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Zorro

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File:Zzz-GyWill-ElZorro.jpg
El Zorro (Guy Williams)
This article is about the fictional character Zorro. For other uses of Zorro, see Zorro (disambiguation).

Zorro (sometimes with the definite article: El Zorro), Spanish for fox, is the secret identity of Don Diego de la Vega (originally Don Diego Vega), a fictional nobleman and master swordsman living in Spanish-era California. He defends the people, Robin Hood-style, from the corrupt tyranny of the Spanish governor, proving himself much too cunning and foxlike for the bumbling authorities to catch. He was created by pulp writer Johnston McCulley, and first made his appearance in The Curse of Capistrano, serialized in the pulp magazine All-Story Weekly in 1919.

The character's visual motif is, typically, a black costume with a flowing Spanish cape, a flat-brimmed Andalusian-style hat, more appropriate to a California caballero than the wide sombrero the character wore in the original, and a black cowl mask that covers the top of the head from eye level upwards. (The mask covered his whole face in the original.) In addition, his favoured weapon is a rapier which he often uses to leave his distinctive emblem, a large 'Z' made with three quick cuts. He also uses a bullwhip, like the later Indiana Jones. In the original story, Zorro also used a pistol. It has been noted that Zorro was actually one of the original inspirations for the creation of The Phantom and Batman, as well as many other comic-strip action heroes.

Fictional biography for a fictional hero

The 2005 novel Zorro, written by Chilean-American author Isabel Allende, describes the childhood of Diego de la Vega. According to Allende's story, the future Zorro was a mestizo born in the 1790s in Alta California, son of the Asturian Captain Don Alejandro de la Vega and a native woman warrior, Toypurnia. The young Diego is sent to, of all places, Barcelona by his father to complete his education, shortly before the French Army of Napoleon Bonaparte invades Spain. In the occupied Barcelona of early 1810s, Diego de la Vega discovers his first love and becomes a fighter against foreign oppression. His travels also enable to him to learn much of the characteristic Zorro-like skills: acrobatics from swinging on ship masts, fencing from the Spanish master Manuel Escalante, various tricks from gypsies and a ship's cook, and a disguise patterned after a swashbuckling pirate. After the French defeat, De la Vega returns to California, where he decides to continue the fight against the tyranny of his enemy from Spain, pompous Don Rafael Moncada and the landowning nobility—the caballeros—over the people of California. To avoid being recognized, De la Vega assumes the secret identity of Zorro. In his crusade he is helped by his mute servant Bernardo and Tornado, his horse.

Zorro's dénouement

The end of Don Diego de la Vega as Zorro is shown in the 1998 movie The Mask of Zorro.

In 1821, during the Mexican War of Independence, Governor Don Rafael Montero (Ex-Moncada) finally discovers the secret identity of Zorro and lays a trap to catch him. The two enemies fight in De la Vega’s mansion, accidentally killing De la Vega’s wife, Esperanza. Don Diego is captured and imprisoned, his home burned down and his infant daughter, Elena, kidnapped and brought up by Rafael Montero as his own daughter during his exile in Spain.

Twenty years later, Montero returns to California and makes a plan to separate the region from the new Republic of Mexico, ruled by General Santa Anna, buying California with the gold of a secret mine in the Californian Desert. This noble cause is fueled by slave labor in the mine and a clear intent to kill all personnel after the gold is drawn.

In parallel, De la Vega escapes from prison with the intention of taking revenge on Montero and telling Elena her true origins. He also trains a young delinquent, Alejandro Murrieta, as a new Zorro. In the final fight, both Montero and De la Vega die. The new Zorro and Elena get married. Murrieta continues the fight against injustice at least until 1850, when California becomes the 31st US State. Zorro continues his heroic crusade in the American California, with the approval and support of his wife Elena and son Joaquín.

Inspiration of the character

File:Zzz-GyWill-ElZorroWMcCullum.jpg
Guy Williams, Disney/ABC's Zorro from 1957 to 1959, joking with Johnston McCulley

McCulley had no idea how successful Zorro would become, so at the denouement of the Curse of Capistrano, Zorro's true identity was revealed to all. Zorro soon became a regular character in numerous pulp fiction magazines.

After the success of the silent film The Mark of Zorro (1920) starring Douglas Fairbanks, McCulley's novel was re-released by the publisher Grosset and Dunlap under the same title. (Fairbanks also starred in a 1925 sequel titled Don Q, Son of Zorro, playing Don Diego's grown-up son, Don Cesar, as well as reprising his role as Don Diego.)

