As we have discussed in class, the story of Little Red Riding Hood originated as a sexual story for adults with implications of a bed scene between Red and the Wolf. It then begun its shift to a children's story with the intention of teaching children morals about how to avoid/ handle sexual themes (breaking the bottle a symbol of losing virginity, the explicit moral about avoiding "wolves" at the end of the Perrault version, etc.). Little Red then became just that, LITTLE RED. Society transformed the tale into one for children about a more child-like version of little Red herself, an innocent story about a little girl taking food to her sick grandmother, removing all sexual innuendos. That is the version most of us grew up with, but society is changing again.
At some point in time, society began openly returning to sexualized themes (i.e. buy this toothpaste and a random hot chick will walk up and make out with you). Now everything is about sex, even things that were not initially intended to be (such as toothpaste, clothing, gum, detergent, etc.), so the sexualization of fairy tales (especially those that lend themselves to it, like Little Red) is inevitable. When I searched on YouTube I found (well, several things, but...) one particular series that stood out to me. There were several cartoons from Tex Avery about Little Red Riding Hood. The cartoons came out in the 1940s and while there were several of them, they were all essentially the same. Each one had Red as a night club dancer, flirting with, but denying the wolf who was adamantly pursuing her. Many of the scenes overlapped, some songs were the same, and the wolf generally had the same reaction each time, not to mention that the characters were all the exact same (meaning drawn the same with the same voices, etc.).
What I found most interesting was that there were so many different versions of essentially the same thing? Why? The only thing I can think of is that there must have been demand for the topic, so Tex Avery would change it a little and re-market it. Sex sells in modern day America (and most other places around the world). Here is the link to the one that actually addresses the change to a sexier version:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wn7Su0A-inA&feature=related
if that doesn't work type in "Red Hot Riding Hood (1943)-High Quality" on YouTube.
Additionally, I watched the Christina(?) Ricci version (posted on OAK) and again found it to focus on the original sexual themes from the early version of the tale (told for adults). To be honest, I had never heard of any reference to these themes in this story before this class, but you don't have to look too far to find this version making a comeback due to the demands of today's society. Unfortunately, I don't think we do as good of a job keeping this stuff out of the hands of children today (especially when we put it in cartoon form). Either way, looks like Red is returning to her roots.
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I actually saw this version a long time ago, and I don’t think I really understood the sexual innuendo, I thought it was funny that the grandmother was trying to kiss the wolf. Now I greatly appreciate the plays on the “wolf” character. I also adore the beginning with the sugar-coated story ticking off the characters. I find it interesting that the cartoon says, "something new has been added"--while the story is actually as sexualized as the original. I’m also interested in the fact that while the wolf is after “Red hot riding hood” he ends up in a battle of wits with the grandmother, which reminds me of the sexualized older woman in the Cinderella stories, while the young woman is the object of sexual desire and terribly flirty, she is still a “good girl” and it is the elder woman that seeks out sex. (And we don’t actually see red hot riding hood again until the end). Therefore, the “new way” of telling the story is actually truer (at least discounting the re-setting of the story in early 20th century Hollywood) to the original, than to the sanitized version of the Grimms or Perrault.
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