The Company of Wolves

d. Neil Jordan

(1984)

The Company of Wolves, directed by Neil Jordan, takes the classic fairy tale of Red Riding Hood and throws a whole new subtext onto the story. Most of the film takes place in the dream of a young girl and follows as she battles with her subconscious urges. The main dream follows the Red Riding Hood plot with the sleeping girl, Rosaleen (Sarah Patterson), wearing the cape but within are more stories with the similar theme of wolves that are hairy on the inside(The Company of Wolves, 1984). The film opens in contemporary time. Rosaleens room is filled with childrens toys all of which, when entered into her dream, seem to be haunting her. A symbol of her childhood repressing her adolescent urges. Rosaleen struggles as she is on the peak of sexually maturity. The dream explores her desires, her fears and her reservations about being thrust into adulthood. Jordan uses the audiences presumed knowledge of Figure 1 - Film Poster werewolves to his advantage as they are a metaphor for male sexuality as well as her own. Eric Miller, who writes for ClassicHorror.com, said She allows herself to become a werewolf, symbolically shedding her childhood skin and becoming a full grown woman (Eric Miller, 2009) as indeed at the end of the film she embraces the transformation rather than letting it defeat her.

The short folk tales told within the dream told by Rosaleens batty Grandmother (Angelia Lansbury) and by Rosaleen herself depict her fears of adulthood. All these stories having been told to Rosaleen shows that perhaps her fears have been impressed upon her by the people around her and not from her own first hand experience. They are ripe Figure 2 - Curious in the Forest. with the bizarre of fantasy and so seem even less plausible then the main dream. As, again, Eric Miller writes Granny, and to a lesser extent Rosaleen's parents, are constantly trying to keep her on the path, to keep her from becoming tempted by the fearful yet attractive things in the forest. (Eric Miller, 2009). It could be said that this symbolises her adolescent rebelling nature to not heed the warnings of her elders, in this case her grandmother.

Jordan uses a lot of symbolic animal throughout the film that sub-consciously remind the audience of certain characteristics they associate with that animal. Rosaleens path through the forest, the path being a metaphor for her temptations, is littered with these animals. Vincent Canby, of the New York Times, wrote about the forest as being stocked with trees that turn into houses, toads that are life- size but toadstools that are 12 feet tall, plus rats, snakes, owls and wolves dozens of them, many disguised as men (Vincent Canby, 1985). If Rosaleen strays off the path she could fall victim to these animals which illustrates Rosaleens fear of men. Yet as the film progresses she becomes more curious particularly when in the wood with the amorous boy (Shane Johnstone) Rosaleen strays off the path completely. As Louise Watson writes It is this push-pull fear and fascination with sexuality that is the heart of the film (Louise Watson, 2003) it watches Rosaleen discover the world of women-hood with all the fears and natural urges that includes.

Figure 3 - Stranger in the Forest

List of Illustrations
Figure 1. Film Poster. (1984) From: The Company of Wolves. Directed by: Neil Jordan [film poster] UK: ITC and Palace Pictures. Figure 2. Curious in the Forest. (1984) From: The Company of Wolves. Directed by: Neil Jordan [film poster] UK: ITC and Palace Pictures. Figure 3. Stranger in the Forest. (1984) From: The Company of Wolves. Directed by: Neil Jordan [film poster] UK: ITC and Palace Pictures.

Bibliography
The Company of Wolves, (1984) Directed by Neil Jordan [Film] UK: ITC and Palace Pictures. Miller, E. (2009) the Company of Wolves (1984) Review. On: Classic-Horror.com [online] http://classic-horror.com/reviews/company_of_wolves_1984 Canby, V. (1985) Film: Red Riding Hood in Company of Wolves. In: New York Times [online] http://movies.nytimes.com/movie/review?res=9802EFD91138F93AA25757C0A963948260 Watson, L. (2003) the Company of Wolves (1984) Review. On: Screen Online [online] http://www.screenonline.org.uk/film/id/515281/