Robin Hood: A Hero (or Villain) for the Left (or the Right)
Given that Wall Street has turned the myths of Sherwood Forest upside down, the timing was perfect over the weekend for the seventh biennial meeting of the International Association for Robin Hood Studies at the University of Rochester.
The current Sheriff of Nottingham, Leon Unczur, who has cycled across the United States and in 2006 celebrated his civil union with his partner, Jonathan, was there for a live interview via Skype. Friday night featured a long-lost 1912 silent film, with actors gamboling through the New Jersey Palisades in the oldest surviving of perhaps 80 English-language Robin Hood movies and television productions. Saturday night featured what was billed as the 21st-century premiere of a new 35-millimeter tinted print of the landmark 1922 Douglas Fairbanks version, which was the first film with a million-dollar budget.
Some of the research papers were a tad academic (“The Slavic Robin Hood: Juraj Janosik”). But reflecting the conference theme, “Robin Hood: Media Creature,” most of it was amazingly contemporary for a guy who may never have existed but has been around for more than 700 years nonetheless. Topics included: “African-American Traditions and the Robin Hood Ballads,” “Robin Hood for the PlayStation Generation, or Every Age Gets the Robin Hood It Deserves,” and, lest we forget Joe the Plumber, Marcus A. J. Smith’s “Robin Hood and the 2008 Presidential Election.”
Read entire article at NYT
The current Sheriff of Nottingham, Leon Unczur, who has cycled across the United States and in 2006 celebrated his civil union with his partner, Jonathan, was there for a live interview via Skype. Friday night featured a long-lost 1912 silent film, with actors gamboling through the New Jersey Palisades in the oldest surviving of perhaps 80 English-language Robin Hood movies and television productions. Saturday night featured what was billed as the 21st-century premiere of a new 35-millimeter tinted print of the landmark 1922 Douglas Fairbanks version, which was the first film with a million-dollar budget.
Some of the research papers were a tad academic (“The Slavic Robin Hood: Juraj Janosik”). But reflecting the conference theme, “Robin Hood: Media Creature,” most of it was amazingly contemporary for a guy who may never have existed but has been around for more than 700 years nonetheless. Topics included: “African-American Traditions and the Robin Hood Ballads,” “Robin Hood for the PlayStation Generation, or Every Age Gets the Robin Hood It Deserves,” and, lest we forget Joe the Plumber, Marcus A. J. Smith’s “Robin Hood and the 2008 Presidential Election.”