History Fridge / RobinHood

** Money used to be expensive in and of itself. What you could buy with a penny 50 years ago was much more than what you can buy now, even more so in the time of King John. At this time people more rarely ever bought anything with cash, so cash was pretty much always for luxuries.

** In other versions, Robin Hood was outlawed for killing another man, usually in [[CrimeOfSelfDefense self-defense]]

* In some of the ballads, it is mentioned that Robin is particularly devoted to the Virgin Mary. Back in Medieval times, this form of worship became known as the of the Cult of Marian, so it is rather apt that his one true love happens to have the same name.

* In some of the ballads, it is mentioned that Robin is particularly devoted to the Virgin Mary. Back in Medieval times, this form of worship was known as the Cult of Marian, so it is rather apt that his one true love happens to have the same name.

[[AC:FridgrBrilliance]]

* During the lines "Contemplatin' this and that and havin' such a good time" in "Oo-De-Lally", Robin Hood and Little John are each urging the other to go first when crossing a river by log. The brilliance? In the original tale, the two meet when Little John prevents Robin Hood from using a log to cross the river; that's what they're remembering.

** Money Used to be expensive in and of itself. What you could buy with a penny 50 years ago was much more than what you can buy now, even more so in the time of King John. At this time people more rarely ever bought anything with cash, so cash was pretty much always for luxuries.

** Sir Hiss' horrified reaction is also historically accurate. At the time, the Church was a powerful political entity and a noble didn't have the right to judge a priest (for whom the canon law was applied). Of course, Hiss knows that. And he knows the dangers of upsetting the Pope.
** Also, historically, John was actually excommunicated, and England placed under interdict, by the Pope during his reign.
* While Robin is daydreaming while cooking, Little John tries to get his attention by calling increasingly extended forms of his name: first Rob, then Robin, and then Robert, using the French pronunciation (sounds like Ro-bear). It's easy to assume that this is because Little John is a bear in the film and that Ro-bear is a nickname. When you think about it further, the French pronunciation because they live under and speak the language of the Plantagenet dynasty, who are French and the language spoken in England at the time would have been an iteration called Anglo-Norman French.
** Not to mention that in the legend, Robin's birth name is Robert Fitzooth.

** Also in "The Phony King of England": ''all the world will sing of an English king a thousands years from now / and not because he passed some law''. King John's main (possibly only) achievement was to sign the Magna Charta.
* A kid might not realize it at first, but the fact that Alan-a-Dale the Rooster is in jail too is a hilarious fourth wall-breaking. You can make the case that Prince John was so enraged and hell-bent on putting ''everybody'' in jail, he somehow even managed to put ''the narrator'' in there, even though he isn't part of the story. Seen in that light, the way we first hear his voice saying the beginning of his line, in a typical narrating, and seeing it being ended by a living character on-screen, is ''hilarious''.
** The gag is not helped, of course, by the fact that said Alan-a-Dale has already been physically seen earlier. He even warned us at one point that it's his job "to tell it like it is - or was, or whatever," which already implies that his relationship to the story is closer than that of a normal narrator.
* Almost all commoners in the film are domestic or wild animals native to Europe (apart from a few raccoons seen in the background, and a warthog at the archery competition), but Prince John's entourage consists almost entirely of African wildlife apart from the wolves. The brilliance here is that the rhinos, elephants, crocodiles, and vultures can be mercenaries that John hired from abroad.
** This can double up on funny if you think about it. It could be that Prince John had to hire foreign bodyguards because ''no one in England'' is willing to protect him. The only way he can get anyone to guard him is by paying strangers who don't know him and therefore have no reason to hate him!

** From what's implied (can't remember if it was outright said), the reason for their hard economic situation is because Prince John raised the taxes to such a high amount. Slightly lessened, as the farthing was probably worth more than a modern penny (a farthing did go pretty far in those days)

** Lessened somewhat by the fact that it's never stated exactly ''why'' Robin's an outlaw in the Disney film - one can very easily just assume it's down to constantly managing to annoy Prince John. Heck, they even present it as though becoming an outlaw was more a ''lifestyle'' choice than an actual ruling.

** Similarly, every adaptation of the Robin Hood legend which casts Prince John as the ultimate villain because he's "not the true king" runs into the ForegoneConclusion that he's going to end up being the true king anyway. The real Richard never had children, and when he died, the throne went right into his little brother John's hands.