Had to laugh at this story, seems that in the BBC worldview Friar Tuck, Robin Hood’s spiritual adviser, is a black martial arts expert! Hurrah for multiculti revisionism. But didn’t they miss a trick in not turning Robin of Sherwood into Robyn,a sexually-liberated feminist who teaches the rich that not only is wealth-redistribution essential but also that there is no place for chauvinism in Nottingham.
Hat-tip to All Seeing Eye for the story!
Let’s follow this up (then I’m going to shut up):
Maybe Mohammed wasn’t an Arab. Maybe it was Santa Claus (incl. the beard)???
The racism of this site disgusts me. Doesn’t anyone know that Maid Marion was really Puerto Rican employed at the cigarette factory?
I just met a girl named Mari An suddenly that name
Will never be the same
To me
Casting Tuck as a black man is simply tokenism, like the unexplained black guests at a party or a wedding.
If the BBC really had the courage of their convictions they would cast Robin as a black man. It’s all acting, isn’t it?
nick cohen:
“who do you trust – the BBC or a blogger?”
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2009/mar/29/bbc-bloggers-journalism
deegee | 30.03.09 – 12:27 am
i know – the racism on this site is awful. Looking forward to the BBC remaking the legend of Saint Patrick as a Chinese Confucian monk…
“Is it really villification to have a black character in the show?”
well, if you’re going to rewrite a legend thats hundreds of years old why stop there.
King Arthur as an Arabic Moor anyone?
Heck, why not go the full hog and stick swastikas on spitfires and have the Brits fighting with S.S Totenkopf on the battlefields of the Ukraine.
Its tampering with a deep seated English folkloric legend – thats striking at the very heart of what it is to be English.
I dont think the Greeks would be too happy if Hercules was recast as a Buddhist Shaolin monk.
Its silly isnt it? But its not silly for the BBC – theres a deadly serious political agenda behind this. And like all leftists, they like to rewrite history.
Oh, and don’t forget this all started on ITV with the Nazir character in ‘Robin of Sherwood.’ Were they being PC or out to destroy a cultural icon too?
The Cattle Prod of Destiny | 29.03.09 – 11:47 pm
well that was bollocks as well – being as it was at the time of the Crusades against Islamic armies in the Middle East. Robin is supposed to be a supporter of Richard The Lionheart.
Nazir & Robin being buddies? Not a chance.
So yeah – that was PC balls too.
The mass expulsion of ALL blacks and North Africans by Elizabeth the First (yup , it did happen. must have been horrific – and yet hardly known..)
archduke | 29.03.09 – 11:37 pm |
Did you learn all this at Tower Hamlets Black History Week or something?
deegee:
The racism of this site disgusts me.
deegee | 30.03.09 – 12:27 am | #
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Me too!
No URUGUAYANS in the BBC’s Robin Hood. It’s a travesty. Disgraceful.
You may be right about the blackness of this character and Guinevere in Merlin, but then I didn’t hear any of you moaning about Merlin, Arthur and many of the others being portrayed as English rather than Welsh.
Or do you only notice the BBC errors when the person concerned is black?
Whilst they were certainly Welsh people (or Celto-Roman) I’m not sure haow certain it is they were based in Wales as opposed to England – or indeed both as they would not have have been divided – Gildas depicts a world of Celtic kingdoms and there is no particular difference between say Dumnonia and a kingdom in Wales.
I think if it was meant to be historicaly accurate it would be very wrong to portray them as saxon rather than Welsh.
However I think the stories were popularized from the Middle ages (at least) so its possible to be faithful to the tradition even if it is clearly historically inaccurate. For instance Mallory has been very influential. Arthur was I think reinterpreted as indeed quintessentiially English.
The Welsh dont have to be happy about that of course.
I saw about a minute of that Merlin thing. It seemed boring and silly apart from anything else.
“Or do you only notice the BBC errors when the person concerned is black?”
I try to avoid anything historical on tv as it just irritates me too much. All historical dramas pointlessly change things and most documentaries are inaccurate, log winded and annoying.
AndrewsouthLondon, your expression “over-compensating closet racists” is absolutely brilliant; it precisely describes the mindset and condition of those obsessively multicultural pc dimwits who infest the BBC, not to mention much of the far-left/liberal camp who consistently act as apologists for those who wish us ill.
