Little Red Riding Hood - Research Paper Example

Module Little Red Riding Hood Little Red Riding Hood represents a fairy tale of European origin. The story is regarding a young girl and an enormous and dangerous wolf. The story was initially published by Charles Perrault in the 17th century. Consequently, since its initial publication, the story has undergone numerous modifications in regards to its history and context so as to be employed in modern adaptations and readings. TALE According to the University of Pittsburgh website, Little Red Riding Hood is the star of the tale; thus, the story revolves around her. Consequently, the innocent young girl encounters an enormous wolf in the woods in the process of delivering food to her grandmother. Thus, the young girl innocently informs the wolf of her destination. The wolf then goes ahead and swallows the girl’s grandmother. Unsatisfied, the evil wolf decides to wait for the young girl in the pretense of her grandmother. However, upon arrival the young girl notices some strange behaviors concerning her grandmother. First, her voice was extremely deep. In addition, her eyes and hands were also immensely enormous. Moreover, her mouth was also enormous. However, before the little girl could unravel the happenings the wolf pounced on her and swallowed her (Zipes 4). With his tummy full, the wolf fell into a deep sleep. However, in his deep sleep a stranger comes to the rescue of the duo. He cuts the wolf’s belly open with a saw to the delight of Little Red Riding Hood and her grandmother who emerge from the wolf’s belly unscathed. Therefore, in order to teach the evil wolf a lesson the trio fills its belly with stones. Eventually, when the wolf wakes up he decides to run away, however, the stones weigh him down. Consequently, he collapses and dies. Therefore, it is clear that the tale attempts to outline the dangers of the enormous forest. In comparison with forest, the village offers a safe home as opposed to the former. Therefore, the tale was aimed at checking little children from engaging in dangerous practices since they could end up being harmed. COMPARISON WITH OTHER TALES Other tales such as Peter and the Wolf or The Wolf and the Seven Young Kids also employ a similar thematic footing. In both cases, the tales paint a thematic scenario in which an individual emerges unscathed from the belly of an evil wolf. As such, this thematic setting has been embraced by other numerous tales (Meidell 175). This overwhelming semblance to other fairy tales can be attributed to the origin of the tale reason being that the tale embraces a medieval bias that was popular in the ancient times. This similarity can also be associated with the moral lessons learnt from the tale. HISTORY OF LITTLE RED RIDING HOOD TALE Little Red Riding Hood has its origin rooted in various versions of the story in Europe. Consequently, its original versions date back to the 17th century (Iona and Peter 93). However, the tale was also told in both Italy and France in the fourteenth century. Consequently, this version was referred to as The False Grandmother. Therefore, this implies that the title of the tale varied from one region to another. As such, the original versions significantly differ from the present day versions (Tatar 17). For instance, the antagonist of the story needs not necessarily be a wolf. This implies that in other versions of the tale the antagonist is presented as a different character. For instance, an ogre is employed as an antagonist instead of a wolf. Other manuscripts also depict the antagonist in the form of a dragon. Nevertheless, the antagonist is depicted as a wolf in most cases. Since the tale is mainly meant for young audiences, the depiction of the antagonist as a wolf enables the audiences to easily associate and relate with the tale while appreciating its message. Consequently, depiction of the antagonist as an ogre may be effective for African audiences. However, in all these versions, the antagonist is depicted as an enormous and dangerous being. Moreover, the antagonist is also depicted as being selfish, greedy and foolish. Consequently, this facilitates the easy escape of the protagonists. In some versions of the tale, the wolf presents the girl with both blood and meat from her grandmother. Consequently, filled with hunger, the girl ends up eating her own grandmother. Accordingly, this version epitomizes the extent to which individuals may be willing to go when faced by varying situations. The fact that the girl feasts on her grandmother can be interpreted to signify the societal moral decay brought about by various circumstances. Moreover, the story has been further modified to outline the moral decays of the present day situations (Jack 744). For instance, in some versions, the wolf orders the girl to strip naked while he watches before proceeding to consume her. Other versions even portray the notion that both the girl and the grandmother are raped before being consumed by the wolf. As a result, this serves to outline the sexual pervasiveness and sexual violation that exist in the present day society. This is because, under normal