Desexualizing the “Little Red Riding Hood”
One of the fairytales gathered by the Grimm Brothers is Charles Perrault’s “Le Petit
Chaperon Rouge” (Little Red Riding Hood), also known as “Rotkäppchen” (Little Red Cap) in German. While “Le Petit Chaperon Rouge” intended to inform those “well bred and refined” young women to stay away from handsome and charming Wolves, the Grimm Brothers’ “Rotkäppchen”, as part of the Nursery and Household Tales, was appropriated to be more acceptable for its younger readers (13). Apart from the major change to the ending of “Little Red Riding Hood”, nuanced delineations shown in the interaction between Little Red and her mother, in the Wolf’s intention towards the girl, and in the setting of the famous bedside
…show more content…
In Perrault’s version, Little Red Riding Hood’s departure was simple: after her mother asked Little Red to bring some food to her sick grandmother, she “left right away for her grandmother’s house” (12). Without questioning or obtaining additional maternal instructions, the Little Red’s “right away” departure portrayed a more mature and independent heroine who knew the purpose of the visit and was trusted by her mother. Whereas in the Grimms’ version, her mother told Little Red Cap to take the food that “will give her [sick grandmother] strength”, “better start now before it gets too hot” and “don’t stray from the path, otherwise you’ll fall and break the glass...”(14). Additional explanation given by the mother served to help Little Red Cap understand the purpose of the visit to her grandmother’s house and the reason for staying on her path. Meanwhile her mother’s cautions insinuate that the mom still feels a need to supervise Little Red, and such uneasiness underscores a younger, more naïve protagonist with less commonsense than Perrault’s heroine, setting a more innocent tone that matches Grimms’ intended younger …show more content…
In both versions, the Wolf lured the girl in some way, but Grimms’ portrait of the seduction was less erotic compared to that of Perrault. After obtaining Little Red grandmother’s address, Perrault’s Wolf initiated a race with Little Red to reach grandmothers house (12). Such “race” with the girl to the house could possibly insinuate the Wolf’s avidity to consume the Little Red Riding Hood. Such eagerness followed by lying in bed and inviting the girl to “climb into bed with me”, along with details like how he “threw himself on” the girl and “gobbled her up” all potentially imply the Wolf’s sexual exploitation of the girl (12). In contrast, Grimms’ Wolf encouraged Little Red Cap to enjoy “the beautiful flowers all about...how sweetly the birds are singing”, and as the girl strayed from her path, the Wolf “went straight to the Grandmother’s house”, ate the grandmother and got ready to eat Little Red (14). Enjoying the natural beauties like flowers, birds and butterflies affect humans emotionally. The Wolf in Grimms’ version used such tactic that appealed to Little Red’s emotions, and without the Wolf’s presence, the allurement does
The stories ?Little Red Riding Hood,? by Charles Perrault, and ?Little Red Cap,? by the Brothers Grimm, are similar and different. Moreover, both stories differ from the American version. The stories have a similar moral at the end, each with a slight twist. This story, in each of its translations, is representative of a girl?s loss of innocence, her move from childhood or adolescence into adulthood. The way women are treated within each story is different. Little Red in the French version was eaten; whereas in the German version, she is rescued by the woodsman, and this further emphasizes the cultural differences.
Little red riding hood is about a girl on a trip to her sick grandmother’s house but she had met a wolf on her way there. There are many different versions of this story, the Perrault version and Grimm version. There was also a parody of Little Red Riding Hood called Hoodwinked!. In all of the stories they all start with a mother giving something to give to her daughter. For her daughter to travel into the forest to give her grandmother what her mother had made.
"Riding The Red"at first glance is a simple narrative with a grandmother telling a story about a wolf, but with further analyzation the two themes of first love and innocent become very clear. The author’s repetition of certain words like blood and dance directs your attention to a deeper meaning hinting and connections to the "Little Red Riding Hood" which reflects back to the underlining message of what happens when a girl grows up.
In “Little Snow White” by Germany, Jacob, and Wilhelm Grimm, there is a Queen who becomes jealous of her seven-year-old daughter. She envied her daughter’s beauty and sends a huntsman to kill Snow White. Snow White is then all alone and unable to care for herself and becomes dependent of the Seven Dwarfs. Although she is the main character, she is also the weakest character in the story. In Fables, we encounter a very different Snow White. Here Snow White oversees the town, Fabletown. Unlike the original fairytale story, there are no Dwarfs looking after her. She doesn’t need a Prince to come to her rescue because she is the hero in her own right. Her fierceness makes her a strong female who embodies power. Unlike the Little Snow White, in Fables Snow White is the head in charge, she’s independent, and bold.
Of all the different versions of the Little Red Riding Hood, they have one common factor, which is the wolf. In the versions I have mentioned above, the wolf stays the same throughout the stories; he is very malicious and calculated. He waits for the little girl, or girls in the story of "The Chinese Red Riding Hoods," as there are three sisters whose mother left to go visit the grandmother. While the wolf was outside and overheard the mother asking for the oldest daughter to watch for her younger sisters. When it was dark, he disguised himself as an elderly woman and knocked at the door of the three girls' house (Chang 1). In the other two versions, the wolf comes upon Little Red Riding Hood as she enters the forest and asks her where she is traveling to. In the version of The Brothers Grimm, he comes right on out and asks her where her grandmother lives. On the way to the cottage, the wolf distracts the girl by asking her why she doesn't look
The sociopath Wally is a menace that has terrorized many travelers who have wandered through the woods. Hours before the attempted murder Wally committed, he questioned Little Red Riding Hood of Granny's whereabouts.
