The Hollywood Story of a Girl in a Red Cloak When the main characters of the fairy tale are very tired of acting out the same boring story from film to film, the director has no choice but to bring something new to its plot, or even radically change its genre.
About seventy years ago, director Tex Avery decided to revise the story of Red Riding Hood and created a new version of it, wanting to show that it is not as boring as it may seem at first sight. Turning a little girl in a red cape into a seductive dancer, and her bloodthirsty enemy into a rich gangster, he transfers the action from the dense forest, where his grandmother’s house stands alone, to Hollywood of the 40s with all its chic and brilliance.
At first, it is unusual to see heroes, on whose fairy tale many generations have grown up, in such an adult role, but for many centuries they really have time to grow up. In order to add to this story of adult experiences, the relationships of the characters change here - the wolf no longer wants to eat Red Riding Hood, but he falls in love with her. And there is nothing surprising, because before us is not the girl with a basket of cakes, but an adult beauty who earns her living by performing in a tavern. The craziest hero here is the grandmother of the main character with a crisis of senility. The scene where she chases the poor wolf is incredibly hilarious. And since there are no innocent child characters in this version, the Evil Wolf does not look like such a terrible villain. He even sometimes becomes sorry, he gets very much from these women.
The cartoon entered the list of the 50 best short animations of its time not by chance. After all, who would have thought that such a humorous story, exaggerating the vices of its heroes, could influence cinema so much. Some scenes and images were borrowed from there by several modern directors. For example, the episode from the movie about the adventures of a green half-cartoon hero named Mask, when he first sees the charming Tina Carlyle on stage, is almost an exact copy of the moment when the wolf watches the performance of Red Riding Hood. Director Tex Avery is always teetering on the edge of decency, not wanting to trivialize this story, but only to allow the viewer to take a new look at it. And he did it perfectly, because this cartoon can not be forgotten by watching once.
Heroes of fairy tales are doomed to live the same story forever, frightening and entertaining children. But that doesn’t mean you can’t feel like an adult at least once.