As Told By Wolves: Little Red Riding Hood Films
a video essay
The day has finally arrived! I’ve only been working on this since October. (Well, I started reading a lot of books as research on vacation in October. Don’t expect this to look like six months of solid work; I have a job.)
I’m very proud of this essay. It feels miles beyond what I was able to do for Snow White. I am drawing from so many films for this essay- and I didn’t even talk about everything I watched in preparation. (I wrote a whole thing about Hanna but it ultimately didn’t fit in anywhere.) And still, as I watched it after the final edit, I saw/heard/read so many things I would change about it! But I can’t edit forever; perfection is a myth and “done is better than perfect”. So here it is!
As Told By Wolves: Little Red Riding Hood Films
The story of Little Red has always been told by wolves… starting with Charles Perrault changing the French oral tale into a warning of how pretty girls ought to behave and continuing in films with men filmmakers sexing up Red in 40s cartoons, teaching girls to obey their parents in children’s films, and attempting to use the tale to “do feminism” on women’s behalf. In all that- has anyone really understood the tale?
My mic delivered some unwelcome snaps, crackles, and pops sporadically, but there’s nothing I could do to fix the mic or fix it in post, so we’re all just going to ignore it, okay? I’ll be getting a new mic/recording solution and other production improvements before the next one.
Little Red Riding Hood is my favourite fairy tale. Well, I’m actually not sure if it’s my favourite or my favourite to retell. The tale itself is so short and simple, and depending on which version you read (oral tale “The Story of Grandmother”, Perrault’s “Le petit chaperon rouge”, Grimms’ “Rotkäppchen”), it’s kind of boring or unsatisfying. But what a tale to play with! Wolves, sex/rape allegory, women’s intergenerational relationships, the deep dark unknown of what’s off the forest path. I love wolves. You’ll see some of my wolf art in the video set. My favourite is Wolf Mother by Lucy Campbell. (I’d love a large print, but all I could get from her shop was a collection of six cards of some of her wolf paintings.) Strangely, I have no affection for wolf-ish dogs like huskies. (But I do sometimes look at stupid little dogs like pugs and tell them “You used to be a wolf. What have we done to you?”) Am I just rambling about wolves now?
Speaking of favourites- I’m not sure what I’d say is my favourite fairy tale film. Haven’t seen many good ones, actually. And of all the films I talk about in the essay, the only one I’d recommend is The Company of Wolves. It’s a bit of a mess but by far the most interesting. (And I recommend even more the book The Bloody Chamber by Angela Carter from which the story the film is based comes.) (I could also recommend the 2006 movie Red Riding Hood for like a drunk bad movie night with friends because- wow.)
Well, enjoy learning about Little Red Riding Hood films and how, once again, I have strong opinions about men telling women’s stories…
Look forward to Cinderella next!
P.S. After 17 years of putting video content on the internet, I had my first thing go “viral” last week. I reluctantly started putting my video content from Instagram on TikTok at the recommendation of my work bestie/unofficial personal social media consultant and after a couple of weeks of posting a previously-created video every day, my most TikToky video blew up! It was very exciting for a couple of days and then I got bored of seeing people commenting the same things over and over. But if you like TikTok- check it out. The comments section is actually pretty good (considering the reputation of comments sections, especially for women). It’s mostly people talking about fairy tales!