Student Question
If "The Song of Roland" were told today, who would be the enemy and what characteristics would Roland have?
Quick answer:
If "The Song of Roland" were told today, the enemy might be imagined as Spanish Muslim terrorists, reflecting historical elements. Roland would embody traits of bravery and skepticism, warning against trusting the enemy's purported surrender. In a modern setting, he might use technology like an iPhone to communicate, but ultimately, Roland's fate would remain tragic, highlighting themes of loyalty and sacrifice in the face of deception.
La Chanson de Roland is a French epic, so it would be hard to put this in modern times because the French believe they have no enemies and even if they did, they would try to solve their problems with diplomacy, not warfare.
Let us use a great deal of imagination then and say that the French have been threatened by Spanish terrorists. For the sake of similarity, the Spanish have to be Muslims, since they were in the original epic. The French have elite forces in Spain and they have captured all of Spain except for a stronghold in the Pyrenees mountains. This stronghold is ruled over by Spanish Muslim terrorist leaders. The terrorists know they cannot defeat the French, so they tell their leaders that they are going to surrender, return to France, and convert to Catholicism. Everyone thinks this is a good plan. The French are tired of fighting and want to go home. All except Roland. He knows how devious these terrorists can be. He says, "Il faut les tuer!" (We must kill them). The rest of the French disagree, however, so they put the terrorists in Black Hawk Helicopters and fly them over Le Pays Basque. Roland tells Ganelon to go with them to keep an eye on them. Ganelon does not want to fly with the terrorists. He is afraid, but he goes anyway. As they are flying over the mountains, out of nowhere, ground to air missiles are launched everywhere. The helo is shot down. Roland is on the ground. He sees it happen. He knows French forces are nearby, just over the ridge, so he grabs his iPhone and downloads the HORN app, trying to get their attention. As he puts the iPhone to his ear, however, static from the RPGs goes through the phone and blows his ear out, killing him instantly.
Well, you get the picture. You can finish it from here. Montjoie!
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