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John Adams
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John Adams (miniseries)
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Abby
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Jun 13, 2015 04:04PM
What are your thoughts on the HBO miniseries John Adams? Were you able to watch all the episodes? Have you read any books/biographies on John Adams? Do you like him? Comment below!
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I didn't read the book and I confess to having never visited his farm though it's not far away. I knew little about him other than he was a Bostonian and the only Founding Father who didn't own slaves. The movie condensed the time line a lot which I didn't like. I thought it portrayed Adams as a pompous, stubborn little man who wanted to be king. Laura Linney was awesome as Abigail, the woman who kept her family going during tough times and the one who soothed her husband's fits of pique. I love how to told him what to do and let him think it was his idea all along. Some of the medical history scenes were too graphic for me but it was interesting to learn how certain procedures were done and thank goodness for modern medicine! (view spoiler)
I hope you can visit his farm someday, QNPoohBear! I admire this man greatly as a founding father and a true patriot. I personally wasn't bothered by what the movie condensed and cut out, because even as an Adams fan, I don't think I could watch much more than 6 hours of film! I agree with your statement about how they portrayed Adams. I personally love the John Adams from the movie 1776, but I think the best portrayal of him would be somewhere between 1776 and the HBO series! :) As for Abigail, (whom I am named after) I thought she was very serious and a little grumpy in the HBO series, and although she has every right to be, it's not what I ever pictured her as. At least she has brown hair in this version, instead of the somewhat inaccurate 1776 version with a blond Abigail!
QNPoohBear wrote: "I didn't read the book and I confess to having never visited his farm though it's not far away. I knew little about him other than he was a Bostonian and the only Founding Father who didn't own sla..."You must have a lot of information to share about John Adams since you live near his former home.
Was John Adams also a huge plantation owner like the southern founding fathers that you mentioned were slave owners?
Even though I have lived close to Elvis's Graceland I've never visited it either so I can understand why you haven't gotten around to visiting John Adams's former stomping grounds.
(view spoiler)
Abby wrote: "I hope you can visit his farm someday, QNPoohBear! I admire this man greatly as a founding father and a true patriot. I personally wasn't bothered by what the movie condensed and cut out, because e..."I don't subscribe to the HBO channel so I missed the John Adams series unfortunately.
There was a miniseries on Masterpiece Theatre during the 70's about John and Abigail Adams that I did see but it's been so long ago I can hardly recall this now.
Here's the link for anyone interested:
http://www.shoppbs.org/product/index....
I do remember enjoying this series very much at the time though.
I'm always disappointed when any historical drama isn't true to its time and gives historical figures modern day sensibilities. Do you feel that HBO series portrayed Abigail in such a light? This might explain her grumpiness I thought.
I also loved the movie 1776, been years since I've seen this one and wouldn't mind watching it again.
I know John Adams was a gentleman farmer/lawyer in the Boston area and he didn't hold with slavery. (Though Abigail's family did own slaves) (Visit Adams National Historic Park.) He was strongly influenced by his Puritan forebears and his presidency was a hot mess. In the mini-series, Abigail is shown keeping the farm going with the help of her children, who have all miraculously aged from not yet born/baby/toddler to young children and tweens. Adams and abolitionists
Adams and Slavery
Abigail was all kinds of awesome and I know more about her and the children. One of my favorite novels as a teen was The Fifth of March: A Story About the Boston Massacre. I still reread it from time to time, usually on the train to Boston. I take it as sort of a tour guide through the colonial city but I've never made it out to the Adams park.
Do you know how large or how many acres the Adams farm had? I'm curious how crowded Mass. was during the American Revolution is why I asked.I'm not able to appreciate what exactly it was that attracted Abigail to John either just by looking at his portraits, but perhaps they were intellectually compatible.
I have read a little bit on the courtship of John and Abigail actually. Abigail was no true beauty, and she was quite sickly as a child. John was several years her senior, and a lawyer at the time they courted. You are right that it was a less physical and more intellectual attraction that the two had. But no matter the reason, they truly loved each other and both had incredible endurance while not seeing each other for years when John was in Congress/Ambassador to France.
Oh and by the way, Laurie, (or anyone else who was interested) you can get the DVD set of John Adams from the library usually or perhaps from your video rental store.
Laurie wrote: "Do you know how large or how many acres the Adams farm had? I'm curious how crowded Mass. was during the American Revolution is why I asked.I'm not able to appreciate what exactly it was that at..."
Check the NPS website above and see if they say. A Google search or ask.com might bring up that information too. I bet Historic New England has something about population at that time. Boston was a peninsula at that time. The Back Bay was filled in much later. Roxbury and Dorchester were country towns and Concord was way out there in the country. I think Boston was fairly populated. If searching doesn't reveal an answer, I'll try to remember to find out for you when I visit the New England Historic Genealogy Society in Boston.