Zorro is similar to some real bandits in California history. He is often associated with Joaquin Murrieta, the "Mexican Robin Hood", whose life was fictionalized in an 1854 book by John Rollin Ridge, and in the 1998 film The Mask of Zorro, where Murrieta's brother succeeds de la Vega as Zorro. Other possible inspirations include Robin himself (though he was English, of course), California bandit Salomon Pico, Tiburcio Vasquez, and William Lamport, an Irish soldier living in Mexico in the 17th century. Lamport's life was fictionalized by Vicente Riva Palacio in the 19th century. While there are many theories about who the 'real' Zorro was, it seems most likely that McCulley drew inspiration from several different sources, not to mention the 1905 novel The Scarlet Pimpernel, which features a number of parallels to McCulley's later creation. Many Californians believe that the Yokuts Indian Estanislao was one of the inspirations for Zorro. Estanislao lead a revolt against the Mission San Jose in 1827.

There is not much historical basis for the Spanish hacienda culture depicted in the books and films. The population of California increased when it was a territory of the Viceroyalty of New Spain (later Mexico) for 300 years, but a multi-generational feudal society and peasant class never fully developed, as it had in Mexico proper. It was just too remote. Most Mexican land grants were less than ten years old when Mexico lost California during the Mexican-American War. However, life in 17th century colonial New Spain was modeled on the class society of Europe, with nobility at the top and peasants at the bottom, and hacienda culture was and is prevalent in the rural areas of Mexico proper. In this regard, some authors tend to believe that Johnston McCulley borrowed heavily from Vicente Riva Palacio's novel Memories of an Impostor: Don Guillén de Lamport, King of Mexico.

The Andalusian-colonial society depicted in the Zorro Hollywood films, with gentlemen in bolero suits and swords and ladies in comb and mantilla, is quite picturesque and certainly evokes the gracious living of the creole in colonial New Spain.

Influence on fiction

Although not completely original in its concept and recognizing influences from previous publications like the Spring Heeled Jack adventures, this character is one of the earliest precursors of the superhero of American comic books, being an independently wealthy person who has a secret identity (as with The Scarlet Pimpernel) which he defends by wearing a mask, and who accomplishes good for the people with his superior fighting abilities and resourcefulness. The ultimate source is probably Alexandre Dumas, the Count of Monte Cristo, where the wronged hero returns as an independently wealthy man, and under an assumed elegant persona wreaks vengeance on those who betrayed him, and does secret good for those who tried to help him in earlier days.

Zorro even has an animal symbol, though English speakers might not recognize it, his name being Spanish for "fox". The animal is never depicted as an emblem, but as a metaphor for the character's wiliness ("Zorro, 'the Fox', so cunning and free...") - as with the American historical figure Francis Marion, "The Swamp Fox", who was also the subject of a Disney television series in the 1950s. A more literal interpretation of Zorro as fox may be Swiper the Fox from the children's television program Dora the Explorer, a larcenous villain who wears a Zorro-like mask. In a similar vein, in horror fiction, Kim Newman's short story "Out In The Night, When The Full Moon Is Bright..." reinterprets Zorro as a near-immortal Mexican werewolf fighting against evil, injustice and oppression from colonial Mexico to the ghettos of a near-future Los Angeles. Disney also highlighted Zorro's connection with the Robin Hood tale in its 1973 animated interpretation, Robin Hood, wherein the lead character is drawn as an anthropomorphized fox.

Zorro has also been adapted for comic books and comic strips. The most notable character whose creation was highly influenced by Zorro is Batman, created by Bob Kane in the 1930s; within the Batman storyline itself, Bruce Wayne and his parents actually watch The Mark of Zorro at the cinema the night they are murdered, and the future Batman takes some inspiration from the masked hero. Zorro keeps his horse in the basement of his house, and Batman keeps his Batmobile in a similar hideout, the Batcave. Zorro was also the inspiration of the remarkably similar characters El Coyote and El Águila.

Don Diego de la Vega, the mild-mannered caballero who at night donned the black cape and hood and made his mark against evildoers as Zorro, first made his appearance in print in the All Story Weekly in McCulley's five-part series entitled "The Curse of Capistrano," beginning August 19, 1919. Douglas Fairbanks and Mary Pickford, on their honeymoon, selected "Curse" to become the inaugural picture for their new studio, United Artists, thus beginning the cinematic tradition. McCulley wrote at least 65 more Zorro stories, which in addition to feature films inspired a Republic serial and even, in 1995, a London stage production.