Petite Rouge Riding Hood version by Mike Artell includes characters that are animals. What would be humans in the original Little Red Riding Hood, are ducks in this version, with a mother, daughter, grandmother, and the villain, instead of the evil wolf, is now a gator. The girl, Petite Rouge Riding Hood, has a companion cat. This version takes places near and on the swamp. The condiments needed to take to the grandmother to help with her flu are gumbo and boudin. The grandmother is not eaten in this version; the
Perrault’s version warns against wandering away from the safety formed by civilized society. A scholar, Eric Fromm considers the red riding hood to be a “symbol for menstruation” (1), symbolizing that Little Red Riding Hood is entering puberty and therefore womanhood and in turn moving away from the guidance of her mother and grandmother. This is also understood when she forgets her mother’s warning to stay on the path, and goes off picking flowers and chasing butterflies with childlike innocence. The sexual undertones were obvious in a culture that would outcast a young woman who lost her virginity. Perrault’s story gained popularity in a time when high society parents were concerned with their children ruining their family names. This is illustrated in the end of the story where the wolf kills and eats the girl and her
In the Grimm story, Little Red-Cap is naive and easily fooled. Red-Cap meets a wolf in the woods, “Red-Cap did not know what a wicked creature he was, and was not at all afraid of him” (Grimm). She is then tricked into believing that he is her grandmother and he devours her. She later has to be saved from death by the huntsman that happens to walk by (Grimm). She shows little agency and does not know enough to protect herself. This varies greatly from Red in Hoodwinked. Towards the beginning of the movie, there is a scene
Once upon a time, there lived a girl named Little Red Cap. Everyone believed that she was a sweet and innocent girl, but did someone else lay beneath her exterior? In the Brothers Grimm version of the story, Little Red Cap takes on the persona of childlike innocence. In the animated movie Hoodwinked!, she is seen as a young girl who is smart, independent, and named Red. There are numerous fairy tales that have been told throughout the course of history. Many of the tales remain independent and true to the original version, and then there are those that have been altered in many different ways. “Little Red Cap” has been revised into the version of “Little Red Riding Hood,” which many of us are familiar with, to the different and modern film version of Hoodwinked!. These stories are updated to appeal to modern generations, cultures and societal views. Consequently, they do pose many similarities, but their differences make each work unique in their own way.
Furthermore, in Red Riding Hood she was wearing red which is the colour of blood as she was a virgin she became the prey of the wolf. The colour red attracts unnecessary attention when she was going through the forest. This tells us how naïve young girls can be and not being aware of her surroundings. She was born in a village so comparing to the children in the cities she is more
In the Grimms' version, both Red and her grandmother are eaten by the wolf, but miraculously saved by a huntsman who, instead of shooting the wolf, cuts open its belly, apparently while the wolf is still alive, in order to release first Little Red, and then her grandmother. Red then fills the wolf's belly with stones, and as a result, justice is served and the wolf dies. The moral of the Grimm's version also differs from that of Perrault. The Grimms emphasize obedience. Before she sets out, Red is given strict and fairly detailed instructions by her mother, not to stray from the path. The wolf tempts her from the path, she sins, and thus her being eaten by the wolf is often considered by critics as the punishment for her
Later on, we are introduced to the wolf, who represents men as a threat to women. The wolf symbolizes a man, who can be a lover, seducer or sexual predator. When Little Red Riding Hood meets the wolf, he wants to eat her but is too afraid to do so in public, for sometimes there are woodcutters watching. He instead approaches the young girl with the intention of seducing her, and she “naively” tells him exactly where she’s going. He then suggests for her to pick some flowers, which she of course does. Not only does she stop to talk to the wolf, but she completely forgets about her sick grandmother as well as her promise to her mother, in order to satisfy her own desires. “Little Red Cap had run after flowers, and did not continue on her way to grandmother's until she had gathered all that she could carry” ( ). Little Red Riding Hood clearly demonstrates the behaviour of an Id driven personality. She is bound up
Without Sky Broadband's always reliable service, Little Red would have suffered the same fate as her grandmother. Moreover, in Grimm’s version, the Huntsman and Little Red However have a significant age gap which does not lead to them ending up in a relationship as they do in Sky Broadband’s television advertisement. Sky Broadband’s commercial concludes with Little Red Riding Hood and the Huntsman sitting by the fire on a rug made of the wolf’s body. Furthermore, Little Red is depicted as a little girl in Grimm’s telling whereas she is portrayed as a young woman, probably in her twenties in the commercial. Due to these factors, Sky Broadband’s advertisement deviates slightly from the original story to better suit modern Western
Despite this, the cultural background has been adapted in both stories and each story holds a different comment on women and their identity. The Werewolf takes the folklore of the dangerous wolf and creates a bildungsroman journey about the usurping of the older generation. It retains several of Perrault’s iconic motifs; the path, the woods and the grandmother, however, it places the historically vulnerable child in a position of power. The Little Red Riding Hood character becomes the heroine of her own story and wields her knife in protection of herself as much as any male protagonists of fairy tales do. She is her own hero. Carter subverts the typical patriarchal idea that women, especially in fairy stories, are ‘victims’ and allows the young girl to be act aggressively when needed. This aspect of her character is alluded to as she wears ‘a scabby coat of sheepskin’, this refers to the well-known