ABSTRACT
Proceeding with the notion that children’s television producers can (and often do) avail themselves of the possibilities of both medium and fairy-tale form, this chapter considers how various programs have presented “Little Red Riding Hood” (ATU 333), as its prominence in the European diasporic canon has led to its perennial adaptation. Vernacular narratives comprise a store of public domain materials freely adaptable to generate inexpensive content for a captive and allegedly non-discerning audience. A tale’s ongoing presence in multiple versions, through the child’s (presumed) exposure to them through multiple media (including other television), provides a low entry point to the specific program: the story is recognizable to the child or the adult making viewing choices on behalf of the child. Finally, the screen’s presence within the familiar confines of the family home and the small size of its audience at the time of viewing provide an intimacy closer to interpersonal communication than in other mediations like film and theater.
