, I may be "reading in" too much, but, because I had just watched "Space Balls" before sitting down to do this...Is the name Schwartz in the text an allusion to "Use the Schwartz"? How is it even spelled in the movie? Just trying to make a connection.

Allison's story rocks. I enjoyed reading it. I also enjoyed reading Michelle's story and Bridgett's and Lindsey's and Fallon's....everyone did a great job. We have some future authors in our midst, I believe. :O)