Fairy Tale Friday--Red Hot Riding Hood (Tex Avery, 1943)

Hello and welcome to Fairy Tale Friday. Are you sitting comfortably? Good. Then I’ll begin.

 

This week we look at a cartoon from 1943 entitled Red Hot Red Riding Hood. It was directed by Tex Avery. In 1994 it was voted #7 of The 50 Greatest Cartoons of all time by members of the animation field, making it the highest ranked MGM cartoon on the list.

The story begins in the traditional manner with a young, innocent girl skipping through the woods, on her way to her frail Granny’s house while being pursued by a wolf. Suddenly the wolf breaks the forth wall and explains to the director that he doesn’t want to to tell the same boring tale again. The little girl and the granny concur and all refuse to act it out unless it can be told in a new, more interesting way.

 The story begins again with the setting being upgraded from a forest to downtown Hollywood. We see the wolf (now representing more of a male sexual predator) cruising up and down the street in his limo cat-calling at women he passes. Grandma’s house is no longer a cottage, but a penthouse apartment complete with neon sign. Little Red has made the biggest change of all from small child in bloomers to sex goddess with the stage name Red Hot Riding Hood who sings at nightclub. This character is clearly the precursor to the curvaceous Jessica Rabbit.

The wolf follows Red to the club where she is performing, and goes mad with desire. He whistles and pants, pounds the table and howls and goes completely stiff all over with a *BOING* sound. It is said that the original animation was much more graphic. Tex Avery said censors made him edit out a shot where the wolf actually became physically aroused with lust. The uncut version was shown overseas to military officers who apparently went wild over it.  

At the end of her set, he forcibly grabs her and brings her to his table and tries to woo her. She claims she is “terribly shy” and insists she is not interested.  She excuses herself by saying she is going to her Grandma’s Place and points to the skyscraper. The wolf, off like a shot, manages to get there first. (His limo drives faster than her taxi.)  It turns out that Red's grandma is an oversexed man chaser who likes a “bit of rough.” Upon seeing him, she whistles and says, "At last, a wolf! Yahoo!"

The Wolf tries to escape, but Grandma blocks the exit and asks him, "What's your hurry, hairy?" She locks the door, drops the key down the front of her evening gown, and poses provocatively for him. She chases him around the room, oblivious to his terror. Moments before the wolf was predator and now he is the prey. He does not like it when the tables are turned. The wolf eventually escapes by leaping out a window and crashing painfully on the pavement below. He hobbles back to the nightclub, bruised and bandaged vowing, "I'm through with women. Why, I'll kill myself before I'd even look at another babe." Immediately Red Hot Riding Hood takes the stage and begins to sing. The Wolf pulls out two handguns and commits suicide, but his ghost rises from his dead body and whistles and howls at Red as he did earlier.

The original ending was that the Wolf and Grandma were forced to be wed in a “Shotgun Wedding” with a caricature of Tex Avery as the justice of the peace. There would then be a scene of hybrid human/wolf children running around. This ending was blocked by the censors for implied bestiality and making light of marriage. Apparently sexual harassment was acceptable and not a cause for concern.

This film is interesting because it portrays multiple stereotypes such as the man who can’t control his lust and the sex starved older woman. Interestingly, despite being very curvy with a deep, smoky singing voice (but a baby speaking one) the least sexual character is Red Hot Riding Hood.

This film raises all sorts of issues, but I can’t decide if showing a woman who feels sexual desire is a good thing or not. It is a pretty unusual idea for the 1940’s that women have desires too, it is just a shame that they have to show it in such an exaggerated way. But either way, the sexual harassment and lack of consent worry me on both sides. No one should have to be pursued without their consent. I had hoped that the wolf would learn a lesson about what it feels like to be considered just an object. But alas, no.

Watch it for yourself;

CLICK HERE TO WATCH ON DAILY MOTION

Stay tuned next week or another Tex Avery take on this classic tale.

What We Ate Wednesday--Dal Soup

Hello lovelies! Last week I shared a recipe that I was surprised I hadn't shared before. This week is the same. I wanted to share another recipe that used curry paste since it was part of last week's recipe. I abhor food waste. When you are on a strict budget like us you can't afford to waste food. So I keep a list of recipes that use curry paste in my recipe folder so that when I open the jar I have a bank of recipes to choose from to help use it up in a timely manner.

