#I actually do not hate bbc les mis

[starkidlabs]

Question for the Court part 2

Genuinely I really need to know if this is normal behaviour because I’ve never experienced someone like this and it kind of makes me uncomfortable. Here are his behaviours:

He texts me on average 30 times a day. He always initiates the conversation (I never do).

He sends me morning and good night messages (this is something that even my ex and I didn’t even do). His messages often say things like ‘Good night. Have beautiful dreams of yours greatest desires.’

He’s been telling my sister (who he’s friends with) how excited he is to play a certain board game with me. Even though I have never said I will play a game with him. Then he told me last night how he had found 2-3 people so we can play a different game together. I haven’t said I wanted to play this game with him. I do not know these other people at all. So why is he asking people that are strangers to me to play a game with ‘us’ when I haven’t even asked him to?

He is overly complimentary to the point of it being just weird. So for example I wrote a review of a play. He responded with 3 whole paragraphs essentially reviewing my review but only with positive feedback. Like “I smiled to myself when imagining you watch the play” etc. like obviously I don’t mind someone saying ‘oh wow that’s a good review’. But three paragraphs reviewing my review is very ????

He had come up with a nickname for me that I do not like but he won’t stop calling me it even though I have never positively responded to.

He’ll often send me paragraphs expanding on something he’s clearly interested in. Then I’ll say ‘ah that’s cool but that’s not really my thing’ and his response will always be ‘yeah I hate that thing too’.

Now this is the thing that kinda weirds me out the most. So I have very particular interests. As soon as I mention I like a thing quite a bit he suddenly becomes obsessed with them too. So 3 examples.

I love musicals. I talked to him about musicals at one point. He went from only having watched Les Mis to asking me to send him a musical to listen to every single day. Then he spent an entire weekend watching musicals, sending me images of the musicals he was watching to kind of prove that he was watching them.

I told him I like the Frogwares Sherlock Holmes games. He suddenly went out and bought them all, and play the Awakened in one sitting. Then he went out and spent near to £100 on Sherlock Holmes games and novels, even though he clearly has never had any interest in Sherlock Holmes past bbc Sherlock. (I mean if he did wouldn’t these be purchases he made before?).

I talked to him about starkid two days ago because he asked me what it was. He has now donated £50 to their new kickstarter even though he has yet to watch a single show. He sent me the receipt to prove it.

Now the thing is I know he does often display some of these behaviours towards other people. My sister said how one time her and two other people were discussing rollerskating then this guy went out to buy rollerskates even though none of them had actually planned to go rollerskating yet (and they never ended up planning a trip). And while I think thats sort of similar behaviour to my last point I think the difference is that this was a thing he did because he clearly wanted to go out with this group of people. Where as with the last point with me there is no end goal of going out - like clearly buying a tone of Sherlock Holmes novels doesn’t lead to a Sherlock Holmes outing in the same sense. Instead I think it’s sort of clear he is intensely getting into the things I like to impress me, but in a way that no person would unless they have become obsessed with said person.

And I also know that he actually sort of became obsessed with this other person I knew to the point where he would hang around at her desk everyday, until someone else had to speak to him about leaving her alone. When I mentioned that I think he’s doing the same to me, my sister implied that the circumstances were entirely different ( I think they might have gone out on a date or two and decided to just be friends - but the guy was still obsessed with her). But still I think it might be a similar situation.

It’s just I feel like I’m going crazy because everyone I tell who knows this guy keeps underplaying like ‘ah that’s just what he does’ but I definitely think this is more intense than what he normally does.

[ghosts-of-love]

Twenty Questions for Fic Writers

Tagged by @impossiblyizzy , thank you!! <3 <3

1. How many works do you have on AO3?

25

2. What's your total AO3 word count?

434,105

3. What fandoms do you write for?

BBC Ghosts

4. What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

adored - (755)

lost then found - (539)

how much longer will it take to cure this? - (392)

the quick and the dead - (359)

adored 2 (electric boogaloo) - (339)

5. Do you respond to comments?

good lord i really try, but the best i've been able to do is get to minus [redacted] recently (but no longer, alas, by a considerable amount). but please know that i read every comment in my emails as soon as they come through and think about them always!!

6. What is the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

i don't really write angsty endings! i guess out of touch, out of time is melancholy because they know things can't really change so that's as close as i've gotten to a non-happy ending.

7. What is the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?

lost then found and adored!

8. Do you get hate on fics?

i haven't (yet! now you've got me worried ahaha)

9. Do you write smut? If so, what kind?

i certainly try haha. in terms of kind, i'm not sure what kinds of smut there are, i tend to just write the same two men boinking and hope for the best.