Still no black Doctor Who yet.
I was convinced that the last reincarnation would be a black dood.
Can’t be long now tho.
Bring back the Black and White minstrels show and David Bellamy!
I’m an oppressed UK minority and I demand that the BBC gives me some cultural airtime!
Cattle Prod
“Is it really villification to have a black character in the show?”
I said :
‘It doesn’t really matter who plays the parts but the BBC stray deliberately from the myth/legend to try and score cheap political points, coupled with the apparent miscasting is doubly annoying.’
It’s the BBC and PC rubbish. We have collective mental pictures of characters from myths, legends and literature. Its not racist. Look at it from a different angle. In the movie ‘Ali’ what if Mohammed Ali was played by Brad Pitt? How annoying and ridiculous would that be? Adolf Hitler played by Denzel Washington. It would be so wrong. I know they’re real people, but characters in myths and legends are equally as real in our imaginations.
I don’t like the casting of Robin Hood in this particular series either. He looks like an eco-warrior and his eyes are too close together. The actor playing the Sheriff of Nottingham is more dashing.
“Helen Phillips, Professor of English at Cardiff University and an expert in medieval literature, said: “Sub-Saharan Africans wouldn’t have been converted by that point, they would have had other religions. North Africans would have mostly been Muslims.”
The Christian kingdom of Abyssinia was pre-Islamic, and early on there was a large Nubian Church in the Sudan.
next it’ll be a robin hood in a wheel chair, and maid marion with tourette’s shouting wankers every 30 seconds
I think the BBC might be winning; I read this story over the weekend and I just couldn’t be bothered to write about it. The endless propaganda and brainwashing techniques used by the BBC are very very tiring to fight against.
Hey, it works both ways – they usually show Jesus as a bearded white European when he’d actually have been an Arab wouldn’t he?
Francis,
Sounds like you have been fortunate enough to miss most of Merlin, or you would have noticed there are NO Welsh characters at all.
Merlin is English, Arthur and Uther Pendragon are upper class proper English, Morgana is Irish, Merlins old adviser is non descript/Scots, Guinevere is black/English.
Not even any French as are clearly in some of the stories.
Even the dragon is voiced by an Englishman.
It should be the Celtic Red Dragon against the White Dragon Saxon invader, but in a strange twist of fate the invaders are the invaded.
No Welsh/Celtic? Myrddin Merlin, Pendragon, Gwenhwyfar Guinevere, Gaheris, Gareth, Gwalchmei Gawain, Cei, Bedwyr, Uthyr. As they say very English.
Cattle Prod, You say that “if they are that thick, what hope is there for them anyway?”. Have you forgotten all the conspiracy theories created by films like “JFK”? Many otherwise intelligent ADULTS believe nonsense inspired by lunacies like these, and surveys show that many get their historical (and current affairs) knowledge from Hollywood. (Not to mention that a significant proportion of young Americans regard Jon Stewart’s “Daily News” comedy show as their prime source of news material.)
Whether you like it or not, the mass media has a huge role in influencing the historical and cultural milieu, and PC nonsense like this is an example of the way lefties try to influence the young both prospectively and retrospectively.
Cockney
Jesus is universal, Robin Hood is culturally specific.
Its quite simple – the series is crap – so why do we infect our kids with crap?
A bunch of male models running around in a sanitised fairy land – trying to look ‘ard – as per magazine photoshoots.
Some kids love – they have no reference to compare it against – and never will – weve always got our references and timelines from popular culture.
But thats the point the media middle class dont get…the bottom end of society has nothing but its culture to identify with – so give us our culture back you mind controlling bastards!
“Jesus is universal”. No he isn’t, God is universal. Jesus is a specific bloke who lived and breathed 2,000 odd years ago if you believe the bible.
This Guardian review of the show – and Primeval – is what we are up against – no mention of the obvious – or anything really — mindless waffle by the ignoratii – check the National Review Online for how reviews should be written..
http://www.guardian.co.uk/culture/2009/mar/30/the-weekend-s-tv
Cockney
Yes, you’re right. I was thinking of statues of Buddha in China look Chinese, in Thailand, Thai, in India Indian, which of course he was. I think a similar thing happens with Jesus.
