Rediscovering Red | Artist Statement and Process

Artist Statement

This project reimagines the classic Little Red Riding Hood by the Brothers Grimm as a Chinese Canadian coming-of-age story in a post-2020 world. This was an OCAD U project that I broke down into concept illustrations of the characters and potential scene settings.

An influence for the narrative was to interpret it as a story of growing up surrounded by 21st-century hate over the ethnic and class identity of Asian & Pacific Islanders due to accelerated events. That of the United States 2016 elections and the Covid-19 pandemic. I imagined this narrative would be told either through two potential mediums an animated 2d short film or a point-and-click video game.

The Synopsis

Little Red, a Chinese Canadian kid in their preteens, would embark on an errand for her sick grandma to retrieve Chinese medicine from her local Chinese doctor several blocks down from their Toronto apartment. On this journey, she discovers the city is run over by demon-possessed individuals but is guided by a Guardian from her community to navigate safely.

The Process

When going into this project I had two iterations of how I would reimagine Little Red Riding Hood. At one point it was going to be a dystopia wasteland overridden by rats!

However, the coming-of-age story carried more weight of meaning and personal value as I continued the research needed to develop the narrative. Such design elements added the yellow whistle to Little Red's look. Although this feature is from the New York City anti-Asian movement I thought it be important to create intersections of the collective Asian American experiences in these small details. I also looked towards the architecture and typology of the Toronto Chinatown that is near my university campus.

I chose this location as the primary space of inspiration for the narrative to locate Little Red heavily interconnected to her community. Chinatowns were historically established for a sense of safety and community for Chinese immigrants and later many immigrants from diverse backgrounds. Especially during the rise of anti-AAPI discrimination, I wanted to highlight a space that has always constantly been under threat of erasure.

As a Chinese Canadian woman, I also wanted to consider the reclamation and circumvention of stereotypes I could challenge in this narrative. Part of these tensions was to take the Martial Arts master trope and make her the sub in the Lumberjack character. This was typically a masculine role. However, I dubbed it the "Guardian." I wanted to keep this role more open-ended since I believe this role could be fulfilled by any elder in the community. Some design elements did consider her as her mother. So, I had a variation where it was more of a casual comfy look. I envisioned this character leading a WuShu Club in Toronto. I should note that the Ji featured here has been modified. It's not like a typical Chinese Halberd and I designed it to play into the typical axe look. Her action pose is also focused more on traditional Chinese sword fighting rather than WuShu sword utilization. This plays more into the monster-esque characters in the story.

The term "monster" is used to describe the design but that wasn't the term I'd utilize for the narrative. I wanted to present a clear antagonist in this narrative but try to break down perceptions of hate to a younger audience with the fantasy lens and return it to reality. The Big Bad Demon Wolf in essence is meant to represent people's misconceptions, ignorance, and hate. It's the overwhelming emotion that overtakes the person and ultimately controls them. When the people are liberated it doesn't mean they stop being hateful there is a conversation to be had with these people after being liberated by the "demonic force." The reason that the BBDW is capable of possessing human hosts is because they're more susceptible to BBDW's possession due to their already existing hate.

This character had the most revisions out of the three.

I wanted to find a good balance between the wolf and demon imagery. While also nodding to the idea of possession. I eventually went with the second design it was more abstract and could take on a more diverse amount of forms depending on the person that was possessed.

Overall, I can see this project being pursued in the future with the right support but would need more research to fully flesh out the entire story.