...he represents a unique kind of masculinity.

May 16, 2023 11:20 AM

50 years after release, Disney’s Robin Hood is still a life-changing furry phenomenon [Polygon] “Part of the unique qualities that made Robin Hood a furry media mainstay comes down to the fact that the title character — a dashing, jovial hero who robs from the rich and gives to the poor — is a fox. [...] From the outside, the film is a laid-back adventure known as much for reusing visuals from earlier Disney movies as for its powerful connection to unlocking personal identities in one subset of fandom. For those of us who aren’t part of the furry community, it may be surprising to realize just how much of an impact Robin Hood has had.”
posted by Fizz (53 comments total)

Believe it or not, they got into this on an episode of Graham Norton's show.

Eddie Redmayne and Anna Kendrick were two of the guests, and Graham prodded Eddie to talk about something he'd confessed to recently: that his first crush as a child was on Nala, from The Lion King. "Look at her face!" he sputtered, when Graham showed a screenshot to the audience. "She's so sweet!"

He also confessed to a crush on Maid Marian from Robin Hood. And that's when Anna Kendrick chimed in to say "So, in Eddie's defense - they drew those characters kind of sexy!"
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 11:37 AM on May 16, 2023 [12 favorites]

I am not a furry but I am a transgender man and I can say definitively* that, especially for some of the reasons outlined in this piece, Robin Hood is transition goals.

*For me, I do not speak for anyone else
posted by an octopus IRL at 11:38 AM on May 16, 2023 [14 favorites]

Oo-de-laly!
posted by amarynth at 11:48 AM on May 16, 2023 [18 favorites]

I mean Robin is charming, handsome, intelligent, kind, and a radical. Robin punches upward towards a monarchical system that oppresses its local populace and still finds time to flirt. He's kind of awesome. No wonder his portrayal/character has awakened and stirred so many individuals. Talk about goals!
posted by Fizz at 12:03 PM on May 16, 2023 [35 favorites]

Count me among a generation growing up thinking that Robin Hood was a stone cold fox...and not just literally.
posted by Kitteh at 12:14 PM on May 16, 2023 [16 favorites]

I was fortunate enough to see Brian Bedford at the Stratford Festival. Watching him perform was one thing, but hearing that voice live was an experience I don't even think I can describe. That same voice that has thrilled me since the first time I watched that cunning fox and jovial bear take on that cowardly lion, his hissing snake pal and the bumbling wolf--that was an experience I never expected to have, and one that I'm thrilled happened.

Robin absolutely left an impression on a wider audience than the furry community.
posted by sardonyx at 12:29 PM on May 16, 2023 [10 favorites]

When the article quoted "Katav, a Chicago-based Ph.D. candidate studying the Hebrew Bible," I immediately thought that -- because of the sort of people I have always been friends with -- I am probably just two acquaintances away from him.

I saw Robin Hood when I was older. It did not awaken anything in me, but it did delight me particularly because it looked so much like a Walt Kelly movie, and I am a huge fan of Walt Kelly. He did work for Disney back in the day, although there was no direct influence. (Sometimes I wish Walt Kelly had readers in a younger generation, but then I realize that it's probably for the best.)
posted by Countess Elena at 12:31 PM on May 16, 2023 [7 favorites]

I probably should have added this information: I didn't see the movie when it was originally released, but I saw it probably the first time it went back to theatres. I was definitely still in elementary school, so it has been a long, long, long time between first hearing Bedford as Robin and when I got to see him in person. It was absolutely worth the wait.
posted by sardonyx at 12:37 PM on May 16, 2023

Such an entirely forgettable movie, such an astounding obvious impact
posted by Going To Maine at 12:40 PM on May 16, 2023 [4 favorites]

Every girlfriend I have ever had, none of whom have been furries, has expressed the opinion that “that fox can get it.”

Fifty years of giving your crotch a headache.
posted by Parasite Unseen at 1:23 PM on May 16, 2023 [9 favorites]

But it's not a forgettable movie. It's a great Robin Hood story.

Lots of other more recent Robin Hood adaptations hew too close to the source material and get too consumed in trying to explore Robin Hood's motivations. He's usually portrayed as having some sort of personal vendetta against the monarchy. King John has either seized his land or murdered his (wealthy) family or done something that would cause him to go all medieval Punisher on the authorities. The whole robbing from the rich to give to the poor thing is almost always the means by which he seeks his vengeance against those who personally wronged him.

