After reading the variety of “Little Red Riding Hood” tales, I was surprised by the inconsistency and varying interpretations. From violence to happy endings, it is obvious that the story of the young cloaked girl has changed over the ages depending on the time period, culture, and audience. I also noticed that none of the stories I read in Folk & Fairy Tales were exactly the same as the one I remember reading when I was a young child. While the version I was first introduced to contained similar elements, it also contained less details producing a more straightforward tale and a happy ending to please a child. Therefore, since I was used to a story that lacked violence and a gruesome ending, I was shocked to read versions of the fairytale that included adult-related themes.
In the first story, “The Story of Grandmother” by Paul Delarue, a young girl is tricked by a bzou, instead of a wolf. Like many of the other “Little Red Riding Hood” stories, the bzou arrives to the grandmother’s house before the young girl and kills the elderly woman. However Delarue’s version quickly becomes different from the others when the bzou puts some of the grandmother’s flesh and bottled blood in a pantry. Later in the story the young girl is tricked by the bzou and eats and drinks the flesh and blood. While the girl is eating, a cat in the pantry says, “A slut is she who eats the flesh and drinks the blood of her grandmother” (32). I was surprised to see such sexual profanity in a fairytale. All of the fairytales that I read when I was younger were always innocent and fanciful. I also found it odd when the girl undressed at the request of the bzou. Perhaps I find it strange because I do not understand the context of the characters’ actions due to the different time period and culture in which it was written. Nonetheless, I still find it difficult to believe that “The Story of Grandmother” to be a story that was popular among young children. Instead, I interpret the tale as being told to adults as a way of expressing to the community the importance of a woman’s sexual innocence.
Charles Perrault’s “Little Red Riding Hood” is another version of the fairytale that contained elements that I was not used to seeing in the genre. Perrault’s story contains simple, yet vivid descriptions of the wolf eating Little Red Riding Hood and her grandmother. Also, unlike Delarue’s tale where Little Red Riding Hood escapes, Perrault’s version lacks a happy ending. The fairytale simply ends with Little Red Riding Hood’s death. While Perrault states that the moral of the story is directed toward children, I still find it hard to imagine that children enjoyed listening to such a story. I know when I was young, I would have been frightened if I were told Perrault’s tale.
Overall, reading different versions of “Little Red Riding Hood” opened my eyes to the meaning of fairytales. Delarue’s and Perrault’s stories are definitely not similar to the cheerful one’s that I was used to reading when I was little. However, perhaps long ago fairytales contained scary and startling elements to purposely create fear among children. Maybe adults believed that in order to have a child behave, it was appropriate to frighten them with the tales that illustrated examples of extreme consequences for certain actions, such as talking to strangers. Nevertheless, I am fascinated by the varying circumstances in the different accounts of “Little Red Riding Hood” and look forward to learning more about how fairytales were used in the past.
Here's the trailer for the new movie "Red Riding Hood" coming to theaters this month:
I wonder if the movie will contain any of the more adult-themed elements found in some of the different versions of the fairytale such as those found in Delarue's account.
Emily-- great post! I think you're right about the adult-themes in the earlier tales. Part of the reason for that is that these tales were not really written "for children" until the Grimm Bros. came along. But I think even once the tales are "cleaned up" and made "family friendly" they still retain some of their more perverse and horrific characteristics. It's like those elements are baked in there.
ReplyDeleteI am excited about the new movie coming out... I have a feeling it's going to be very thriller-romance.
Some fairy tales were originally written to be told to adults at court (as in the King and the Queen's court) for entertainment purposes. I'm not sure if this one was, but I think so. A lot of people don't realize it's about rape and loss of innocence. The wolf would have been understood to be a man, they only called him wolf to decrease the horror. But just think what kind of spin all this puts on the whole, "Grandmother, what big ears you have, what big eyes you have," what a big this and that, and every body part except the most obvious. A dirty-minded adult would be busting a guy. But I do like that in the original "Story of Grandmother," the girl escapes using her own ingenuity, something that gets lost later in the versions with the rescuing huntsman or whatever he is. I haven't seen the latest movie, is it worthwhile?
ReplyDeleteI meant busting a gut. And what's a bzou?
ReplyDeleteI know I'm coming late to this but this is a subject which fascinates me. I remember reading a book many years ago called "Sex & Violence:The Truth About the Brothers Grimm which goes into great historical detail about the real stories behind the stories.
ReplyDeleteA couple of points to think about:
When talking about the cultures of the past it is important to remember that the lines between childhood and adulthood were far more hazy than now. The idyllic childhood norms we reminisce about are rather recent concepts. For most of history kids were pretty much little adults in the ways they dressed and acted. Even tiny children had serious jobs that went well beyond our definition of chores.
Even play was in actuality "training" for adult responsibilities. Dolls taught little girls how to be mothers, toy animals introduced them to husbandry and soldiers were literally war games. Life was rough and the majority of children did not make it to become grown-ups.
Stories were not just entertainment. They were not the happy warm fuzzies which we expect today for the young and tender. They were there to teach survival skills. Lessons like "don't go into big potentially scary places alone" were of vital importance to learn. A forest easily represents not just deep dark woods but cities or any other unfamiliar territory where it is easy to get lost and be preyed upon. Even if you have to go somewhere like that these stories taught that using your head can be more important in keeping you alive and safe than being big and strong - thus the reason the "heroes" are almost always the young, innocent and vulnerable who are able to beat the mighty and terrible beings or face tragic consequences for being foolish.
Also don't forget that although we tend to think those in the past were far more prudish than we it was actually just the opposite. When a whole family lived often in one big room sex simply couldn't stay hidden so even small children were well aware of what their parents were "doing" and knew exactly what made a bastard child a bastard.
So of course the stories they heard reflected this and were not cleaned up for tender young ears. Similarly, children also saw the results of horrible accidents or violence which were far more common in eras without safety standards or labor protections. The real world they lived in was nitty-gritty even for the most well off. To try and shield children from this could literally be deadly for them.
The stories - especially in their original forms - were frightening for a reason for both children and adults.
Oh, and a bzou was something like what we would consider to be a werewolf except usually it was a man who had given into his"sinful" animalistic urges. Sometimes they were depicted as little more than actual beasts but often they were also incredibly charming - which explains things why a girl could be fooled and be persuaded to do things like get undressed and crawl into bed together. That also taught that just because someone seems "nice" it doesn't mean you can trust them.