Charles Perrault's Little Red Riding Hood and Ed Young's Lon Po Po

- The changes between versions of little red riding hood are representative of changes in society. This is evident in Charles Perrault's Little Red Riding Hood, and Ed Young's Lon Po Po.

- Lon Po Po was written in the late 80's and uses 3 Chinese children as the main protagonists, who are left home alone while their mother is visiting their sickly grandmother. During this time the wolf approaches their home pretending to be their grandmother and the children believe this until the older sister finally catches on. With this they come up with a plan that involves luring the wolf up into a tree with gingko nuts and then letting it fall to its death.

- Little Red Riding Hood on the other hand is the traditional version of the fairytale and can be traced back to 1697. In this story we have the main character of little red riding hood who makes the mistake of telling the wolf where she is headed on her way to visit her sickly grandmother. The wolf then speeds ahead of her, lets himself into the grandmother's home and eats the old woman. He then waits for little red riding hood, fools her into believing he is her grandmother and eats her as well. There are no happy endings in this version. It's simply straight to the point.

- So we have two completely different stories that were intended to communicate with two different target audiences. Perrault's version was written around the 17th century, a time when childhood was viewed in a completely different manner, life expectancy was drastically shorter and children were married off at very young ages. This also discouraged parents to even spend time and educate their children properly. Views on women around this time also weren't too empowering. It was pretty much in the kitchen at home with the kids for the ladies. Little red riding hood was more of a moral tale for adults although children were apart of the audience, a lot of the oral folklore versions of the story that were told to Perrault even had the wolf as a sexual predator. This is referenced in the story when little red riding hood joins him in bed, completely oblivious to the situation.

- Lon Po Po was actually published in 1989. A completely different world. It is very much aimed at children and is almost contradicting to the traditional tale in that it conveys wisdom, planning and initiative through the different levels of intelligence of the children. Young also seems to have a sense of respect for females in today's society. He has expressed this through creating a dominant and intelligent protagonist of the older sister. He has empowered the children and given them dominance over the wolf in this tale rather than Perrault's story where little red riding hood is depicted as the "prettiest thing you've ever seen" but naïve and simple in the lines "the poor child who didn't know it was dangerous" she is pitied for her obliviousness. A

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