His flawed reaction to the damning doping revelations taught a valuable personal branding lesson: Never let your story become such a fable that the fall is so steep.

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He wants, in a word, to desacralize the story, make it less of a fable and more of a history.

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Inglourious Basterds had plenty of gun play but its fable-like story about a bunch of American Jews out to kill Hitler could have easily alienated audiences.

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The unsecret ingredient of its rampant success was turning a dog-eared, dog-eat-dog premise into a coming-of-age story about a strong, resourceful girl, then widening it into a fable of star-crossed lovers.

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There's precious little poetry in this free adaptation by screenwriters Neil Gaiman and Roger Avary, but their sharp spin on the story puts a psychological face on the ancient fable.

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Mr Mawer has fused pure story-telling with complex genetic theory to produce a fable that is accurate and readable a mature marriage of science and fiction in which scientists are no longer Frankensteins, Strangeloves or nerds.

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And the story itself doesn't end up a downer as the fable unfolds, telling how even a loutish, self-absorbed lawyer can ultimately find redemption.

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