Zorro's alter-ego Diego de la Vega in the Disney television series starring Guy Williams differs markedly from the character Diego Vega in McCulley's original. In the Curse of Capistrano, Diego is known to be a deadly swordsman; but he masquerades as a decadent aristo. Everyone knows he has the ability to do what Zorro does... but nobody imagines he would care enough to bother. The most famous Zorro movie appearance, starring Tyrone Power, more or less adopts the book version, where Diego masquerades as a brilliant swordsman but a decadent and uncaring human being (until the brilliantly staged final fight with Basil Rathbone).

However, Walt Disney clearly decided that, while such an arrogant and condescending character may work in print and even in a one-shot movie, viewers would quickly tire of him on a weekly TV show. So in Disney's Zorro, Diego de la Vega instead masquerades as a passionate and compassionate crusader for justice -- but as "the most inept swordsman in all of California." In the TV show, everyone knows that Diego would love to do what Zorro does, but they think he does not have the skill.

McCulley did not live to see Zorro reach the peak of his fame, though. He died in 1958, just as the Disney-produced Zorro television show was becoming successful.

Petty Grudges

Don Diego de la Vega reallys hates Katie Williams.

Influence on culture

With some changes to reflect school colors, Zorro's black mask, cape and gaucho hat have been adopted by Texas Tech University's mascot, the Masked Rider, and the University of San Francisco's mascot, the Don.

At the movies

The character has been adapted for many movies. They include:

On television

Books

  • Johnston McCulley's original story The Curse of Capistrano was reprinted by Tor books in 1998 under the title The Mark of Zorro. ISBN 0-812-54007-7
  • Johnston McCulley's Zorro short stories were reprinted by Pulp Adventures Inc. in a series of trade paperback editions.
    • Zorro The Master's Edition Volume One February 2000 ISBN 1-891729-20-9
    • Zorro The Master's Edition Volume Two January 2002 ISBN 1-891729-1-7
    • Zorro: 1947
  • A series of paperback novels were published by Tom Doherty Associates, Inc. Books in the late 1990s and early 2000s.
    • Zorro and the Jaguar Warriors by Jerome Preisler September 1998 ISBN 0-812-56767-6
    • Zorro and The Dragon Riders by David Bergantino March 1999 ISBN 0-812-56768-4
    • Zorro and the Witch's Curse by John Whitman April 2000 ISBN 0-812-56769-2
  • Isabel Allende gave her interpretation of the Zorro legend in her 2005 fictional biography Zorro. ISBN 0-060-77897-0
  • Minstrel Books published A series of young reader novels based on the motion pictureThe Mask of Zorro.
    • The Treasure of Don Diego by William McCay 1998 ISBN 0-671-51968-9
    • Skull and Crossbones by Frank Lauria 1999 ISBN 0-671-51970-0
    • The Secret Swordsman by William McCay 1999 ISBN 0-671-51969-7
    • The Lost Temple by Frank Lauria 1999
  • Zorro filmographic books have also been published:
    • The Legend of Zorro By Bill Yenne 1991 Mallard Press ISBN 0-7924-5547-9
    • Zorro Unmasked The Official History by Sandra Curtis 1998 Hyperion ISBN 0-7868-8285-9
  • Gerard Ronan - The Irish Zorro: The Extraordinary Adventures of William Lamport (1615-1659)

Comic books

Zorro has appeared in many different comic book series over the decades. The most revered version was rendered by Alex Toth for Dell Comics in Four Color magazine starting in 1949 and appearing through the 1950s. Zorro was given his own title in 1959, which lasted 7 more issues and then was made a regular feature of Walt Disney's Comics and Stories(also published by Dell) from #275 to #278. Gold Key began a Zorro series in 1966, but, like Gold Keys contemporary Lone Ranger series, it only featured material reprinted from the earlier Dell comics and folded, after 9 issues, in 1968. The character remained dormant for the next twenty years until it was revived by Marvel in 1990, for a 12-issue tie-in with the Duncan Regehr television series. Many of these comics had Alex Toth covers. In 1993 Topps Comics published a 2-issue mini-series Dracula Versus Zorro followed by a Zorro series that ran 11 issues. A newspaper daily and Sunday strip were also published in the late 1990s. This was written by Don McGregor and rendered by Tom Yeats. Today, the comic book adventures of Zorro are published by Papercutz. This latest verion is drawn in a manga style. The character also appeared in European comics and is universally beloved in Latin America, usually in licensed, translated reprints of American comics. This ought somehow to give some idea of the authenticity of the images purveyed.

Over the years, reprint volumns have been published. This include but are not limited to:

  • Zorro In Old California Eclipse Books ISBN 0-913035-12-2
  • Zorro The Complete Classic Adventures By Alex Toth. Volume One Image Comics 1998. ISBN 1-58240-014-8

Computer games

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