#b/c I rly want to emphasize I enjoyed the character interaction and bby Eugene and Lance making sense of and navigating the world

[birb-tangleblog]

TRoFR and why taking money from rich people is bad

So I ment'd how Eugene and Lance's character handling seemed a little funky to me in TRoFR; I've been thinking on why, and I think it comes down to- this could have been a Robin Hood-esque origin story for Eugene as he grows into the mantle of Flynn Rider, with (still PG-rated) moral conflict and questions about wealth, class, and society... but instead, it gives us character arcs and a resolution that feel much more sanitized and clearer-cut.

There's the presence of the folk hero Lance Archer, who takes tax money from the king to give to the poor, a corrupt, cold-hearted tax collector who threatens to shut down the kind old woman running Lance and Eugene's orphanage, and we see the Coronan guard charging the circus taxes to camp and perform on unused, unoccupied land, because it's 'owned' by the king. So the elements are THERE- there’s just no follow through.

(This is to say nothing of the end of the novel and Eugene and Lance's experiences here setting them up to be v different people than the Flynn Rider of the movie and the Lance Strongbow of the series- that is an issue, but one more concerned with continuity, and that's not totally my focus.)

The children at Miss Clare's Home for Boys eat cast off burnt bread, have threadbare blankets and thin mattresses, and I find it hard to believe that Eugene and a budding 'Flynn Rider' wouldn't harbor some (PG) resentment at the monarchy/class system, given his experience living on the bottom rung of society.

(He acknowledges that one golden trinket from the otherwise unused pile of treasure being offered by the king and queen as a reward for finding the lost princess would set the orphanage up for a year- and to his credit he takes it. But re. stealing the reward, he and Lance are firmly of the belief that it wouldn't be the right thing to do, and it should be used to help reunite the royal family. Nevermind all those other disadvantaged children who have nothing I guess.)

The parts where Eugene does start to rationalize and justify his actions and question the system were by far the most intriguing. He's always shaky, but initially buys into the Baron's reassurances that what they take won't be missed; he doesn't disapprove of the crew cutting the Captain of the Guard's purse, and paying him back with money he's already collected so the circus loses nothing-

'Was that wrong? Maybe. But when it came to taxes, Flynn couldn't help but think of the grief poor Miss Clare and the Home faced with Kurtis. It didn't seem entirely fair for the circus to pay to entertain the citizens on land that wasn't even being used. (pg 98)'

Later on, when tasked with stealing something valuable to present to the Baron, he instead trades three circus tickets to a rich young girl in exchange for her jade bracelet- an exorbitant price, he's still ripping her off, but he's validated when the girl says she'd found the bracelet in her sister's old things, and she won't even notice it's gone (pg 122). It means nothing to her and a lot to him.  

Re. the Baron and the circus- he isn't a great or genuine guy obviously, and the members of his crew feel very Lampwick-esque in how they lead the boys astray- but I also kinda feel the novel's treatment of him has shades of 'the anti-establishment villain has a good point, but also supports [eating babies], so it's fine to just disregard everything else they have to say.'

E.g., the Baron tells Eugene about a similar formative incident from his youth, where he second-guessed stealing a bracelet from a wealthy woman in order to buy food, and consequently almost starved; that one bracelet would've fed him, and she had a dozen more just like it on her arm. He might not be a reliable narrator here given he’s trying to persuade Eugene but I'm like... yeah? You absolutely should have taken that bracelet, bro. He follows this story up with, 'Once you get a hold of treasure, you just want more,' to reframe the lesson and remind us that he's greedy- disregarding the part where he fell through the cracks of their society and nearly died for a lack of money.

The novel suggests these ideas but doesn’t lean into them, or take them to any sort of conclusion.

We know the Baron is a cruel, evil man, and they would have split from him inevitably. But early on, given this context and their backgrounds, I also think Eugene and Lance would be more likely to break away from him over stealing from and exploiting the common folk and circus attendees rather than the royals- and I think that's probably the sort of plot and conflict I'd have wanted here.

It'd better fit where Flynn's at in the movie- trying to style himself as a dashing, debonair gentleman thief by stealing from the rich (and maybe giving to the poor). In the series, we saw Lance that definitely subscribes to a moral code where taking from those who deserve it and redistributing the wealth for a good cause is justified.

The novel even presents an acceptable target for going down that route- the tax collector Kurtis Frost, who again, threatens to force Miss Clare into retirement and close the Home if she can't pay up. How about pulling a heist on that guy?

The main lesson or theme of the story is still about family, and Eugene learning to appreciate the one he already has in Lance, nothing will ever come between them, etc.- it’s not explicitly a morality tale about how stealing is wrong, but idk- intentional or not I think the undertones end up sending a message.

I just kinda feel like the author (or Didney execs) got halfway through proofreading and realized they didn't want to tell kids that capitalism is bad and stealing from rich people is cool, because Robin Hood isn't a very friendly aesop for megacorporations to be teaching kids in the 21st century.

(Also, during the boys’ audience with the king and queen, after Arianna pardons them and encourages them not to solve any more problems by stealing, she says, "I'm not sure every kingdom is as forgiving" of Corona and I--? 

It’s implied that Fred goes easy on them b/c the boys are orphans and understand how badly he wants his daughter back, and that’s fair, but ARIANNA- your husband's crackdown on crime will literally send Lady Caine's father to a prison barge for stealing bread a few years later and sentence Eugene to hang for stealing a tiara down the road?? Young Eugene even recognizes he might get hanged for his crimes? HELLO?)