10. Do you write crossovers? What's the craziest one you've written?

no crossovers from me!

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

not that i know of! (please let me know if this happens)

12. Have you ever had a fic translated?

Yes!! it's such a huge honour I still can't believe it!!

Боготвори меня by pilfer_rinse (@pilfer-rinse)

adorado by Almu_de_Nada (@disclaimer-performatico)

13. Have you ever co-written a fic before?

i haven't but would love to!

14. What's your all-time favourite ship?

patcap i think! but have also been clown-conversing with my friend about jean valjean/javert because we both read the same amazing fic at the same time haha

15. What's a WIP you want to finish but doubt you ever will?

fucking...all of them. i am determined to finish the quick and the dead so that doesn't count. But i'm worried i may never finish the uni fic i'm writing or three weddings and a divorce party.

16. What are your writing strengths?

hmm i think i am quite good at keeping people in character (as much as they can be in AUs and such like!) and keeping things light/funny even when emotional.

17. What are your writing weaknesses?

i know at the moment i am struggling with description of places/things. or i feel like i'm not taking the time to use fun language techniques, similes, metaphors etc and instead am being quite robotic in how i'm getting from A to B.

18. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language in fic?

i have tried it before but i've only stuck to languages i've studied before so i already had a grounding in them, you know? I fully support including writing dialogue in another language if you want to do it!!

19. First fandom you wrote for?

les mis (the fic has since been deleted)

20. Favourite fic you've written? 

I honestly can't choose, which makes me very happy actually, that I'm finding so much to love in all of my fics!

Tagging anyone who sees this and wants to do it!! <3 <3

[helenaredamancy]

now that bbc les mis is everywhere because of eddie munson... need to re-affirm that this is MY enjolras (not perfect but he's doing his best! he had one dirty wig, paint on his teeth, and a dream)

he’s always on my mind

[boopliette]

this was the only good part

(@deboracabral same hat)

[dis-astre]

hi to the new people in the les mis fandom joining bc of joseph quinn, it is lovely to have u all with us and u are more than welcome, however u should know that bbc enjolras (and the whole bbc adaptation) is nowhere close to the original character and everything he represent.

while joseph quinn did a really good job at acting enjolras, the way the writers wrote his character was bad and out of character. obviously, and it's normal, an adaptation will always have its own interpretation of a character, and that's what's make fiction so great. but i think u need to be aware of the fact that it's not a good representation of what enjolras' character is and what his character has been representing for over 150 years (i could go into details and maybe will but it's late and i'm working early tomorrow).

i also wanted to say, as a reminder that, while it's completely fine to simp for enjolras (no one is immune to him, whether he's played by aaron tveit, joseph quinn or anyone else) and find him hot (because he IS hot or because he's played by joseph quinn, again, i get it; i don't find moustachjolras hot but damn that man is find irl), u need to be aware that enjolras is a queer character. it's stated multiple times that he has no interest in women, never has and never will. his character has been an important representation for the queer community, him being compared to a lot of gay historical figures (and i'm not going to start with the enjoltaire); but also for the aromantic and asexual community and trans community. his character is very likely to be aroace; and victor hugo describe him as being very androgynous looking, looking like a young woman. and while i don't want to talk on behalf of the trans community, i've seen a lot of post and fanfictions headcanoning him as trans, and i think it's very important to have that kind of representation in such an important piece of classical literature.

so please, be aware that the y/n fanfic and nswf y/n fanfic with female character x enjolras can be really disturbing, especially for people who have been in the fandom for a long time and are really looking up to his character and kinning him. don't just reduce him to hot-man-u-wanna-do-the-dirty-with when his character carries so much importance and has for decades. and i promise, caring about a character's whole essence and personality doesn't make them any less interesting or hot (quite the contrary actually).

also, let's not forget how we collectively hated on the casting choice when it first came out and i find it a bit odd to suddenly change our mind just bc it's the same actor who plays eddie munson. i personally think we were right to complain, bc it WAS a bad casting choice considering all the physical description of enjolras we had (and yes, in les mis, his physical appearance matters of lot).

we are not trying to gatekeep our fandom. on the contrary, i think it's really pretty fucking cool to have new people finding an interest in a 160yo book ! and for me, u guys are more than welcome to join our sad silly little fandom. but we just want u to be aware of all of this (and maybe some other issues that do not cross my mind rn) and be educated so we can all be drama free.

