Reading all these versions of Little Red Riding Hood really made me understand how much I don't know about fairy tales. I always knew the general part of the story, but didn't think there were this many different versions of one fairy tale.
One thing I noticed about all the different interpretations of Little Red Riding Hood was where all the different writers decided to leave and add parts. Most of the stories included the general plot of the story but each had their own version which led off to differences. I guess I never really knew that the ending had so many different alterations. Can you really say that the wolf killed Little Red Riding Hood since the audience is mostly children?
All of the different versions of Little Red Riding Hood have some of the same bits and pieces in them. The basic storyline has Little Red Riding Hood taking some sort of food and beverage to her sick grandmother into the forest. She does not however notice a wolf is listening to her conversation and when she begins her journey the wolf runs ahead to her grandmother’s house. When Little Red Riding Hood has arrived the wolf has already eaten her grandmother. From this point on the story there is not definite way the story is supposed to end, but both Perrault and Brothers Grimm leave their mark to help distinguish their stories from all the others.
Perrault’s conclusion has a simplistic ending as the wolf eats Little Red Riding Hood. However Perrault’s simplicity is used to his advantage to show the readers how gullible Little Red Riding Hood is. Perrault inserts his usual moral section at the end to help reemphasize safety. ). From Perrault’s point of view, you get what you deserve. He believes that women are too nice to strangers and need to be careful because you never know who someone really is until it’s too late. For Perrault’s story to really have the effect towards young women he needed to show what really happens in the real world, that nice people are taken advantage of. Even if his fairy tale was not good he was still going to make sure that the reader understood the message of story.
The Brothers Grimm left their own mark on fairy tales by having unpredictable endings that no one had ever heard of. In their version of Little Red Riding Hood a hunter comes to the rescue and guts the wolf and Little Red Riding Hood and the grandmother fall from the wolf’s stomach. “He took a pair of scissors and started cutting the sleeping wolf’s belly open…he saw the little red cap, and after another few snips the little girl jumped out…then the grandmother came out”(Tales 37). I guess you can say The Brothers Grimm had great imaginations because this ending is completely different from other versions. They were able to embark on their own ideas and use those to distinguish their fairy tale from the rest.
For the new movie Little Red Riding Hood here are the reviews from recent viewers: click here
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