Robin Hood Messages

    Walt Disney Productions is probably the most well-known producer of children's movies in the past century. With classics like The Lion King and Toy Story, Disney has created some of the highest grossing animated movies of all time. One such classic is Robin Hood, the 1973 animated film depicting the old English tale of the bow and arrow wielding vigilante. Contrasting to most film depictions of the ancient folklore, this particular version uses talking and human-like animals to portray the characters. This is a familiar move by Disney, and can be seen in countless other films they've made through the years. Since the target audience for their films are primarily children, Disney uses these cute and fluffy animals to appeal to the children's emotions and logic. A child can see these animals and it not only entertains As far as the plot goes in this film, the movie does not stray far away from the main moral of all Robin Hood movies. Robin Hood has always been depicted as a notorious vigilante who “steals from the rich and gives to the poor”. This phrase has developed into a cliché itself. The thought of stealing from those with excess money to support the poor has always been relevant in the world. Robin Hood just personifies that cause.

The theme of “the rich giving to the poor” can even be dissolved further to a simpler lesson of “sharing”. This is the main message that children take from this film. They see poor families struggling and rich people not sharing their wealth so they learn that sharing makes everyone happy. Now this could cause some problematic lessons. First off, children could see that all rich males are mean and do not share since all wealthy male characters are portrayed in the movie as being mean and greedy. Another problem that can be caused is potentially a child could think that the poor has to rely on illegal means to attain wealth. This may be a little far-fetched but Robin Hood and his sidekick Little John are very deceiving and rely on trickery or violence to steal the wealth from the rich so a child could mimic their actions.

I think that most would agree that the positive lessons of the film heavily outweigh the potential problematic underlying messages. I remember watching this movie as a kid and it was always one of my favorites. I loved how Robin Hood would take from the rich to give to the poor because I thought that it was unfair that the rich didn't have to share. I can say from personal experience that this movie portrays a positive message that is easy to grasp, whether it be cliché or not. Because of this, I give Robin Hood four out of five slurpees.