ok i'm done now, sorry for the long post, welcome again to the fandom, and if u decide to stay be ready for the tears and the pain caused by mr victor hugo ! bye bye, with love, a little french fan

[justgayrevolutionnaries]

I said this before and I will say it again but one thing I really hate is the fact that after Joseph quinn's rise to fame thanks to stranger things, a lot of people are all of sudden starting to

- worship bbc enjolras bc "I mean he wasn't the best Enjolras but c'mon it's joseph Quinn" (actual quote from a friend, it made me so angry)

- write bbc enjolras x reader ; very out of character fics in which Enjolras is boiled down to a hot man played by joseph quinn

- write bbc enjolras straight smut bc once again they would write anything with joseph quinn

And like guys no please back off you can't just burst into a fandom you don't know anything about (because I am pretty convinced most of them don't know shit about les mis) and bring your toxic stuff here just because you like an actor

I mean I am sorry if that comes out as disrespectful, I usually let people do whatever they want with characters because it's their opinion, but right now I really don't care and I actually hate the whole joseph quinn as bbc enjolras resurgence. Also this post might get controversial and I might get a lot of "let us do what we want" reactions but like I said I don't care and I won't back off because yes, just taking a character (and actually it's not even a character, just that one adaptation of the character), defending him because you find him cute all of sudden and taking his entire personality away from him just to write a love story because "the actor is hot" can actually be seen as a toxic behaviour for the actual fantom

[helenekuragina]

no but seriously i hate andrew davies so much he just? there’s no grasp on genuine emotion in any of his adaptions... everything is so one note and devoid of any sort of depth, it just turns into this weird false “seriousness” throughout the whole thing so any sort of actual emotional moment is meaningless and without impact because it’s the same as every other moment. he randomly sexualizes the characters to hell and back in the weirdest, grossest ways and makes characters misogynists out of nowhere like beyond anything that the books do and it’s just ... weird.

his les mis adaption in particular was just... completely robbed of the whole message of the book? the whole point of valjean’s character arc is love and forgiveness but in the bbc series he hardly changes throughout the entire thing and is just weirdly aggressive and controlling. there’s no familiarity between him and cosette, this girl he considers a daughter, and instead it just turns into this girl living with this rude old guy. it’s Weird. valjean didn’t feel like a character who was good at his core and went through some shit, he felt like an asshole. like at least war and peace is a little harder to pin down so it’s unsurprising that he sucked at it, but les mis’s message is so obvious and clearly laid out and davies couldn’t even get that right.

[alicedrawslesmis]

Ok so I just watched Les Misérables 2019, dir Ladj Ly

which is confusing cause bbc les mis is also from 2019 and I can't help but feel like this is a bit petty, like they aired it in 2019 knowing this was in the works and they knew the french one wouldn't be able to compete with the bbc version and they were like 'whatever who cares about french cinema anyway'

so ok I was just complaining that modern les mis adaptations are allergic to politics and that's their downfall, well. I give this adaptation a million billion points for actually engaging with contemporary identity politics, which makes it the best adaptation of Les Mis I've ever seen. But I take all these points back cause they are very pro cop???? Like in a basic level they fail to question the role of government abandonment in Montfermeuil. Like we're only ever presented with the criminals and the cops but what about the government? What about the fact that this place is totally abandonned? We do have a mayor, who's pretty cool and is trying to do something but overall we don't know much about him except he maybe doesn't like cops? We were supposed to think something of him but I can't figure out what exactly. The kids beat him up in the end and I'm like???????? do they not like him or?????? He wears a jersey that says Le Maire on it, and he only ever does good and/or neutral things?

And we have Salah, the guy who runs the mosque and is the actual Valjean I believe (he has a whole scene where the Pig is threatening to arrest him for no reason if he doesn't hand over the video he got of the cops shooting a kid with a rubber bullet in the face, and instead of saying anything he just offers his wrists. Pretty cool Salah is the best). Marius is a kid who pervs on the girls with a drone. Gavroche is Issaka, the one who got shot in the face and stole the lion cub

but in the end they go with this shitty 'both sides' take? they show the 'good cop' pointing a gun at an angry child who has a molotov cocktail in hand and then it closes with a book quote that goes sort of 'there are no bad people only bad gardeners' which is like?????? what is that supposed to mean?? that the kid who was shot in the face with a rubber bullet earlier and is now in conflict with the cops was just poorly raised? that the justifiable anger they feel at the cops was just cause of ???? Idk???? because of Pig Cris and his superiority complex? How are you gonna come up to me and tell me there are no bad people and good people when Ruiz is presented as the good cop the whole time.

