A fable whose story matches the fame of Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty, and Hansel and Gretel, Little Red Riding Hood follows an iconic child protagonist overcoming the deadly wolf, and they all live happily ever after.
Yet, several young girls have worn the red cloak since the first basket-slinging icon. Authors like Angela Carter and Paul Delarue have reworked the original plot of the tale.
I was first introduced to these authors through a fairytale course in the second year of my undergraduate degree, and their impact hasn’t ceased in my mind. We learned about these stories from the book Folk and Fairytales: Fifth Edition by Martin Hallett and Barbara Karasek.
Modern versions of the popular children’s story weave in local monsters, sexual innuendos, or a little girl whose own fearlessness and wit are what ultimately save her. I was very interested in exploring how Carter and Delarue imported key themes of the 20th and 21st centuries into a tale already as old as time.
Take, for example, the dark tale of the Company of Wolves. Carter writes the Little Red Riding Hood as silently unabashed of the personified wolf. In fact, she ends up sleeping in between his paws on her grandmother’s bed. Carter’s artistic details within the screenplay act as an ode to brazen, unhinged female sexuality.
I suppose as long as the werewolf is more man than wolf, this story doesn’t read too badly. Although the Red Riding Hood in this story is more suited to the BookTok lore surrounding thirsty women left unsupervised with hot, semi-human creatures — visions of Sarah J. Maas fans blushing over winged men and Twilight werewolves come to mind!
Carter also makes sure we know that this Riding Hood isn’t the young, frightened child that fled from the ravenous wolf. In fact, the savage tone of the whole story extends in a way to all characters — both wolf and girl. I just love how the female protagonist is so unlike the trim, moralistic characters of older fairytales. Instead, she remains brutal and shrewd.
My favourite moment from this turbulent semi-romance is when confronted by the fearsome half-animal, she thinks to herself, knowing that nothing can harm her, a refreshing twist from the original. Carter writes that her Red Riding Hood is “nobody’s meat,” and I think that’s terrific.
The Story of Grandmother by Delarue exercises a steady show of wit and bravery in Riding Hood. Facing the terrifying bzou (half man, yet somehow, more wolf), she quickly outwits him by insisting she climb out by the window to relieve herself before getting into bed with the wolf (I know, so many questions). Perhaps what is even funnier is when the bzou first tries to convince her to pee in the bed itself before the little girl refuses.Â
However, that’s not even the only thing to note about this version of her story. In the part of the tale where the wolf enters grandma’s house, he actually kills her, distills some of her blood into a bottle, and fries her ears and teeth on a pan. The idea that maybe this version isn’t the most nursery-friendly one gets solidified when Little Red finally walks in, completely unaware of the events that unfolded before. Yeah, it’s a daycare classic, to be sure. Â
It’s eye-opening to revisit a childhood story to find it not quite just as you left it. Adaptations of classic fairytales are an amazing way to integrate important modern concepts that fit the vision of a woman of the times. It makes her fiercely relatable and introduces plot twists that can send readers over their heads.
Shock factors are delicious and make one wonder how many more classic stories can be creatively reimagined. The key isn’t just throwing silly little elements of feminism or activism just for show. Why not have Snow White avenge herself for being poisoned three times? Or maybe even have the Beast fall in love with a crockpot and have Belle write out their love story? I’m just saying!