ABSTRACT
After reviewing the previous scholarly treatment of the theme of feasting in the Robin Hood corpus and interrogating whether Robin Hood films even have literary sources, the essay analyzes how select Robin Hood films adapt episodes about food preparation and consumption contained in various premodern literary texts. It further argues that filmmakers employ this culinary trope as visual and aural code conveying issues of gender and class. Likely premodern sources that inspired or influenced cinematic adaptations include: thirteenth-century pastourelles; ballads (Robin Hood and the Potter, A Mery Geste of Robyn Hoode, and Robin Hood and Maid Marian); folk drama, Morris Dancing, and communal feasting occurring at the May-games; and traditional drama (Anthony Munday's 1598 The Downfall of Robert Earle of Huntington and other plays). The essay analyzes gender constructions in the premodern period and eras of film production, exposes fault lines in the class and power structures of the Middle Ages represented in premodern texts, and shows how films (1912 Robin Hood; 1922 Robin Hood; 1938 The Adventures of Robin Hood; 1950s series The Adventures of Robin Hood; 1991 Robin Hood) use the medieval legend to illustrate present cultural issues and concerns.
