Remember Robin Hood?
Merry Men?
Sherwood Forest?
He stole from the rich to give to the poor.
Nowadays, of course, we do it the other way around...
Word is, Ridley Scott has started up principle photography on a new version of the story to star Russell Crowe as the bandit of Sherwood -- joining the likes of Kevin Costner, Patrick Bergin, Douglas Fairbanks and, my favorite, Errol Flynn, in tackling that role.
"Robin Hood," or some derivation of it, dates back to the late 13th century as a term for thief or felon. Whether Robin Hood was a real person or a fictional character is a matter of some debate.
In the 16th century, they tried to re-cast him as a dispossessed nobleman, but in the earliest ballads, he was a fed-up commoner. Little John, Will Scarlett an Allan-a-Dale seem to have been part of Robin's crew from the beginning. Maid Marian and Friar Tuck showed up much later.
Dozens of films have been made about Robin Hood, including everything from slapstick to porn, and you might count his American descendant Zorro, and that genre as a spin-off, too.
Seems like Robin has gained a certain immortality.
We can't let him go.
We need him.
We need SOMEONE on our side, someone who will look out for us, protect us, bring us justice.
Someone who is ready, willing and able to do what needs to be done, and who does it only because doing it is right.
- Prince John: Bring Sir Robin food! At once, do you hear? Such impudence must support a mighty appetite.
- Robin: True enough, your Highness. We Saxons have little to fatten on by the time your tax gatherers are through.
- Prince John: Do you feel you are overtaxed?
- Robin: Overtaxed, overworked and paid off with a knife, a club or a rope.
- Marian: Why, you speak treason!
- Robin: Fluently.
2 comments:
SJ - quite true! We are looking for someone to 'save us' and how interesting that your post coincides with the beginning of the Christian liturgical season of Advent...the time of preparation for 'the one who will save us'.
Indeed?
I suppose one could draw parallels between many folk-myths. Joseph Campbell did that very thing in THE POWER OF MYTH and HERO WITH A THOUSAND FACES.
Of course, in Robin Hood's case, tho he provided tactical leadership, it was really the people themselves who rose up against oppression.
I think that may be the lesson. Each of us has to be Robin Hood for the rest of us. Now if we just did that....
sj
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