In Disney's obviously simplified telling of the story, Robin Hood is the real deal. He's not some temporarily embarrassed noble sowing chaos out of spite, he's a good dude who's doing what he can to make the world around him better. He rights wrongs not out of personal spite but because it's the right thing to do. He stands up for the oppressed and he supports those who need supporting. Sometimes it's doing quiet things like sneaking birthday presents and extra money to those who need help, sometimes it's staging daring raids on the king's fortune.

In a world where conservatives are constantly appropriating the legacy of Robin Hood to justify their own selfishness and greed, I'm actually kind of glad that the Disney version of the story has become the "default" one.
posted by RonButNotStupid at 1:29 PM on May 16, 2023 [64 favorites]

My mother says this is the first movie she took me to, at age 2. I got scared and started crying, and we had to leave. I don't think I've ever watched it since then. I guess it's just too intense for me.
posted by vibrotronica at 1:49 PM on May 16, 2023 [1 favorite]

I'm actually kind of glad that the Disney version of the story has become the "default" one.

This, I think, needs a citation.
posted by Going To Maine at 1:52 PM on May 16, 2023 [3 favorites]

I understand why they made a furry Robin Hood, but I really wish I could peer into that alternative universe where they made a Reynard the Fox film. We've had lots of Robin Hoods, some who even speak with am English accent. But we've never had a Reynard the Fox movie (that I know of). It'd still tick all the furry boxes and additionally would cover a story we wouldn't get to see otherwise.
posted by Hactar at 1:55 PM on May 16, 2023 [5 favorites]

The Tale of the Fox
posted by Ideefixe at 2:08 PM on May 16, 2023 [3 favorites]

Never occurred to me before but (and let me pose this as a question): Is there a through line from Robin Hood Fox to Fantastic Mr. Fox, at least as the story was adapted by Wes Anderson?
posted by Insert Clever Name Here at 2:10 PM on May 16, 2023

I think you’re onto something there Insert Clever Name Here. And I think it rhymes with “trickster”.
posted by aesop at 2:17 PM on May 16, 2023 [6 favorites]

Funny enough, a colleague sent me a video yesterday of two foxes frolicking in his yard. My brain immediately made this the imagined soundtrack. (I've loved this movie since I was a little kid. We even did a family Halloween costume of the characters when my kids were little. I was delighted to be Lady Kluck!)
posted by hessie at 2:22 PM on May 16, 2023 [2 favorites]

Doh! And of course, foxes in Japanese storytelling are also master shapeshifters.

(Let me add a plug here for 'Pompoko' which is mostly about racoons/tanuki but also shapeshifting animules.)
posted by Insert Clever Name Here at 2:35 PM on May 16, 2023 [1 favorite]

Robin's appeal goes way beyond the furry community. I still have a bit of a crush on him. Foxy as F, and everyone loves a charming rogue. Robin Hood the movie also features several other endearing characters and the music is excellent. I particularly enjoy the storytelling format with the Rooster minstrel as narrator and guide.
posted by emd3737 at 2:36 PM on May 16, 2023 [6 favorites]

It's really good if you wait to start the movie until after the shrooms have kicked in.
posted by zengargoyle at 2:42 PM on May 16, 2023 [3 favorites]

It s the eye contact scene. Glad that they mentioned this in the article. That scene is NOT taken from other Disney movies
posted by eustatic at 3:05 PM on May 16, 2023 [4 favorites]

I didn’t know this movie existed, and I didn’t look at the article until I’d read the entire thread.

I was completely stunned by how little my preconception of how Robin Hood would look from what people said here had anything to do with how he DID look.

Because I see almost nothing specifically masculine about that Robin.

That Robin reminds me of nothing so much as a very appealing toddler from the stage of early childhood when distinctions of gender are carried almost exclusively by dress and hair style.

He is a babe all right, just a small step or two beyond a babe-in-arms.
posted by jamjam at 3:20 PM on May 16, 2023

Mod note: I was nine when the Disney version came out, so the eye contact scene was likely an early influence and I had a crush on Maid Marian before I knew what a crush was.
NOT FURRY-IST
posted by kirkaracha (staff) at 3:41 PM on May 16, 2023 [5 favorites]

I do not deny the appeal or the influence, but also: it went out of its way to make sure that you despise taxes, to a degree that you can almost hear the voice of Walt Disney when the topic arises.
posted by Ashenmote at 3:46 PM on May 16, 2023 [5 favorites]

Every girlfriend I have ever had, none of whom have been furries, has expressed the opinion that “that fox can get it.”

