“Red Is For Revenge” is an adaption of “Red Riding Hood”, a Brothers Grimm fairytale that I wrote for an assignment at Vancouver Film School. I chose this fairytale because I’ve always had a big love for fairytales, mythology, and legends.
Maybe it’s because I grew up with brutal and crazy German tales?
German (Fairy)Tales
As a German who grew up in the 90s-00s, I remember that our fairytales weren’t only tales you told your kids as a good night story, but they were also cautionary tales.
For example, I grew up reading “Der Struwwelpeter” …
Yes, I read a book with this creepy dude on the cover and the subtitle “Pretty Stories And Funny Pictures“. This subtitle is hilarious to me!
Because I can’t really tell what’s so funny about kids who get their thumbs cut off by a weird-ass stranger with a big scissor or who burn to death …
… but at least I knew you shouldn’t suck your thumb or play around with a lighter. I think I don’t need to mention that these images burned themselves into my brain. But weirdly enough I also remember that I wasn’t really disturbed as a child. It was more like an “Oh! I see … interesting.”
Just the thought that a German doctor and psychiatrist decided that it would be helpful to teach kids how to behave correctly with these “pretty stories and funny pictures” makes me chuckle.
Well, what can I say, my friends?
We Germans have our weird spots and aren’t just super productive and efficient. Or maybe we are like that because we scare our kids with these stories?? 😀
Red Riding Hood aka “Rotkäppchen”
“Red Riding Hood” is also a cautionary tale for kids – especially girls – to not trust any stranger. Especially, when he lures you naked into his bed to hold you tightly!
In the original French version of Red Riding Hood by Perrault the innocent little girl is indeed asked by the wolf to take off her clothes after he tricked her into eating parts of her dead grandmother. Because apparently the little girl mistook her grandmother’s teeth for rice …?
Honest mistake … I mean … who could know that these hard rice-thingies were teeth or that her grandmother wasn’t her actual grandmother looking like this?
This original tale isn’t probably the cute story you heard or read from the red-hooded girl. It’s also not the story that the Brothers Grimm wrote down.
But it’s the one that intrigued me to adapt “Red Riding Hood” for a short script. I thought it would be interesting to capture the dark and cruel tone of the original version in which Little Red also dies in the end.
Because what if she would come back to seek revenge?
Well, that’s a tale you can read HERE.
Hope you like my adapted version. Feel free to leave me a comment about it. Until then, stay weird and keep creating!
Jule
You’d rather read a tragic fairytale story about the moon?
Then, head over to another story of mine: Selenophilia
Or if you’re generally interested in what else I’m writing, take a look here:
Meine deutschen Geschichten (My German Stories)
Jule Jessenberger 
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