this movie was very frustrating to watch, as I feared it would be, because the main character is this white cop who sucks and is a centrist and he's supposed to be the voice of reason cause he said 'riots are useless, remember what happened in 2005, all that happened was bus stops don't have benches anymore' which is a weak take. I hate Ruiz's stupid nonsense

All this movie managed to do was make me hate the main character, instead of one Javert we had 3 and one of them is the nice one ugh hate him. Every time the movie cut back to him it dragged, the rest of the time I was screaming BASED at everyone but noooo we have to feel sad cause Ruiz is divorced and that Gwada is so stressed that he shot Issa in the face

Also this movie wasted the lion which is a negative in my book. You had a whole Lion in there and you wasted it. I wish they had fed Cris to the lion that would've been an A+. That's my headcanon for what happens after the ending is they take Cris to the circus and leave him in the lion cage

Anyway, maybe I misunderstood the movie's message because i hate the main character so much, as I thought I would. French movies just cannot escape this character. Everything else was great and maybe it could've been a great movie and the message wouldn't get so jumbled

Everyone should see this movie tbh, but skip the scenes where it's just the cops and pretend like Gavroche/Issa is the main character

[secretmellowblog]

My main takeaway from episode one of BBC’s les mis is that 1.as a lesbian, this show breaks my suspension of disbelief and 2. this show accidentally gave me a new favorite ship

Here’s the thing:

BBC Les Mis acts like precious perfect Lily Collins Fantine:

is gonna fall in “love at first sight” intoxication with a man who looks like a wet dishrag and has a personality to match...........

His hair looks like a mohawk that hates itself 

his personality is “character written by a male writer who thinks Fantine is stupid for falling in love with this man”

It’s like. I remember there was a post a while back about how there’s a way to do the “a naiive young woman is taken advantage of by a rich selfish guy” trope right. And it’s something like the Great Comet, where the seductive man is portrayed in a way where you can totally understand why a naiive young woman would be infatuated with him. But in BBC Les Mis Tholomyes is an obvious slimeball from the start and there’s never any attempt to make it seem like he’s someone Fantine could actually love, so it’s just like...........It’s like Davies didn’t respect Fantine and just wanted to portray her as an idiot.

And the thing is that like!!

BBC Fantine has a friend named Favourite who (unlike in the book) has tons of genuine love and empathy for Fantine? And wants to help her? And cares about her so much?

And she’s also very pretty?

Favourite even has a whole scene where she confronts Fantine like “you can’t fall in love with that man! remember who we are!”  which is supposed to be “i’m trying to keep you safe” but you could easily read it as “Favourite is secretly in love with Fantine”

They even have a scene where they dance together

the most epic love story of all time was right here...............but davies was too straight to see it.............the real tragedy of this episode

Anyway Favourite x Fantine aka FAVTINE is my new otp, I want them to live happily and raise Cosette together!!!

[baronmpontmercy]

Do the salty ask list but with les miserables

Like, all of them? Kay!

Under the cut bc this is long 

What OTPs in your fandom(s) do you just not get?* Logically I wanna say JehanParnasse, but then everyone has their weird Montparnasse ships, right? Including me. Javert/Cosette is another.

Are there any popular fandom OTPs you only BroTP?* Yeah, a few. Courfeyrac/Prouvaire is the one that first springs to mind.

Have you ever unfollowed someone over a fandom opinion? Yep.

Do you have a NoTP in your fandom? Are they a popular OTP?* E/R is a NoTP purely because the popular characterisation is bland and out of character. I actually like Enjolras and Grantaire’s dynamic in the book and musical, but the e/R seen commonly in fandom tends to be nothing like it.

Has fandom ever ruined a pairing for you?* See above. 

Has fandom ever made you enjoy a pairing you previously hated?* Ehhhh.... not really? 

Is there anything you used to like but can’t stand now?* ‘Can’t stand’ is a bit hyperbolic, but e/é. In my defence I was literally 11 when I did like it, and now I’m just wholly ambivalent. 

Have you received anon hate? What about?* HAHAHAHAHAHA. Where do I start? Some of my greatest anon hate hits include: - being told I’m misogynistic for cosplaying female characters - being accused of being racist because I thought a wardrobe decision made for an eponine actress was odd (I think it was that her hat was oversized and was swallowing her face or something like that) - being told I’m transphobic because I, a trans man, am not fond of how fandom as a whole treats trans headcanons - being told I’m homophobic because I don’t ship e/R - being accused of whitewashing my own eponine design because my design has some similarities with bbc Eponine’s despite the fact I’ve been drawing her like that since like, 2015. 

