# "Shrek" question: Robin Hood with a French accent?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shrek-question-robin-hood-with-a-french-accent/219974
**Category:** Cafe Society
**Created:** [December 19, 2003, 3:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shrek-question-robin-hood-with-a-french-accent/219974 "2003-12-19T15:17:53Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Short\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Short_Guy)
#### Post date: [December 19, 2003, 3:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shrek-question-robin-hood-with-a-french-accent/219974/1 "2003-12-19T15:17:53Z")
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?
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### Author:  [@galrion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/galrion)
#### Post date: [December 19, 2003, 3:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shrek-question-robin-hood-with-a-french-accent/219974/2 "2003-12-19T15:53:58Z")
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.
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### Author:  [@WotNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WotNot)
#### Post date: [December 19, 2003, 4:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shrek-question-robin-hood-with-a-french-accent/219974/3 "2003-12-19T16:04:33Z")
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?
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### Author:  [@amanset](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/amanset)
#### Post date: [December 19, 2003, 4:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shrek-question-robin-hood-with-a-french-accent/219974/4 "2003-12-19T16:07:03Z")
I’m sure I read an interview where they said they did it because it is funny.
And you know what? It was.
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### Author:  [@Katisha](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Katisha)
#### Post date: [December 19, 2003, 4:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shrek-question-robin-hood-with-a-french-accent/219974/5 "2003-12-19T16:09:15Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by galrion \*
> \*\*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. \*\*
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).
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### Author:  [@Max\_Carnage](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Max_Carnage)
#### Post date: [December 19, 2003, 4:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shrek-question-robin-hood-with-a-french-accent/219974/6 "2003-12-19T16:38:59Z")
Thought it was to make him kinda swishy, myself. His _is_ the only scene where someone breaks into song (a whole song anyway).
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### Author:  [@Short\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Short_Guy)
#### Post date: [December 19, 2003, 4:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shrek-question-robin-hood-with-a-french-accent/219974/7 "2003-12-19T16:55:40Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by WotNot \*
> \*\*
> Was the character actually identified as Robin Hood in the film, or does he just look like the stereotyped image of him? \*\*
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.
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### Author:  [@Shade](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shade)
#### Post date: [December 19, 2003, 5:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shrek-question-robin-hood-with-a-french-accent/219974/8 "2003-12-19T17:24:18Z")
Could it be a reference to Sean Connery playing Robin? I’ve never seen it, but I remember someone being sarcastic about it once?
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### Author:  [@Max\_Carnage](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Max_Carnage)
#### Post date: [December 19, 2003, 5:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shrek-question-robin-hood-with-a-french-accent/219974/9 "2003-12-19T17:36:57Z")
Sean Connery isn’t French though, so where’s the connection?
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### Author:  [@Bean\_Counter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bean_Counter)
#### Post date: [December 19, 2003, 7:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shrek-question-robin-hood-with-a-french-accent/219974/10 "2003-12-19T19:58:32Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by Max Carnage \*
> \*\*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”.
😃
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### Author:  [@JThunder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JThunder)
#### Post date: [December 19, 2003, 8:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shrek-question-robin-hood-with-a-french-accent/219974/11 "2003-12-19T20:08:39Z")
Okay, so how does Kevin Bacon tie into all this?
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### Author:  [@Kizarvexius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kizarvexius)
#### Post date: [December 19, 2003, 8:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shrek-question-robin-hood-with-a-french-accent/219974/12 "2003-12-19T20:56:45Z")
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.
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### Author:  [@DesertDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DesertDog)
#### Post date: [December 19, 2003, 10:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shrek-question-robin-hood-with-a-french-accent/219974/13 "2003-12-19T22:26:12Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by Kizarvexius \*
> \*\*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
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### Author:  [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)
#### Post date: [December 19, 2003, 11:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shrek-question-robin-hood-with-a-french-accent/219974/14 "2003-12-19T23:04:48Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by Kizarvexius \*
> \*\*I thought it might be a dig at Costner’s Robin Hood, but I doubt it. \*\*
Maybe it’s a nod to Patrick Stewart as King Richard in _Robin Hood: Men in Tights_.
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### Author:  [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)
#### Post date: [December 19, 2003, 11:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shrek-question-robin-hood-with-a-french-accent/219974/15 "2003-12-19T23:39:09Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by JThunder \*
> \*\*Okay, so how does Kevin Bacon tie into all this? \*\*
Bacon Numbers For Shrek Stars:
Mike Myers (Shrek) - 2
Cameron Diaz (Princess Fiona) - 2
John Lithgow (Farquad) - 1
Eddie Murphy (Donkey) - 2
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### Author:  [@Achernar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Achernar)
#### Post date: [December 20, 2003, 12:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shrek-question-robin-hood-with-a-french-accent/219974/16 "2003-12-20T00:02:29Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by Jeff Olsen \*
> Maybe it’s a nod to Patrick Stewart as King Richard in _Robin Hood: Men in Tights_.
But Patrick Stewart isn’t French either.
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### Author:  [@rjung](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rjung)
#### Post date: [December 20, 2003, 12:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shrek-question-robin-hood-with-a-french-accent/219974/17 "2003-12-20T00:05:14Z")
I doubt the writers of **Shrek** put as much thought into that scene as you folks have. 😉
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### Author:  [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)
#### Post date: [December 20, 2003, 12:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shrek-question-robin-hood-with-a-french-accent/219974/18 "2003-12-20T00:14:06Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by Achernar \*
> \*\*But Patrick Stewart isn’t French either. \*\*
But Jean-Luc Picard is a French name.
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### Author:  [@Achernar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Achernar)
#### Post date: [December 20, 2003, 12:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shrek-question-robin-hood-with-a-french-accent/219974/19 "2003-12-20T00:33:53Z")
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. 🙂
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### Author:  [@Max\_Carnage](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Max_Carnage)
#### Post date: [December 20, 2003, 1:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shrek-question-robin-hood-with-a-french-accent/219974/20 "2003-12-20T01:06:01Z")
…played a French character who spoke with an English accent also had a…
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