A) every, literally every, straight woman my age i know fancied and still fancies robin, and none of them are furries

B) on a slight tangent - the film is fantastic, and it has the most DnD energy of any film ever made, including both actual DnD films. The final rescue/robbery feels so much like a brilliant, chaotic DnD session i can only assume it set exactly what a thrilling, hilarious heist should feel like to a whole generation of people who then let that be a template for their pen and paper rpg sessions...
posted by ominous_paws at 3:56 PM on May 16, 2023 [17 favorites]

I think the tax hate was about penny-pinching, budget-slashing bosses at disney? As noted they were having to reuse a ton of material at the time.
posted by ominous_paws at 3:57 PM on May 16, 2023

One of the first movies I remember seeing in a cinema and I still have a soft spot for it.
The definitive retelling of the Robin story is still, of course, Maid Marian and Her Merry Men.
posted by thatwhichfalls at 4:01 PM on May 16, 2023 [3 favorites]

Mark me down as another person who remembers this fondly.

Also, the sadly-on-indefinite-hiatus blog An Historian Goes to the Movies points out that it’s kind of authentically medieval….
posted by GenjiandProust at 4:09 PM on May 16, 2023 [7 favorites]

some who even speak with an English accent

Shucks, Hactar beat me to the joke!
posted by Greg_Ace at 4:29 PM on May 16, 2023

I feel like some of the furry fascination weight that Robin Hood was carrying for 90s kids has been picked up by Zootopia.
posted by supercres at 5:41 PM on May 16, 2023 [5 favorites]

Oh I should more than half RTFA shouldn’t I
posted by supercres at 5:42 PM on May 16, 2023 [2 favorites]

I understand why they made a furry Robin Hood, but I really wish I could peer into that alternative universe where they made a Reynard the Fox film.

The link I posted just above addresses that in some depth.
posted by GenjiandProust at 5:46 PM on May 16, 2023 [2 favorites]

I think one reason I loved Robin Hood as a kid was that he strikes me as kind of gender-bendy, and that's something I've always been attracted to.

I also really loved the Howard Pyle Robin Hood stories, originally published in 1883. My copy was old and beat up when I found it in a box of old books from my mom's childhood, but it's about the only book from my childhood I haven't gotten rid of.
posted by Well I never at 6:56 PM on May 16, 2023 [2 favorites]

sadly-on-indefinite-hiatus blog An Historian Goes to the Movies

That H in "Historian" after "An" makes me kinda glad it's on hiatus.
posted by kirkaracha at 7:12 PM on May 16, 2023 [1 favorite]

They'll never outfox the fox.
posted by Nerd of the North at 7:52 PM on May 16, 2023

Every "Well I'm not a furry but" comment reminds me of the Doctor remarking that we set out into the galaxy, met new life, and... danced.
posted by Slackermagee at 7:57 PM on May 16, 2023 [4 favorites]

Those perfect little tooths, /swoon.
Roger Miller slaps so hard.

And The Magicians' Reynard is some deep unpleasantness. He's not the fox for me.
posted by the_royal_we at 9:56 PM on May 16, 2023 [1 favorite]

The heady combination of Robin Hood, with his sincerity, charm, and the cutest little teeth, coupled with the irreplaceable Roger Miller, I knew it was different and well, hot.

On the contrary, Any mention of Reynard prompts a slideshow of unpleasantness via The Magicians.
No, just no.
posted by the_royal_we at 10:02 PM on May 16, 2023 [2 favorites]

Yah, Robin as well as being furry-spo is, as mentioned above super genderbendy and has clear parallels with “golden retriever butch” lesbians/wlw.
posted by Iteki at 10:51 PM on May 16, 2023 [3 favorites]

This film was such a fixture of my life in the early 80s that I was sort of amazed the other day to learn that not only was it made before I was born, but that it was made in the early 70s.

NIXON: I never liked that Robin Hood story. It’s communism, plain and simple. And this film, (inaudible) destroying the minds of the kids. Foxes with clothes. It’s perverted is what it is.
HALDERMAN: (inaudible)
NIXON: They control the banks, too.
posted by MarchHare at 12:04 AM on May 17, 2023 [9 favorites]

ominous_paw: I think the tax hate was about penny-pinching, budget-slashing bosses at disney? As noted they were having to reuse a ton of material at the time.

