A Darker Vision of Children’s Fairy Tales
August 22nd, 2009 by Michael Kwan
You may have heard the story earlier this month saying that they are working on a new movie that will be a “Gothic retelling” of the classic Lil Red Riding Hood tale. They’ve even named a director to helm the project, though it’s hard to say whether this film will ever make it to the silver screen.
As it turns out, there have been several versions of Little Red Riding Hood over the years and most of us are only familiar with the version by the Brothers Grimm. In that version, we get a happy ending and the wolf is killed. However, in earlier versions of the story, the wolf actually prevails.
The Wicked Wolf as the Antihero?
The wolf tricks Little Red Riding Hood into telling him the whereabouts of her grandmother and how to circumvent the nearby woodsmen. He eventually eats both the grandmother and Lil Red, escaping any harm and coming out as the victor. There is no happy ending.
That’s certainly a lot darker than the “happy” version that we’ve come to know and recognize. Presumably, the new movie would be largely inspired by one of these older versions of the fairy tale, possibly showing us how evil can come out on top.
Her Hood is Red for a Reason
This potential new movie isn’t the only project that is turning classic children’s fairy tales into much darker fare. You might remember me writing about Fairytale Fights, an upcoming video game where you take on the role of a character not unlike Lil Red Riding Hood.
However, you’re not there to deliver some muffins. Instead, you go about bludgeoning and slashing everything in sight. You get an incredibly bloody mess and you are even encouraged to slaughter children. Again, that’s very different from the Lil Red that most of us know.
The Appeal of the Dark Side
Personally, I like these slightly twisted views on what we would otherwise consider to be light and airy fare. They get us to look at things in a completely different way, offering a wholly unique perspective that is dark, brooding, Gothic, and terribly macabre.
This is partly why I enjoy darker comics, like those that inspired the Watchmen and The Dark Knight movies. This is also why I enjoyed the movies with Robin Williams where he played a much darker role, like he did in One Hour Photo and Insomnia.
Are you mildly disturbed by the possibility of a Gothic Red Riding Hood? Would you love to see such a movie produced? I would!
Tags: childrens movies, dark movies, gothic
Filed under Arts and Entertainment.
Since the tales were originally what we consider today as “dark,” isn’t it really the versions with happy endings that are the twisted ones?
We often think of children’s stories as something read to a child, perhaps at bedtime, that are meant to entertain and perhaps comfort them. There may be lessons involved, but, for many people, they are not the harsh lessons that earlier generations needed to face.
Going out alone, into the woods, could be dangerous and wolves were fierce predators. If children think there might be a friendly hunter out there in the woods to save them if they run into trouble, they may not heed the warnings. But, if you tell children, hey, you go into the woods alone and you’ll get eaten, they may be more liable to stay within the village limits.
Some early versions of the story did refer to creatures comparable to werewolves rather than plain ol’ wolves, so a werewolf movie created around the tale could be interesting.
It’s human nature to like the darker side in movies and tales. That’s why horror stories and movies have no end. How many Halloweens are we going to get?
I personally believe that even if evil wins a battle or two that good will prevail in the war.
I’ll stick with the happy endings and explain to my children the bad stuff.
in my country Indonesia , this story have more than one ending . happy and bad ending . i actually wonder what is the right one , but i think my child will love this story…lol