First let me say...where has the summer gone? It has departed from Wales and left us damp and chilly. Oven time which had been temporarily suspended is back in business.

Soup is back on the menu, baby.

This soup is quick and easy to make.  It uses storecupboard ingredients like dried red lentils, a tin of tomatoes and a tin of coconut milk.  We now buy coconut milk for cheap from either Lidl or B&M Bargains but if you can't afford coconut milk or don't have any on hand you can wash out the tomato tin and measure out that much non dairy milk. Even better you can blend that milk with some dried desicated coconut and use that. It is not nearly as creamy, but It will do in a pinch. If you do buy a tin you can use regular or light. I buy whatever is on sale.

Dal Soup
1 onion, chopped
4 or more cloves of crushed garlic
1 cup dried red lentils (picked over for small stones and rinsed)
I tin chopped tomatoes
1 tin coconut milk
2.5 cups hot vegetable stock
2 TB Balti curry paste (or whatever flavour curry paste you have)
At the end:
1 TB toasted sesame oil
2 TB lemon juice (bottled is fine)

1. Cook the onion and garlic in a splash of oil or water. I tend to use water as the curry paste has oil.
2. Add the lentils, the tomatoes, the coconut milk,the curry paste and the hot veg stock and bring to the boil then reduce heat and simmer.
3. After 20 minutes or so the lentils should be tender. Stir in the toasted sesame oil and lemon juice. Add some black pepper if you like.

This makes about 4 bowls which for two greedy vegans is 2 bowls each.  If you need it to be more filling or feed more people  then serve over rice or add naan bread.

Fairy Tale Friday--Betty Boop in Dizzy Red Riding Hood (1931)

Hello and welcome to Fairy Tale Friday. Are you sitting comfortably? Good. Then I'll begin.

For the last few weeks we have looked at musical versions of Little Red Riding Hood as well as versions from musicals. For the next few weeks, I want to look at versions of our tale on film.

I am starting today with the earliest version I could find starring Betty Boop. Betty Boop made her first animated appearance in August of 1930. She was created to be the quintessential flapper of the Jazz Age and is often revered as a sex symbol. Boop was drawn to have short dresses, high heels and a garter belt. She had big breasts as well as a tiny waist. Male characters in many of the early videos were always trying to sneak a peak at her cleavage or up her dress, but Boop had a sort of innocent sexuality about her (she was meant to be around 15-16 years old)  and she fought hard against their lecherous advances. In 1932, there were two films which showed male characters trying to compromise her virginity. These portrayals of her fighting sexual harassment made her a sort of feminist icon. She appeared in this  over-sexualised format until 1934 when the Hays Code placed restrictions on sexual innuendo in film.  After that, Betty appeared in films dressed as more of a spinster housewife.

This film Dizzy Red Riding Hood is from 1931 and is full of sexual innuendo. Bimbo who is a dog follows her around like a love-sick puppy (no pun intended.) At first I was like "Why is a dog in love with and indeed allowed to get the girl at the end?" Isn't that weird? Well, as it turns out, the character of Betty Boop was originally an anthropomorphic French poodle. She features as a background character in several short films where Bimbo the dog was her sweetheart. A year later she lost the puppy ears (they became hoop earrings) and the black dog nose (it became a button nose) and she became fully human but kept her canine sweetheart. That explains it but doesn't excuse it, in my opinion.


In this film, Betty is on her way to go and see Grandma and is warned repeatedly about wolves in the woods by Bimbo but also by a frightening forest of sentient trees which reminded me of The Wizard of Oz. Betty does not listen to these pronouncements. Bimbo continually pops up like an annoying stalker and she repeatedly rebuffs him.   Later in the film, a wolf does find her and follows her (Bimbo knows this because he too is following her) and she seems unafraid. The wolf  salaciously offers her some flower seeds to plant which she innocently does, bending over and wiggling her bottom in the air unintentionally provocatively. The wolf ogles her rear while scraping a knife and fork together and singing about his plans to consume her. This harks back to those original stories where a wolf (meaning a male predator) was hungry to consume the innocent female and take her innocence. Betty Boop fits right in to those morality tales as her early career was also spent fighting off predators trying to compromise her virginity.