Most disliked character(s)? Why? Thenardier, for what I hope are obvious reasons.

Most disliked arc? Why? Fantine’s, purely because it makes me desperately sad. Yes, I know that’s the whole point. That poor woman deserved so much better. 

Is there an unpopular character you like that the fandom doesn’t? Why? Idk there’s so many characters in Les Mis there’s subsets of fandom who like everyone. Obvious ones are Marius and Cosette, though Cosette hate in the fandom has decreased a lot since the days of yore. 

Is there an unpopular arc that you like that the fandom doesn’t? Why? I don’t really know about this one tbh. 

Unpopular opinion about XXX character? No specific character was given so I’m just gonna... Eponine wants stability and a ‘normal’ life where she has enough food, a roof over her head, and nice clothes to wear. I don’t like how often she gets translated to a mean, salty bisexual in fanon, and I’m allowed to say that because I am also a mean, salty bisexual. 

Unpopular opinion about your fandom? I miss when people would be unashamed nerds about canon era. I remember reading threads upon threads on Abaissé (rip) about meta and research that people had done. The enthusiasm doesn’t seem to be much there anymore, but I think that’s also largely because fandom ballooned after 2013.

Unpopular opinion about the manga/show? BBC Les Mis sucked, we all know that. Shojou Cosette is one of my favourite adaptations and I recommend literally everyone to watch that instead. 

If you could change anything in the show, what would you change? Taking ‘show’ to mean the musical, give Cosette a bloody song! (Also get rid of the ‘new’ production and bring back the old one. Good god the nunn/caird production was so much better)

Instead of XYZ happening, I would have made ABC happen… Instead of Georges dying he gets to reconnect with his son ;-;

Does not shipping something ‘popular’ mean you’re in denial and/or biased? Nope, it just means you like different things. 

What is the one thing you hate most about your fandom? I have to pick?

What is the purest ship in the fandom? Eh... pure ships are boring. Unless they’re Valjean/Fauchelevent. 

What are your thoughts on crack ships? Crack ships are the best ships. Done well they are incredibly entertaining. 

Popular character you hate? I don’t really...hate any characters? Except Thenardier and Gillenormand, lol. And somehow I don’t think they’re anyone’s fave?

Unpopular character you love? Mabeuf, though he’s unpopular through lack of exposure rather than people disliking him.

Would you recommend XXX to a friend? Why or why not? Hell yes I recommend it! I get salty about stuff but Les Mis is my favourite story, like, ever. Not just my favourite show, not just my favourite book. It’s my favourite story. The characters, the plot, the themes. Everything about it has been a major part of my life for ten years now, if I think it would bring joy to someone else in that way, you can bet I’d recommend it.  I’m including the book in that. It’s a long read which requires a degree of commitment (it takes me months at a time), but it’s worth it. 

How would you end XXX/Would you change the ending of XXX? Does Valjean not dying count? ;-;

Most shippable character? Answered this already, still saying Marius

Least shippable character? Uh... Gavroche, I guess? Bc he’s a kid?

[roadtohell]

ok here are my final bbc les mis thoughts... i know i’m v late to the party but if anyone also has thoughts i’d like to hear them!

it’s probably not gonna sound like it, but i DID actually quite enjoy it as general entertainment. most of my complaints come from my interpretation of the source material as well as the 2012 film (which is impossible not to compare to)- if it was an original story i wouldn’t have nearly as many reservations.

things i really liked include:

absurdly cute baby marius, who i would die for

happy fantine :) for a bit

the handling of gillenormand and his relationship with marius, which i felt was v book-accurately sad and screwed up but also sweet when the time came

the thenardiers- the fact that they still retain a bit of the comedic edge only adds to the repulsiveness of their deeds imo.

things i really disliked include:

most of valjean’s character- he was generally angry and unlikeable. i think davies intended to highlight his struggle to do good, which isn’t an inherently bad goal, as book valjean totally has questionable moments followed by rackings of guilt (see: his attitude towards marius). the problem with the series portrayal is that what should be mostly internal conflict instead manifests itself in actively poor treatment of others throughout the whole story. sure, bbc valjean gives out money like it grows on trees. he also angrily fires fantine for lying while he himself lives a lie, stiffs gavroche on delivery money and tells him to buzz off, and makes cosette watch a chain gang to prove a point. it’s... an interesting angle, no doubt, but it misses the whole point of valjean’s story- the transformative power of kindness- by a mile.

