Lechery, lycanthropy and Little Red Riding Hood in Type O Negative’s ‘Wolf Moon (Including Zoanthropic Paranoia)’

Abstract

Abstract Type O Negative’s ‘Wolf Moon (including Zoanthropic Paranoia)’ seems to be a melodic ode to lascivious werewolves or to sexual intercourse during menstruation, which is transformative, allowing participation to channel animalistic instincts. Subject to more critical examination, ‘Wolf Moon (including Zoanthropic Paranoia)’ can also be presented as a contemporary incarnation of the ‘Little Red Riding Hood’ myth. Both contain the same themes: the stigmatization of eroticism, reclamation of agency, along with the nuances of gender identity and representation. Any Women’s Studies programme student is attuned to how storytelling and imagery of those within the story influence gender roles and their perceptions. Real-life themes are undoubtedly found within fairy tales as well, with a special emphasis on how women who do not remain in their proper place are punished because of it. In ‘Wolf Moon (including Zoanthropic Paranoia)’, the woman is rewarded for those experiences, by being permitted to indulge in her darkest desires. Meeting (or meating) a wolf that is hungry for you is nothing to fear in Type O Negative’s version of ‘Little Red Riding Hood’. Instead, it is the hallmark of a ‘great day’, and is something that should be celebrated. As ‘Little Red Riding Hood’ traverses onward throughout the western society’s cultural consciousness, one can only hope for further metal music acts interpretations of this infamous fairy tale. Representation matters, and the nuances of how the female gender has been portrayed throughout the centuries as reflected in the re-telling of a fairy tale is a subject that warrants a closer look through metal music and gender.