My paper is part of the proposed panel, Appropriation of Fairy Tale in Contemporary Popular Culture.
One of the difficulties in examining adaptations and appropriations of fairy tales is the inability to locate the original story. The majority of fairy tales were passed down through the oral tradition of various cultures. Each generation inserted and removed aspects of the fairy tales in order to connect them with current cultural norms and relevant anxieties. These tales also changed through migration and assimilation. Julie Sanders argues that “one of the reasons fairy tale and folklore serve as cultural treasuries to which we endlessly return is that their stories and characters transgress established social, cultural, geographical, and temporal boundaries” (83). Therefore, the structure of fairy tales and folklore enables fluidity. While the characters and setting are usually the same, the themes, actions and endings vary. This is especially true when it comes to the fluctuating agency of Little Red Riding Hood and the portrayal of the relationship between the female characters and the wolf. The role of women changes in each adaptation and appropriation of “Little Red Riding Hood”.
About the presenterRachael Kathleen Warmington
Rachael Warmington is an instructor at Seton Hall University. She earned her English B.A. from Montclair State University, English M.A. from Seton Hall University, her MFA at CUNY, City College of New York and is ABD at Indiana University of Pennsylvania. She focuses on themes of Arthurian Legend and how these themes create the space that challenges oppression in its various forms, but have also been used to perpetuate racism, sexism and religious intolerance.