Of fairy tales and gore

A long while ago a friend of mine introduced me to The Sandman by Neil Gaiman. Never had the opportunity to read it until now. It may be a comic, but theres good reason it was the critically acclaimed read of its time. The series just completely blew my mind.

In one of the issues, a character in the books tells the Pre-Perrault version of Little Red Riding Hood. I thought it was absolutely bollocks, until I did the research that proved it to be quite accurate. So here's an excerpt from the issue on the original Little Red Riding Hood. Do click the pictures below to view.

After you put 2 and 2 together you do realize that the sweetest things can always be traced up to some other deeper grotesque thing. Such things that originate from those times always seem so terrible ( I mean look how sorrowful Shakespeare's writing can get ). Life then must have been a rot the likes of which we couldn't imagine in our own lives of abundance.

Then again you can dissect the teaching moral behind the story. Of many there's the sexual awakening interpretation in which the anthropomorphic wolf symbolizes a man ie. seducer, lover or sexual partner. And the "red" riding "hood" may well be her virginity, the hood most likely a hymen.

Oh, it'd be quite the task to protect my children from all the ugly things they'll encounter

when I become a father one day. What with god knows who the newer lady gagas in their generation would be like. Micheal Jackson dead and all, so few are the icons worthy of being good role models to kids. Then again, the only reason I was never really much trouble as a kid was because I was such a bookworm nerd. Figures..