Influence of Little Red Riding Hood on Gender Roles and It’s Rethinking in Feminist Makeover Versions

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Through the Extension Two English course, I have produced a podcast – Fairytales: The Feminist Makeover – that explores the interplay between contexts, fairytales and female expectations. The concept of my podcast emerged through a process of independent investigation with my understanding of the concept developing deeply throughout. Although guided through the Preliminary Extension 1 and Advanced English courses, the process of self-governing inquiry felt interminable due to an excess of varied information on different topics and as such, my concept constantly changed as it developed simultaneously with my research.

In Preliminary Extension 1, I studied the story of “Cinderella” and how contextual influences change the story over time. This was the catalyst for my attraction towards studying fairy tales across time. This study sparked an interest in how underlying all fairytales is the inherent desire to indoctrinate and influence beliefs and values particularly the behaviors of young girls. This interest was further enhanced through the reading of Henal Patel’s essay, “Gender Roles Indoctrinated Through Fairy Tales in Western Civilization”. In this essay Patel asserts: ‘Although sometimes frightening, they generally inspire a sense of security, so much so, that they are easily mistaken as harmless” (Patel. H., 2011).

Patel’s research heightened my understanding of the role of fairy tales by highlighting the way that they are effective at influencing people (especially children) because they have the appearance of being “harmless” stories with no intentions other than to entertain. Through my observations of the way fairytales appear to mirror events of contextual relevance, I was inspired to create a composition that illuminates these points while also being contextually relevant itself. As such, I chose podcast form because it is one of the fastest-growing and most contemporary platforms to access information (Krasniak, M., 2017).

Additionally, HSC Advanced English influenced my composition through our study of Textual Conversations – The Tempest and Hag Seed. Reading these texts in conjunction highlighted how some issues and aspects of the human experience are able to bridge across time while others are distinctively associated with their own contexts. Within my podcast, I portray these ideas by showing how different variations of Little Red Riding Hood contain the same, if not very similar, core themes and ideas, however with different intended messages. Additionally, this study in Advanced English illuminated the importance of form in the telling of stories, thus I have accounted for how the different tales of Little Red Riding Hood are enhanced through their medium (e.g. poem, oral tale, short story). Moreover, it highlighted how podcast, which has its roots in the traditional form of oral storytelling, would be an appropriate choice to convey my concepts as Little Red Riding Hood originated as an oral tale (Harvard University Press, 1958; Atwood. M., 2016; Hartigan Shea. R., 2013).

The most significant challenge within creating this major work was in sticking to a concept. I struggled to find one area of interest that I wanted to create a composition on and my major work as such has undergone a variety of permutations. Evolving from an analysis of the misogyny within the Pre-Raphaelites to a study of the abuse Ted Hughes inflicted on Sylvia Plath and how he prevented her from taking full credit for her creative work, and then research into the “Death of the Author” concept put forward by Roland Barthes. However, I decided to settle on researching fairytales because I was familiar with this type of content due to Extension 1 course and I felt it tied into my own place within a modern world, as my research showed that the story of Little Red Riding Hood linked into the current fourth wave of feminism through its themes within the original oral tale of female body autonomy. Also, the limited time frame to work within, forcing me to overcome my own problems with indecisiveness, necessitated for me to choose one idea and begin a research that focused in depth rather than breadth (Hulea, L., 2012). Definition – “Fourth-wave feminism is a phase of feminism that began around 2013 and is characterized by a focus on the empowerment of women and the use of internet tools” (Trombetta. S., 2019).

Moreover, after deciding on a concept, a key challenge I faced was researching into form with a depth corresponding to the research of my concept. As such, academic paper by Siobhan McHugh, “How Podcasting is changing the audio storytelling genre” amplified for me the mechanisms of podcasting and provided a variety of approaches that I explored, while also being crucial in allowing me a depth of understanding of form that coincided with my understanding of the concept. Additionally, this paper provided clarity with respect to speech, as podcasting is an audio form, it required a repertoire of skills separate to writing that I developed and refined throughout the course. As Siobhan McHugh notes: “For radio, you are talking into the space of a room or a car – you need to fill that space with your voice. For a podcast you are talking into an ear canal – it’s a smaller space so you must be more familiar and relaxed” (McHugh. S., 2016).

This insight was further enhanced through listening to a variety of podcasts, making note of form rather than the content being presented. In particular, This American Life, hosted by Ira Glass, highlights the use of storytelling through conversation, with constant surprises and plot twists followed by moments of reflection. One of the episodes of the podcast that epitomises these elements of podcast form is “Switched at Birth”. This was majorly attractive to me in the way it manipulated form to effectively have the presenters speaking as if in casual conversation. Further, This American Life uses a small “intro” clip into the podcast at the beginning that provides insight into what will be contained in the podcast before running the podcast’s tagline which I felt was effective and as such adopted into my own work (This American Life This American Life., 2019; Switched at Birth, 2008).

Learning through the work of other podcasts and writings on storytelling, in order to make the purpose of my podcast known, I bridged the distance between the podcast and its audience to ensure engagement. John Marsden’s “Everything I know About Writing” provided valuable guidance about my construction of form and despite being about the written word, I found it relevant to my composition. Marsden suggested: “It is very satisfying for the reader if a story is structured in a circular way” (Marsden, 2010).

As such, I decided to use a “bookend” structure for my podcast by telling the story of Little Red Riding Hood in its earliest form at the beginning and concluding the podcast with a reading of the current poetic version by Roald Dahl. Additionally, through the use of personal anecdotes and collective pronouns such as “we”, I strive to address the audience and speaker as embarking on a journey together, discovering the story of Little Red Riding Hood while creating a sense of “community” and as such, moments of intimacy between speaker and audiences (Dahl, 1982).

Through the development of my composition, the intended audience of women became increasingly clear. This is due to believing that the insight and lessons gained through my composition are most effective within the minds of women, young and old alike. This belief was echoed through the podcast “Let’s Care: The 180º of Impact Podca – bonus episode, hosted by Matt Scott. This episode addressed the question: “How can we as a society tell stories that uplift the voices of women and elevate much-needed perspectives?” (Let’s Care, 2019).

Through conversations with women in places of power within their workplaces it became glaringly clear that in order to achieve this we must just begin creating a community among all women so they feel empowered to tell their stories. As such, I believe my podcast, like many other works, is a step in the right direction of giving women back their stories and voices. By “undressing” the tale of Little Red Riding Hood it is revealed that its roots lie in female empowerment and sexual liberation that authors such as the Grimms have attempted to erase. Such removal which has since been encouraged through the constant retelling of only one version of the Little Red Riding Hood story that centers around a “silly” girl being saved by a man, works to oppose the movement of “uplifting” the voices of women.

Fairytales: The Feminist Makeover has increased my own understanding of the complexity of fairytales evolving throughout time and their inherent nature to impose contextual beliefs and values upon audiences. Thus, my intended audience can appreciate the way that the appearance of Little Red Riding Hood in its contemporary form may misrepresent the original intention of the story, and instead conforms to portray the societal expectations placed on young girls and women.

References:

  1. Folklore Thursday. (2019). 50 Shades of Red: Sexuality and Loss of Innocence in Little Red Riding Hood – Folklore Thursday. Available at: https://folklorethursday.com/folktales/50-shades-red-sexuality-loss-innocence-little-red-riding-hood/ [Accessed 8 Aug. 2019].
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