Viewing Robin Hood and Anonymous As Embodiments of Non-Conformity: A Comparative Analysis of Media-Texts Used For Provoking Thoughts of Protest, Disobedience and Idealism

The International Journal of Trolling and Online Participation 1(2)
Viewing Robin Hood and Anonymous as

embodiments of non-conformity: A comparative
analysis of media-texts used for provoking thoughts
of protest, disobedience and idealism
Jonathan Bishop1
Abstract: The truth surrounding the existence and origin of Robin Hood has
evaded scholars from multiple disciplines for centuries. Robin Hood has been
linked to persons or characters in court rolls, plays and other documented
references. Some of the oldest records of this infamous and elusive personality
include the ballads. These are not however the only media texts referring to Robin
Hood, as he has featured in films, TV series, music and video games also. Akin
to Robin Hood are the protest movement Anonymous. A group of hacktivists,
representing modern day bandits, the comparisons between Robin Hood and
Anonymous are endless. This paper examines media-texts relating to Robin
Hood in a critical manner and proposes that he exists not as a person but as a
metaphor for free speech and anti-establishment sentiment, much in the same
way that Anonymous is used today. The paper explores how Robin Hood has
been used by the peasants and aristocracy alike to reflect their ideas and ideals
relating to the establishment, as a fairy tale, an antidote to economic depressions
and for the romanticism associated with the legend. This is compared and
contrasted with the same uses of Anonymous, including the Guy Fawkes mask
that is like Robins hood. The paper concludes that even if it is the case that
Robin Hood exists only as a metaphor, as Anonymous does to media consumers,
it still needs to be established why the rhymes were of Robin Hood and not
another name or concept.
Keywords: Robin Hood, Anonymous, uses and gratifications, media studies
Introduction
This paper will build on arguments that Robin Hood was not so much a
myth as is recently thought (Knight, 2003; Shackley, Smith, & Brent,
Centre for Research into Online Communities and E-Learning Systems, jonathan@jonathanbishop.com
29

2001), in that he followed a stable and persistent narrative as has been
the case with Biblical stories but he is a collection of myths that have
been created to respond to the challenges of the day (Cavendish, Burland,
& Innes, 1997). This is also the case with Anonymous, the Internet
movement who seek to disrupt and challenge persistent narratives and the
status quo, even though like Robin Hood they do not have one themselves
(T. J. Holt & Schell, 2013). Robin Hood has become an icon, who
represents all social classes, such as being a yeoman and an earl, and more
often than not being a bandit and outlaw. Anonymous have become icons
of subversive cultural and transgressive humour, including with some of
the dark characteristics associated with Robin Hood (Barczewski, 2000;
Wiedemann, 2014).
The question over whether Robin Hood exists has perplexed academics
for generations, with some exploring whether or not Hobbehod
(referred to in the Wakefield Court Roll of 1273) is the true Robin Hood
(Dobson & Taylor, 1983; Keen, 1961), while others clearly state there was
no real Robin Hood and that he was just a myth (Knight, 2003). Equally,
academics have struggled to understand the Anonymous movement,
which is made up of disparate yet united individuals.
We Are Anonymous and I am Robin Hood

The commonalities between Robin Hood and Anonymous are endless.
Robin Hood is often presented as a hooded bandit hiding his identity and
this hood is mirrored in the Guy Fawkes masks iconic of Anonymous
members. The existence of 4chan as a forum for posting conquests as
Internet trolls can be comparable to the Glenwood where Robin Hood
and his merry men share their successes at taking on the Sheriff of
Nottingham and his men. The distributed denial of service (DDos) attacks
by Anonymous can be seen to be like a siege of Nottingham Castle, and
the targeting of The Church of Scientology by Anonymous is clearly
reflected in the targeting of various persons in the religious establishment
by Robin Hood. References have been made to Robin Hood as
representing terrorism when those in the gunpowder plot were called
30

