From Cap to Cloak: The Evolution of "Little Red Riding Hood" from Oral Tale to Film

Abstract

As co-written with scholar and storyteller Angela Carter, Neil Jordan's The Company of Wolves (1984) represents a unique case of adaptation as it radically revises the figure of “ Little Red Riding Hood.” The Company of Wolves transforms the pervasive myth of coming-of-age folklore by stimulating hallucinatory visions embedded in a structure effectively simulating the unconscious logic of dream. This paper investigates the evolution of the mythos in the original Little Red Riding Hood fairy tale, its progression and eventual reworking in Carter's literary and filmic takes, as she shifts the focus from the frightened, naïve girl clad in red, reliant on male heroes to the sexually awakened, self-reliant young woman in a crimson cape. To make the texts transparent, this essay analyses The Company of Wolves and its sources through the lenses of adaptation theories including those by George Bluestone and Sarah Cardwell whilst exploring Angela Carter's relationship to fairy tale as chronicled by Jack Zipes. The mechanisms and symbols of the dream imagery manifested in The Company of Wolves distinguish Carter's and Jordan's feverish brainchild as an enticingly instructive exemplar of rendering unconscious desires visible and visceral on celluloid.