Plot
”Grimm Life” focuses on two teenagers who have been addicted to technology all of their due to Lord Boseman (the main villian) wanting to defeat the Grimm Brothers. To do this, he took away storybooks, fairytales and anything creative so future generations would eventually forget about all fairytales. Throughout the play, the teenagers, Will and Carly Grimm, begin to figure out the different fairytales and bring their stories back, defeating Boseman for good.
Technology
This play discusses the theme of technology taking over the newer generations while more creative and educational things are being forgotten about. With technology becoming more advanced and more things being moved online such as school work, educational sources and work, stories get changed into film and games and this can limit a young persons imagination and creativity. While reading through the script, we learn different stories and we start to see Carly and Will’s interest in the fairytales coming back. Since the play was written fairly recently, it captures the concern that many people have about technology taking over young peoples minds. While technology is changing and transforming the world, and can create desirable futures, as well as solving some problems of the world there is a lot of downsides to it. It can create a different of how people live and it can also disconnect people from their loved ones as they now have a new way to communicate. People spend over 50% of their day on their phones which can be considered wasted potential as that time being spent on the phone is time that can be spent on being productive instead. While technology is used in schools and work, and can be very useful in this places, many people, including adults, aren’t able to function without it. While trying to focus, we often reach towards our phones as we have become dependent, as technology has created a smaller attention span. We see this a lot in the play there is multiple times where Carly reaches towards her phone instead of focusing on the story. By the end we realize that Carly actually saves the world while doing this. typing down each story and sending them to everyone she knowns, making them remember the fairytales Boseman made them forgot. This play perfectly captures the good and bad of technology.
PTSD
Another common theme in ”Grimm Life” is PTSD (Post Traumatic Stress Disorder). It is brought up in both Snow White and Red Riding Hood’s characters. PTSD is an anxiety disorder which is caused by frightening and distressing situations. Common symptoms include reliving events through flashbacks and nightmares. This causes insomnia, struggles with concertation as well as dealing with being easily irritated, feeling guilty and isolated. These symptoms are often so server they affect day to day life. PTSD can be caused by multiple incidents such as road accidents or violent personal assaults’. This is what happened to Snow White, with her step mother being so jealous of her that she tried to kill her multiple times. PTSD doesn’t always occur immediately after a traumatic experience, it cab occur weeks or even months after the event.