Robin Hoods and the same has been said of Anonymous (Wong &
Brown, 2013).
Policies associated with the redistribution of wealth in socialism are called
Robin Hood in the United States of America, and Anonymous is
associated with criticisms of the fact that 1 per cent of the population hold
99 per cent of the wealth (Nielsen, 2013). And furthermore, a transaction
tax on speculative share-dealing has been called the Robin Hood Tax.
Robin Hood it could therefore be argued is a metaphor used as an
instrument for people to speak about or come to terms with aspects of
their life that can be reflected through literary works in all forms, whether
book-based media texts, film, or the Internet. Below can be seen an
excerpt from the essentially pro-Catholic work, The Vision of Piers
Plowman (Langland, 1378; Langland, 2009) on the left, which is
translated by the author to the right.
I kan nought parfitly my
Paternoster as the preest it singeth
but I kan rhymes of Robyn Hood
and Randolf Erl of Chestre
I do not know my Paternoster as

perfectly as the priest sings it, but
I know rhymes of Robin Hood
and Ranulf Earl of Chester.
The words above were said by a character called Sloth, who is a priest.
The message conveyed in this is that Robin Hood and the Earl of Chester
are considered in opposition to the Paternoster, suggesting clear antiCatholic sentiment in the case of both persons. This narrative is probably
backed up by the finding of an English chronicle entry for the years 12941299 about Robin Hood, where he is spoken about as unfavourable by
what is believed to be a monk from Somerset (Luxford, 2009). This monk
is on the other side of the fence to that which Sloth appears to be on. It
has been stated that whilst Ranulf de Blondeville, the 6th Earl of Chester,
and Robin Hood may have both been equal heroes of the peasantry, it
might be still be the case that Robin Hood is nothing more than a
contemporary legend (Hilton, 1958). Indeed, it could be argued that the
gentrification of Robin Hood is what led to him going from being an icon
31

of the illiterate ballad singers to a plaything of the aristocracy, recasting
him as an earl or baron, such as Robert Earl of Huntingdon, or Baron
Loxley, for instance.
Ranulf de Blondeville (11701232) is associated with the early years of
Henry III, the son of King John (Carpenter, 1990), which might explain
the association of Robin Hood with this period in many of the stories.
Ranulf de Blondeville along with William the Marshal, the Earl of
Pembroke and Lord of Leinster, formed part of the regency government
of Henry III, who took the throne aged 9 (Carpenter, 1990). William the
Marshal fought in the Crusades with Richard I also (Crouch, 1990), which
might again explain the reason Robin Hood is associated with the reigns
of King Richard I and King John I, and why the rhymes of Robin Hood
were spoken about during the reign of Henry III. It is likely that the
consequence of the bad governance of the country under Richard I and
John I will have been a mess that Henry III was expected to clean up, and
it is thus likely the need for Robin Hood would be at is greatest. However,
the fact that Henry III was a devout Catholic would not have helped his
cause. It is thus asserted by the author that the reference to Edward in A
Gest of Robyn Hode is not to Edward II as is popularly thought, but the
son of Henry III, namely Edward I. The popularity of Henry III went up
and down during his reign, suggesting the Robin Hood legends went
through a lot of change in terms of need and nature at the same time.
Due to the power gained by Ranulf de Blondeville in the government of
the young Henry III, he was powerful enough to defy Henry IIIs will to
collect taxes, which according to the Oxford Dictionary of National
Biography, was known to be unpopular among the poor. This might again
explain why Ranulf de Blondeville is referred to in the same sentence as
Robin Hood within Piers Plowman. It is likely that the creation of a binary
between Ranulf and Henry III would have led to Ranulf being presented
as anti-Catholic in opposition to Henry III more generally, who was a
devout Catholic. It may further explain why Robin Hood became
associated with robbing the rich to feed the poor during the gentrification
32

