ALLUSIONS

Allusions A reference within a work to something famous outside it, such as a well- known person, place, event, story, or work of art, literature, music, pop culture.

Examples… VENUS—Mythological allusions…Venus alludes to the mythological Roman goddess principally associated with love, beauty, and fertility. Flim to Book--Peter Pan (Robin Williams) says, “What is this, some sort of the ‘Lord of the Flies’ Pre-school?”; Implications: Land is run by kids, Savages with no adult influence, Abandoned without adult supervision

Example (Film to Film) KARATE KID DISNEY’S HERCULES Hercules ALLUDES TO Karate Kid when Hercules is training. Disney uses this allusion so the viewer thinks of Karate Kid and how, after training in the sunlight, Daniel wins the big match. The allusion is used to FORESHADOW that Hercules will also be successful in his big fight.

purpose of allusions Lets reader/viewer understand new information, characters, plot, setting, etc. by connecting it to something already known. Allows one to analyze the piece better when there is something familiar to connect it to. For example…when watching a comedy or a parody, knowing what film/text the parody is referring to make it more humprous than when you don’t know When reading a book, you are able to better understand the context of a statement or an event/scene when you are familiar to the allusion that is being alluded to. Obviously there are many times when you don’t know the allusion, but knowing what an allusion is will allow you to at least know something is being referenced so that you may be able to then research and establish a context We will be studying allusions throughout the year, so don’t forget this.

Read “Grand Allusion” by Elizabeth Samet independently Answer the questions at the bottom of the page ON YOUR OWN PAPER – do NOT write on this paper

Allusions in this piece “I was reminded that each unhappy allusion is unhappy in its own way.” –Leo Tolstoy, “Anna Karenina” “Don’t make it sad, Cricket, I don’t feel that way.” — Ernest Hemingway, “To Have and Have Not” and the 1944 film adaptation “Gimme a whiskey. . . . And don’t be stingy, baby.” — Eugene O’Neill’s play “Anna Christie” “Bastard Normans, Norman bastards.” — William Shakespeare, “The Life of King Henry the Fifth” “Scylla of the swindle to the Charybdis of condescension” — Greek mythology: Scylla is a sea creature who devours sailors and Charybdis is a whirlpool opposite Scylla’s cave “… several keyboarding Natty Bumppos of my acquaintance” — James Fenimore Cooper’s The Leatherstocking Tales The title of the essay “Grand Allusion” — a play on “Grand Illusion,” a 1937 French war film directed by Jean Renoir “I was reminded that each unhappy allusion is unhappy in its own way.” –Leo Tolstoy, “Anna Karenina” “Don’t make it sad, Cricket, I don’t feel that way.” — Ernest Hemingway, “To Have and Have Not” and the 1944 film adaptation “Gimme a whiskey. . . . And don’t be stingy, baby.” — Eugene O’Neill’s play “Anna Christie” “Bastard Normans, Norman bastards.” — William Shakespeare, “The Life of King Henry the Fifth” “Scylla of the swindle to the Charybdis of condescension” — Greek mythology: Scylla is a sea creature who devours sailors and Charybdis is a whirlpool opposite Scylla’s cave “… several keyboarding Natty Bumppos of my acquaintance” — James Fenimore Cooper’s The Leatherstocking Tales The title of the essay “Grand Allusion” — a play on “Grand Illusion,” a 1937 French war film directed by Jean Renoir