a lot of adult cosette’s portrayal and especially her relationship with valjean. i get it, people often consider her tricky to write, boring, more of a symbol etc. etc. and feel the need to jazz her appearances up a bit. davies does not do a good job of this. her curiosity and idealism is framed as being frustratingly naive, as if to justify valjean’s overt possessiveness and control over her. he ends up physically restraining her over their “i want to see the world-” “well, the world sucks and i’m just protecting you” fight they spend most of their time having, which isn’t even resolved one way or another. the last episode does treat her better, thank god, but the cosette=love thing is less impactful when she’s literally pulled out the “i hate you” line. 😬

javert’s absurd level of valjean obsession- he honestly becomes a bit of a joke, eventually assuming valjean is the leader of the rebellion for no reason other than it involves crime. besides diminishing his competency, it’s actually easy to forget that he’s guided by his rigid sense of justice, not just his VPS (valjean positioning system). one day an adaptation will really take the time to explore how javert’s worldview applies beyond valjean, including to himself (i’ve always loved the brick scene where he asks mr madeleine to fire him), but it’s definitely not this one.

the sexualisation, jfc. frankly i think davies should be guillotined just for his interview statements on this topic. of all people, he decided to sexualise eponine and cosette. no i will not elaborate. there are also countless unnecessary implications, including between valjean and fantine, valjean and MARIUS, and a random convent girl onscreen for 0.2 seconds just to say she was looking forward to sex. but at least there was no santa sex scene, i guess?

thenardier straight up says he’s going into the slave trade and marius still gives him money... tf

the two boys gavroche looked after, starving in the street, is the final shot. because we all needed another dose of misery.

while i adore the musical, i can imagine why davies doesn’t enjoy it- it has no subtlety whatsoever with its messages about god, love, the LAW, revolution, death and everything else. add that to tom hooper’s dutch angles and extreme closeups and you have something that could easily be considered way over the top. davies presumably wanted to create a story that, as well as containing more plot than the musical, felt less preachy~ and more grounded in reality. in this, i think he succeeds- events are fairly book accurate, and a lot of the changes he does make, regardless of whether i like them, would certainly check out in the real world.

but hugo was one opinionated writer, and so treating les mis like a historical event comes at a cost. davies might despise the musical’s “doggerel lyrics”, but they are true to the novel’s message of compassion and love. in this series, the hope that shines through now and again is always quashed with little reflection; discussion on social justice, so clearly outlined in hugo’s introduction as the book’s purpose, is kept at arm’s length. therefore davies’ more cynical storytelling and characterisation, which also minimises hugo’s religious and political ideas, ultimately loses touch with the heart of les mis.

nobody who benefits this much from the musical’s success has the right to be such a dick about it, especially when the end product isn’t even better. to be clear, i think it’s a good series, and as an adaptation it could be a lot worse. but it’s hard to ignore questionable characterisation, sexualisation, and general steering away from the central ideas of its source material. i’d prefer to sit through russell crowe’s stars any day.

[pilferingapples]

PILF I would love to know your thoughts on the Les Mis miniseries, if you've seen it!!!

ahaha oh goshLET THE  RECORD SHOW I WAS DIRECTLY ASKED 

I have seen it ! Repeatedly! I have…a Lot Of Thoughts about it? Enough that it would make a lot of very very long posts, so this is just a thumbnail summary (and under a cut for Spoilers and also discussion of all the triggering things LM is full of):

This is not an adaptation that left me feeling neutral  about much in it, I’ll give it that. 

Things I loved: 

-Excellent scene and set design! That may sound like I’m reaching for something nice to say, but like…how Good it was really jumped out? The furniture, the posters, just…generally everything.  The fact that the few places they fudged and used modern doors or molding or something were noticeable  is really telling; the rest of it was that  consistent that such minor anachronisms actually stood out instead of just fading into the background. The environment is a huge part of Les Mis, basically an ongoing character, and it was nice to see it so well represented!

-Some fantastic casting choices!  I didn’t love absolutely every choice (though I wonder in every instance of that if it was the actor or the script/direction) and there are some Unfortunate Implications to discuss in the overall pattern of the casting, as others have said at more length.  But geez there are some fantastic performances!  Ellie Bamber’s Cosette really got the character in a way I’ve rarely seen, and Gavroche was fantastic. The whole Thenardier family in general was really  well acted (allowing for some of the Choices made at the script level), and the Extras in so many scenes had a ton of life, which is great!

-Georges! A rare Wild Georges Pontmercy! And he was very good; his scenes in Episode 1 were some of the most effective. 