of the legend, which started with A Gest of Robin Hood (J. C. Holt, 2011;
Knight, 2003). He appears alongside Robin Hood in John a Kent and
John a Cumber (Munday, 1590), The Downfall of Robert Earl of
Huntingdon (Munday, 1601b), The Downfall of Robert Earl of
Huntingdon (Munday, 1601b) and Look About You (Munday, 1600),
which are a series of plays where huge emphasis is put on the association
between Robin Hood and Ranulf (Burgess, 2008; Logan & Smith, 1975).
It is known that Munday travelled with the Earl of Pembrokes men
between 1598 and 1599 to stage the plays on the downfall and death of
Robin Hood as Earl of Huntingdon (Hamilton, 2005). Being that Munday
had been signing as Messenger of Her Majesty's Chamber by 1588 in
recognition of his work against Catholics (Hamilton, 2005), this might
explain Mundays motives for building on the anti-Catholic undertones of
The Vision of Piers Plowman (Langland, 1378; Langland, 2009).
Mundays associations with the same aristocracy that existed around the
time of Piers Plowman, and writing at a time where the monarch was
against Catholicism, might explain why his plays took the form they did
(i.e. embodiments of uses and gratification theory).
Equally, Project Chanology in 2008, saw Anonymous making a
concerted effort to bring down the Church of Scientology. This included
by making an organised raid against the church, sending black faxes to
waste paper and ink, prank calling its telephone hotline and DDoS attacks
(Olson, 2013). It is clear that Anonymous seek to carry the
mischievousness of Robin Hood, even though members cannot always
agree on which direction to take (Reichert, 2013), with one such
perspective of how Anonymous should be organised being presented
below.
We [Anonymous] just happen to be a group of people on the internet who
needjust kind of an outlet to do as we wish, that we wouldn't be able to do
in regular society. ...That's more or less the point of it. Do as you wish. ...
There's a common phrase: 'we are doing it for the lulz.'
33

Considering bandits and trolls as iconography in support of
protest, disobedience and idealism in Robin Hood and
Anonymous media texts
In the Middle Ages there were serious penalties for speaking about events
through which powerful figures are presented in an unfavourable light,
and today governments view online protests as being criminal, including
in the case of Anonymous (Beyer, 2014). Notoriously the childrens
nursery rhyme, ring a ring of roses has been associated with the black
plague (Twigg, 1978) and the Grand Old Duke of York story referred to
incompetent and self-defeating behaviour (Pullum, 1976). Anonymous
and other Internet trolls are known to strongly associate with the more
contemporary memes in below (Bishop, 2014).
I admit I was trolling
(provoking), but thank you for
your intense participation.
Banned from facebook for 24

hours for trolling idiots and a
talentless dead piece of shit
Whether an expression of individuality in the face of negative social

stereotypes, or something else, metaphor can act as a form of selfvalidation to protest at an otherwise uncontrollable set of circumstances
(Campbell, Wallcraft, Schrank, & Amering, 2009). A metaphor is thus a
bridge between two ideas that, at least on the surface, are not equivalent
or related (Johnston, 2013). It is therefore this papers assumption that
the rhymes of Robin Hood that form part of the literary works relating
to the legend are on the whole representations of freedom of expression.
The fact that many of the Robin Hood legends have existed in spoken
form, more likely than not suggests that the stories were told by those
who lacked the advanced literacy skills, who were likely to be those whose
freedoms, such as to free speech, were being suppressed. Indeed it is
known in the case of Anonymous that they too do not seem to have a
consistent philosophy or political narrative (T. J. Holt & Schell, 2013),
with them being as fragmented as the Robin Hood legends. As discussed
earlier, however, the dissatisfaction between the aristocracy and the
34

Church has led to literary works presenting Robin Hood as an Earl in
opposition to the Catholic Church. This suggests that Robin Hood can
speak not only for the poor, but the rich also.
A document analysis of Robin Hood media-texts using

