The following is my response to Jill Heydt-Stevenson's posting a brilliant logline (in quotes, immediately below) for Mansfield Park:
"...Fanny is acting all the time, and doing a brilliant job at it, for she cannot let others see her love for Edmund, or she knows that punishment and banishment will follow."
Jill, I think you've set a record---you've managed to distill the essence of (the overt story of) Mansfield Park down to thirty two short words--reminding me of one of those encapsulations of famous stories I've seen, like the following famous gag logline (which is Hollywood's term of art, so Google just informed me, for such an encapsulation):
""Transported to a surreal landscape, a young girl kills the first woman she meets, then teams up with three complete strangers to do it again."
Can you guess which famous story that is a famous gag logline for? (If you can't, just Google that logline, and you will see the answer.)
Jill, I will be thinking about your logline for MP for a while to come, because a really good logline is not merely a stunt, it can, as yours does, shed "dramatic" (ha ha) new light on a familiar story---bravo and thank you!
There was also a serendipitous bonus for me this morning courtesy of Jill's logline, and Google. Before I sharpened my search terms and found the proper logline Wikipedia page, my first search led me to something even more interesting, when my subconconscious drew my eyes to this title among several listed there:
http://www.storyarts.org/library/nutshell/stories/whoisking.html
Who is King of the Forest? (A Tale from India)
When Tiger jumped on Fox, Fox cried out, "How dare you attack the King of the Jungle!"
Tiger looked at him in amazement, "Nonsense! You are not King!"
"Certainly I am," replied Fox, "All the animals run from me in terror! If you want proof, come with me." Fox went into the forest with Tiger at his heels. When they came to a herd of deer, the deer saw Tiger behind Fox and ran in all directions.
They came to a group of monkeys. The monkeys saw Tiger behind Fox and they fled. Fox turned to Tiger and said, "Do you need more proof than that? See how the animals flee at the very sight me?!"
"I'm surprised, but I've seen it with my own eyes. Forgive me for attacking you, Great King." Tiger bowed low and with great ceremony he let Fox go.
There, my friends, you have a capsule version of everything (and I mean, EVERYTHING) that is going on in Emma, the whole shebang....if you really think about it...... ;)
For starters, now that I myself think about it a bit more, I realize, e.g., that it's NOT a coincidence with Who Is The King, that Mrs. Elton recites a line from The Hare and his Many Friends......
With a tip of the hat to perhaps the best movie title ever, Thirty Two Short Films about Glenn Gould----thanks again, Jill, for starting my day so delightfully!
ARNIE
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