Set in colonial Spanish Los Angeles
around 1820, the movie takes viewers back to a conservative and traditional society,
very different from L.A. today. Yet, like the original novel
from 1919, it explores timeless themes: identity and deception, the inspiring
force of heroism, the tension between individual will and societal
expectations, and to top it off; justice and political struggle. One reviewer put it well: “The Mark of Zorro emphasizes the significance of fighting
against injustice and standing up for what is right, even if it means taking
risks and going against societal norms.”
These social and political messages make
the film highly relevant today. Strong critiques of fiscal pressure, ruling minority corruption and government overreach, all echo the situation in current so-called “democracies”. These messages are vividly delivered in dialogue - especially
between Zorro (aka Don Diego Vega), his friend friar Felipe, and his father.
Unbearable
Fiscal Pressure and Revolt Against the State
Friar
Felipe provides, in his characteristically colorful way, the social and
economic context into which Don Diego Vega arrives back to California from
Spain: “I tell you, these conditions are beyond bearing. This whole district, from the hills of
Verdugo to the shores of Del Rey, is a stench in the nostrils of heaven.”
Several scenes show raw depictions
of taxation
as examples of economic coercion by the state. In one exchange with a tax
collector, Don Diego exposes the implicit violence always lurking behind
mandatory tribute, and the punishment that awaits all those who try to resist:
"-We are collecting taxes from the peons today."
-And you use that little "switch" on the taxpayer?
-Only when they're stubborn!
-When you come to collect my taxes, Sergeant, I won’t be stubborn, I promise
you."
The state is here exposed in its
most primitive and useless form, as “nothing more nor less than a bandit gang
writ large”, as Rothbard wrote in The Ethics of Liberty (1982). Not surprisingly, public opinion turns against the oppressive and unjust rulers. In fact, the
very first person whom Don Diego encounters upon arrival tells him:
“- People cannot sing
with hatred in their hearts,
Señor.
- Hatred for
whom?
- The Alcalde, may his
soul burn in hell.” [the Alcalde is the Mayor of L.A.]
Zorro’s revolt is thus
clearly a revolt against state oppression, in defense of popular sovereignty. He directly challenges
centralized political power, expressing a republican ethos that is far more threatened in the United States today
than in either 1820 or 1940. His action should not be seen as simply a regressive
transfer of funds back to the people, but a necessary and desperate attempt to
correct systemic abuse by the state. Don Diego tells friar Felipe after having
raided some of the rulers’ ill-gotten tax revenues: “This gold was wrung from the peons. It's up to us to restore it to them."
Zorro thus becomes a symbol of both political and economic justice in the face
of predation by the ruling class.
Coercion,
Corruption and the Ruling Class
The movie also portrays
how this economic coercion of the people is intimately linked to state corruption,
in the secret understanding that exists between the two corrupt officials,
Mayor Luis Quintero and Captain Esteban Pasquale, his depraved military aide:
“-I can't afford to
lose you, my dear Luis.
- No, you can't.
Your pickings end
if anything happens to
me.”
The captain tries
to frame their immoral actions as a positive social nudge: “Conditions have changed
since you left, Don Diego. Your father... resigned. Age, you know. Since then,
the peons have become more, uh... more industrious. As to the caballeros,
they're encouraged to think of their own affairs. We take care of the
government.”
But
Don Diego immediately detects this outrageous lie that heavy taxation supposedly
increases production; as Rothbard wrote in the Anatomy of the State (1974): “the coercive, exploitative means… siphon production
off to a parasitic and destructive individual or group; and this siphoning not
only subtracts from the number producing, but also lowers the producer’s
incentive to produce beyond his own subsistence”.
This
scene also chillingly illustrates how those who could represent a challenge to state
power are subtly warned not to get involved. This is an important reminder that
revolutions never happen without the leadership of a disgruntled segment of the
ruling minority. Significant political change requires Pareto’s Circulation of Elites.
No successful change of political system can take place by the ruled majority alone; it must be organized and led by dissatisfied or power-hungry challengers
belonging to the ruling minority.
The
Law and the Limits of Obedience
Another of the movie’s key political
conversations is when father and son discuss the moral dilemma of rebelling
against a corrupt government. Don Diego’s father begins:
- "-The friar urges me to lead the
caballeros in a revolt which would surely fail against a garrison of trained
soldiers. Even if I thought it would succeed, I'd refuse.
- But why, Father?
- Because the law is the law, my son.
I won't rebel against a government I served for 30 years.
- But that government is now vile and
corrupt.
- I know, but two wrongs don't make a
right, and never will."
This dialogue captures
the enduring tension between loyalty to an existing order and the moral
necessity of disobedience when the law becomes an instrument of oppression. The
disagreement between father and son stems from the fact that they implicitly have
two radically different views of the Law: “ius quia iussum” (law as imposed)
for the father and “ius quia iustum” (law as just) for Don Diego. The
latter is rooted in natural law theory, i.e. law as legal defense of the right
to property, while the former is legal positivism, i.e. law as generally accepted
at a given time and place.
A Film for
Today’s Youth
In its political wisdom and social wit, in a setting of action and romance, The Mark of Zorro gives essential political advice; that corruption, injustice, and tyranny from the state are perpetual dangers, and that the struggle for freedom is never fully resolved. The film’s political commentary remains strikingly pertinent today, reminding viewers that civil courage, moral integrity, and political resistance are important virtues in any society. Indeed, Ludwig von Mises fully adopted this attitude and encouraged as many as possible to be Zorros each in his own way, fighting state coercion in all its forms:
“Everyone carries a part of society on his shoulders; no one is relieved of his share of responsibility by others. And no one can find a safe way out for himself if society is sweeping toward destruction. Therefore, everyone, in his own interests, must thrust himself vigorously into the intellectual battle. None can stand aside with unconcern; the interest of everyone hangs on the result. Whether he chooses or not, every man is drawn into the great historical struggle, the decisive battle into which our epoch has plunged us.”
The Mark of Zorro is therefore a
highly entertaining movie, but also an excellent introduction to such an attitude
of “political concern for society”. The ideas of freedom and libertarianism
would clearly have been congenial to the masked vigilante.
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