Bimbo sees the wolf and realises his intent so he kills it . In an effort to make himself into a more attractive bad boy. he covers himself in the skin of the wolf and declares "She loves wolves." So this begs the question-- Does she ignore Bimbo because he is a sex pest or because he is "too nice"? Does she subscribe to the stereotype that "good girls love a bad boy"? It's not clear, but what is clear is when she sees the wolf (actually Bimbo in wolf's clothing) she doesn't rebuff him like she did in his true form. We watch as her garters keep slipping off and she keeps bending down to slide them back up her shapely legs while Bimbo watches all the while making appreciative noises. Eventually in Grandma's bed (Grandma's absence is excused by saying she is at the Fireman's Ball) Betty confronts the wolf and sings, "Where'd ya get those eyes? Where'd ya get those lips?" and declares that his "big ears make him look so manly." In the song she claims to be afraid but also says how "big and strong" his arms are. Then Wolf-Bimbo scoops her up in his manly arms (and plainly holds her by the breasts) and sings "the better to eat you with!"

It ends with Bimbo kissing Betty and then being swung on a hammock made out of the crescent moon between two trees. Clearly, she has chosen Bimbo who has proved he can be a predator and devour her just as a wolf would have.

I can't help feeling like her protestations were very weak and contribute to that "no really means yes" mentality.

Also, there is a weird section where Betty Boop is picking flowers. She sings:
A violet for Grandma,
Grandma, grandma.
A Violet for grandma
and maybe a rose or two.

And here's a little tulip,
tulip, tulip.
Here's a little tulip
kissed by the morning dew.
(At this point the tulip flower gets a sneaky kiss in on an unsuspecting Betty.)

I think she'd like a pansy,
a pansy, a pansy.
I think she'd like a pansy
Other voice: the fairies like them too.

My first thought was "Was that some sort of jab at homosexuals?" So I had to go away and research when did words like pansy and fairy become words that were used to describe gays. I came across this really interesting piece of history about the Pansy Craze.  From 1930 to 1933, drag queen known as Pansy Performers experienced a surge in underground popularity. Gay subculture became mainstream during prohibition, but quickly waned when alcohol became legal again.  Who knew?

I feel this film fits in with many of the themes we have looked at with Little Red Riding Hood namely wolf as (sexual) predator and good girls get what's coming to them.

Watch it yourself and see what you think:

Next week we will look at more over-sexualised versions of our heroine in animated film.

What We Ate Wednesday--Curried Kale with Sweetcorn, Chickpeas, Toasted Coconut and Peanuts

Hello lovelies! This meal is one of our favourites. It tastes *amazing* with just a bit of prep work (the toasting of the coconut) and I couldn't believe I had never blogged about it before. As we were eating we had this discussion:

Spiderman: (nom nom nom) Are you sure you never wrote about this? We eat it a lot.
Me: (nom nom nom) I was sure I had but I did a search on the blog and can't find it.
Spiderman: (nom nom nom) Maybe you just couldn't get a decent shot of it with the camera?
Me: (nom nom nom) Yeah...that's probably it. (stuffs face)

Even this picture does not do it justice. You can't taste the sweet toasty coconut or the plump juicy raisins or or the salty crunchy peanuts or the spiced flavourful kale, sweetcorn and chickpeas. It is a veritable party in your mouth.  The hardest part is toasting the coconut and that's not really hard just boring.

Me: (Shakes the pan) Hurry up. It's been ages. (Stirs the coconut) Come on...hurry up and toast. (shakes pan again) OH FOR FRITH'S SAKE WILL YOU....oh wait! Nevermind. it's toasted.



This gets its punch of flavour from Patak's Balti Curry Paste. Even though I know that curry powder is cheaper than curry paste, I think paste has such a depth a flavour. You can make a fabulous curry by throwing all your vegetables that are left at the end of the week in a pot with some coconut milk or a tin of tomatoes and a tin of beans or some red lentils and a spoon or two of curry paste and have something really fancy tasting.  And it lasts about 6 weeks in your fridge after opening.

I make mine with brown rice so it takes 25 minutes to cook the rice. I toast the coconut first while the rice cooks and then when the rice is nearly done, do the kale bit. If you are having white rice then toast the coconut first, start the rice and cook the kale bit once you turn down the heat on the rice. Ya get me?

Curried Kale with Sweetcorn, Chickpeas, Toasted Coconut and Peanuts

Toasted Coconut:
5 TB unsweetened desiccated coconut
Toast in a dry frying pan over medium heat stirring and shaking the pan frequently until the coconut browns. Incidentally, toasted coconut tastes smashing on top of a vanilla cake. It will seem like ages with nothing happening but do not leave it unattended as it goes from white to brown in a matter of moments once it finally gets hot enough. When brown, set aside.

