Why 'ROBIN HOOD'?

By BARCODE 2x

The new Robin Hood is released this weekend, and he takes on a broader political agenda that will satisfy a very divided audience base. In Ridley Scott's new telling of the old British vigilante's beginnings, Robin Hood is less interested in robbing the rich and giving to the poor than he is in alleviating tax burdens. Is this the changing face of vigilantism?

Robin Hood is a classic revolutionary hero, a very brave man, very good with a bow and arrow, very romantic and sexually potent. A great leader of the British underground, bringing his merry men together, a band of criminals, "hoods", really, who enact justice in a very real way. Redistributing wealth, making fools of the local law enforcement, Robin is embraceable by a public who loves the idea of change and reform.

But the new rebels take a different tack. Robin Hood's new image paints him more as a tax-hating, freedom-loving, folksy badass. It is an image more likely to be embraced by Tea Partiers than liberals. Is Robin Hood's traditional symbolism no longer the property of the Left?

If Republican leaders continue to embrace a maverick image, then Robin Hood will become a controversial and important new symbol in today's divided political dialogue. The independent maverick image, combined with violent revolutionary action, makes him more of a terrorist, perhaps. Or an American Militiaman. The new Robin Hood is less driven by justice than libertarian freedom.

The parallels are hard to take, and the Left may be disappointed to see their quasi-socialist hero drift over to the other side of the argument. How the film is embraced in the coming weeks will be very telling. Who is he any more? Our symbols and legends carry a lot of power for us. Robin has been likened in the past to Che Guevara, to Shaft, to other brave revolutionaries real and fictional. His image has been important to the Left, and now that he has changed his agenda, does this somehow unite both sides against big government taxation and spending? Is a maverick Robin Hood-type figure what we need now?