Little Red Riding Hood is one of the most well-known fairy tales in existence. Its simple story has been analyzed and readapted for hundreds of years. As a result, there is a version of Little Red Riding Hood for everyone.
It all starts with Charles Perrault in the 17th Century: Little Red Riding Hood
It's important to understand that this story is a warning told to adult women for young girls to stay away from men who may wish to take advantage of them. In this tale, Little Red Riding Hood wears a red cape, which symbolizes her sexuality and coming into adulthood. The moral of this story is that one "should never talk to strangers," for it can have severe consequences. Nonetheless, the tale of Little Red Riding Hood has been changed and adapted drastically over time. Little Red Riding Hood is no longer just a warning tale for young girls. The different storylines and ideas that now exist within different versions of the tale can apply to all ages and genders.For instance, this version of Little Red Riding Hood that is aimed towards very young children abandons many ideas present in Perrault's version in order to make it more kid-friendly.
In this version, because it is aimed at young kids, the wolf doesn't eat Grandmother. Instead, he locks her up in a closet. This small change from Perrault's version alters the villain drastically. The wolf is no longer as threatening or scary as he is in Perrault's version. Instead, the wolf can be viewed by young children without causing fear that might stick with the child once the story is over. However, at the end of this version by Kiddo Stories, the narrator still mentions that the wolf wanted to eat Little Red Riding Hood. This is interesting to acknowledge because if kids can understand that the wolf wanted to eat Little Red Riding Hood, what difference would it make if the wolf ate Grandmother? Perhaps, for young children, words are much less powerful than visuals. Actually seeing the wolf eat a human being would be much different than hearing about it. For this reason, the purpose of this story is clear: to entertain. There is not much in the way of plot or character development in this version, in order for it to be more pleasing to children. A child wouldn't understand the sexual symbols and ideas that are present in Perrault's version of Little Red Riding Hood. So, in order for this tale to be effective in reaching it's audience, it must have stimulating visuals and a simple storyline. Even so, this version of Little Red Riding Hood holds a similar moral to Perrault's: don't trust a stranger.
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Another older and important version of Little Red Riding Hood to have knowledge of is the version made by the Grimm Brothers in 1857
In this version (made especially for children), Little Red Riding Hood escapes her death, thanks to the huntsman, who cuts Little Red Riding Hood and Grandmother out of the wolf's stomach. In contrast to Perrault's version, the Grimms's tale is much more violent and leaves the wolf dying a grotesque death. Nonetheless, Little Red Riding Hood is not devoured in this tale, and thus is able to learn a lesson from her experience. An adaptation of Grimm's version that exemplifies this point comes from Into the Woods.
First, we see Little Red Riding Hood and the Wolf's encounter in the woods. In this version, the Wolf is played out to be very manipulative and sinister, but also intriguing. Unlike most other visual adaptations of Little Red Riding Hood, Into the Woods shows a wolf that resembles both a human and a wolf within the same body. If thinking about Into the Woods psychoanalytically (considering mental processes, unconscious desires, and sexuality), the Wolf's resemblance to a human being makes him more enticing to the young Little Red Riding Hood. This makes their relationship much more intimate and revealing than in other visual versions. However, since Into the Woods is a story aimed at a young audience, the filmmakers are sure not to venture too far into the ideas of virginity and exploring sexuality. Instead, they use a well-known actor to portray the Wolf and allow the music to speak for itself, leaving the audience entertained with a simple story of a wolf who wants a meal. Nonetheless, to a fairy tale analyst, it is much more complicated than this.
In this image, what many would call the classic tale of Little Red Riding Hood (either Perrault's or the Grimms' version) is portrayed. In this image, Little Red Riding Hood appears to be a young girl, around 10-12 years old, and is wearing the classic red riding hood. The image shows her encounter with the wolf on her way to Grandmother's house. There are no explicitly sexual symbols in the image and Little Red Riding Hood seems cautious (but not too cautious) of the wolf. This image, because of its content, is appropriate for all audiences.
In this image, Little Red Riding Hood is much older and is given many more facial details such as bright eyes and glossy lips. In addition, this Little Red Riding Hood's outfit is heavily focused around the color red. These attributes could lead an experienced reader of different versions of Little Red Riding Hood to view them as sexual undertones. This Little Red Riding Hood shows stereotypical aspects of beauty and it is understood by the viewer from her height and breasts that she has already undergone puberty. Also, the wolf in this image is much darker in color and even seems to have an expression of mischief on his face. Nonetheless, this image still presents the same story of Little Red Riding Hood encountering a wolf on her journey to Grandmother's house. However, the image doesn't tell its viewers what Little Red Riding Hood's fate is, but from the way she is dressed and the depiction of the wolf, one could understand this story to be in line with the rape parable behind some versions of Little Red Riding Hood.
This image ventures completely away from attempting to reproduce classic versions of Little Red Riding Hood. In this image, Little Red Riding Hood appears to be a young adult, nearing adulthood. This image works fully with ideas of Little Red Riding Hood being a tale about sexuality. However, in this image, Little Red Riding Hood is not being mislead by the wolf. Instead, the Little Red Riding Hood in this image is embracing the wolf's desires and demonstrating her own sexuality. Unlike most versions of Little Red Riding Hood where sexuality is hidden within the tale, this image exploits the underlying meanings of those tales in order to portray a very different message.