- The barricade sequence–the barricade sequence proper– flat out astonished me. I was expecting less than nothing , because that’s about what most English-language adaptations do (…and then Episode 4 Happened and my expectations sunk even lower…) but holy carp– from Lamarque’s funeral to OFPD, this is the best Barricade Sequence in an English language non-musical adaptation I’ve seen. No, it’s not the full-on-full-cast Barricade Days adaptation of my dreams, but it’s got its own consistency and development, despite inheriting…issues…from the rest of the series. I understand some of the reasons other people don’t like it, but. It’s really good.  I find something new to appreciate there every time I watch it. 

Things I Hated: 

- So many changes that don’t actually change anything  and so only serve to make the characters’ motivations incoherent?  The whole Champmathieu thing is the most representative but it’s all over…

- Valjean. Pretty much everything done with Valjean post-Petit Gervais. If I start getting into it, it’ll take over this whole post,  but just. Valjean. 

- Everything that was changed about Eponine’s story. I am livid  about this. The script went out of its way to rob her of her moments of power and agency and the show’s attempt to frame a teenager forced into sex work by poverty and her parents as ~~sexy was appalling. Erin Kellyman is a fantastic actress and she deserved better. 

-In General, every attempt at being ~~sexy was repulsive. I mean I realize I’m not someone who’s generally charmed  by Sex Appeal the way some people are but like. Tholomyes. W H Y.  

-The costuming game was bizarrely weak?? I know a lot of people sneer at the very idea  of caring about costuming, how very trivial , but! It’s an important tool in visual storytelling! It can convey so much information about the world and society of the story, and then build  on that to  express the characters’ relationship to their world and society in addition  to more obvious character signifiers (like “pastels for the ingenue” type stuff).  And the era of Les Mis has such massively socially-coded Fashion Modes to use as shorthand!  And it’s all just. So badly handled.Ugh. I will be here All Day if I really start but. It was bad and it’s always  distracting me when I watch it. 

-Very Weird Pacing choices; some of it was weird changes in the narrative (both additions and deletions)  , and a lot of it was just actual pacing in-scene (”Javert Dramatically Eats a Sandwich” may be the poster child here:P).  

- I WILL FIGHT A PHYSICAL EMBODIMENT OF THE SOUNDTRACK. Just because this isn’t the musical doesn’t mean the soundtrack needed to try to score for a horror movie via leaky plumbing.  

I don’t even know:

BBC Javert. Because I mean….he’s a wreck , character-wise. He has zero internal consistency on any level besides “obsessed with Jean Valjean”. It’s a hopeless ruin of one of the story’s most well-realized and complex characters. But it’s like…bad to the point of parody. Javert by Kate Beaton. By the time he’s screaming WHERE’S YOUR LEADER, JEAN VALJEAN?!?  at the barricades I just. I can’t . I cackle. It’s hilarious , it shouldn’t be but it is!  An absolute mess of a character, but Entertaining in ways he’s. Not really supposed to be.   -10000 Points for Actual Javert, +10000 points for Comedy. 

- The Ending. Like…I see what it was going  for, but the show needed to give the momes a lot more time to earn that ending, and also do…about a million other things differently. I generally don’t think it Works, which is too bad, because it is  an interesting idea, but..yeah. It throws me out of the show so my last impression of the whole thing is  like…Structural Analysis, instead of Emotional Engagement , and that’s not really what LM is built for, so I can’t count it as a win, but…I do appreciate the desire to try to make a final statement…?  So I’m Very Torn, here. 

–anyway this is mostly Thumbnail Reactions and it’s still  absurdly long?? I can talk in more detail about any of it if you want, but I think I better cut myself off here for now! 

[bbclesmis]

Emmys 2019: David Oyelowo on colour-blind casting, 'Les Miserables' and directing

When the BBC approached David Oyelowo about starring as Javert, opposite Dominic West as Jean Valjean, in Andrew Davies’ six-episode limited series of Victor Hugo’s classic novel Les Miserables, the 43-year-old UK actor was initially reluctant.

But reading Davies’ adaptation – and subsequently Hugo’s 1862 tome – convinced him there was ample opportunity to deliver a more nuanced portrayal of the character than had been seen in the previous high-profile version: Tom Hooper’s 2012 musical adaptation in which Russell Crowe had portrayed the obsessive police inspector.

“I saw how much more meat there was on the bone compared to what I had seen in the musical,” says Oyelowo. “I felt that the opportunity with Andrew’s adaptation was to really give context to Javert’s obsession with Jean Valjean, and to this very violent end to his life at his own hands.”

Premiering on December 30, the series achieved solid ratings during its BBC One run, with PBS broadcasting in the US in April and May; BBC Studios handles international distribution.

