Zorro is a fictional character created in 1919 by pulp writer Johnston McCulley. He has been featured in several books, films, television series, and other media.
Zorro (Spanish for fox ) is the secret identity of Don Diego de la Vega (originally Don Diego Vega ), a nobleman and master living in the Spanish colonial era of California. The character has undergone changes through the years, but the typical image of him is a black-clad masked outlaw who defends the people of the land against tyrannical officials and other villains. Not only is he much too cunning and foxlike for the bumbling authorities to catch, but he delights in publicly humiliating those same foes.
Character motifs
The character's visual motif is typically a black costume with a flowing Spanish cape, a black gaucho hat or Cordobés, and a black cowl mask that covers the top of the head from eye level upwards. In his first appearance, he wears a cloak instead of a cape, and a black mask covering his whole face with slits for eyes.
His favored weapon is a rapier which he often uses to leave his distinctive mark, a Z made with three quick cuts. He also uses a bullwhip. In his debut, he uses a pistol.
The fox is never depicted as Zorro's emblem, but as a metaphor for the character's wiliness ("Zorro, 'the Fox', so cunning and free..." from the Disney television show theme).
His "heroic pose" consists of rearing on his horse, sword raised high (the logo of Zorro Productions, Inc.).
Publishing history
Zorro (often called Señor or El Zorro in early stories) debuted in McCulley's 1919 story The Curse of Capistrano , serialized in five parts in the pulp magazine All-Story Weekly . At the denouement, Zorro's true identity is revealed to all.
Douglas Fairbanks and Mary Pickford, on their honeymoon, selected the story as the inaugural picture for their new studio, United Artists, beginning the character's cinematic tradition. The story was adapted as The Mark of Zorro in 1920, which was a success. McCulley's story was re-released by the publisher Grosset and Dunlap under the same title to tie in with the film.
Due to public demand fueled by the film, McCulley wrote over 60 additional Zorro stories starting in 1922. The last, The Mask of Zorro (not to be confused with the 1998 film), was published posthumously in 1959. These stories ignore Zorro's public revelation of his identity. The black costume that modern audiences associate with the character stem from Fairbanks' smash hit movie rather than McCulley's original story, and McCulley's subsequent Zorro adventures copied Fairbanks's Zorro rather than the other way around. McCulley died in 1958, just as the Disney-produced Zorro television show was becoming phenomenally successful.
Fictional history
In The Curse of Capistrano Don Diego Vega becomes Señor Zorro in the pueblo of Los Angeles in California "to avenge the helpless, to punish cruel politicians," and "to aid the oppressed." He is the title character, as he is dubbed the "curse of Capistrano."
The story involves him romancing Lolita Pulido , an impoverished noblewoman. While Lolita is unimpressed with Diego, who pretends to be a passionless fop, she is attracted to the dashing Zorro. His rival and antagonist is Captain Ramon . Other characters include Sgt. Pedro Gonzales , Zorro's enemy and Diego's friend; Zorro's deaf and mute servant Bernardo ; his ally Fray (Friar) Felipe ; his father Don Alejandro Vega , and a group of noblemen ( caballeros ) who at first hunt him but are won over to his cause.
In later stories McCulley introduces characters such as pirates and Native Americans, some of whom know Zorro's identity.
In McCulley's later stories, Diego's surname became de la Vega . In fact, the writer was wildly inconsistent. The first magazine serial ended with the villain dead and Diego publicly exposed as Zorro, but in the sequel the antagonist was alive, and the next entry had the double identity still secret.
Several Zorro productions have expanded on the character's exploits. Many of the continuations feature a younger character taking up the mantle of Zorro.
Characteristics
In The Curse of Capistrano McCulley describes Diego as "unlike the other full-blooded youths of times"; though proud as befitting his class (and seemingly uncaring about the lower classes), he shuns action, rarely wearing his sword except for fashion, and is indifferent to romance with women. This is of course a sham. This portrayal, with minor variantions, is followed in most Zorro media.
A notable exception to this portrayal is Disney's Zorro (1957-59), where Diego instead appears as a passionate and compassionate crusader for justice—but masquerades as "the most inept swordsman in all of California." In this show, everyone knows Diego would love to do what Zorro does, but thinks he does not have the skill.
Skills and resources
Zorro is an agile athlete and acrobat, using his bullwhip as a gymnastic accoutrement to swing through gaps between city roofs, and is very capable of landing from great heights and taking a fall. Although he is a master swordsman and marksman, he has more than once demonstrated his more than able prowess in unarmed combat, against multiple opponents.
His calculating and precise dexterity as a tactician has enabled him to use his two main weapons, his sword and bullwhip, as an extension of his very deft hand. He never uses brute strength, more his fox-like sly mind and well-practiced technique to outmatch an opponent.
Some versions of Zorro have a medium-sized dagger tucked in his left boot for emergencies. He has used his cape as a blind, a trip-mat—and when used effectively—a disarming tool. Zorro's boots are also sometimes weighted, as is his hat, which he has thrown, Frisbee-like, as an efficiently substantial warning to enemies. Usually he uses psychological mockery to make his opponents too angry to be coordinated in combat.
Zorro is also a skilled horseman. The name of his horse has varied through the years. In The Curse of Capistrano it was unnamed. Later versions named the horse Tornado / Toronado , or Tempest .
McCulley's concept of a band of men helping Zorro is often absent from other versions of the character. An exception is Zorro's Fighting Legion (1939), starring Reed Hadley as Diego. In McCulley's stories Zorro was aided by a deaf mute named Bernardo. In Disney's Zorro television series, Bernardo is not deaf but pretends to be, and serves as Zorro's spy. He is also a capable and invaluable helper for Zorro, even wearing the mask himself occasionally to reinforce his master's charade. The ABC Family channel's Zorro television series replaces Bernardo with a teenager named Felipe, played by Juan Diego Botto, with the same disabilities.
Inspirations
Zorro bears some similarities to historical Portugese bandits. He is often associated with Joaquin Murrieta, the "Mexican and/or Chilean 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 (fictional) brother succeeds Diego as Zorro. Other possible inspirations for the character include Robin Hood himself, Reynard the Fox, Salomon Pico, Tiburcio Vasquez, William Lamport (an Irish soldier living in Mexico in the 17th century, whose life was fictionalized by Vicente Riva Palacio and whose biography "The Irish Zorro" was published in 2004) and Yokuts Indian Estanislao, who led a revolt against the Mission San Jose in 1827.
Appearances in media
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 978-0-8125-4007-9 A full list of McCulley's Zorro stories can be found here.
- 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 (1932-1944) February 2000 ISBN 1891729209
- Zorro The Master's Edition Volume Two (1944-1946) January 2002 ISBN 1891729217
- Zorro The Master's Edition: A Task For Zorro (1947) July 2002 ISBN 1891729314
- 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 978-0-8125-6767-0
- Zorro and The Dragon Riders by David Bergantino March 1999 ISBN 978-0-8125-6768-7
- Zorro and the Witch's Curse by John Whitman April 2000 ISBN 978-0-8125-6769-4
- Isabel Allende gave her interpretation of the Zorro legend in her 2005 fictional biography Zorro . ISBN 978-0-06-077897-2
- Gerard Ronan's Biography of William Lamport "The Irish Zorro" was published by Brandon Books in 2004. ISBN 978-0863223297.
- Minstre
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