Blog number 6: Communism or Robin Hood-ism

Once more I shall make a reference to a Disney movie in Robin Hood commonly known for the saying; "steal from the rich and give to the poor". The movie Viva Zapata also represents these ideals in the way that Zapata and his followers intend to steal the land from the rich men and return to the valleys that they grew up in. Although there is a difference here between the two movies in the fact that the lands once belonged to Zapata and his men, the same idea is present in both movies where society is better when everyone has the same, and no one is left behind anyone else. Big John in the Disney movie is the very rich King who has much more than all of his subjects, and he represents the opposite of communism where one person has a lot more than anyone else, and it is not fair at all. On the other hand, Robin hood represents the lower classes and their desires to be better off than they are. In Viva Zapata the president and the rich men represent the desires of the rich to be better than others versus Zapata who represents the communistic view of everyone sharing the land equally.


During the red scare, everyone seemed to think that Zapata and his men did indeed represent communistic views, and the reputation of the director took a direct hit as a result of this connection to communism. Now that being said, is it really communistic to think that Zapata wants the land was unfairly taken from his men to be returned to them? Is this really communism in the movie? Or is it like this glorified "Robin hood-ism"? If you ask many people, they would say that Robin Hood is the hero of his movie, and is loved by the vast majority of viewers. Finding someone who dislikes the character Robin Hood is a difficult task. That being said, Robin Hood represents more communistic views than Zapata in that what he is taking and giving never belonged to those recieving the benefits. The fact is that Robin Hood is a communist, but a heroic one who is not only not disliked, but actually loved for his actions by the viewers of Robin Hood.


And so my question becomes: is Zapata communist (meaning he would be looked down upon in our society), or are his actions deserving of the glorified treatment that Robin Hood recieves (Robin hood-ism)? I for one feel that both Robin Hood and Zapata's actions are beneficial to everyone, and that perhaps both deserve to be seen in a better light than communistic, such as Robin hood-istic.