Little Red Riding Hood Presented In Different Cultures - Research Paper Example

14 September Little Red Riding Hood Presented in Various Cultures Fairytales have formed an inherent part and parcel of growing up; most children are familiar with the tales of yore, consisting of princes, princesses, villains and animals, and have been taught morals by their parents through the same. These stories have popularized themselves with time, from generation to generation as they are told and retold from one parent to his child. Tales of the Brothers Grimm are some of the most famous fairytales to have been created in the history of these kinds of stories. Cinderella, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, the Princess and the Pea etc are some of their classics which little children love to hear day in and day out. Little Red Riding Hood is yet another story that has been told many a times in order to teach children lessons of not talking to strangers or disobeying their parents and elders. However, this story has been presented in various forms in different cultures all around the world because the best part about fairytales are that they may be morphed and diffused into different cultures and retold in different languages with the help of characters and beings that people are familiar with within the purview of their own cultures. The story of Little Red Riding Hood talks about a little girl who wore a red hooded cloak and went into the forest to look for wild berries and fruits. In the process, she was tricked into following a wolf dressed as her grandma, inside a house in a deserted part of the forest, where the wolf ultimately ate her up. The moral here is that children should not talk to or follow and believe strangers because they might fall into trouble and not have anyone around them to protect them from the evils of life. On viewing the same in a larger picture, parents tell their children this story as it is presented with a view to help them understand the cruelties that lie in the world with respect to molestation, rape, and other criminal activities like vandalism and kidnapping, and how their children might be affected during their teenage years because those are the vulnerable years of a person’s life. Written by Gillian Cross, ‘Wolf’ is a very loose adaption of what a modern day version of Little Red Riding Hood might be; it talks about the cruelties that young people are made to suffer and also social problems that rage in the world at present. Terry Pratchett on the other hand has written a collection of parodies titled ‘Witches Abroad’ which includes a Granny and a nanny who stop the wolf before he eats the grandmother as the nanny narrates an incident similar to the one that Little Red Riding Hood encounters. However, in ‘Little Red Riding Wolf’ written by Laurence Anholt and Arhur Robins, the protagonists have been interchanged, causing the big bad girl to terrorise and cause harm the wolf who is actually the hero. In the Albanian culture, the story is titled ‘Kesulkuqja’ which means ‘Red Cap’. Much the same way, the story has different titles in different languages and cultures. On analysing the same, it may be noted that the story has various psychological meanings where the girl’s actions are presented in different manners. According to Valerious Geist, an academician, the story presented the issue of wolf attacks as these animals were dangerous predators that often broke into villages and towns near forests. However, cultural anthropologists like Edward Tylor presented a natural take towards the story and its presentation. According to him, the girl’s hood was a symbol of light or the sun which was swallowed up ultimately by darkness which was presented within the wolf. Furthermore, the little girl is saved again as she is cut out from the wolf’s belly, an act which symbolizes dawn. Norse myths suggests the same and also talks of how the analogy could relate easily to the dying and reinstating of the seasons of the year. The red hood has often been given great importance in many interpretations, with significance from the dawn to blood. There have been many modern uses and adaptations of Little Red Riding Hood, generally with a mock-serious reversal of Red Riding Hoods naïveté or some twist of social satire; they range across a number of different media and styles. A number of authors have also used the story and made a number of sexual innuendoes and variations for the purpose of understanding for a slightly older audience and not young children. It is important for stories like these to be able to connect with modern day cultural, linguistic and family backgrounds; this story has presented itself well within the purview of the same because it provides for excellent reading as it gives analogies based on what may happen in the real world. The story is an eye opener for families as it helps to broaden the horizons of people belonging to different cultures. It brings the family together as it opens up discussion for a wide new variety of topics especially with respect to talking about criminal activities that go on in the world and how it is not a safe place for young generations of people. It is important for parental involvement or development of a teacher student relationship and the same is brought about with the help of this story. Teachers take time out to explain the various aspects of this story to their students and are able to draw out analogies from the modern day and culture as to how the story of the wolf eating up a young girl may affect their lives on a micro and more reality based level. “Dr Jamie Tehrani, a cultural anthropologist at Durham University, studied 35 versions of Little Red Riding Hood from around the world. Whilst the European version tells the story of a little girl who is tricked by a wolf masquerading as her grandmother, in the Chinese version a tiger replaces the wolf. In Iran, where it would be considered odd for a young girl to roam alone, the story features a little boy. Contrary to the view that the tale originated in France shortly before Charles Perrault produced the first written version in the 17th century, Dr Tehrani found that the variants shared a common ancestor dating back more than 2,600 years. He said: “Over time these folk tales have been subtly changed and have evolved just like an biological organism. Because many of them were not written down until much later, they have been misremembered or reinvented through hundreds of generations.” (Gray, Richard) In conclusion, the tale of the Little Red Riding Hood has helped a great deal in understanding various cultures around the world because of the way that it has been presented in these various cultures. As talked about within the scope of this paper, the story has helped a number of familial as well as teacher student relationships to develop because of the kind of openness it creates within the thoughts of young people all around the world. Its variations help people from all walks of life to understand the significance of the story and how it applies in reality and actual life. Works Cited D. L. Ashliman. "Little Red Riding Hood and other tales of Aarne-Thompson-Uther type 333". Retrieved 2011-09-13. Alan Dundes, "Interpreting Little Red Riding Hood Psychoanalytically", p 27-9, James M. McGlathery, ed, The Brothers Grimm and Folktale Gray, Richard. “Fairy Tales Have Ancient Origin.” The Telegraph. Retrieved 2011-09-13 "Statement by Valerius Geist pertaining to the death of Kenton Carnegie" (PDF). Wolf Crossing. Retrieved 2011-09-13. Catherine Orenstein, Little Red Riding Hood Uncloaked: Sex, Morality and the Evolution of a Fairy Tale, pp 92-106 Read More