uses and gratifications theory in a historical context
The premise of this study is that the literary works of William Langland
and Anthony Munday, showing the existence of Robin Hood as an antiCatholic character, perfectly captures his existence as not necessarily as a
real person, but as a means to demonstrate civil disobedience of, or
dissatisfaction towards, unwanted establishments, such as the Catholic
Church. Whilst this point of view of Robin Hood as an anti-Catholic
figure has been considered previously in relation to William Langlands
work (Wittig, 2003), it has not been tested or argued with significant
reference to historic accounts of unrest and dissatisfaction in relation for
the need for freedom of expression through metaphor in various mediatexts.
The author regards the appropriate approach for investigating the
narrative development of the legends of Robin Hood as being a document
analysis using the uses and gratifications theorem. Uses and gratifications
theory is considered a psychological communication perspective that
focuses on individual use and choice by asserting that different people can
use the same media type for very different purposes (Ko, Cho, & Roberts,
2005). For uses and gratifications theory to be an appropriate tool for
document analysis then the results should indicate a difference between
media texts that can be attributable to differing viewing motivations,
which, in turn result in the use of different media (Vincent & Basil, 1997).
This is something it is hoped can be seen to have been achieved with this
research.
Documents
In relation to Robin Hood, the documents selected included some of the
original ballads and plays as well as 20th and 21st century versions of films,
35

soundtracks and other music and video games. In terms of media-texts
from the 1400s and 1500s, these were mainly ballads. The ones selected
were The Death of Robin Hood from around 1440 (The death of robin
hood. 1997), Robin Hood and Guy of Gisborne from around 1475 (Robin
hood and guy of gisborne. 1997), Robin Hood and the Potter from
around 1500 (Robin hood and the potter. 1997), A Gest of Robyn Hode,
from around 1460 (A gest of robyn hode. 1997) and Robin Hood and the
Monk from around 1450 (Robin hood and the monk. 1997). These ballads
in particular were chosen on the basis of the Bold Outlaw website (Wright,
1997), which highlighted them as most significant to the Robin Hood
legend.
The media-texts chosen for the first part of the 20th century include the
films Robin Hood (Dwan, 1922), The Adventures of Robin Hood
(Curtiz & Keighley, 1938) and The Rogues of Sherwood Forest
(Douglas, 1950). For the second half the films, Robin and Marion (Lester,
1976), and 'Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves' (Reynolds, 1991). The video
games chosen were the 'Curse of Sherwood' (Brewster, 1987) and 'the
Adventures of Robin Hood' (Firstlight, 1991) video games. Also looked
at were the 20th century musical scores Robin Hood (James, 1956) and
'Everything I do' that is associated with (Reynolds, 1991). Erich Wolfgang
Korngolds film score was considered mainly for its timeliness and not its
literary meaning. The films were all chosen for their significance in
popular culture and in the case of the video games these were based on
the authors prior knowledge of them. In terms of the 21st century a
number of specific Robin Hood media-texts were chosen. The film,
Robin Hood starring Russell Crowe (Scott, 2010) and the BBC Robin
Hood TV series (Minghella & Allan, 2006) were the video media chosen.
In terms of video games, the one chosen was Robin Hood: Defender of
the Crown (Cinemaware, 2003).
Methodology
The methodology essentially followed a researcher-as-instrument
approach. The author is a qualified and experienced researcher in the areas
36

of Robin Hood Studies, Media Studies and Internet trolling. This allowed
for an inductive approach to drawing out of the various Robin Hood
media-texts, their commonalities and consistent themes. On this basis the
equivalent cultural norm is then identified in relation to Anonymous and
their activities. Whilst such a qualitative approach may be criticised by
those of a positivist philosophy, it would be nearly impossible to use such
approaches with the Robin Hood legend as much of it is based on
discovery as opposed to application of existing paradigms, as recent
research that uncovered new documentary evidence found (Luxford,
2009). Equally, identifying the commonalities between the Robin Hood
legend and Anonymous requires a researcher-led approach as the more
quantitative methods are not suited to this. The research should thus been
seen through a constructivist lens it is one set of possible truths on
Robin Hood and Anonymous but by carrying out the inquiry should
mean it will be easier for others to construct their own truths using newly
identified truths which they might interpret as facts.
Results
The results show a huge shift in audience theory between the ages of the
various Robin Hood media-texts existence. In the 1200s the texts belong
to the people as a form of protest and disobedience, and by the 1400s
Robin Hood had become a medium for entertaining one another through
mixing and matching different stories and legends. The Magna Carta was
intended to protect the rights of the feudal lords, but by the end of the
1200s, others in England, including merchants and peasants who did not
own property, were protected by law as well (McNeese, 2001). This
process saw a shift from free speech being something that was restricted
to being a practice that was being called for as a right. The Robin Hood
ballads of this time have been heavily criticised as lacking the integrity of
other English literature (Knight, 2003). This is more likely than not
because the people who spoke them were the peasants who had poor
literacy, but whom wanted to communicate their dissatisfaction with
society through telling and retelling songs and poems - of which Robin
37

