So far, all versions of “Little Red Riding Hood” in this lesson suggest that little girls should do what adults tell them to do. However, in all three versions, Little Red Riding Hood gets a chance to follow her instincts or “listen to her gut.” Today’s children (and adults) still struggle to decide sometimes whether to follow the rules or follow their instincts, so it’s not so surprising that we’re still reading (and enjoying) versions of the story.
More modern versions of fairy tales tend to make big changes to the stories, though. For example, in ABC’s hit series Once Upon a Time, Little Riding Hood is actually a werewolf named Red. Her red cape is the only thing that keeps her from transforming into an evil wolf during the full moon.
How would you retell “Little Red Riding Hood” for a 21st-century audience? What would you change, and what would you keep the same? Read the suggestions on each of these slides.
Traditionally, the setting of “Little Red Riding Hood” is a forest. During the centuries when the story was first told, forests were likely to contain both wolves and woodcutters. But what if you changed the setting of the story to a city, a jungle, or even a beach? What other details would you need to change, to match the change in setting? Who would the villain be―if not a wolf?
In most of the fairy tales you heard as a child, the characters lived as people did a hundred years or more in the past. When “Little Red Riding Hood” was created, it was not unusual for a young girl to take a walk through the woods to see her grandmother―or to wear a hooded “riding” cape like the one on many illustrations of the story. How would the story be different if you changed when it took place? What would the granddaughter wear today, and how would she travel to visit her grandmother?
In the traditional story, Little Red Riding Hood is the protagonist, or leading character. The wolf is the antagonist, the enemy of the protagonist. How might the story change if the wolf was the hero and Little Red Riding Hood was the “bad guy”? What if the ages or genders of the characters changed? A little boy might visit his uncle, for instance, or the protagonist might be an elderly person visiting a friend.
If you change any of the details in a story, it can easily change what happens and how. For example, if you set a version of “Little Red Riding Hood” in the future and make the protagonist a robot with special powers, the plot of the story is definitely going to change. However, even if you keep the same characters, you can change the kind or order of events that occur. What could you change about the ending of the story to surprise readers who are familiar with the original? What if Red saved the wolf instead of killing it?
Suppose you changed the protagonist of “Little Red Riding Hood” to the school bully. How might the plot and moral of the story change?
