The Zorro, an old-fashioned semi-hero.

The Zorro, an old-fashioned semi-hero.

The Zorro, the spanish word for fox, is a fictional hero made popular thanks to his TV show, aired in the 50’s and later remade in the 90’s. The Zorro’s adventures occur in the middle of the XIX century, somewhere near to San Diego, California, when that United States region was still under Spanish sovereignty. His costume was compossed by black clothes, with an iconic black mask covering the upper side of his face. He had a cape too, a long whip, and even his beautifull horse -Tornado- was pitch black. The Zorro was in fact the alter-ego of Diego de la Vega, a rich landlord who lived in a huge ranch accompanied by the mute Bernardo, his faithful sidekick, who worked as a tool, an buttler and maybe housekeeper. In the same way as Batman does, The Zorro fought the crime in his own way, constantly defying the law because, from his point of view, the regional authorities were corrupt and incompetent. In other words, the Zorro thought, somehow, he had privileges for having a secret identity and fighting skills.
Furthermore, the Zorro was always catching the robbers of diligences in amazing horse chases, he was constantly rescuing ladies in victorian-style dresses from the evil hands of kidnappers, but also, he confronted indians who tried to steal cattle or threated with invading settler’s property.

However, the real conflict depicted by the Zorros’ adventures is about colonialism in all its facets, being Diego de la Vega the worst colonialist version, because he presented himself as a hero, who supposedly was defending the needed, but in reality he emptied the revolutionary cause. What the Zorro did was to mistify in a cheerful way the emancipation of the exploited and, in the end, taking for himself the credit any kind of social justice. I’m sure that if he had met significant revolutionary figures from that time, as Pancho Villa or Emiliano Zapata, the Zorro would have considered them as misfits criminals.

Summarizing, he was an cocky playboy high on adrenaline, pretending to be an avenger. I’m not sure if I saw Diego de la Vega, at least once, trying to help someone without his costume, but with his actual political and economical power that he had on the region. Did he supported any state policies that could improve the way of life of the most needed, changing the colonialist system that deepens the inequality between higher and lower classes? Or was he just only into knocking gunmen? I despise him for the reason that, while he was fighting outlaws with his rapier in his black and expensive costume, also as Diego de la Vega, he frequented rich landowners’ parties where evilest deals were made.

In conclusion, if we stop for a second and think about the the Zorros’ role in that - almost fictional - historical moment, he represents the offspring of paramilitary forces commited to protect private property and federal american resources while a false icon of a white masked playboy is erected among latin-american underprivileged.