Writing time!

We’ve decided to split our piece into 3 parts, Passive, Punishment and Excuses.  I’m going to focus on punishment in this post.

PUNISHMENT – ‘What happens when girls go of the beaten track’- Tango scene- research about ritual (hood motif) (Freudian analysis), rebirth and sexual awakening.  “The anthropomorphic wolf symbolises a man, who could be a lover, seducer or sexual predator.  This differs from the ritual explanation in that the entry into adulthood is biologically, not socially, determined.

RITUAL – ‘Little Red Riding Hood’ has been interpreted as a puberty ritual.  The girl, leaving home, enters a liminal state and by going through the acts of the tale, I transformed into an adult woman by the act of coming out of the wolf’s belly.

REBIRTH – HOOD MOTIF – Freudian analysis that shows how fairy tales educate, support and liberate the emotions of children.  The motif of the huntsman cutting open the wolf, he interpreted as a “rebirth”; the girl who foolishly listened to the wolf has been reborn as a new person.

SEXUAL AWAKENING – ‘Little Red Riding Hood’ has also been seen as a parable of sexual maturity.  The red cloak symbolises the blood of menstruation, braving the “dark forest” of womanhood, or the cloak could symbolise the hymen.  The wolf threatens the girl’s virginity.  The anthropomorphic wolf symbolises a man, who could be a lover, seducer or sexual partner.

SEXUAL ATTRACTIVENESS – The song “How Could Red Riding Hood?” by A.P. Randolph in 1925 was the first song known to be banned from the radio because of its sexual suggestiveness.  The 1966 hit song, “Lil’ Red Riding Hood” by Sam the Sham and the Pharaohs takes the wolf’s point of view, implying that he wants love rather than blood.  The story may also serve as a metaphor for a sexual awakening.  In Angela Carter’s story “The Company of Wolves” the wolf is a werewolf and comes to the newly-menstruating Red Riding Hood in the forest in the form of a charming hunter.  He turns into a wolf and eats her grandmother, and is about to devour her as well, when she is equally seductive and ends up lying with the wolf man, her sexual awakening.