Robin Hood Satire

Over the years, many films and TV shows were made telling the story of the legendary Robin Hood. One of the best Robin Hood films is The Adventures of Robin Hood, released on May 14, 1938. The film takes place in 1191 when the king of England, Richard the Lionheart, is taken captive the Duke of Austria, Leopold V, while he was traveling back to England from fighting in the Crusades. After learning of Richard’s capture, his brother, Prince John, takes over the throne and oppresses the Saxons. Robin Hood, being a Saxon nobleman, opposes John on his actions and tells him that he will do anything he could to return Richard to his throne. To rebel against John, Robin Hood recruits a group of followers to help him fight against Prince John and his forces.

Near the end of the film, Robin Hood meets Richard and his knights disguised as monks.

After Richard reveals himself to Robin Hood, together, they plan to sneak in the castle and overthrow John. Their plan succeeds and Richard exiles John and his followers from England and restores peace.1 Overall, The Adventures of Robin Hood gives a mostly accurate representation of the tale of Robin Hood. Another Robin Hood film is Robin Hood: Men in Tights, released on July 28, 1993. Essentially, the story of this film is the same as The Adventures of Robin Hood with some differences; the major difference being that the film is a musical adventure comedy, whereas the earlier film is a “swashbuckler”. The comedy in Robin Hood: Men in Tights ranges from “cheesy” to sexual and racial with jokes appearing at short amounts of time. And, with The Adventures of Robin Hood, there is a few jokes that appear, but not nearly enough as the other

film.2
Apparently, every generation gets the Robin Hood film it needs, or deserves. Being that The Adventures of Robin Hood was released in 1938, there were some events going on around that time that would explain why this film was released. For example, the Great Depression was taking place causing worldwide economic problems. This would explain why the film uses very bright colors; The use of bright color represents happiness and anyone who looks at it will feel happy. So, the directors wanted to showcase bright colors in their film to make people feel happy, because they were going through major economic depression with the Great Depression. Another event happening around this time was World War II. On February 14th, 1938, Adolf Hitler gains control of the German military and puts Nazis in key points. Months later, on September 1, 1938, World War II was officially started when the Nazis invaded Poland.3 As mentioned before, The Adventures of Robin Hood is a “swashbuckler” film that tells the story of a man that helps save England from the King’s corrupted brother. This plot shows that the directors where trying to tell the viewers that Hitler is corrupted, like Prince John, and to give them hope of that someone will stop Hitler, like Robin Hood and his men stopped Prince John. Robin Hood: Men in Tights was released in 1993, and there were some events that explain why this made around this time. On January 13, 1993, French, British, and U.S. fighter jets launched bombings in southern Iraq.4 With this issue going on in Iraq, the director wanted to give his viewers a laugh to make them feel better with his comedy film. Also, there were some racial issues in 1993, like with the incident on February 3, in which four police officers were placed on trial for being charged with civil rights violations of beating an African American named, Rodney King in Los Angeles, California.4 The director’s response to these problems in the film was that people of all skin colors need to work together to accomplish great things; the director shows this response by having Robin Hood working alongside with the African American characters, Asneeze and Ahchoo.
Motioned before, The Adventures of Robin Hood and Robin Hood: Men in Tights tell the same story and they both have some similarities. One similarity that both films possess is the romance aspect: Lady Marian and Robin Hood end up falling in love, and at the end, they marry and live happily ever after. Another similarity is that both films share some quotes. For example, when Robin Hood confronts Price John to tell him that he will do anything in his power to restore King Richard, both Robin Hood actors say similar lines. Also, the actors who play Prince John and his noblemen in both films refer to Robin Hood as “Robin of Locksley. As seen, the two films have their similarities, but they also have their differences. The Adventures of Robin Hood interpretation of the story is a little inaccurate in the sense that the characters wear very bright color, clean, and like-new clothing. The settings of the film seem to be accurate, but they look more like sets rather than real life. Dialogue in the film seems to be like accurate medieval times terms and the characters act appropriately. Robin Hood: Men in Tights is completely different than The Adventures of Robin Hood in terms of comedy; The comedy in the film consist of cheesy, sexual, and racial jokes. The Adventures of Robin Hood beats Robin Hood: Men in Tights in historical accuracy because in the 1993 film, the director included many modern props that would never be found in medieval times like, air-pump shoes, camera, playboy magazine, cardboard cutout, and an Everlast Chasity belt. The costumes and makeup shown in Robin Hood: Men in Tights are more believable than The Adventures of Robin Hood because the villagers and their clothing are more rough and dirty looking. The dialogue in the film is no where near historical accuracy. For example, the characters use many slang and curse terms like, “I can get a promotion,” “pissed off,” “later,” “oh shit,” and others.
With the fact that The Adventures of Robin Hood and Robin Hood: Men in Tights were made decades apart, they have different developments of cinematic technology. With The Adventures of Robin Hood, it biggest development was the color. The color shown was very bright and gave viewers an unbelievable visual appeal in 1938. Also, the film has many camera angles and camera movements that caught the viewers’ attention. Since Robin Hood: Men in Tights was made decades later, the film technology was better and gave viewers many different visual appeals. For instance, the film gave better film angles and movements than The Adventures of Robin Hood. Also, the film was able to showcase special effects that the 1938 film could not.