Hood as an anti-establishment figure would be a good metaphor to use in
front of an audience, such as around a publicly lit fire. Since the 1400s,
however, the audience theory of Robin Hood changed from one led by
the masses who were often illiterate to being used by the aristocracy
who saw the legend as a new business opportunity to exploit the masses.
This ownership of the legend has led to an expectation of certain things
such as the legend being based in the time of King Richard and the
Crusades. This status quo is fearlessly protected by a community of Robin
Hood junkies who will not let the legend develop beyond how they are
used to it (Bishop, 2007). The rest of this section explains the detail
around these findings.
The antidote to economic woes
It has been argued that during economic booms, more resources are
available for supporting the arts than during a recession (Sgourev, 2013)
this does not mean that creativity around Robin Hood dies - if anything
the Robin Hood legend is needed more during a recession, which might
explain the successes of those media-texts that emphasise the robbing for
the rich to give to the poor. As can be seen with (Dwan, 1922) and (Curtiz
& Keighley, 1938) during and following the Great Depression, during the
John Major Government there was (Reynolds, 1991) and the credit crunch
was followed by (Scott, 2010). These Robin Hoods likely serve a mass
audience looking for a fairer share of the cake during these times of
economic hardship. Such narratives are common among the Anonymous
movement members, who at the same time as the credit crunch, took
advantage of the three movements of disruption to the worlds capitalist
and statist narrative, namely anti-austerity, the Arab Spring, and the
Occupy protests (Wood et al., 2013).
Similarly in the Robin Hood legends, 'The Adventures of Robin Hood'
where Robin Hood is played by Errol Flynn (Curtiz & Keighley, 1938)
following the Great Depression is very heavily based on the stories of
Howard Pyle's book The Merry Adventures of Robin Hood, which is of
the overcoming the establishment model, particularly the collection of
38

taxes administered by Longchamps, who was the chancellor of the
exchequer during Richard Is capture during the Crusades. It was preceded
by the Douglas Fairbanks rendition (Dwan, 1922), which was equally
swashbuckling and representational of Robin Hood as a dissident member
of the aristocracy as represented in (Munday, 1601a) and (Munday,
1601b).
There were several market-driven musical styles that reflected life during
the Great Depression, including the blues, popular music, populism, and
popular front (Stevens & Fogel, 2007). This might explain why Erich
Wolfgang Korngolds featured heavily in (Curtiz & Keighley, 1938) and
Victor Schertzingers in (Dwan, 1922). The short recession in the early
1950s was also accompanied by (Douglas, 1950), a de factor sequel to
(Dwan, 1922) and (Curtiz & Keighley, 1938), containing many of the same
actors and set in a time following the death of King Richard and not
during his reign and featuring Robin Hoods son and heir. The mid 1950s
cemented Robin Hoods place into history as a hero of the people with
the famous score where Robin Hood is feared by the bad and loved by
the good (James, 1956). Video games like Robin Hood: Defender of the
Crown (Cinemaware, 2003) allow for the King Richard and Prince John
theme to go on, with Robin in this case fighting to free the peasants from
the greedy aristocracy. Anonymous spread equally dissident memes,
portraying the aristocracy as a Cookie Monster that consumes 99 per
cent of the worlds cookies (Milner, 2013).
Challenging the establishment
One of the most significant finds in recent enquiries into Robin Hood
was that which found a reference to Robin Hood in the English chronicles
(Luxford, 2009). This confirmed almost without doubt that there was an
antagonism in the established Church towards an embodiment of Robin
Hood, whether imagined or actual. This might explain why the Robin
Hood and the Monk ballad is one of the key media-texts in the Robin
Hood legend. In this tale, or maybe more accurately talk, Robin Hoods
identity is exposed to the Sheriff of Nottingham by a monk he once
39