The green bit:
100g curly kale(about 4-5 cups), de-stemmed and torn into bits

200ml vegetable stock(about 3/4 of a cup)


The sauce:
the leftover veg stock (I will tell you about that in the directions)
a knob of vegan butter
1 TB Balti curry paste
1 TB lemon juice
1/4 cup raisins or dried cranberries


The rest:
1.5 cups of  frozen corn, defrosted with boiling water and drained
1 tin chickpeas, drained and rinsed
half a cup salted roasted peanuts

1. Toast your coconut first as described above.
2. In a large pot, boil your kale in the vegetable stock for 3 minutes, then drain the kale and SAVE THE STOCK. Press the kale in the colander to get the all the stock out.
3. In the same big pot add your saved stock and everything you needed for the sauce. Boil for about 2 minutes until the sauce thickens and reduces. The dried fruit will also plump up here.
4. Add in the corn, chickpeas, peanuts, kale and coconut and stir to mix together.
5. Serve over rice. You can't see rice in the photo, but trust me--it is under there.

I am telling you, the picture does not do this justice. It hits all the tastes--sweet, salty, sour and bitter and even umami.

Nom nom nom.

Fairy Tale Friday--Little Red Riding Hood (The Big Bopper, 1958)

Hello and welcome to Fairy Tale Friday. Are you sitting comfortably? Good. Then I'll begin.

Last week we looked at a rather sensual version of Little Red Riding Hood, this week a slightly sillier version that upon close examination has some darker overtones. .

Jiles Perry (JP) Richardson is the real name of The Big Bopper. In case you don't know, he was part of "the day the music died" plane crash that killed him, Buddy Holly and Richie Valens. His most famous song was probably Chantilly Lace. We had that song on an album when I was a child and I spent many hours lip-syncing it in front of a mirror due to its conversational lyrics. If I had known this song as a child, I am sure I would have been lip-syncing it too.

This song is a weird hybrid of Red Riding Hood and the Three Pigs. Clearly, they are the same wolf in both tales. The Big Bopper Wolf knows the Three Pigs who "flipped their wigs" when they saw Little Red because she's the "swingin'ist and that's no lie." The wolf is hammering on her door trying to get her to let him come in before Granma comes back. In the absence of a parental figure they can "have a ball" and "shake the shack." And if she won't let him in, he'll blow the house down.

To be honest, he comes across as quite the sex pest.

In 1958 the slight double entendres would have been seen as funny, but these days perhaps not so much. The implied threats of violence, the coercion to let him in while her (grand) parent is out, the not taking no for an answer and the description of how "hot" he finds her don't sit well with me these days.

And yet, as a child i would have loved it.

The lyrics that really struck me were these:

Hah-hah-hah

Now let me in now, honey

I just wanna talk to ya

Hah-hah-hah-hah-hah-hah-haaaah

You know you're lonesome in there by yourself

So, put the key in the door

And go tick-a-locka, tick-a-lock

And let me in now, honey

It reminds me very much of the eerie short story WHERE ARE YOU GOING, WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN? by Joyce Carol Oates which was made into a film starring Laura Dern called Smooth Talk. Basically, the young woman Connie is just exploring her sexuality and her effect on the opposite sex. She chafes under the strict rules of her house and the comparisons to her good girl older sister. One weekend she is left alone in her house while her family goes to a BBQ and an older man named Arnold Friend comes round and speaks to her through the screen door. Connie is alternately frightened and intrigued by him.Arnold Friend relentlessly pursues her with this same sort of persuasive smooth talk, pressure and threats of violence until he convinces her to leave with him where she will undoubtedly be raped and possibly murdered. (It is said that the character of Arnold Friend is based on serial killer Charles Schmid.)

In the song it it hilarious, but if it happened in real life it would not be so funny. 

Interestingly, I find last week's song more acceptable than this one. I am not sure why. Both feature a predator, clearly hiding his true nature, with only one thing in mind. Last week's version has a real sensual feel (as I said before, it sounds like music you could do a strip tease to.) This week's version has a fun feel that makes you want to dance and join in with the nonsense scat sort refrain of A-bing-bang-biddle-dee-bang, baby let me in. 

