Promoted domestically as a tale of peasant uprising, the film later became a cult curiosity abroad, often mocked for its special effects but recognized as one of the country’s most technically ambitious productions.
—
Will Ripley,
CNN Money,
21 Jan. 2026
Some of us were born black, born from bad classes—the offspring of capitalists, rich peasants, counterrevolutionaries.
Soon there was an altercation at the front desk, when a Haitian upbraided the American peons about not getting her free stuff fast enough.
—
Howie Carr,
Boston Herald,
8 Oct. 2025
Not only does the peon and con man Tom end up refashioning himself as the rich and carefree Dickie, but Highsmith’s novel itself was a retelling of Henry James’s The Ambassadors.
In 1959, all eyes were on a young Michiko Shōda, who became the first commoner to marry into the Japanese imperial family with her wedding to Crown Prince Akihito.
—
Nicole Briese,
PEOPLE,
18 Jan. 2026
In October, King Charles stripped his younger brother Prince Andrew of all royal titles and privileges, leaving him a commoner known as Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor.
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