Politically correct rubbish – but that’s probably why I stopped watching the BBC especially their news, a long time ago. I’m still trying to figure out how not to pay my licence fee renewal. Any tips folks?
the irony is the beeb is such a damned monoculture , full of white male middle class types, the have never met a black person that didnt talk white.
they are so non multicultural, so deluded.
..actuall..the BBC is full of right-on women……
Multiculti BS aside, and speaking as someone of the female persuasion, I think that David Harewood offers the role some serious eye candy factor. To be savoured with several scoops of Ben & Jerry’s Half Baked…
Ooer Missis…
Agreed. The BBC programming schedule is run by short fat short haired women who shave their chin every day.
Ask yourself this. What mainstream BBC programming is actually aimed at men?
Match of the day? (I don’t watch football personally)
Top gear (showed away on BBC 2 and only runs for about 8 shows per series)
That’s about it.
Questiontime has moronic idiots on the panel to appeal to ‘wimmin’ and the ‘youf’ of today (tosspots like Will young being an example)
As a white male I seek refuge in Discovery, National Geographic or the Military channels on digital.
Robin Hood,like Hereward the Wake, are specifically English (Anglo saxon ) folk heroes. The tales express the English hatred of the Norman ruling class and the myths told of them helped to strengthen the English sense of identity that never accepted the Norman hegemony.
How long this lasted is conjecture but I believe certainly into Tudor time when the ruling class at last became English in outlook.
This sense of our English identity is a prime target of the liberal left.
Destroy it and multiculturalism has that much easier a ride.
The BBC is running strictly to instructions and true to form.
I’m still trying to figure out how not to pay my licence fee renewal. Any tips folks?
scottish cynic | 30.03.09 – 10:56 am | #
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I am too. Mine is due in May.
Was wondering if it would be an advantage to pay in monthly instalments rather than paying a whole year’s worth in advance. I mean, it might give a bit more flexibility so you could opt out more easily during the year if you wanted to.
The other thing I am contemplating is throwing out the TV. Not sure yet about that one, though. May be a little too drastic.
I think the main point about the Robin Hood programme is that it is aimed at children. We might be able to see it for the rubbish it is, but the idea is that today’s kids should grow up thinking there is nothing odd about the idea that a black man might have hung out with Robin Hood 800 years ago. The context is to establish a mindset that black people have always lived in Britain, and anyone who suggests otherwise is a racist.
Like most people, I would not object to a drama which showed black people in a proper historical context, but I object to such obvious attempts at social engineering. However, there is no possibilty whatsoever of anyone at the BBC understanding a word we say. Like Gordon Brown, they literally cannot even hear the words of criticism. The BBC cannot be reformed.
Jon | 29.03.09 – 8:25 pm |
No doubt the BBC will say that it is not supposed to be history but fantasy and they are probably right – but they seem to debunk any legend as long as its English. What next? Sir Gawain and the “Black” Knight.
BBC Percival: In which Percival seeks the Grail, which is in reality a seventeen year-old pretty boy. Percival first fights the Green Knight, who is in reality a Mohammedan who is killing the Knights in order to avenge the murder of his wife and children by Uther Pendragon during the Crusade (never mind that now, this is a BBC historical drama). After granting a large swath of land to the Green Knight, who only meant to live in peace before he had the white man’s Christian war forced upon him, Percival must rescue the Grail boy from the clutches of Mordred, who minces around like the current incarnation of the Sheriff of Nottingham, only with better teeth, and in gold leather instead of Soho black. At the climax of the confrontation, it switches into Tristan and Isolde. At that point, it doesn’t matter who is who, really.
weirdvis:
“eyecandy” viewed from which persuasion? (I think there aren’t enough women with large breasts in it)
Does anyone agree with me, that these liberals who seem everything as a race issue are not just closet racists? I’ve always believed liberals to the most racist/snobbish people around. The classic example is the green bandwagon where they would like to see the poor booted off the roads/airways.