It's more than just that. Robin Hood was the studio's first new project after the death of Walt Disney, which had left Walt's brother Roy in sole charge of the company during a major decline in profitability that led them to nearly abandon the animation studio in favor of live action. That is the context in which the animators chose to adapt a story with the premise that true king has gone away, leaving the kingdom in the hands of his brother, who then wrecks everything.
posted by baf at 2:59 AM on May 17, 2023 [20 favorites]

Oh now you did it and I have to watch it all again with the context glasses on.

So you do really almost hear the voice of Walt Disney, because King Richard doesn't get a speaking role. Heh. I think he doesn't? My memory is mostly filled with the audio play and IMBD gives me no voice actor.
posted by Ashenmote at 4:18 AM on May 17, 2023

King Richard does speak at the end.

After Robin and Marian are married, he repeats the joke about having an outlaw for an in-law, which child-me thought was the most mature, sophisticated, adult joke ever.
posted by RonButNotStupid at 5:34 AM on May 17, 2023 [4 favorites]

I’m afraid I consider it one of Disney’s worst cartoons. Repetitive, incoherent, and many characters and sequences are copied and even literally traced from other films. It embodies the principle that took Disney to its nadir: the kids will watch any Disney film, so our mission is just to get product out at the lowest cost.

If furries like it, that’s an unearned bonus.
posted by Phanx at 6:05 AM on May 17, 2023 [1 favorite]

There is no end to me being wrong today it seems. In the audio play his return was all voice-overed by Allan a Dale I think.
posted by Ashenmote at 8:37 AM on May 17, 2023

My mom took me to see The Aristocats in the theater but I don't really remember it because I was 2. I remember seeing Robin Hood very clearly, though, when I was 5. It blew my mind! Of course Disney is a whole huge problematic thing then and now, but Disney animated films really were a magical part of my early childhood memories.

My sister and I had this version of the Robin Hood soundtrack and we listened to it and acted out the songs over and over and over. We had other Disney soundtrack albums but Robin Hood was the clear favorite.

For myself, I see a through line from my toddler crush on Robin Hood right to my preteen obsession with Han Solo.
posted by See you tomorrow, saguaro at 8:53 AM on May 17, 2023 [5 favorites]

Robin Hood feels more like a forerunner to Disney's television animation. The storytelling is much more worldly, the cast is more of an ensemble, and the stakes don't personally rest on the protagonist finding love or realizing some internal desire. The movie is much, much closer to Ducktales and the Disney Afternoon than Snow White or Pinocchio.

It may be Disney's "worst" film, but the ways in which it fails at being a Disney movie would inspire some of the best Disney television.
posted by RonButNotStupid at 9:03 AM on May 17, 2023 [6 favorites]

My mom took me to see The Aristocats ... I was 2

I mistook that title for another one and was 😲
posted by Greg_Ace at 10:21 AM on May 17, 2023 [3 favorites]

"My sister and I had this version of the Robin Hood soundtrack and we listened to it and acted out the songs over and over and over."

Same. Think I still have it.
posted by eckeric at 10:45 AM on May 17, 2023 [3 favorites]

I saw this in a drive-in theater, pretty close to when it came out, with my parents, and even though I'd already seen the Errol Flynn version on tv already, it was this Robin and Little Jon who were my imaginary friends before I started kindergarten.
And now, thinking about the heist and genderbending comments above - here's an impossible wish: live-action Disney re-make with Beth Riesgraf voicing Robin.
posted by Mutant Lobsters from Riverhead at 2:27 PM on May 17, 2023

Speaking of Roger Miller:
Robin Hood and Little John running through the forest -- "A minstrel... oh. that's an early day folk singer...."
Not in Nottingham
posted by TrishaU at 3:49 AM on May 18, 2023 [1 favorite]

I watched this movie at such a tender age that I imprinted on it, there is no other word for it. My love for it goes far beyond logic. When coming out of a really tough time in my life lately, I watched this movie, and sobbed (sobbed!) because it felt like a portal into a past when things were good and happy. I unreasonably adore it, and I was a little freaked out to read in the article about the proposed CGI remake. I'm not saying it couldn't be done well, but if it's anything like Disney's creepy photorealistic remakes of late, I really hope they keep as far away from Robin Hood as possible.
posted by unicorn chaser at 3:23 PM on May 19, 2023 [4 favorites]