robbed, which leads on to the monks death by Little John. The ballad
follows a clear reading as construction approach (Todorov, 1990). Such
anti-establishment sentiments are seen in the Anonymous movement
today, where their Guy Fawkes masks became a well-known symbol for
them as well as the Occupy movement, and other anti-government and
anti-establishment protests around the world (Kohns, 2013; Wiedemann,
2014). There is an equilibrium where Robin Hood and Little John are in
the bright woods in an early May morning, when Robin decides to go
to Church. The narrative is disrupted when Little John falls out with
Robin when he does not honour a bet. The equilibrium is restored when
Little John breaks Robin out of prison, reaffirming their friendship. The
fact that in total the monk, the king and the sheriff are overcome may
please many an anti-authoritarian audience. Such narrative disruptions are
evident in the way Anonymous engages with the establishment today. The
establishment usually responds to threats to its existence first with
avoidance, followed by attempts at suppression, and when this doesnt
work by adjusting to work with the protesters and finally, if they give in,
this becomes the capitulation (Burford, 2013). Anonymous cannot be
avoided because they grab the attention of the mass media, they cannot
be suppressed as there is no central leadership to focus on, and as a result
adjustment and capitulation is difficult (Burford, 2013).
Such difficulties in taking on the established are also reflected in the Robin
Hood legend. As discussed earlier the plays of The Downfall of Robert
Earl of Huntingdon and The Death of Robert Earl of Huntingdon were
likely written by someone of an anti-Catholic standpoint, and this was also
likely to be the anti-establishment sentiment behind the Robin Hood and
Guy of Gisborne ballad (Robin hood and guy of gisborne. 1997). In the
case of the latter, Guy of Gisborne is presented as the Sheriff of
Nottinghams right hand man, as is the case in many of the post-19th
century retellings of the legend (Curtiz & Keighley, 1938; Minghella &
Allan, 2006; Reynolds, 1991). In the case of Guy of Gisborne he is
beheaded by Robin Hood in defiance of the Sheriff, in a similar way to
the anti-authority killing of the monk and his page in Robin Hood and
40

the Monk (Robin hood and guy of gisborne. 1997). Such anti-authority
destruction is reflected in the Anonymous movement through its Occupy
Wall Street initiative, DDoS attacks and hacking in general (Iirovsky,
2012).
The fairy tale
The fairy tale is a well described genre of writing and is often predictably
seen in major film productions (Propp, 1968). The association of Robin
Hood as the hero and Maid Marion as the princess has captured the
imagination of all generations for generations. The ballad of Robin and
Marion portrays a story of Robin Hood been deceived by Marion as to
her identity when she was looking for him, as a fight broke out between
them before they knew who each other were (Bishop, 2007). Such a
disguise of masculine and feminine characteristics is most entertainingly
reflected in Anonymous through the iconography of its members wearing
Guy Fawkes masks in order to conceal their identity, with the women
members being easily identifiable through their pronounced chests. It is
thought that Maid Marion entered the Robin Hood legend as a result of a
number of French medieval plays that used Robin and Marion as
characters, such as Jeu de Robin et Marion (Knight, 2003). France is
secular and anti-Church in its construction (Dixon & Sinclair, 2008). But
the play was written around 1282 to 1283 (Dixon & Sinclair, 2008), which
is around a decade before the English chronicle reference to Robin Hood
being active around 1294-1299 (Luxford, 2009). With the Piers Plowman
reference to Robin Hood as a possible counter-culture to the Paternoster
being dated 1378, it might be that the anti-Church sentiment in this play
ignited the literary existence of a character similar to Robin Hood. Marion
as the princess in the legend of Robin Hood as legend spans generations
(Curtiz & Keighley, 1938; Lester, 1976; Reynolds, 1991; Scott, 2010), as
do the rest of the ensemble cast. Little John is regularly presented as Robin
Hoods helper, and the Sheriff of Nottingham and Guy of Gisbourne
often as the villain(s). There is often an anti-hero trying to capture Marion,
such as the Sheriff of Nottingham in (Reynolds, 1991) and Guy of
41

