Tuesday, December 7, 2010

Too Much of a Good Thing?

For a while now, it's been said that there are no new stories, simply retellings and new voices. Over the past couple months, it's become increasingly obvious that this is true. What am I talking about, you ask? What I'm talking about is a simple fairy tale all children know that's hitting the works and is hitting it hard. One about a little girl with a red cloak and a wolf.

Yep, you've guessed it. Little Red Riding Hood. And if you haven't been paying much attention, you may have missed the numerous hits it's had lately. First published is Jackson Pearce's Sister's Red which is a twist on the Little Red Riding Hood story in which werewolves are hunted by axe wielding girls. If you haven't read it yet, I would highly recommend it.

Then comes out Ivy Devlin's Low Red Moon, a different twist on the story which takes place in modern times in which a girl's family is murdered by a wolf and she's left to live without them when a new boy suddenly comes to town. It's a paranormal romance and a mystery, but still based of Little Red Riding Hood.

Then there's Sarah Blakley-Cartwright and David Leslie Johnson's upcoming Red Riding Hood which is a darker, more Gothic version of the story in which a girl is killed by the wolf.

Similarly, now there's a movie entitled "Red Riding Hood" that premieres in March of next year which is a Gothic retellling that appears to be a love triangle within a thriller/chiller movie. You can watch the trailer for the movie at the bottom of this post.

I've always been a fan of Little Red Riding Hood and, in fact, wrote a short retelling of it for my Creative Writing class at the beginning of this year, proving that I am not immune to the craze for it, but how much is too much? It seems to me that there is too much Red Riding Hood here, but I want to hear what other readers have to say. Leave a comment with you thoughts on the matter and let me know what you think about all this.

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