The stories that a society tells itself, the fables and myths sung in lullabys and written into Hollywood films, can be seen as an index to that society’s ideas about morality. Little Red Riding Hood is a cautionary tale, designed to reveal to children the dangers of not heeding a parent’s instructions and fraternising with strangers. It also paints a pretty negative picture of wolves and equates the death of a wolf with the survival of a human family unit. Snow White is one of many European fairy tales which equates beauty with innocence, and creates a dichotomy between two female archetypes: the pure young innocent and the corrupted older charlatan. Of course, male figures in fairy tales are, like the prince in Cinderella, generally expected to be heroic and rich.A web artwork created by Jolaine Blais, Jon Ippolito and Keith Frank in 1999 called Fair e-tales interrogates the simplicity of these founding myths. Presenting re-worked versions of Cinderella, Little Red Riding Hood and Rapunzel, Fair e-tales is a tongue-in-cheek advocation of equal opportunities for all characters. It uses the web format to enable multiple versions of each story to exist within the same frame and without hierarchy. Viewers can choose to read Cinderella from the perspective of the (gay) prince as he forms a strategic alliance with the (lesbian) step-sisters to prevent his unwanted marriage from taking place, or Rapunzel from the perspective of the witch (who was actually a concerned midwife trying to save the infant Rapunzel from her murderous parents). Viewers may also be surprised to discover that Little Red Riding Hood was not so innocent after all, and her mother was right to worry.
This work shows that morality is contingent on perspective and circumstance, and cleverly uses its digital medium to undermine the linearity and fixity of traditional texts. History may be written by the victors, but hyperfables are more democratically inclusive.
Illustration of Red Riding Hood is by Gustave Dore
2 comments:
I had fun playing with these stories - another great post! X
I like the point you make at the end. I think stories are one dimension but there is also a non linguistic dimension. Zizek makes a good point when he argues that ideology is best seen in action, not speeches.
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