AndrewSouthLondon:
weirdvis:
“eyecandy” viewed from which persuasion? (I think there aren’t enough women with large breasts in it)
Odd, that’s exactly what my husband said. 😀
“scottish cynic:
I’m still trying to figure out how not to pay my licence fee renewal. Any tips folks? ”
Cancel any direct debits you have to them,don’t send them a cheque ,then just ignore their threatening letters & visits .Make sure your family understand their thugs have no right of entry & don’t sign any of the confessions they rely on for getting non b**b funders fined .
http://www.tvlicenceresistance.info/
Orwell explained it very accurately
“(s)He who controls the present, controls the past. He who controls the past, controls the future”
The BBC Iconoclasm typified by Friar Tuck is an example of the long term cultural war against their class enemies (wasps). As good Marxists the BBC elite are obsessed with ‘identity’. Race is simply a logical extension of ‘class identity’ and to be used as a weapon agaist their ongoing war with the minions of Mordor (Homo Surriensis, and Homo Mondeoensis).
What we have here (and recognising the danger of over stating my case) is only one aspect of an all encompassing agenda, not a conspiracy as that implies secrecy and co-ordination – but a “common purpose”.
Speaking of Common Purpose, does anyone know if it was deliberately named after the ‘movement’ in Ayn rands book? – Atlas do you know?
Anonymous | 30.03.09 – 9:36 am |
Sounds Ghastly. I should say when I saw it it still irritated me in even the short time i watched it, though to me it didnt seem English but London-centric.
Its a long time since I saw it but I remember enjoying “Merlin of the Crystal cave” – I dont know whether they had any better accents but they did attempt a Celto-Roman setting.
“It should be the Celtic Red Dragon against the White Dragon Saxon invader, but in a strange twist of fate the invaders are the invaded.”
I dont know what is precisely meant by this and Arthur did I think fight the picts and the irish as well but any attempt to write out the invasion of the Angles, Saxons etc is utterly unforgiveable. It is probably the most significant event in the history of the British isles, far more important than the Roman or Norman invasions and was the traumatic event that gave birth to the current nations and countries of the UK. Is it too paranoid to think that is viewed as undesirable because there is too close a parralel with the even more significant influx of peoples that is currently taking place which dwarfs the invasion of Saxons and seems likely to be the most significant event in British history, sweeping aside or ending the histrories of the ancestral peoples these islands?
Hey, it works both ways – they usually show Jesus as a bearded white European when he’d actually have been an Arab wouldn’t he?
Cockney | 30.03.09 – 8:16 am |
Jesus was a Jew.
“didn’t they miss a trick in not turning Robin of Sherwood into Robyn,a sexually-liberated feminist who teaches the rich that not only is wealth-redistribution essential but also that there is no place for chauvinism in Nottingham.”
They already had a go at this! In Maid Marion and her Merry Men, Marion was obviously the real hero with a weak, foppish, effeminate Robin and, of course, a Rapping Rastafarian Alan-a-Dale.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maid_Marian_and_her_Merry_Men
Naturally it was a harmless comedy aimed at the kiddies.
Jesus was a Jew.
You can be an Arab and a Jew can’t you?
And coming up on BBC2, a biopic of Mohammed Ali starring David Walliams as the legendary boxer, and then at 10.00, “Mandela the Movie” with Bill Nighy.
“Jesus was a Jew.
You can be an Arab and a Jew can’t you?
Cockney | 31.03.09 – 9:22 am”
You can.
But he wasn’t.
You can be an Arab and a Jew can’t you?
Cockney | 31.03.09 – 9:22 am
Probably not. There is still argument about what a Arab is, that has been going on since the early years of the 20th Century, when the idea of Arabism and Arab nationalism began.
The two basic conditions appear to be the Arab speaks Arabic (Jesus probably spoke Aramaic and Hebrew [Semitic languages] and possibly Greek and Latin but not Arabic) and the Arab is a Muslim (To the Western discourse he couldn’t possibly be Muslim ~600 years before Mohammed but the Koran considers him and several other Christian/Jewish ‘prophets’ as Muslim). The historic Jesus would almost certainly not have considered himself to be an Arab nor even related to the concept of Arab identity.
You might ask but what about Christian Arabs? This is a problem. Most Muslim Arabs don’t consider them to be Arabs although Arafat found it politically useful to call the local Christians Palestinians. On the other hand, Christians living in Arabic countries e.g. the Copts in Egypt and the Maronites in Lebanon generally don’t refer to themselves as Arabs.