Gisbourne in others (Minghella & Allan, 2006). The fairy tale of the
princess and hero are no more evident than in the musical score that
accompanies the (Reynolds, 1991) production, namely Everything I Do (I
do it for you). In this song there is the typical hero in search of the princess
theme, where the hero would be willing to die to win the heart of the
princess. The song reflects the dedication of Robin towards Marion,
whom in the film he swore to protect, following being sent on his quest
by the dispatcher, Azeem, who set him free, and also Marions brother
Peter, who became the donor as he gave Robin a ring to give to Marion.
Two separate media-texts of Robin Hood worth considering together is
the film, Robin and Marian starring Sean Connery (Lester, 1976) and the
Death of Robin Hood ballad (The death of robin hood. 1997). The film
incorporates the latter ballad as a tragic conclusion to Robins life, after
presenting a sequel like narrative where Marion has become an abbess and
Robin has returned to England following King Richard Is killing. The
conclusion of both the film and ballad involves Robin firing an arrow to
mark where he should be buried. It has the tragedy found in only the most
daring fairy tales that should end with people living happily ever after.
Whether there is such a catastrophic end to the Anonymous movement
is unclear, but a number of prosecutions have been made.
Extravagance, novelty and romanticism
Extravagance is something that might be clearly seen to have not escaped
representations of Robin Hood in different media texts. From
swashbuckling representations by Errol Flynn (Curtiz & Keighley, 1938),
the realistic settings in the Kevin Costner film (Reynolds, 1991) right
through to another Hollywood blockbuster starring Russell Crowe with
its convincing special effects (Scott, 2010).
One thing certain about the more recent media-texts relating to Robin
Hood is that romanticist authors have injected new vigour into the legend
(Knight, 2011). The plays of The Downfall of Robert Earl of
Huntingdon and The Death of Robert Earl of Huntingdon for instance
42

can be considered to be of a romance akin to Shakespearean plays, where
there is both comedy and tragedy (Margeson, 1974). Furthermore, the
musical score by Erich Wolfgang Korngold for The Adventures of Robin
Hood (Curtiz & Keighley, 1938) was winner of the Academy Award for
best dramatic score in 1938 (Winters, 2007). Anonymouss influence in
the music industry has been more of an anti-establishment nature. We,
Anonymous, are launching our largest attack ever on government and music industry
sites. Lulz. The FBI didnt think they would get away with this did they? They should
have expected us, was one message put out by the movement (Burford,
2013).
Novelty is a double-edged sword in terms of the Robin Hood community.
It has been shown that even down to Robin Hoods tone of voice there
are certain expectations of what he should be presented as by those who
identify with the legend (Bishop, 2007). Whilst there have been attempts
to diversify Robin Hood, such as making him an entertainer, protester and
social critic (Knight, 2003), mainstream acceptance of Robin Hood is
based on a clear identification of him as a hero, something true of
Anonymous, who are presented as heroes within the Internet Liberation
Front (Burford, 2013). This is not always the case in video games,
however. The Curse of Sherwood game (Brewster, 1987) for instance had
Friar Tuck as the main protagonist, and the Adventures of Robin Hood
game (Firstlight, 1991) had two main endings one where Robin Hood
died at the hands of the people who hated him and the other where he
won back the castle taken from him by the Sheriff. The ending also varies
based on who Robin meets along the way. There is even an appearance
of a dragon, crystal balls, and magic rings. These two games in particular
probably represent the need of their creators to have a sense of personal
expression to make their mark on what might appear to be a too
homogenised legend. Equally, with Anonymous, one of the aims of the
movement is to introduce civil disobedience into cyberspace, which is
often taken as safe field for free expression of ideas (Iirovsky, 2012).
Discussion
43

