Little Red Riding Hood - An Exploration of a Classic Tale
- Rhiannon Scott
- Jun 30
- 10 min read
"And so she ran off the path into the wood, looking for flowers ... but the wolf went straight to the grandmother's house and knocked at the door." (Grimm & Grimm, 1900, pp.141)
Fairytales have been told for thousands of years, predating written literature, and have had many names depending on their role in the culture they’re told in. Some are rooted in mythology, a belief that the events of the story really did happen, or at least represent some version of the truth, while some are closer to parables, meant to teach life lessons as opposed to cultural history, which highlight the beliefs and values of that culture. The term fairytale itself wasn’t popularised until the late 1600s, when French author Madame d’Aulnoy published a collection of tales named Les Contes de Fées, the tales of the fairies, which marked a line between folklore and fairytale; fairytales are fantastical, in setting and in motifs.
This separation has been a topic of debate for as long as the term has existed, with prominent fantasy authors like J. R. R. Tolkien attempting to define what they are and what they are not. According to Tolkien, events of fairytales occur in the imagined realm of Faerie, as the hypothetical world which mirrors our own, but where fictional creatures of fantasy also reside, such as elves, trolls and dragons, and which can be visited by real people using our imaginations. Once we decide what they are, we can define what they are for, and who they are for. In modern western literature, fairytales are immediately associated with children, a reputation heavily influenced by the huge commercial success of The Walt Disney Company, which has capitalised on the familiarity of largely European fairytales to draw audiences to the then-revolutionary novelty of animated feature-length films.
Its financial success and cultural influence are undeniable, but not necessarily always received well. The term ‘Disneyfication’, officially added to the Oxford English Dictionary in 2006, is used colloquially to refer to media and even wider societal expectations which have been altered to be simplified, inoffensive and an escape from harsh reality. This means sanding off some of the darker themes or interpretations of fairytales, which, some critics posit, defeats the purpose of the fairytale in the first place, by taking away the opportunity for children to address those themes which continue to exist in the real world. ‘The moral clarity Disney portrays in its stories may limit children’s ability to relate to more complex emotional themes.’ (A. J. Divya and M. Richard Robert, 2024)
This brings us back to the same question: what is the purpose of a fairytale? Are they for children who need to learn the differences between what is morally right and wrong, using examples of real world threats in the safe playground of fictional storytelling? Are they at their best when they naturally emerge as fantastical reflections of what society values the most? Or, are they for adults who are compelled to find explanations for the darkest aspects of human behaviour?
Every subsequent version of a tale is presented with a different outcome in mind. Many more debates have begun over which version is the best one, the most accurate, the most significant, or the closest to the tale as it was told for the first time, although that time is often lost to history. The story of Little Red Riding Hood, for example, dates back to medieval France, where it was told among peasants until it was written down and formally published as Le Petit Chaperon Rouge by Charles Perrault in 1697, although there are references to the tale that go back much further, such as an 11th century poem written in Latin by a cathedral schoolmaster, Egbert of Liège.
Perrault made an effort to take and transform French ‘folktales with all their superstitious beliefs and magic into moralistic tales that would appeal largely to adults,’ (Jack Zipes, 2015) where the stories would be able to spark conversation and debate as well as being passed from one storyteller to another. Long before Disney, Perrault also removed offensive themes that were overtly sexual or violent, as his interpretation was intended to add ‘French civility’ and cultural enlightenment to the stories which had for so long been associated with the peasants’ way of life. That is not to say Perrault’s story is completely tamed; the wolf still eats Grandmother, and Little Red Riding Hood in turn, because he was starving, having not eaten for three days. This time, the wolf is given a clear reason for his motivations beyond being plain evil; he is simply acting on his nature as a starving predatory animal. In a predominantly Christian society that feared the influence of evil itself, they were reminded that nature also poses a real danger to unsuspecting victims; better to live in a well-guarded, civilised city, than to risk being in close proximity to wilderness. In this case, this is the forest that lies between Little Red Riding Hood’s village and her grandmother’s village.
At the same time, the wolf symbolises the dangers posed by any predator, including dangerous people even within a civilised society. At the end of Perrault’s Le Petit Chaperon Rouge, he directly addresses the metaphor with a note titled ‘Moralité’ and explains its particular importance to children, especially ‘young lasses, pretty, courteous and well-bred.’ The most important moral of the story, Perrault makes clear, is that they should not listen to strangers, as not everyone is as they seem. ‘I say Wolf, for all wolves are not of the same sort; there is one kind with an amenable disposition – neither noisy, nor hateful, nor angry, but tame, obliging and gentle, following the young maids in the streets, even into their homes. Alas! Who does not know that these gentle wolves are of all such creatures the most dangerous!’ (Perrault, 1697, pp.54)
This warning reveals another revelation for the timelessness of the fairytale. The story is fictional, but it gives us a valuable insight into the real culture it represented; their values, their expectations, and their fears. Girls of a respectable social class are specifically warned not to trust strangers, as these girls are seen both as vulnerable children who need protection from adults, but also women who need protection from men. They are their society’s image of purity and goodness, ‘Little girls seemed to be the best targets for achieving the ideal of a Catholic society.’ (Chloé Candellier, 2021), but also naivety and vulnerability. In proposing improvements for women’s education in 1687, theologian Fénelon stated that ‘the weaker they are, the more important it is to strengthen them,’ in referring to the presumed weakness of women in comparison to men. It was therefore the personal responsibility of women to not make themselves a target more than they already are, simply by their existence in a society that sees them as targets.
