Retelling Fairy Tales: Little Red is Armed by the NRA

Here are some more recent fairy tale adaptations, for younger readers this time–thanks, once again, to the excellent Barnes & Noble blog (there is one for teen books and one for children).

Fairy tales, of course, are never innocent; their moral and ideological power has much been argued over. Various arguments have taken place over whether they are conservative or subversive, unhealthily irrational or liberatingly imaginative, and the violence and sexual content of the originals has always raised questions. Their contemporary retellings are also value-laden, of course–as is all literature–but those values may be subtly expressed and full of contradictions; it takes thought and careful reading to pick them out. However, the US National Rifle Association, which advocates the right to bear arms, has reworked some classic fairy tales here in ways that are (I think laughably) blatant. There are interesting arguments raised here about fairy tales and violence, art and propaganda, and so on.

About William the Bloody

Cat lover. 18C scholar on the dialogue and novel. Co-convenor OGOM Project
This entry was posted in Critical thoughts, Generation Dead: YA Fiction and the Gothic news and tagged , , , , , . Bookmark the permalink.

5 Responses to Retelling Fairy Tales: Little Red is Armed by the NRA

  1. Lucy Northenra says:

    This is very good material for my fairy tale strand in the Books of blood project. LRRH is such a potent symbol and ripe for looking at the uses and abuses of fairy tales.

  2. firekrank says:

    Oh this is hilarious! But I have to admit, I prefer Roald Dahl’s version of LRRH involving a gun: ‘The small girl smiles. One eyelid flickers./ She whips a pistol from her knickers. /She aims it at the creature’s head /And bang bang bang, she shoots him dead’. Far more provocative.

    • William the Bloody says:

      I was trying to think of the Dahl rhyme when I posted this, Kaja–thanks for reminding me! And it is so much more fun than the NRA version!

      • firekrank says:

        You’re welcome. We had to try and write our own versions of a Roald Dahl poem at primary school. It was the best writing exercise, ever!

  3. Lucy Northenra says:

    Inserting guns into fairy tales is actually quite post modern…they have their own agenda of course but this could run and run…yes they have overlooked the fact that Dahl has already done this albeit to comic effect in Revolting Rhymes. I will definitely refer to this in Books of Blood in my FT strand. Bonkers!

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