For those of you who’ve seen the movie Shrek: there this scene where Shrek, Donkey and Fiona are in the woods, and they come across “Monsieur Hood” and his merry men. For some reason, Robin sports a thick French accent in this movie.
Now, I can’t shake the feeling that I’m being whooshed. Is there some joke about Robin Hood being French that I’m not getting? Or is it just a very odd choice that’s not supposed to make any sense?
I always assumed it was because at the time the nobility of England were Normans and the language of the nobility was French, I wanna say it was French up to the end of the Hundred Years War. IIRC Robin Hood was a member of the nobility, therefore his first language would be French.
I dunno about that, galrion. It depends which version of the legend you prefer, of course, but as far as I know Robin was always either a yeoman or a dispossessed Saxon noble. Certainly not Norman, in any case.
Was the character actually identified as Robin Hood in the film, or does he just look like the stereotyped image of him?
I’m sure I read an interview where they said they did it because it is funny.
And you know what? It was.
That would be more or less right, actually – French remained quite current at court pretty well into the fifteenth century. I have read, in fact, that Richard II (reigned 1377-1399) was the first of the Plantagenet kings to be fluent in English (although during his reign there was a great flowering of English vernacular poetry – Exhibit A: Chaucer, who was also a civil servant and had plenty of courtly connections – so the linguistic tide was apparently turning by this point).
Thought it was to make him kinda swishy, myself. His is the only scene where someone breaks into song (a whole song anyway).
Well, he is called “monsieur Hood” and his entourage are called the Merry Men. Besides, the world of Shrek is filled with “actual” fairy tales and legendary creatures, so it makes sense that it’s Robin.
It is funny, certainly.
Could it be a reference to Sean Connery playing Robin? I’ve never seen it, but I remember someone being sarcastic about it once?
Sean Connery isn’t French though, so where’s the connection?
Sean Connery was in “The Rock” with Ed Harris. Ed Harris was in “The Firm” with Gene Hackman. Gene Hackman was Detective Jimmy “Popeye” Doyle in “The French Connection”.
Okay, so how does Kevin Bacon tie into all this?
I thought it might be a dig at Costner’s Robin Hood, but I doubt it. I think the most likely scenario is that the voice cast was goofing off and this was what the director thought was the funniest.
Hmmm. Just looked up on IMDB and found that the actor playing “Monsieur Hood” really is French. Blows my theory out of the water.
Je ne sais pas.
Maybe they came up with the French accent idea doing the scratch tracks and hired a French actor because he sounded cooler.
DD
Maybe it’s a nod to Patrick Stewart as King Richard in Robin Hood: Men in Tights.
Bacon Numbers For Shrek Stars:
Mike Myers (Shrek) - 2
Cameron Diaz (Princess Fiona) - 2
John Lithgow (Farquad) - 1
Eddie Murphy (Donkey) - 2
But Patrick Stewart isn’t French either.
I doubt the writers of Shrek put as much thought into that scene as you folks have. 
But Jean-Luc Picard is a French name.
Well, yeah, sure, Jean-Luc Picard is a French character. Seems like a bit of a stretch, though. An actor who played a French character also had a small role in a Robin Hood film. 
…played a French character who spoke with an English accent also had a…