Is Johnny in Cobra Kai a sympathetic character?
As a preface to this question, I will say I only know what I see about the new Karate Kid series (Cobra Kai) from YouTube commercials.
I am wondering if William Zabka's Johnny is now more a sympathetic character than he was in the original movie (1984). In that feature, his character seemed to vex Daniel at every turn to the point where he was seen as the bad guy.
In the last 10 years, Johnny's character has become sympathetic in hindsight due to How I Met Your Mother's character Barney's portrayal of Daniel as the antagonist. Popular culture gravitated to this perspective and many sites and YouTube clips came out thereafter painting Daniel as the real villain.
So my question is, does this new series play into this popular culture of the last 10 years? Is Daniel painted now more of a villain, and Johnny more of a hero?
Best Answer
Johnny, I think, was always a sympathetic character. You didn't really see it until the final competition, but in that last 20 or so minutes of the movie you see that Kreese is the real villain and that Johnny is really just a victim of wanting to please his Karate Dojo Master. You can see this by his facial reactions to Kreese's commands to hurt Daniel. You can also see in the way he congratulates Daniel after the fight that he really didn't dislike Daniel and he was actually redeemable.
Also, if you ever watch The Karate Kid with the commentary track on, William Zabka talks about how he came up with a loose backstory for the Johnny Lawrence character, in order to better "get the feel" for playing the character. He states in the commentary that he envisioned Johnny as having no father, and that Kreese is the closest thing to a father figure he had in his life.
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Is Johnny Lawrence a anti-hero?
Character informationJohn "Johnny" Lawrence is the secondary antagonist turned anti-hero of the original Karate Kid. He is also a minor character in the Karate Kid Part II, and one of the main protagonists of the TV series "Cobra Kai".Is Johnny the antagonist in Cobra Kai?
Johnny Lawrence is a fictional character who appears in The Karate Kid series of films created by Robert Mark Kamen. Played by William Zabka, he serves as the central antagonist in The Karate Kid and as Daniel LaRusso's rival. He appears briefly in the two sequels and is the protagonist of the Netflix series Cobra Kai.Who is the least liked character in Cobra Kai?
Terry Silver (Thomas Ian Griffith) is one of the most hated characters in the Cobra Kai series. He occasionally does heinous crimes, from The Karate Kid series to the new Cobra Kai franchise.How did Johnny Lawrence change?
Most people change as they become adults, and this exactly happens with Johnny Lawrence. His defeat at the All-Valley Tournament changed Lawrence and caused him to struggle as he became an adult. In these 30 years, Johnny has changed to become a likable person and reevaluated some of his philosophies.Sources: Stack Exchange - This article follows the attribution requirements of Stack Exchange and is licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0.
Images: mark broadhurst, Diego Madrigal, Dontay Sandwich, Nivedh P