The famous Brothers Grimm took a slightly different approach. Although they rendered their versions of folktales with the sole purpose of preserving oral traditions, they used the story of Little Red Riding Hood to demonstrate the correct course of action to take when faced with a threat, rather than letting it be simply a warning of the threat’s existence. Their version was most likely descended from Charles Perrault’s, as the Grimm brothers’ source for the story was the French Huguenot family which had immigrated to Germany, the Hassenpflug sisters: Marie, Jeanette and Amalie.
In the Brothers Grimm version, Little Red Cap and her grandmother both finally have their happy ending with the added character of the woodcutter, first included in Ludwig Tieck’s 1800 edition, Leben und Tod des kleinen Rothkӓppchens (Life and Death of Little Red Cap). There are still several implied moral lessons to be learned here, but they were not intended for children, as the return to violent imagery would suggest; the woodsman ultimately saves Little Red Cap and her grandmother by taking scissors and cutting the wolf’s belly open to free his victims.
The first lesson is to know a predator when you meet one. Fear can protect you. ‘As she did not know what a bad sort of animal he was, she did not feel frightened.’ (Grimm & Grimm, 1857, p. 140-142) The next lesson is to trust your instincts. If something is wrong and you feel afraid, it is for a good reason. ‘She was surprised to find the door standing open, and when she came inside she felt very strange, and thought to herself, “Oh dear, how uncomfortable I feel, and I was so glad this morning to go to my grandmother!” When the woodsman passes by, he recognises when something is wrong. “How the old woman snores- I had better see what is the matter with her.” ” The woodsman is rewarded for his instincts, finding the wolf he has been hunting for a long time, and freeing both Little Red Cap and her grandmother. Finally, children should listen to and obey their parents. “Little Red Riding Hood said to herself that she would never more stray about in the wood alone, but would mind what her mother told her.”
There is even a second wolf to threaten Little Red Cap and her grandmother, but Little Red Cap has learned her lessons, and the two of them trick the second wolf into falling to his demise. Although the Brothers Grimm had story preservation in mind, their stories were not without criticism. Their earliest editions were accused of being too violent, too cruel, and even un-Christian, which was a dangerous thing to be in 19th century Germany. Certain controversial stories were rewritten and republished, or even omitted altogether in later collections. Preserving oral history was one thing, but ensuring that these stories continued to be told required a willing contemporary audience to tell them.
The Walt Disney Company took full advantage of the continued familiarity of European fairytales to its largely western audience during its early years, but the sanitisation of these stories went so far as to invoke their own criticism on that front as well. In the age of the internet and globalisation, a renewed interest in the original tales (or as original as can be found) returned to their controversial darker forms has taken hold. These retellings are not for the faint of heart, or stomach. More people have a greater understanding of humanity than ever before, and are just as curious to explore the unexplainable as we have ever been, which often leads us to poking at the darkest corners of human nature; the recent rise in popularity of the true crime genre can attest to that.
David Kaplan’s 1997 black-and-white short film Little Red Riding Hood starring sixteen-year-old Christina Ricci is based on the earliest versions of the folktale, including La Finta Nonna, ‘The False Grandmother,’ a 14th century folktale told by Italian peasants, and other oral traditions. This film describes itself as a black comedy, taking the most unsavoury elements from the original tales and emphasising clear sexualised undertones in the visual telling of the story, if not in the narrated script. Little Red Riding Hood is offered the last remains of her grandmother in a bottle of blood and meat on the table by the wolf, described by him as ‘meat’ and ‘wine’, although the direct eye-contact the girl makes with the ballet dancer playing the wolf suggests she is already aware of this.
The disguised wolf also invites Little Red Riding Hood to get into the bed with him. He directs her to remove her clothes one article at a time, and to toss them into the fireplace. The frequent close camera angles and calm, smirking demeanour of Little Red Riding Hood compared with the urgency of the wolf’s expression suggest an intimacy and cunning of both characters that is usually not portrayed in the later written versions. Little Red Riding Hood apparently changes her mind, fleeing the wolf and running home covered only by a bedsheet, only to invite him inside later, as the last frame reveals. Cannibalism, predatory behaviour towards explicitly described youths, sexual references and innuendos throughout the film paint a dark picture, intended to make the audience uncomfortable. Even with violence described but unseen, the warnings are still there; no one is safe in the forest, because the forest is everywhere, as are the wolves who lurk in it.
Despite the humble beginnings of folktales, they continue to serve multiple purposes which keep them alive centuries, or even millennia before they were first conceived. Families still seek to protect their Little Red Riding Hoods from danger, societies still set and reset their rules to live by, and we still give in to our curiosity when we don’t understand, especially when it comes to understanding ourselves. And in the midst of it all, the metropolitan city is still the crowning glory of civilisation and by contrast, the forest is still the wild – natural, beautiful, and mysterious, but also dangerous. It’s safest to stay on the path well-travelled but some of us just can’t help ourselves.
Little girls, this seems to say
Never stop upon your way
Never trust a stranger friend
No one knows how it will end
As you're pretty, so be wise
Wolves may lurk in every guise
Handsome they may be, and kind
Gay or charming, never mind
Now, as then, 'tis simple truth
Sweetest tongue has sharpest tooth
- Charles Perrault, 1697
Bibliography:
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Available at: https://trace.tennessee.edu/utk_chanhonoproj/532
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Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sHUvdG-fCx0
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