20 So-Called Villains Who Had a Very Good Point

Noise carries. Anyone who has ever tried to sleep through a neighbor’s party knows at least the beginning of the Grinch’s complaint. In Dr. Seuss’s How the Grinch Stole Christmas! (1957) and its many screen versions, Whoville’s celebration is joyful, communal, and warm, but it is also loud enough to reach a lonely figure living far above town. His mistake is enormous: he blames Christmas itself and tries to steal everyone else’s joy.