Maiden of the greenwood
Mar. 4th, 2014 08:45 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
elabyThe other day when I was feeling sick, Rachel insisted that we watch Robin Hood - the Disney one with the foxes <3 <3 <3 It's really the first Disney movie I can remember watching, and it's always been one of my favorites. It kicked off a bit of a resurgence in my Robin Hood obsession, which is nearly as old as my Lord of the Rings obsession.
It started with the Disney movie when I was very wee, and then the Kevin Costner movie, Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves, solidified it. I would've been nine when it came out, and from then on, every one of my daydreams involved archery and tree-houses in Sherwood forest. Around the same time, my mother was reading a book by Jennifer Roberson called Lady of the Forest and, in spite of the fact that it's 761 pages long, I decided I had to read it too. It's classified as a romance novel, but it's really more like 40% romance and 60% political intrigue. The important part is that it became my Robin Hood headcanon for quite a numerous span of years, and even though re-reading it is a pretty big undertaking, I do so every so often.
Aside from the fact that I just adore this book in general, one of the most enjoyable things about it is that every time I read it, I notice something I never noticed before.
When I read it the first time, I was probably somewhere around the age of 10, give or take a few years. The things that stuck out to me were surface-level details about the characters: Marian was very dark of hair and blue of eyes, and Robin was pale pale pale, white-blond. Will Scarlett's wife had been killed by Normans - I reacted with loathing to any mention of Normans for years afterwards. Somebody broke Alan-a-dale's lute. Little John was a giant; Much was a boy they called "simple". The frightening things stuck with me too: Robin's violent flashbacks to the battle of Acre; Marian's scary dream about some unfamiliar monster called a bean sidhe. (Years later, a Brian Froud book supplied the pronunciation - "ban shee" - and my brain exploded.)
The second time I read it (when I was a teenager) well, good heavens - it appears I completely missed the sex the first time around. Even the dreaded bean sidhe nightmare comes right after sex, which my unready brain skipped blithely over. This time, I certainly noticed, and I paid more attention to political plot, which I understood enough of to find incredibly long-winded.
The third time I read it, I was in college. Again, I noticed that the political plot was given as much weight, if not more so, than the romance, but I liked it better this time. I found Robin and his stoic-controlled-angstfulness considerably more tedious than before. But the real revelation this time was about Robin's relationship with Richard the Lionheart, who he followed on crusade. The first time, I completely missed the numerous blatant references to Richard's romantic inclinations toward menfolk. The second time, I noticed them, but what I didn't catch until the third time was that Richard had been interested in Robin, and Robin hadn't been able to return his feelings - and Robin was tormented by this failure to accommodate his sovereign. This reading was, as I dubbed it, the "I couldn't shag my king" reading.
I'm only 120 pages into my fourth reading, and already I'm more interested in Marian and how the women of the story navigate their positions than before. I'm hoping for another massive revelation like "I couldn't shag my king"; we'll see :)
It started with the Disney movie when I was very wee, and then the Kevin Costner movie, Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves, solidified it. I would've been nine when it came out, and from then on, every one of my daydreams involved archery and tree-houses in Sherwood forest. Around the same time, my mother was reading a book by Jennifer Roberson called Lady of the Forest and, in spite of the fact that it's 761 pages long, I decided I had to read it too. It's classified as a romance novel, but it's really more like 40% romance and 60% political intrigue. The important part is that it became my Robin Hood headcanon for quite a numerous span of years, and even though re-reading it is a pretty big undertaking, I do so every so often.
Aside from the fact that I just adore this book in general, one of the most enjoyable things about it is that every time I read it, I notice something I never noticed before.
When I read it the first time, I was probably somewhere around the age of 10, give or take a few years. The things that stuck out to me were surface-level details about the characters: Marian was very dark of hair and blue of eyes, and Robin was pale pale pale, white-blond. Will Scarlett's wife had been killed by Normans - I reacted with loathing to any mention of Normans for years afterwards. Somebody broke Alan-a-dale's lute. Little John was a giant; Much was a boy they called "simple". The frightening things stuck with me too: Robin's violent flashbacks to the battle of Acre; Marian's scary dream about some unfamiliar monster called a bean sidhe. (Years later, a Brian Froud book supplied the pronunciation - "ban shee" - and my brain exploded.)
The second time I read it (when I was a teenager) well, good heavens - it appears I completely missed the sex the first time around. Even the dreaded bean sidhe nightmare comes right after sex, which my unready brain skipped blithely over. This time, I certainly noticed, and I paid more attention to political plot, which I understood enough of to find incredibly long-winded.
The third time I read it, I was in college. Again, I noticed that the political plot was given as much weight, if not more so, than the romance, but I liked it better this time. I found Robin and his stoic-controlled-angstfulness considerably more tedious than before. But the real revelation this time was about Robin's relationship with Richard the Lionheart, who he followed on crusade. The first time, I completely missed the numerous blatant references to Richard's romantic inclinations toward menfolk. The second time, I noticed them, but what I didn't catch until the third time was that Richard had been interested in Robin, and Robin hadn't been able to return his feelings - and Robin was tormented by this failure to accommodate his sovereign. This reading was, as I dubbed it, the "I couldn't shag my king" reading.
I'm only 120 pages into my fourth reading, and already I'm more interested in Marian and how the women of the story navigate their positions than before. I'm hoping for another massive revelation like "I couldn't shag my king"; we'll see :)
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Date: 2014-03-05 03:15 am (UTC)Wait — wait — *flail* — how did I never make that connection before?!
And have I mentioned recently that you're awesome?
I've been thinking about you. This weekend I saw my first episode of Sherlock ... some of which I like and some of which I badly want to rewrite :-) and I'm remembering evenings with you guys, talking about Conan Doyle cannon. And your wonderful Lestrade and Watson story set after the Reischenbach falls.
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Date: 2014-03-05 03:52 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2014-03-06 12:07 am (UTC)I know, when I realized how to pronounce bean sidhe, I almost died XD Things (including that scene in this book) made so much more sense!
Hee, yeah, I've seen some of Sherlock and I think it's very well done in a lot of ways, but it's just not my sort of show. I love the Victorians too much XD I'm so, so happy that you remember my fanfic fondly <3 <3 I've been missing you too, and missing talking to you about Robin McKinley books :)
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Date: 2014-03-06 12:07 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2014-03-08 10:36 pm (UTC)I remember now about the bean sidhe, and you finding the correct pronunciation, but I had totally forgotten that. :)
And I do remember all of your readings of the book, and your different reactions to it. Aren't you glad I didn't censor your reading when you were ten? *glomps you*
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Date: 2014-03-09 12:03 am (UTC)*snuggles*