korilian

The problem with John is that he always disobeys authority and (more or less) gets away with it. Fairy tales, on the other hand, are generally meant to encourage obedience to authority--the heroine who is obedient and hard-working gets rewarded, while her truculent stepsister gets doused in tar. (cf. "Frau Hoelle," another favorite fairy tale.)

Although, I did read one that cast John as Prince Ivan in "Prince Ivan and the Grey Wolf," which kind of works...