Research Paper On Red Riding Hood

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John Cogal Professor MacKay Fantasy and Fairy Tale 29 February 2016 Red Riding Hood is one of the oldest fairy tales recorded, involving a wolf, a girl and her grandma. The story has many implications and symbolisms and analyzed through Red Riding Hood (2011) film, and Grimm’s Little Red Cap. The symbols to be analyzed are: the red riding hood/cap, the forest, rebirth, the father, and the wolf. In the film, Valerie is gifted a red riding hood from her grandma as a gift for her marriage. In the text, the red cap is also a gift from grandma, who loved her most. Both hood and cap cover a woman’s hair, which is an important role in attracting the opposite sex as hiding one’s hair is like concealing her sexuality. The colour red is also associated with blood, in this case menstrual blood. Red is going through a phase of growing and becoming sexually mature. This is represented in the film through Valerie having sex with Peter and becoming mature as the story progresses. The red hood/cap is a representation of Red growing up and becoming sexually mature. …show more content…

The forest is a symbol of the unknown, with the chance of extreme danger. The forest is home to wild animals, specifically dangerous beasts and dangerous people. In Freud’s theory of psychoanalysis the forest symbolizes the unconscious and unpredictable. In all other fairy tales such as Snow White, Hansel and Gretel (ironically other Brother Grimm stories), the protagonists get lost in a forest but seemingly come out more developed and mature. The forest in the story represents the wild and unpredictable danger yet fertile lands for character development to

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