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Another older and important version of Little Red Riding Hood to have knowledge of is the version made by the Grimm Brothers in 1857
In this version (made especially for children), Little Red Riding Hood escapes her death, thanks to the huntsman, who cuts Little Red Riding Hood and Grandmother out of the wolf's stomach. In contrast to Perrault's version, the Grimms's tale is much more violent and leaves the wolf dying a grotesque death. Nonetheless, Little Red Riding Hood is not devoured in this tale, and thus is able to learn a lesson from her experience. An adaptation of Grimm's version that exemplifies this point comes from Into the Woods.
First, we see Little Red Riding Hood and the Wolf's encounter in the woods. In this version, the Wolf is played out to be very manipulative and sinister, but also intriguing. Unlike most other visual adaptations of Little Red Riding Hood, Into the Woods shows a wolf that resembles both a human and a wolf within the same body. If thinking about Into the Woods psychoanalytically (considering mental processes, unconscious desires, and sexuality), the Wolf's resemblance to a human being makes him more enticing to the young Little Red Riding Hood. This makes their relationship much more intimate and revealing than in other visual versions. However, since Into the Woods is a story aimed at a young audience, the filmmakers are sure not to venture too far into the ideas of virginity and exploring sexuality. Instead, they use a well-known actor to portray the Wolf and allow the music to speak for itself, leaving the audience entertained with a simple story of a wolf who wants a meal. Nonetheless, to a fairy tale analyst, it is much more complicated than this.
Later on in the movie, the audience learns what happened between Little Red Riding Hood and the Wolf. What happens in Into the Woods is very similar to the Grimm's version of the fairy tale. In a moment of resolution, Little Red Riding Hood sings of the lesson she learned from her encounter with the Wolf and sheds her red riding hood. To a psychoanalyst, the removal of her red hood could signify the end of Little Red Riding Hood's puberty. In addition, Little Red Riding Hood continually sings about how her encounter with the wolf left her scared, but also excited. Red's excitement leads the audience to believe that she is dealing with a completely new, and perhaps more risky, situation then she has ever dealt with before. Little Red Riding Hood is having feelings she's never felt up until this point, which in the end, makes her grateful for what happened to her. After her incident with the wolf, Little Red Riding Hood is no longer a child and is aware of the dangerous creatures (or men) searching in the woods for young girls to prey on.
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Another adaptation of Little Red Riding Hood, this time geared towards young adults, is the film Red Riding Hood. As exhibited by the title, the absence of "Little" tells the audience that this version is not for children. This movie contains more sexual and violent scenes than most other versions.
In this tale, the wolf is not simply a wolf, but a werewolf. It is the job of the entire town to discover who the werewolf is that is living among them. What is troubling for Valerie ("Red Riding Hood") to acknowledge, is that her love interest may be the wolf. In this way, this version holds true to Little Red Riding Hood themes. Little Red Riding Hood's and the Wolf's encounter in most versions of the tale is often undermined as having sexual intentions. Some psychoanalysts view the tale as a warning tale of sexual assault (in most cases, rape). The movie Red Riding Hood plays on this moral a lot throughout their plot. Valerie and Peter's (the potential wolf) sexual relationship is shown very often. For instance, is a scene where Valerie and Peter show their love for one another in the woods, using the red cape to lie down on.
Most fairy tale analysts agree that the red cape is a sexual symbol. However, in Red Riding Hood, this idea is clearly established. Valerie is not an innocent child in this tale, she is much older and more aware of the threat around her. Despite this, one could argue of how mature this Red Riding Hood really is. She still acts impulsively and doesn't take caution with the people who could end up being the wolf terrorizing the village and trying to kill her. Without spoiling the true identity of the wolf, Valerie still learns in this story the common moral of most Little Red Riding Hood tales: Don't trust a stranger, even someone you know well could be a wolf in sheep's clothing.
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Not only do films and other live-action tales of Little Red Riding Hood tell vastly different stories, but images as well can portray very different and important messages as well.
In this image, what many would call the classic tale of Little Red Riding Hood (either Perrault's or the Grimms' version) is portrayed. In this image, Little Red Riding Hood appears to be a young girl, around 10-12 years old, and is wearing the classic red riding hood. The image shows her encounter with the wolf on her way to Grandmother's house. There are no explicitly sexual symbols in the image and Little Red Riding Hood seems cautious (but not too cautious) of the wolf. This image, because of its content, is appropriate for all audiences.
In this image, Little Red Riding Hood is much older and is given many more facial details such as bright eyes and glossy lips. In addition, this Little Red Riding Hood's outfit is heavily focused around the color red. These attributes could lead an experienced reader of different versions of Little Red Riding Hood to view them as sexual undertones. This Little Red Riding Hood shows stereotypical aspects of beauty and it is understood by the viewer from her height and breasts that she has already undergone puberty. Also, the wolf in this image is much darker in color and even seems to have an expression of mischief on his face. Nonetheless, this image still presents the same story of Little Red Riding Hood encountering a wolf on her journey to Grandmother's house. However, the image doesn't tell its viewers what Little Red Riding Hood's fate is, but from the way she is dressed and the depiction of the wolf, one could understand this story to be in line with the rape parable behind some versions of Little Red Riding Hood.
This image ventures completely away from attempting to reproduce classic versions of Little Red Riding Hood. In this image, Little Red Riding Hood appears to be a young adult, nearing adulthood. This image works fully with ideas of Little Red Riding Hood being a tale about sexuality. However, in this image, Little Red Riding Hood is not being mislead by the wolf. Instead, the Little Red Riding Hood in this image is embracing the wolf's desires and demonstrating her own sexuality. Unlike most versions of Little Red Riding Hood where sexuality is hidden within the tale, this image exploits the underlying meanings of those tales in order to portray a very different message.