On Damsels and Heroines: A Comparative Study of the Hero's Journey in Little Red Riding Hood and Freeway

Abstract

On Damsels and Heroines: A Comparative Study of the Hero's Journey in Little Red Riding Hood and Freeway Yasaman Nouri Abstract Little Red Riding Hood is a world famous story.Throughout the time the story of Little Red Riding Hood has been subjected to many film, animation and musical adaptations. Most modern day retellings are based on the written version popularized by the Grimm Brothers in 19th century Germany. One such adaptation is the movie Freeway (1996) directed by Matthew Bright and starring Reese Witherspoon as Vanessa Lutz.Vanessa and Little Riding Hood both venture on a journey; one through the woods and the other through a freeway. Their goal is to reach their grandmothers' house. We can say both of them embark on a "Hero's Journey".In 1949, American mythologist Joseph Campbell published The Hero with a Thousand Faces. From this work, Campbell developed the concept of "Hero's Journey".Thus, the purpose of this paper is to study and compare the concept of Hero's Journey in the tale of Little Red Riding Hood and the movie Freeway. The paper attempts to discover if they are successful in their journey or not, and if not what are the reasons for their failure. Full Text: PDF DOI: 10.15640/ijll.v5n2a8