Listen to it here:

Stay tuned next week where explore Little Red Riding Hood in animated form.

What We Ate Wednesday--Pea and Mint Hummus

Hello lovelies! I am so easily suggestible when it comes to food. Mention something that sounds good and I will be OBSESSED with it until I can make it myself. FACT.

Last week my friend Bexy casually mentioned that she had eaten Pea and Mint Hummus and I was like Get in my belly!  I quizzed her about how it was made and she said it was a storebought one from Aldi. She said it was Lemony, refreshing and VERY green.

That settled it. I was making me some of that spreadable deliciousness.

I did some searches online for recipes...some used all peas, some used a mixture of peas and chickpeas, some used white beans instead of chickpeas but all used fresh mint leaves.

Now, Bexy is a gardener. When I said I didn't have any fresh mint she offered to bring me some in a pot. Then I laughed my head off and said I have yet to be able to keep a mint plant alive which she agreed was very impressive.

It is nigh on impossible to kill mint.

But I have done it.

Multiple times.

I am a mint murderer.

So I decided to use mint sauce. But if you are not a mint murder, then by all means use fresh mint.

I also decided to use white beans (in my case butter beans as they are cheaper than haricot or cannellini) instead of chickpeas as i find they make a creamier hummus without as much oil.

I also decided to use a fresh lemon rather than bottled lemon. Sometimes I interchange them, but I wanted the zest and a pop of extra lemony flavour.

Pea and Mint Hummus

In a food processor blend the following until smooth:

2 cups frozen peas, defrosted in boiling water and rinsed with cold water
1 tin white beans, drained and rinsed SAVE THE LIQUID 
1 clove chopped garlic
zest and juice of one lemon
2 TB tahini (sesame seed paste)
1 TB olive oil
small handful of mint leaves, torn small or 1 TB mint sauce
liquid from the tin of beans as needed

Blend everything really well, stopping to scrape down the sides occasionally. Add the bean liquid a few TB at a time until it is desired consistency. I used 4 TB to get it how I like it.

Spoon into containers. I love salsa jars. They are the perfect size. This makes 2 and a half salsa jars so just about 2.5 cups of hummus.

Did you know you can freeze hummus? You can. Just defrost overnight in the fridge.

I freeze two and put the half filled jar in the fridge.

Making your own hummus is way more economical as you can make a huge batch for pennies compare to those teeny plastic  tubs you get at the supermarket.

I make a lot of different flavoured hummus for my lunch, so will hopefully start to document them and share recipes instead of just stuffing them into my mouth.

DIM--Dumass Institute of Movement

DIM

Dumass Institute of Movement

Have you always thought of yourself as clumsy? Do you trip over your own feet several times a day? Do you struggle with co-ordination, balance and movement?

You may suffer from a condition called DYSPRAXIA which is a developmental coordination disorder (DCD) affecting fine and/or gross motor coordination in children and adults. It is believed that one in ten children show symptoms of being dyspraxic.

Dr Ima Dumass, founder of the Dumass Institute of Movement, has a identified a sub category of dyspraxia called DYSPRAXIC OVERESTIMATION where the dyspraxic individuals grossly overestimate their co-ordination abilities causing them to repeatedly injure themselves in absurd ways. Her research shows that one in every five dyspraxic people show signs of Dyspraxic Overestimation. Dr Dumass has devoted her life to this group of poor, deluded individuals.

The Institute works with Dyspraxic Over-estimators to help them be aware of their limitations and not take risks that will lead to injury. Here are just a few of our success stories:

Heather, Wales

I jumped off a rock in the park while trying to imitate Eddie Van Halen and fell and shattered my coccyx. At the time I was extremely confident that I could pull this move off. Thanks to the Dumass Institute of Movement, I realise that I am not a rock star and never will be.

Rosie-Mai, England

I was running on a beach with friends. In my mind I was picturing that scene in Chariots of Fire and so I decided I could skip across the sand without a problem until I fell over and my hand went purple. This was the first of many overestimation injuries I received before I found the Institute.

Here at the Institute we teach dyspraxic individuals to ask themselves these crucial questions before attempting a physical task:

1. Can I do this?

2.  Seriously, can I actually do this?

3.If I did do this, is there a way it could go horribly wrong?

Our motto is: If in doubt, don’t attempt it.

The Dumass Institute of Movement has helped countless people lead better lives by helping them to avoid daft injuries while messing about with their friends.