Tuesday, June 2, 2015

Little Red Riding Hood

Hey guys,

I was curious as to what you guys all thought of the video that Professor Freccero showed in class yesterday. I particularly thought that it was disturbing, yet still maintained a lot of significant symbolism. I took the video to be a coming of age story, where Little Red is getting guidance from "the animal inside her" to help her gain sexual maturity. I thought this was particularly significant from when she was eating an apple and staring at the wolf, with the apple being an allusion to Adam and Eve, when Eve ate the sinful/forbidden fruit. However, I also thought that some aspects of the video was just odd, and didn't understand what the significance of some parts of it was, such as when Little Red ate her grandmother's flesh. My initial reaction to that particular scene was just, "why?" Anyhow, I am curious as to what everyone else thought of this particular video, and if anyone can give me insight to the significance of the flesh scene, I'd appreciate it!


3 comments:

  1. I can honestly say i felt extremely uncomfortable while watching the video and could not take it seriously for awhile. I could not understand why and how you could take a childhood story and spin it into something so sexual and inappropriate. Although i did not make any connections of my own while watching the video, i do see the connection that you've made to Adam and Eve and i think it's important to note. I'm not quite sure what the flesh eating stands for, but perhaps it is to signify that humans are just as dangerous and should be as feared as animals such as wolves are. The fact that a human is eating human flesh is an interesting concept and i'm sure there is significance to it. Perhaps it shows that humans are the ones to be feared, not the wolf as it is in the original adaptation of the story.

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  2. I thought the way the film presented itself to us was very whimsical and theatric. The black and white image in relation with the soaring orchestral soundtrack made for a magical first impression -- especially after we catch glimpses of the big, bad wolf doing an interpretive dance along with the music. I especially loved the wolf's make & costume. The wolf was presented to the audience as an androgynous and anthropomorphic wolf with a gothic yet mysteriously dangerous persona. Little Red is also portrayed in a more dark light in this depiction. She is more courageous and less innocent than expected throughout the whole venture. The Narrator had a deadpan yet almost sarcastic tone of voice that I think gave the whole video an ironic twist to it.

    Overall, it was a really refreshing and unique taste to the classic story -- that doesn't mean it wasn't strange and inappropriate because I definitely agree that it was. If anything, I'm sure David Kaplan and Scott Ramsey would have wanted their audiences to have felt uncomfortable during the latter parts of the film. With the kind of story that they depicted, I don't doubt that that was at least partly their goal.

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  3. While watching the film, I did feel uncomfortable. I felt there were hints to something more sexual, and it made me feel uneasy. But when we look at the backstory of Red Riding Hood, it shows us what the story was supposed to be about. Red Riding Hood was a story to make sure children and even young lady stayed away from strange people. The wolf would technically be a sexual predator.

    When she ate her grandmother's flesh, I felt like it was her losing her purity? Not quite sure, but it's just my interpretation.

    Also, if we look at the past, generally, the elderly or disabled were cast aside into the forest to live the rest of their lives...away from society.

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