Hawkins has the desire and the heart for more harrowing service to the cause, but not the skills or the steady nerve. The film looks through the eyes of Hubert Hawkins ( Danny Kaye), a minstrel who entertains the Black Fox’s band and helps care for the legitimate (infant) heir to the throne.
This is no traditional swashbuckler following the adventures of its highwayman, however. The opening premise – a usurper holds the throne of England, a dashing outlaw defies his villainy – is unashamedly borrowed from the legend of Robin Hood, with a dash of Zorro thrown in (the outlaw wears a mask and is called the Black Fox). But it is a film that knows what genre it’s lampooning. The Court Jester isn’t nearly so aggressive in its references, and there were no Internet memes for it to try and capitalize on in 1955. Some might even say the style’s become too ubiquitous, and that chasing after trends like this is more a detriment than a delight – but that’s for another day. Whether it’s Disney poking its own well-worn conventions of princesses and romance, Spider-Man: No Way Home winking toward that famous pointing meme, or every single time your friends and relations share some variation on a meme through social media, meta humor is all around us. In the age of the Internet, we’re all accustomed to self-referential media. The Court Jester is a send-up, and in that respect is well-suited to certain audiences of today.
For all its bright colors and gentle humor, though, The Wizard of Oz is a straightforward fantasy.
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