Katie Lovell -- Reality and Fantasy

  In your first sentence, you say that in the play The Royal Family, "the border 
  between reality and fantasy is blurred through the exaggerated version of fame 
  and glamour."  

  I don't think that is really what is going on, though.  Did you
  ever have the impression that *you* couldn't tell what was real and what was 
  fantasy in this play?  I'd be surprised if you said yes, because there's really
  no fantasy at all shown on stage -- the fantasy is all going on inside the 
  heads of the characters because *they* can't tell the difference between reality
  and fantasy.  

  So it seems to me that a better way to describe what George Kaufman and Edna Ferber 
  are doing in this play is that they are using the fact that the actor
  characters like Tony and Julie Cavendish don't have a very clear understanding 
  of the border between reality and fantasy to create the comedic aspects of the
  plot.  You come close to saying that later, but I don't think you ever really
  "nail it down."  (Your concluding sentence says "Thus, the play The Royal Family 
  crosses between the borders of fantastical, romantic notions and the truth of 
  reality through humor and exaggerated speech to satirically portray a window 
  into a life of fame and fortune.")

  The main issue, though, is that this play really isn't about "fame" in a 
  general sense.  It's actually really important that the main characters are 
  *theater people* -- actors, managers, writers, etc.  This is an affectionate satire 
  about theater people, from theater people, for an audience of people who
  go to the theater.  It's all very self-referential and "meta-" in today's terms
  and that's probably why the exaggerated nature of the speeches and the 
  situations is what made the largest impression on you.  But even though it's
  set in the 1920's, I think trying to make a connection with themes such as 
  "issues with the American dream and ... the emptiness of social climbing"
  is too much of a stretch.  This play isn't really about anything other than
  a family of famous theater people and their quirks.

  (Given all this, you might reasonably ask why we had the CHQ go to see the play!  
  The honest reason is essentially just that we made a decision that we wanted to support 
  our colleagues in the Theater Department.  I cannot honestly say that this had any 
  connection with our cluster theme or the other activities or readings.)

  But I don't think you ever really figured out what you wanted to say here
  and that's why some of the sentences like the first and last ones quoted
  above end up sounding "over the top."

  

  Content:  B+

  Mechanics:  A