So a few weeks back I was doing my normal sit around and think a lot thing that I do. And I started thinking about mythological archetypes: the Cinderellas, Beauties and Beasties, Rapunzels, Wicked Witches, Damsels in Distress, all of that stuff. And I got to Robin Hood for some reason. And he disturbed me, because in his own story he's the hero, but as I thought about it more and more ... maybe he wasn't so great after all.
I mean, why would we call someone who steals from the rich and gives to the poor a hero? Stealing is stealing is stealing. "Karmic debt is going to get his ass sooner or later," I thought to myself. So, is he good or bad? Is he a worthy hero to present to our children and posterity?
There are lots of heroes that we teach our posterity about that are mediocre examples of heroism. We tell stories out of habit and then neglect to recognize the real message we're portraying. Here's an example: my dad always says to me "I hated being in the military and every day I woke up and said to myself, 'Just one more day, just one more day.'" H
e tells me that, thinking he's presenting himself as a hero of perserverence. But I always heard him saying he's a hero for living unhappily for the sake of getting a paycheck. Like survival is more important than happiness. I hated that message.Another example is the "Boy Scout" archetype. Now I'm not talking about the "Boy Scouts of America." I'm talking about Cyclops vs. Wolverine. The "obedient and unquestioning child." The "valiant leader of his father's armies." He who always "does it by the book." Sometimes, those boyscout heroes are nothing worth looking up to.
So anyways, I was wondering in my little head how the story of Robin Hood managed to perpetuate itself through hundreds of years and various cultures. Why has it survived? There must be something special about a story that makes it survive that long, that makes people tell it over and over. You don't recommend movies to people that were totally pointless to you, or restaurants that offered nothing special.
I went out that day and rented Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves. I took it home to watch it on my laptop. And the DVD didn't work. I took it back to Blockbuster and they said, "Oops! Sorry, you'll have to pick a different movie." I've checked that Blockbuster a couple of times since and they haven't replaced it. And I haven't been motivated/driven enough to go find it somewhere else ha ha.
Then, tonight, I was at my sister Sunny Jo's house, and lo-and-behold on her end table is a VHS copy of Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves. She'd borrowed it from my mom. I don't have a VHS player, so I took it to my sister Crystal's house and watched it.
The movie is not very good. I don't necessarily recommend it to anyone. I remember thinking it was epic when I was a kid, and watching it many times. But as an adult I couldn't remember the storyline. Anyways, it was pretty cheesy and even silly, and I could tell they were intending to keep it fun and lighthearted, but sometimes it was a little too much.
As the movie ended, I was disappointed. I felt no closer to my answer of what makes the story so enduring. I wondered at the Peter Pan lightheartedness, but that wasn't quite it. I wondered at just how the Sheriff of Nottingham was such a bastard, and Robin stood against him. But that wasn't really any different than any other story.
The VHS rewound, and I was looking at the movie's case and read the back of it. I was surprised that there was no synopsis of the movie on the back. It said just this:
"For the good of all men, and the love of one woman, he fought to uphold justice by breaking the law."
And that was the answer I was looking for.
Robin Hood personifies the light, or positive aspects, of the "Rebel" archetype very, very perfectly.
This was interesting to me especially, because just a week or so ago, I got an archetype reading from my friend Crystal and the "rebel" card was drawn. I feel sometimes like I'm rebellious, but not that it's an important role I play in life. AND, because of that reading, I've chosen to dress up at our archetype Halloween party (tomorrow) dressed as "the rebel." The Rebel has been on my mind, and popping up in my life. It's not surprising that the story o
f Robin Hood just popped into my mind one day! The Rebel's been trying to get my attention!Here's what Caroline Myss says about the Rebel:
Light Attributes: Challenges authority to effect social change. Rejects systems (spiritual, political, or otherwise) that do not serve inner needs.
Dark Attributes: Rejects legitimate authority out of anger. Rebels out of peer pressure or fashion.
- I got this from her Archetypes deck -
See, in the movie (which I don't really care if the movie is the most original version of the Robin Hood story - it's the one that our society and culture recognizes today), Robin encourages people who are accepting of their unjust fate to fight back. Robin says, "Don't accept what life has handed you, don't let the man get you down, don't buy in to the system, STEP UP!"
The role of the Rebel in humanity is to question everything. To raise the standard by pointing out the flaws of the status quo. It can be a hard and restless way to live. The Rebel is related, as archetypes go, to the Destroyer, the Seeker, and the Hero. And maybe the Altruistic Judge is his cousin.
Where would we be without the Rebels? Quietly and passively accepting the status quo.
And do we not do that? Today, in our culture, in our environment - do we not often settle for the lower and wider paths? How many of you out there have an ok job that pays the bills and brings you nominal gratification? How many of you have forfeited your dream jobs? How many of us settle for mediocre marriages and relationships because we figure it's better than having nothing?
(Now that I'm getting in to this, I think the Rebel archetype might be married to the Prostitute archetype. Yah, yah I digress...)
For those of us feeling like it's time to stand up and say no, time to stop believing what we've been raised to know, and to stop embracing that which itches, Robin Hood is a tale worth pondering. In your life, who's the Sheriff of Nottingham taking over your world while you've "checked out?" When you check back in, will you not be willing to stand up against him?
Christian Slater, for a good part of the movie is a hater of Robin and with reasons. He keeps commenting that Robin is inviting trouble, making matters worse, etc. As the Sheriff was burning down their homes in the forest, I wondered if maybe Christian Slater's character didn't have a point. I mean, if Robin had just chilled a little they could have gone on forever, living like they were, kings of the forest - right?
Not so! Eventually, if one thinks to simply hide and sneak from those who would oppress them, war will come. The true question is this: when war comes *as it inevitably will*, will I submit to my oppressors, or risk everything and stand for myself? Robin Hood, the Rebel, teaches that submission is the same as losing everything, and thus the risk of loss through opposition is actually the only option with any possibility of victory.
Now not all people need to be rebels at all times in all situations. The Rebel, like any archetype, has his place and purpose in life. But if you feel him calling to you, in your mind or deep in your soul, it may serve you and the world to consider what he has to say. Like any archetype he has his flaws and shortcomings, and he's quick to answer to the heat of anger, so watch out for that.
But the good aspect of the Rebel knows how to light the fire of anger to useful and controlled degrees. In the case of Light Rebellion, anger is truly his gift of power to you. And that's something that Zach de la Rocha says too - a line in one of Rage Against the Machine's songs that has always been beautiful to me... "your anger is a gift."
I have one final thing to say about the Rebel. He is not automatically a leader, a creator of movements or change. A call from the Rebel is not necessarily a call to lead. It is simply a call of passion and truth to break away from antiquated or hurtful ways of thinking or being. It may happen that as you heed this call others will follow, as in the case of Robin Hood. But do not mistake a desire for power as a call from the Rebel. He has no passion or desire to command others, rather, his passion and desires lie in greater truth, wealth, happiness and freedom for the village - for the Whole. He is not out to prove - only to live and allow life.
Something that I find very beautiful is that this story has survived. In what seems often to be our fuddy-duddy world, our conventional and lemming society, this story is told over and over. Inasmuch as we live in a society and culture that allows us to tell these stories, of these Dark Knights, we are graciously free to heed their call and live their passions. THAT is EXCITING!
So, let's not go shooting down the modern day Robin Hoods because they threaten to expose cracks in our foundation. Let's be conscious of what our foundations are, how we've chosen them, and let's be inspecting them regularly for antiquity or flaw.
"...fight to uphold justice, by breaking the law..."
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