Red Riding Hood vs. Little Red Riding Hood

I have just recently seen the new film Red Riding Hood, produced by Catherine Hardwicke. After witnessing this more modern version of the centuries-old story, i immediately noticed that she must have been directing it towards a more adult audience. Now i know why Hardwicke had the intentions of dropping the word "little" from her title; the events manifested in this movie are anything but childish. After reminising about the good old days when my parents had read me this particular fairy tale, i remembered the certain lessons i had learned and quickly grasped that were vital to my growth and personality development. Not to mention all the reinforcement i recieved from mom and dad. But now that i am older and have experienced more and more of adulthood, i realize that my knowledge has been broaded because of it. This childhood fairy tale story provided great bulding blocks for my understanding of this world we live in. But now, with being at a much different stage in my life, i feel this new film has provided me with things i can relate to as being an adult; things like love, deceit, tough choices to make, etc. Overall, i believe that each story has its place and time. The very old and rewritten story of Little Red Riding Hood was a great tale that was useful at the juncture of my childhood while this new film of Red Riding Hood provided me with something much more suiting at the juncture of my adulthood.

Little Red Riding Hood and Bettelheim

Out of all the readings we have done in the Folk and Fairytales book, i like Bruno Bettelheim's A Struggle For Meaning the most. He talks about fairy tales and how they are a good way to provide children with lessons of life and building blocks for personality development. As i have been researching more about Red Riding Hood, ive noticed that alot of what he has said is spot on. The tale of Little Red Riding Hood has put emphasis on the dangers of the "real world" and turned them into lessons that are vital for children to be aware of.
All of these movie picture versions of fairy tales coming out, like Red Riding Hood and Beastly, for example, visually show what the real world is like when expressing adult situations. Instead of creating more modern version of the exact stories, these producers are creating realistic situations that audiences can relate to. Bettelheim, i think, was absolutely correct when he expressed fairy tale stories as being vital to the growth of children. But as children grow and reach adulthood, these movie picture versions do a great job in retelling the stories and reinforcing the same lessons. Because young adults have had more real-life experiences since their time with fairy tales, these movies are able to reach out to them on different but also important levels.

Thoughts on Research Project

I have been thinking so much this past week trying to find what i will ultimately be talking about in my research paper; what my interpretive claim and thesis will oficially be and how will i connect my body paragraphs back to my main point? Now that it is Sunday and recently ideas have been broadened, i have a general sense of what it is going to be like. I will research the new movie Red Riding Hood. My intro will be somewhat like this:
        Little Red Riding Hood is different than most other fairy tale stories. It veers away from the common theme of enchantment and magical wonderment and provides a more important moral lesson as it also strives to educate children about society and the “real world.” Children would be better served by a fairy tale if given a message that is more beneficial to their knowledge and safety than an unrealistic story indicating that every life ends up “happily ever after.” The newly produced movie picture version, Red Riding Hood, in a more adult context, brings to eye these safety warnings that you cannot trust everyone you meet and not everything is as it appears. This new movie examines what is more crippling to the human psyche, fear of the unknown or false understanding of the familiar as the menace resides in, not a conniving, wild and unpredictable animal, but rather in a scheming human being masquerading as the fearsome canis lupus.
       
What do you think?

Rowe's Feminism and Fairytales

I think that Rowe's argument about most fairy tales is valid; a little too feminist for me, but valid. She talks about the problem of how most tales depict women as "choiceless" and dependent; that, in most cases, there is the presence of male dominance as being a predetermined aura in a female's life.  This is very true but at the same time, through all the joyful singing, animal talking friends, etc, i can't help but see that these women's aspirations aren't too far off from the goals, hopes and dreams of many women in real life. Society does tell women that they can make their own choices and that they most certainly have the same equality and opportunities as men. However, and even though i am not a girl, i can say with much confidence, that the majority of women that live in this real life world, will give anything to find love and happiness; to get married and have a family. Rowe expresses that in her eyes, the eyes of a feminist, fairy tales look at these life oriented messages and seem to depict women as being subordinate to men; lesser of people. She states in her argument, for example "they transfer from fairy tales into real life those fantasies which exalt acquiescence to male power and make marriage not simply one ideal, but the only estate toward which women should aspire...she binds herself first to the father and then the prince; she restrics her ambitions to hearth and nursery." She thinks that these tales show young women that they need to strive for marriage and a family; hold on securely to male dominance; that this is what a woman should be. Is this really a bad thing though? Young women in this world know that they are free to make their own choices. Society and parents want to see children experience happiness. A young woman's love and romantic attachment to a man, bringing them to marriage and a family is a joy most girls aspire to. Rowe, through her feminist viewpoint, makes it seem like this attachment to the male sex is the worst thing in the world; they should find something more meaningful. But in reality most people want to find their one "true love" and spend the rest of their life with this person. In my eyes, love is true happiness.