by basprunger in Fairy Tales in Pop Culture, Fairy Tales in Television Tags: Anna Paquin, Big Bad Wolf, Deborah Ann Woll, Fae, Fairy godmother, fairy tale Halloween costumes, fairy tales in pop culture, fairy tales in television, Halloween, Jessica Hamby, Sookie Stackhouse, True Blood, vampires

I’ve been considering doing a post on fairy tales in “True Blood” ever since the beginning of season 4. In episode 1 of this season (“She’s Not There”), Sookie (Anna Paquin) learned that Claudine (Lara Pulver) was actually her fairy godmother. Then, two episodes later, in episode 3, “If You Love Me, Why Am I Dyin’?”, Sookie’s “fairy godmother” comes up, yet again. While it’s clear to me that the fairy godmother is an obvious Cinderella reference, I just didn’t think this was enough for a whole post. Certain that we would learn more about the denizens of Faery, I decided to wait a while to make a full post on fairy tales in “True Blood.” After seeing Jessica’s (Deborah Ann Woll) Little Red Riding Hood getup in the season finale, however, I couldn’t resist a mini-post.

For those of you who didn’t see the episode, here’s the first scene in which we see Jessica as Little Red.

Although the footage of Jessica running through the woods with her cloak flowing behind her is lovely, HBO’s post to the fictional character’s blog is much more interesting. In the original fairy tale, Little Red is clearly the victim; she’s a helpless little girl who falls prey to a devious wolf. Jessica, however, is anything but prey. In the world of “True Blood,” she’s the ultimate predator: a vampire. Werewolves (or regular wolves, for that matter) are no match for her supernatural powers. By dressing up as Little Red, Jessica is turning the story upside down. This Little Red isn’t exactly innocent. In this story, she’s the irresistible evil lurking in the forest.

The thing is, the original fairy tale paints a picture of a darker Little Red Riding Hood–one a bit more like Jessica. In the earliest versions of the story, the wolf makes the little girl into a cannibal by convincing her to eat her grandmother’s blood and flesh. That sounds more than a little vampiric to me.

Not only that, but Jessica’s version of Little Red is an extremely seductive one, and what is “Little Red Riding Hood” if not a cautionary tale about resisting temptation? If the girl had listened to her mother rather than leaving the path to pick flowers, she would never have run into trouble in the first place.

For those of you interested in replicating Jessica’s costume for Halloween, the True Blood Fashion Q & A has a great article on putting it together, including tips as well as links to stores at which some of the pieces can be purchased.

As I said before, I expect many more fairy tale references from this show in the future, what with the recent addition of fairies and fairy godmothers. Until then, however, at least we have Jessica as Little Red.