Scarlet

Fairy tales are as old as humankind, and each culture has its own interpretation of major fairy tales. In 1989, Chinese American author Ed Young published “Lon Po Po: A Red-Riding Hood Story from China.” This children’s story pulls elements from the European version of the “Little Red Riding Hood” story, such as the villainous wolf who pretends to be a grandmother to gain children’s trust so he can eat them. “Lon Po Po” roughly translates to “Granny Wolf,” and although the details of “Lon Po Po” differ significantly from its European counterpart, the key element of deception shines through. In both cases, a predatory wolf tries to impersonate a kindly grandmother, and the stories are often used to teach lessons about the dangers of trusting strangers.

Author Marissa Meyer has a deep love for traditional fairy tales, and like many modern retellings, The Lunar Chronicles borrows heavily from these highly-popularized children’s stories. In Meyer’s debut novel Cinder, elements of the traditional “Cinderella” story are given a sci-fi twist. Cinderella is a cyborg, and instead of leaving a glass slipper on the palace steps, she leaves behind her metal foot and is immediately thrown in jail for allegedly trying to assassinate her prince. The Lunar Chronicles does not attempt to perfectly mimic the original source material but instead borrows key images and plot devices to create clever allusions with a futuristic sci-fi backdrop. The novels are not meant to be standalone creations but a continuation of the same story that is constantly folding more fairy-tale-inspired characters and plot details into the adventure.

In Scarlet, Meyer keeps with the tradition of marrying science fiction with key images and ideas from the original “Little Red Riding Hood” story first documented in Europe. The reader still witnesses the “Granny Wolf” moment when Scarlet discovers that one of the Lunar thaumaturges uses glamour to make her think that she is talking to her grandmother, when in fact, she is talking to one of the Lunar operatives—one of the “Wolves.” Little Red isn’t eaten by a wolf in this moment, but the sinister tone is maintained when it is announced that she will be tortured for information. The “Wolves” may not be actual animals, but like the wolf in the original story, they are capable of shocking brutality and cunning reasoning, which makes them arguably more dangerous. The main topic of “trust” is still captured, and the heart of the “Little Red Riding Hood” story lives on.

As more authors turn to fairy tales for source material, particularly those with female protagonists, messages of empowerment and agency have become more popular in recent years. In Scarlet, for example, Little Red isn’t a small defenseless child but a strong, pistol-packing young woman who will stop at nothing to find her grandmother’s kidnappers. For generations, fairy tale women were largely represented as victims with no control over their lives, but with this new surge of strong female leads taking the power in their stories, characters like Scarlet Benoit and Linh Cinder are here to stay. These versions remind readers, especially young female readers, that anyone can be a hero, and the transient nature of fairy tales means that these story elements are highly malleable and easily modified to fit any desired narrative.