| In the social production of their life, men enter into definite relations that are indispensable and independent of their will, relations of production which correspond to a definite stage of development of their material productive forces. The sum total of these relations of production constitutes the economic structure of society, the real foundation, on which rises a legal and political superstructure and to which correspond definite forms of social consciousness. The mode of production of material life conditions the social, political and intellectual life process in general. It is not the consciousness of men that determines their being, but on the contrary, their social being that determines their consciousness.1Marx and Engels argued that art, ideology and politics were a 'superstructure', which rested upon the 'base' which was economic relations. To some extent, Max means that a certain form of economy will produce a certain form of culture, or art. I have chosen to commence this study with three versions of Little Red Riding Hood through the Marxist point of view. Among these versions, the most impressive one is Angela Carter's.As a British Writer, Angela Carter (1940-1992) was, without question, a 20th century original. No matter what one thinks of her writing, no one can argue that she was ever less than unique. Magic Realism, Surrealism, Fantasy, Science fiction, Gothic, Feminism, and Postmodernism—all of these categories apply to Carter, but none of them encompass the full spectrum of her accomplishments.One of her accomplishments is her revision of the original fairy tales. Karl Marx with Maurice Dobb, 1895. A Contribution to the Critique of Political Economy. International Publishers Company, Incorporated.When I was a small child, I heard two fairy tales about wolf from my mother. One is The Wolf Is Coming. A cowboy enjoyed himself by telling a lie that the wolf came. When the people came to help, they found they were cheated. They angrily left. Next time the wolf really came, nobody came to help him. The other is Little Red Cap.1 It is quite similar to the Grimms' version. Frenchman Charles Perrault, more than 100 years before the Grimms, may be the first writer to change the oral tale of Little Red Riding Hood into a written one. Perrault's version is different from the Grimms'. In the Grimms' version, the wolf swallowed both little Red Riding Hood and her grandma. When the wolf was asleep, the hunter came and found the wolf's belly was swelling. Then he cut the wolf's belly with a pair of scissors and saved the little girl and the grandma. At last, the hunter killed the wolf.In Perrault's version, the wolf swallowed the grandma and wore her clothes. It imitated the grandma's voice and asked the little girl to sleep with him. The girl was cheated and gobbled up by the wolf. Up to 1979, there appeared the new version of Little Red Riding Hood. Angela Carter's story The Company of Wolves2 is a creative revision of Perrault's Little Red Riding Hood. There are many changes in style, character and content. In The Company of Wolves (Angela Carter, 1979), on her way to her grandma's house, the little girl met a handsome young hunter, who was disguised by the wolf. The result is open. The wolf swallowed the grandma, while the little girl was safe. No hunter appeared to kill the wolf. The little girl did not use her knife either. To our surprise, the little helped the wolf to take off its clothes and slept with him. There are three versions of Little Red Riding Hood now—French, Grimm, Die Bruder (Jacob and Wilhelm), 1812. Rotkappchen In Kinder-und Hasusmarchen. Berlin: Realschulbuchhandlung.Carter, Angela, 1979. The Company of Wolves In The Bloody Chamber. New York: Harper&Row.German and British. From the Perrault's version in the 16th century to the Grimms' version in the 19th century, to Carter's version in the 20th century, we saw the development of the tale in the past 300 years. From Marxist point of view, literature reflects life, social...
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