Into the Woods metaphors

[MTVMANN]

I know the show has many metaphors in it. The only one I know really well is the wolf being a metaphor for men and Red Riding Hood straying from the path to the wolf is sort of discovering the opposite sex...am I right?

Could someone help me out a bit? What are other metaphors in the show?

[henrikegerman]

OK, let's start with "the Woods."

[Borstalboy]

Enough with the damn ITW threads!!

[MTVMANN]

The 'woods' is a great place to start.

Come on, cut me some slack...I've never dissected Sondheim shows past Sweeney Todd. This show never got to me.

My favorite moment in the movie was hearing the waltz to my all-time favorite musical, A Little Night Music, coming from the palace.

[FindingNamo]

I love when Johnny Depp-Wolf touches the tree and there's a big vagina on it.

[icecreambenjamin]

I still think that the Wolf performs oral sex on little red.

[Jordan Catalano]

Of course he did. What do you think that "dark slimey path" was that she was referring to? And the red cape symbolized a cherry. And the howling at the end represented an orgasm. And the "fresh boquet" she picked was him "deflowering" her. And "do not put your faith in a cape and a hood", the hood is referencing the wolfs uncut wolf-dong.

This is all Sondheim101, though.

[Phyllis Rogers Stone]

[AwesomeDanny]

From "Look, I Made a Hat"

"And ah, the woods. The all-purpose symbol of the unconscious, the womb, the past, the dark place where we face our trials and emerge wiser or destroyed, and a major theme in Bruno Bettelheim's The Uses of Enchantment, which is a book that everyone assumes we used as a source, simply because it's the only book on the subject known to the wide public."

"The predominant assumption is that the Giant represents AIDS--after all, the show was written and produced in the 1980s, when AIDS was at its most prominent. Given a moment's thought, it becomes apparent that if the Giant represented anything, it wouldn't be AIDS. The Giant is not a natural phenomenon but a force roused to vengeance by greed, prevarication and irresponsibility. It could just as easily be the atomic bomb, global warming or the economic meltdown that is occurring as I write this. To James and me, it is a giant. Enough said."

[DramaTeach]

I always thought the Witch was so angry because the Baker's dad literally Raped her. I mean, he stole the fruits from her "garden." That's why she's trying to protect Rapunzel.

[CarlosAlberto]

Yes, she's trying to protect Rapunzel because if he was capable of going into her "garden" and raping her, then he was quite capable of incest by taking advantage of his own daughter.

She then constructs this phallic-like tower where Rapunzel will be protected. Where no one can touch her. Where she will remain virginal and pure as long as she's in there.

[PalJoey]

Sometimes a giant is just a giant.

Feel free to metaphorize away, but know that anything you come up with is going to be vastly less interesting than the material itself and probably not worth the effort.

[FindingNamo]

I really hate to ask it, but do you have a basket?

[icecreambenjamin]

I think that the waterfall during Agony in the film represented every straight woman and gay man in the room.


Cause we were dripping.