Intertextual Outlawry: Robin Hood and Race in We Need to Talk About Kevin.

This article examines the role of the English outlaw Robin Hood in Lionel Shriver's novel *We Need to Talk About Kevin* and its 2011 film adaptation directed by Lynne Ramsay, focusing on how the film emphasizes Kevin's whiteness through its intertextual use of Robin Hood imagery. Ramsay's adaptation overlays multiple Robin Hood texts, employing Bakhtin's concept of dialogism to critique white American cultural appropriation of a historically British nationalist symbol tied to Anglo-Saxon identity and white masculinity. The article traces Robin Hood's evolution from violent medieval ballads to sanitized Victorian children's literature and iconic American film portrayals, highlighting how these racialized and visual traditions inform Kevin's identity as a mass shooter. Ultimately, the film challenges the mythic "goodness" of Robin Hood by exposing the racialized and violent histories embedded in his adaptations, linking them to contemporary issues of white male violence and mass shootings in the United States.