Books On Film | Little Red Riding Hood

Little Red Riding Hood is a French fairytale first published in Tales and Stories of the Past with Morals by Charles Perrault in 1697. It was intended to be a cautionary tale which emphasized the danger in children trusting strangers. In Perrault's version, the book ends with the little girl and her grandmother being eaten by the wolf. 

A later version of the tale published in 1812 by the Brothers Grimm introduces a huntsman who saves the little girl and her grandmother from the wolf. This is probably the most well known version of the story. There are many other versions of the story however, including international ones like Lon Po Po (a Chinese Little Red Riding Hood story).

There have also been many stage, television, and film versions of the tale. The latest of which included Red Riding Hood (2011), set in medieval Europe and geared toward the Twlight-loving crowd. Little Red Riding Hood, her grandmother, and many other fairytale characters are featured in the Stephen Sondheim's musical Into The Woods and in ABC's television show Once Upon A Time.   

In Into The Woods all of the characters live in the same kingdom and follow their respective stories, until the kingdom is "invaded" by the wife of the giant who Jack, from Jack and The Beanstalk, kills. In Once Upon A Time all the fairytale characters live in a little town in the Northeast US after being put under a spell by The Evil Queen. Once Upon A Time takes a lot of liberties with the stories, as part of the mystery is figuring out which towns person is which fairytale character!

 

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