Abstract
Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves was the second highest-grossing movie of 1991. Its fuzzy version of the Middle Ages invokes the Angevins only in cameo and revises a genre of medievalism I call âRobin Hood Timesâ. This medievalism claims a specific setting, usually during the reign of King Richard I, even while it generalizes that setting enough to comment on contemporary problems. In Prince of Thieves, the characters Azeem and Mortianna serve as opposites, their racialized bodies participating in an individualized discourse about race that ultimately upholds a neoliberal, âcolorblindâ form of white supremacy. Azeemâs physical competence and ability also contrast sharply with Mortiannaâs physical frailty and deformity in a classic example of what Mitchell and Snyder (2000) call ânarrative prosthesis.â The intersections of race and disability in the fantasy setting of Robin Hood Times suggest that the solution to social injustice is individual rather than systemic. The return of the âgoodâ King Richard I restores order, virtue, the Locksley landsâand the status quo. The Robin Hood story has revolutionary potential, but this version of Robin Hood Times chooses to reinforce neoliberal ableism and âcolorblindâ racial tolerance instead of the utopian promises of equity that the forest society could provide.
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