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Maria Reyes
Professor Lewis
English 114B
March 6, 2014
Faery Tales VS Reality
Faery tales have been around for years and they are still being used in many
different ways. They are used to entertain but also to teach certain morals. They are mostly
targeted towards children, which is why its important that they are sending the right messages.
Most faery tales deal with a hero, heroine, and a villain. They are told in such a way that you, the
audience, is able to identify who is who. Faery tales show something that reality does not, and
that is certainty. Real life does not give you a clear confirmation of who is who, which is why
before pointing fingers we should get the whole story. Entertainment that is directed to kids is
very crucial in the way that the messages are portrayed. It is important that the way the story is
put together leaves the child with a clear understanding of what is right and what is wrong. Faery
tales have been passed around for centuries and they are still being shaped to fit todays society.
Many movies today have some sense of faery tales and they are looked at in different ways than
they were originally intended to. In faery tales it is very common that there be a hero, a heroin,
and a villain. What can cause someone to misunderstand something is of how each of those
characters look based on their label. Real life doesnt give you a clear confirmation of who is
who, which is why before pointing fingers we should get the whole story.

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In stories like Little Red Cap by the Brothers Grimm, it is easy to identify who the
villain is based on how their looks are described. The Big Bad Wolf is associated with fear
because people in general tend to be afraid of wild animals. The heroine, Little Red, is described
as a young girl delivering food to her grandmother. It is quite simple to identify that Little Red is
the heroin because of the way she is described. They make her sound innocent so it would only
make sense that she is not the one to cause any harm. Faery tales have given the impression that
the way that someone looks indicates who they are as a person.
Real life has a way of being unexpected. Things turn out to be the complete opposite of
what you thought they were. Just like that, people can also be misjudged. Innocence is something
that can not be identified by the way someone looks, but faery tales make it seem that way. Just
like the Bear Cop in Hoodwinked!, people can jump into conclusion as to who is guilty and who
is innocent. When children listen to, read, or watch, faery tales they learn a particular way in
which to view the world and the people in it. More movies should start showing kids how
someone who may look innocent could turn out to be the bad guy and vise versa. This will teach
kids that just because something seems a certain way doesnt mean that it is, they are just
misunderstood.
The movie Hoodwinked! shows how a situation could be misunderstood. It takes the story
of Little Red Cap and gives it a twist. Cookie recipes have been stolen by the Goodie Bandit
causing woodland animals to go out of business. Red, The Wolf, the Woodsman, and Granny are
all arrested and questioned in order to identify who the goody bandit is. Through the movie, each
suspect tells their story and we see how each of them were misunderstood. The Wolf is thought
out to be the villain in the faery tale of Little Red Cap, so it is expected for him to be the
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villain in Hoodwinked! as well. From the start of the movie, the Bear Cop instantly says that The
Wolf is guilty and that Red is innocent based on how they look. It turned out that the goody
bandit was Reds friend, Boingo. The tiny bunny who everyone though was innocent turned out
to be the one putting everyone out of business.
In Hoodwinked!, Granny, was thought out to be someone who stayed at home knitting
and baking but she turned out to be someone who had hidden sport trophies. Granny turned out
to be something completely different than what everyone had thought. Just like Granny, Red was
also looked as someone who was weak and in need of saving. Because of Little Red Cap, Red
is looked as someone who needs saving, but Hoodwinked! makes her out to be someone who is
tough enough to save herself. This movie breaks the stereotype of being looked as weak and in
need of saving because you look like you cant take care of yourself.
Its easy to tell who the villain is by reading faery tales or even by watching them on TV,
but its not the same when its reality. People can be accused for something that they didnt do or
for being something that they're not because they aren't given the chance to prove otherwise. Its
important that kids are taught not to jump to conclusion. From an early age kids start to blame
others for reasons that make sense to them. Movies like Hoodwinked! and faery tales like The
Ugly Duckling illustrate a good message to kids about misunderstood situations.
The Ugly Duckling is a very popular faery tale that has a very valuable moral. A story
of a duck who is outcasted by his family because he looks different but at the end turns into the
most beautiful swan at the pond. This teaches kids at a young age that you shouldnt listen to
what other people say about you. This faery tale also shows how something can be
misunderstood. The ugly duckling wasnt necessarily ugly, just different, and no one in the
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family ever took the chance to think that maybe he wasnt really a part of them. He wasnt like
them because he came form a family of swans and he was being judged for the wrong reasons.
New faery tales are still being created so its important that they include messages that
dont just teach about being a good person but about giving others a chance to prove you wrong.
Often times, its not just faery tales who show this kind of misunderstanding. The thought that
personality is based on how someone looks has been repeated over time in the entertainment
business. People believe in these stereotypes and they have become cautious to what they see
rather than how that person really is. A lot of films use characters that look the part. If someone
looks tough and scary, they will use them to represent the villain, like the Big Bad Wolf. If
someone looks nice and innocent, they will use them to play the heroine, like Red and Boingo.
Since people have been watching movies and reading books from an early age, they have
unconsciously memorized what it means when someone looks a certain way. Hoodwinked! does
a good job in showing that the way someone looks doesnt indicate who they are. Boingo, the
goody bandit, was one of the most innocent looking animals in the forest, but he wasnt so
innocent after all. An interesting twist, is that the movie took The Wolf, who in the original story
is the villain, and they made him innocent and misunderstood. The directors took something that
from anyones eyes would look suspicious and sneaky but at the end they find out that he was just
trying to catch whoever was causing harm to others. Not only did they make him innocent, but
they made him kind and thoughtful. Hoodwinked! showed the meaning behind the phrase looks
can be deceiving by taking a certain look and giving it the opposite personality of what society
thinks.
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In todays society where things are often taken the wrong way, more movies like
Hoodwinked! should be shown to kids. It teaches kids to be understanding and respective of
people unless proved otherwise. It would show them that just because someone is talked about
being a bad person, doesnt mean that they necessarily are. Most faery tales are about not letting
others judge you, but an equally important message is to not judge others. Faery tales show
clearly who the villain is but in real life we have to dig a little deeper. Old stories taught that the
Big Bad Wolf is the villain but new stories show that someone that may seem sweet, like Boingo,
can turn out to be the villain.

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Works Cited
Andersen, Hans Christian. The Princess and the Pea. SurLaLune. Ed. Heidi Anne Heiner. 2007.
Web. 26 Jan. 2014
Grimm, Jacob and Wilhelm. "Little Red Cap." Folk and Fairy Tales. Eds. Martin Hallett and
Barbara Karasek. 3
rd
Edition. Toronto: Broadview Press, 2002. 9-12.
Hoodwinked! Dir. Cory Edwards, Todd Edwards, and Tony Leech. Perf. Anne Hathaway, Glenn
Close, and James Belushi. The Weinstein Company, 2005. DVD.