circumstances, the wolf would never ask the girl to strip and throw her clothes in fire. In addition, the depiction of the protagonist as a young and innocent girl serves to outline the vulnerability of the girl-child to sexual harassment and molestation from various forces. Thus, in emphasizing this point, versions of the tale seldom employ the usage of a boy in the character of the antagonist. Moreover, in some of the versions of the tale, both the young girl and her grandmother fail to escape. Therefore, this implies that the story ends without both receiving a heroic rescue. Consequently, such versions of the tale may be employed to deter overreliance on alternative aid when faced with challenging situations. However, other versions of the tale also depict the girl escaping by herself without any foreign assistance. In such cases, the girl pleads with the wolf to let her go. This leads to the wolf giving in to her request. However, the wolf ties the girl to a piece of rope in order to prevent her from escaping, but the clever girl manages to escape. Moreover, in some versions the girl tricks the wolf into believing that she will be back with her friends; hence, earning her freedom. Therefore, such versions are geared towards portraying the girl-power. These versions reveal that women do not always rely on the intervention from men in order to succeed. Therefore, this fits into the present day assertive campaigns by women. Consequently, such versions may be employed in encouraging independence and freedom among women. MODERN USE AND ADAPTATIONS Therefore, following its ancient inception, Little Red Riding Hood has been subject to numerous modern uses and adaptations. Consequently, the modern adaptations may employ a reversal of the naivety of the little girl. Moreover, the tale may also be modified to be more satirical in nature as opposed to original versions. Therefore, in this process of alteration, different styles and media may be employed. Consequently, this implies that multiple variations of the original story are available. Therefore, the story may be biased to epitomize the young girl’s sexual attractiveness (Bottigheimer 175). This was the case when the tale was told by Randolph in the 1920s. Consequently, he went ahead to compose a sexually suggestive song with regard to Little Red Riding Hood’s beauty. However, the song was later banned from radio stations due to its sexual suggestiveness. However, the story was also later biased in favor of the wolf in 1960s. Similarly, a song was also composed for the wolf outlining that it was in search of love as opposed to harming the little girl. Consequently, the song became a hit in 1966. Moreover, the story has also been recast in adult biased way in the animation Red Hot Riding Hood. This has been done by Tex Avery. In this animation, the wolf is presented as a sharply dressed being whereas Red Riding Hood assumes the character of a night club singer. Consequently, the wolf seeks to win the attention of the nightclub singer. In addition, some modern day editions of the story have also been told with reference to rape. In these cases, both the girl and the grandmother are viewed to narrowly escape sexual violation from the fierce wolf. Other versions employ the depiction of the story in a humorous and satirical manner (Orenstein 92). This has mainly been done as animations. Thus, in the modern day, such fairy tales are mainly propagated in terms of motion pictures as opposed to written materials. This is geared towards keeping up with the technological trends as well as tapping into the most popular TV audience. CONCLUSION Consequently, it is evident that Little Red Riding Hood has undergone numerous transformations in regards to its content and context in the present day. These transformations have been geared towards adapting to the present day situations. Consequently, the modifications have been driven by both cultural and technological changes. As a result, today numerous humorous versions of Little Red Riding Hood are available in various forms of mass communication methods. Moreover, a situational context of the tale has also been adopted so as to widen its scope of audience and to serve entertainment purposes. Works Cited Ashliman, David. "Little Red Riding Hood." University of Pittsburgh. N.p., n.d. Web. 31 July 2012. Bottigheimer, Ruth. "Before Contes du temps passe." The Romantic Review, 99.3 (1997): 175 189. Print. Jack Zipes. The Great Fairy Tale Tradition: From Straparola and Basile to the Brothers Grimm: Texts, criticism. New York: W.W. Norton, 2005. Print. Meidell, Sherry. The Devil with the Three Golden Hairs: The Brothers Grimm folktale. Sandy, Utah: Leatherwood Press, 2006. Print. Opie, Iona Archibald, and Peter Opie. The Classic Fairy Tales. London: Oxford University Press, 1974. Print. Orenstein, Catherine. Little Red Riding Hood Uncloaked: Sex, Morality, and the Evolution of a Fairy Tale. New York: Basic Books, 2003. Print. Tatar, Maria. The Annotated Classic Fairy Tales. New York: Norton, 2004. Print. Zipes, Jack. The Trials & Tribulations of Little Red Riding Hood. 2nd Ed. New York: Routledge, 1993. Print Read More