Why is King John the classic villain?

BBC ^ | March 1, 2011 | Unknown

[decimon]

Paul Giamatti as King John in Ironclad

[decimon]

Aside from that ping.

[ClearCase_guy]

"I see him a bit like Barack Obama in so far as he inherited a nightmare situation from his predecessor"

When Nancy Pelosi's Democrats took Congress away from Republicans in January 2007, unemployment was at 4.5%, the deficit had been cut in half to $180 billion, taxes were low, and the Dow Jones was about 14 thousand.

Some nightmare.

[stuartcr]

Maybe because it’s just tv and makes for a good story?

[onedoug]

Give me Shakespeare´s.

[decimon]

When Nancy Pelosi's Democrats took Congress away from Republicans in January 2007, unemployment was at 4.5%, the deficit had been cut in half to $180 billion, taxes were low, and the Dow Jones was about 14 thousand.

All due blame to the Dems but the Pubs were hardly blameless. And then in the last play of the game, Bush through a Hail Mary pass right into a crowd of the opposite uniforms. Can anyone explain that?

[Charles Martel]

Why is King John the classic villain?

I believe this was explained some years ago:

"I got some reeeally bad advice from Rottingham..."

[decimon]

Maybe because it’s just tv and makes for a good story?

Probably. England has chosen its heroes and villains.

[Eepsy]

King John isn't the pantomime villain of British Culture. If he was, the BBC wouldn't be rehabilitating him. That role belongs to the unfortunate Richard III, God rest his soul. Shakespeare's play has a lot to answer for....

The Richard III Society

[BenKenobi]

Same way Richard the Lionheart was a disaster!

This article assumes people don’t know history...Bush as Richard I, one of the most beloved Kings of all time? I’ll take it!

[Liberty1970]

One of my ‘Darth Vader moments’ in genealogical research was learning I was descended from King John. Bleh. :-)

[Eric in the Ozarks]

My favorite was Basil Rathbone...

[DJ MacWoW]

John had to tax people to death to pay for his Brother Richards wars. That made him a villain.

[Guenevere]

Giamatti is a very versatile actor....
...not gorgeous, but convincing!...and strangely compelling.

[fruser1]

In one sense, John and the Brits are analagous to King George and the colonists.

John’s abuse led to the “revolt” that produced the Magna Carta.

George’s abuse of the colonies led to the Declaration of Independence.

[decimon]

Giamatti is a very versatile actor....
...not gorgeous, but convincing!...and strangely compelling.

Probably a lot of good actors get mostly secondary roles. The better they are the less you notice them.

[sportutegrl]

Didn’t John sign the Magna Carta?

[decimon]

Didn’t John sign the Magna Carta?

Yes. How willingly he signed it could get an argument.

[Atomic Vomit]

King John was not a good man
He had his little ways
And sometimes no one spoke to him
For days and days and days...

Mrs. AV

[SunkenCiv]

· GGG managers are SunkenCiv, StayAt HomeMother, and Ernest_at_the_Beach · · join list or digest · view topics · view or post blog · bookmark · post a topic · subscribe ·
	Antiquity Journal  & archive  Archaeologica  Archaeology  Archaeology Channel  BAR  Bronze Age Forum  Discover  Dogpile  Eurekalert  Google  LiveScience  Mirabilis.ca  Nat Geographic  PhysOrg  Science Daily  Science News  Texas AM  Yahoo  Excerpt, or Link only?	Thanks decimon. Here's the reason this op-ed was written in the first place: "I see him a bit like Barack Obama in so far as he inherited a nightmare situation from his predecessor but because he was a bad politician he didn't help himself to get out of it." Obama has used the nightmare situation -- Democrats in control in Congress -- to set the stage for the uprising, that's cool. To all -- please ping me to other topics which are appropriate for the GGG list.
· History topic · history keyword · archaeology keyword · paleontology keyword · · Science topic · science keyword · Books/Literature topic · pages keyword ·