This paper has contested that Robin Hoods existence had been driven by
uses and gratifications theory in that he is used as a metaphor by those
wanting to express protest, disobedience and idealism, much like that seen
in the rise of the hacktivist group, Anonymous.. Most typically it has
been found this is in relation to an authors objection to the power of the
Catholic Church in the case of Robin Hood and the establishment in the
case of Anonymous. The paper argues that the reference to rhymes of
Robin Hood in Piers Plowman is used to show disrespect for the Church
as the speaker suggests he has little tolerance for Catholic liturgy (i.e. the
Paternoster), but prefers to hear tales of Robin Hood and Ranulf de
Blondeville, the 6th Earl of Chester, who are both embodiments of antiCatholic sentiment. Such disrespect for the establishment is evident in the
Anonymous movement as they wear Guy Fawkes masks to reflect this
and give them anonymity. Constant references to 1 per cent of the
population owning 99 per cent of the worlds wealth is reflected in
Anonymouss narratives.
For nearly the whole of the 20th century most popular media associated
Robin Hood with the Crusades, King Richard, the Sheriff of Nottingham,
Maid Marion - it was near enough the case that any media text that went
outside of this would not be accepted. By this time the consumerism
where the consumer side of the market has become what dictates the
books that exist in that market means media-text creators had to satisfy
the uses and gratifications of these consumers towards this rigid accepted
narrative of Robin Hood. Such capitalist conformity is rejected by
members of Anonymous, who see themselves as campaigners against the
status quo that puts wealth in the hands of the few and not the many.
Uses and gratifications theory is reflective of other sides of the Robin
Hood legend, and even in how Anonymous present themselves. The
paper has shown how Robin Hood is usually pulled out at times of
economic depression and the rob from the rich and give to the poor
mantra has served as a means for audiences to come to terms with the
economic climate. This is comparable to the generic view of Anonymous
44

members who take part in Occupy events in world financial centres,
based, again, on the idea that 99 per cent of the worlds wealth is owned
by 1 per cent of the population. The swashbuckling nature of some Robin
Hood media texts, including the gruesome killings of Guy of Gisborne
and the Monk serve an audience looking for drama and suspense. Some
novel representations of the Robin Hood legend in video games provides
some relief for those wanting to try out new ideas with the story where
otherwise such retellings would not be welcomed.
It has for around a decade been concluded that Robin Hood is a myth.
Based on the premise of this paper based on uses and gratifications theory
one might argue therefore that Robin Hood is not so much a myth as a
collection of myths. Each person will use and understand the legend
differently from others, based on what they want to get out of it. The
Robin Hood legend will stroke the anti-authoritarian, romantic and
poverty stricken meta-narratives of many people. These rhymes of Robin
Hood seek to challenge a status quo people are not satisfied with, whether
the established Church or those otherwise rich and powerful. The
existence of the Anonymous movement as is portrayed in the media may
be equally as much of a myth. It is unknown how many members of
Anonymous is, and there is no clear leadership structure. The Internet, as
a means of marketing information, is equally capable of creating a mirage
of a single united identity that one sees with Robin Hood, who is still seen
as a single person and not a collection of individually created myths.
Anonymous therefore may be seen to use websites like 4chan,
Encyclopedia Dramatica, and indeed Twitter, much in the same way
Robin Hood is portrayed as using a bugle horn to rally his merry men.
What might be seen as certain, however, is that Robin Hood will have
many more uses by many more people than Anonymous, which appears
to be used as much by the established media to gratify those audiences
looking for gratifications in terms of protest and disobedience, as those
who members of Anonymous who claim to be part of the movement.
Acknowledgements
45

The author would like to acknowledge all those reviewers who provided
comment on earlier versions of this paper. In particular the author would
like to thank Dean Hoffman, whose thoughtful comments helped it reach
publication level. An overview of this paper is to be presented at the
Conference of the International Association of Robin Hood Studies at
the University Centre, Doncaster, in June 2015 under the title, Godliness
next to Anonymous: Anti-establishment rhetoric in Robin Hood ballads and
contemporary media texts.
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