Blog #30 - Robin Hood

Robin Hood comes from an 800 year old English legend about an outlaw in the Sherwood Forest in conflict with the Sheriff of Nottingham.  There has been evidence that the person the sheriff was battling was someone named "RobertHod" or "RobinHod."  Yet there are several example of a Robin Hood scattered across a hundred years or more, my guess is that they may have been inspired by the legend and borrowed the name.  According to the University of Rochester's (UK) website project on RH, references to an outlaw began appearing in chronicles of the times in the mid 1400s.

In the 1700s and 1800s, English writers began searching through their ancient history in order to find folk heroes (probably a sign of the growth of nationalism or love of one's country).  English historians have also tried to find out RH's true roots as well, and this website concludes:

"Despite the efforts of authors like P. Valentine Harris, no verifiable Robin Hood emerged from the historical record. Today, most scholars accept Robin as a literary invention, based in part on other figures like Gamelyn and Fouke fitz Waryn, as well as real-life outlaws. Any search for the ideal Robin Hood, a dispossessed noble who robs from the rich to give to the poor, is doomed to failure. That Robin is a modern figure whose individual characteristics were added in different stages, which are roughly represented in this exhibit" (http://www.lib.rochester.edu/camelot/rh/RH%20Exhibit/pref.htm)


In the 1800s, he appeared in plays, songs, and operas as well as novels.  Because of the lack of solid facts on RH, it appears that artists have fit him into almost any context that they have wanted to, placing him within the Anglo-Saxon invasion or in today's movie version, a returning archer from the Crusades.  An author named Pierce Egan in 1838 wrote a series of adventures that added Robin's Merry Men to the myth.  Sir Walter Scott also included RH in his classic, Ivanhoe (1820). 



The two most recent American movies Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves (1991) with Kevin Costner in the lead role along w/ Morgan Freeman and Alan Rickman.  The other was Mel Brooks' farce, RH: Men in Tights (1993) which had its best moment when Cary Elwes, as Robin Hood, cracked, "unlike other Robin Hoods, I can speak with an English accent."  Costner's portrayal of RH was criticized for losing his lame British accent half way through the movie.  The first movie goes for serious drama and action and includes a Moor from the Crusades (Morgan Freeman's character), while the other movie shreds the Robin Hood convention with tons of jokes.

Your questions: 
1. Why do you think a country like Britain that had a strong tradition of law and loyalty to the monarch would honor such a popular rebel hero who stole from the rich and gave to the poor? 
2. King John pledges to a charter of law and liberty after being convinced by Robin Longstride (Robin Hood) to reward all English men by giving them rights.  Chances are, it wasn't Robin Hood who did this.  Historically, this isn't accurate, but it makes for a good movie.  Comment on which is more important in movie making: historical accuracy or dramatic action and why.  


Due Monday, Nov. 3 by class.  250 words total for both questions. 

Blog #29 - Inside Mecca

Well, we've finished the National Geographic special, Inside Mecca, and I hope that you were able to learn something from it.  I find it absolutely a fascinating field trip that we have been able to take - via video, obviously - into the holiest place in the Muslim world, a place that only Muslims are allowed to go. 

The Kaaba, the building that houses the Black Stone, originally built by Adam (of Adam and Eve), and rebuilt by Abraham almost four thousand years ago is an amazing sight to see.  It is probably one of the most recognizable holy places in the world, and now you know its significance. 


As part of the hajj, we got to see the three pilgrims on their spiritual journey and discover what Islam means to them.  It is important, with the way some Americans view Muslims today, I believe, that there is a balanced portrait of Islam and what the religion is.  We cannot base our views upon the actions of a tiny group of extremists. 

So, in 200 words or more, tell me what insights you have gained from watching Inside Mecca.  Thanks.

Due Monday, October 20 by class. 

Blog #28 -- Are We Rome?

"Imagine a small agrarian republic that gradually grows into the world’s greatest military and cultural superpower. Over time, as public power is concentrated in the hands of a relatively small group of wealthy private citizens, that ruling elite falls increasingly out of touch with the world beyond its borders. Those borders, porous and steadily expanding, become ever more difficult to manage and defend. Faltering under the growing burden of policing them, the military is forced to recruit considerable mercenary support to handle conflicts that might arise, as well as those already under way. Eventually, losing its grip on power both internally and externally, the superpower enters a state of accelerating decline, ultimately fading into a shadow of its former glory." - "As the Romans Did", The Atlantic Monthly, June 22, 2007.

Some people have compared America to Rome and the different stages that it has gone through, from its earliest days as a small farming republican democracy that grew steadily into the world's largest military and cultural superpower of its time.  America had done this in a shorter amount of time period, and in some respects still maintains its military and cultural superiority.  We have the biggest armed forces and the most powerful economy in the world, and our culture can be found throughout the world with McDonald's, Subway, and Coke. 

In some ways, according to author John Murphy, America and Rome are very similar. For instance:
 - both America and Rome have an exaggerated sense of self - importance, thinking that we are the greatest nation / empire in the world;
 - our military is stretched across the world / empire and also alienated from the regular people in society;
 - we both struggle to police / protect our borders from immigration / foreign invasions;
 - we idealize our founders as someone to look up to;
 - both Romans and Americans tend to be shortsighted and don't think down the road and some things can tend to bite them in the end;
 - Rome and America have tended to be very multicultural and built on the work of immigrants;
 - America and Rome have a huge gap between the rich and poor meaning that the rich are very rich and the poor are very poor.

Some things that make America different than Rome however, are:
 - Romans had slavery throughout its entire history, while America outlawed it 150 years ago;
 - America has seen so much change in the last 150 years with regards to industrial, technological change than Rome had experienced in its entire lifetime;
 - America's free land give aways (courtesy of stealing from the Indians) actually worked unlike the Gracchus brothers' reforms.

In your own words, discuss the similarities and differences between Rome and America.  You can come up with some of your own.

Due Thursday by class.  200 words minimum.