The title of this fairy tale, “The Wolf King and the Prom Queen” presents the stereotypical “talking animal” theme and the lost girl as part of a classic approach to the plot of this story. In this case, the story Little Red Riding Hood is presented in a modern context, which reveals the “werewolf” in the character of Winny. This aspect of classic fairy tales is part of the human presentation of talking animals in the role of the Wolf King: “Little Red Riding Hood’s wolf has become an incarnation of the mythical figure of the notorious Big Bad Wolf of the fairy-tale world (Beckett 113). In this manner, the premise of the Big Bad Wolf becomes an archetype in developing a countermeasure to Alyssa’s role as a type of “Cinderella” character that
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A combination of the “wealthy widower” of Perrault’s version of Cinderella and the impoverished and victimized young woman are part of Alyssa’s characterization: “Modern-day readers have become accustomed to thinking of Cinderella in which heroines rise from rags to riches” (Bottigheimer 87). In this manner, the Wolf King does not seem altogether “bad” because he is actually taming her high expectations of him to be presentable at the prom/ball. However, this type of ambiguity makes the relationship between Alyssa and Winny much more realistic, since people are often much more complex than “good or bad” characters in the classic fairy tale. This is why I chose to deviate from the classic story of the Wolf in Little Red Riding Hood and the victorious girl in Cinderella. In some ways, this story has remained loyal to some of the classic archetypes of the wolf and Cinderella, but it has also deviated into a more complex fable/cautionary tale on the problem of avarice, upper class culture. More so, it teaches the reader that humility is the most important aspect of human relationships, which reveals the alternate role of the Wolf King and the Prom Queen as part of a modern interpretation of fairy tale storytelling. Certainly, the “Wolf King and the Prom Queen” provides a blend of Cinderella and Little Red Riding Hood, but within the
A combination of the “wealthy widower” of Perrault’s version of Cinderella and the impoverished and victimized young woman are part of Alyssa’s characterization: “Modern-day readers have become accustomed to thinking of Cinderella in which heroines rise from rags to riches” (Bottigheimer 87). In this manner, the Wolf King does not seem altogether “bad” because he is actually taming her high expectations of him to be presentable at the prom/ball. However, this type of ambiguity makes the relationship between Alyssa and Winny much more realistic, since people are often much more complex than “good or bad” characters in the classic fairy tale. This is why I chose to deviate from the classic story of the Wolf in Little Red Riding Hood and the victorious girl in Cinderella. In some ways, this story has remained loyal to some of the classic archetypes of the wolf and Cinderella, but it has also deviated into a more complex fable/cautionary tale on the problem of avarice, upper class culture. More so, it teaches the reader that humility is the most important aspect of human relationships, which reveals the alternate role of the Wolf King and the Prom Queen as part of a modern interpretation of fairy tale storytelling. Certainly, the “Wolf King and the Prom Queen” provides a blend of Cinderella and Little Red Riding Hood, but within the