Based in Los Angeles for the last 12 years, Oyelowo is now in Oregon for the eight-week shoot of his feature directing debut The Water Man. Emma Needell’s script was on the Black List and follows an 11-year-old boy who moves to a small town with his family, where he seeks out a mythical local with the reputed ability to cheat death in the hope he can cure his mother’s illness. “It’s an adventure story about a boy trying to save his mother,” says Oyelowo.

Increasingly active as a producer in recent years, Oyelowo was an executive producer on Les Miserables, and is co-producing The Water Man with Oprah Winfrey. He is also a producer (as well as lead actor) on the Blumhouse Productions horror Relive, which premiered at Sundance, and the Peter Pan/Alice In Wonderland prequel Come Away alongside co-star Angelina Jolie.

With wife Jessica Oyelowo, he runs production company Yoruba Saxon which has a first-look deal with Madison Wells Media. The couple has multiple film and TV projects in development, some in collaboration with Winfrey’s company Harpo Films, as well as the feature Cyrano The Moor with Disney. The musical twist on Cyrano De Bergerac is being written by Moonlight scribe Tyrell Alvin McCraney with Jeanine Tesori (Shrek The Musical) doing the music. “We are in the trenches with it right now,” says Oyelowo.

If Oyelowo scores a Primetime Emmy nomination for Les Miserables, it would be his third, the previous two coming in 2015 as lead actor and one of the producers of the HBO/Plan B collaboration Nightingale.

What did you think when the BBC and Davies first approached you about playing Javert?

I hope this doesn’t sound like hyperbole [but] it was life-affirming for me. I had grown up in the UK on period dramas, not least Andrew Davies period dramas, but just always felt that that was something that would never be afforded me by way of an opportunity. And so to have made fairly robust and scary choices in order to keep things moving in my career, and 11, 12 years on from moving to the States to find that opportunities were opening up that were certainly not in the offing when I was [in the UK] for me or anyone who looked like me – that was a true indication that things are shifting within my own lifetime.

Colour-blind casting has been gaining traction in UK stage and TV productions in particular. Is that a big win for the industry?

It’s a win when it comes to this underlying thinking that to have someone like me play Javert is historically inaccurate and therefore not permissible. Because I’m so invested in the representation of people of colour on TV and film, I’ve done the research, I’ve read the history books, I know that to have someone like me playing Javert is not outside of the realms of historical plausibility. There were people of colour who were operating not purely as subjugated, enslaved or browbeaten individuals at that time.

But even beyond that, I think we all can admit that when we make a piece of content, whether it be television or film, what makes it relevant is to have people who are going to be watching it represented within the thing itself. Whether that’s emotionally or in terms of the optics of it, you have to speak to humanity and if you are only ever showing one demographic side of humanity, you’re going to run out of stories, you’re going to run out of reasons for a broad audience to watch your show. The encouraging thing about Les Mis is that a much broader audience than otherwise would have watched it, both in the UK and certainly in the States, watched it not just because of me but because across the board, people of colour were a part of that production.

Were you worried about being able to make Javert more than the one-dimensional ‘villain’ of the piece?

That was definitely on my mind from the offset because, in all honesty, I did think that that’s how Javert comes off in the musical. What I saw was an opportunity that even if you don’t sympathise with him, even if you don’t like him, you can at least empathise with why he made the choices he made on the basis of his own familial history – being born in prison, hating that side of himself, somehow transposing onto Jean Valjean that part of himself he hated – and at the end of the story realising that the person he was really trying to destroy was himself. One of the great things I have heard from folks who’ve watched the show is they didn’t like Javert but they felt for him. For me, that’s mission accomplished.

Dominic West said he felt you were avoiding him and turning down his dinner invitations. How did you approach your on-set relationship with your on-screen adversary?

[Laughs] I guess I did. I was so deep in this thing when we were shooting it that I probably subconsciously felt that to be hanging out with Dominic was not going to serve me or the character. We’re great friends now and I love being around him. He’s incredibly funny and jocular and that is not Javert so I felt like I needed to keep that at bay during the shoot.

Dominic has his own theory about Javert’s obsession with Valjean, which is that Javert was in love with him.

Dominic would think that [laughs]. For me, both in relation to [Victor] Hugo’s book and how I played Javert, I felt he was asexual. I can’t imagine Javert in any kind of romantic or sexual relationship. He dedicated himself so totally both to his job and his obsession with destroying this other human being. So you could argue that there is attraction there but I personally didn’t dwell on that because I was just so fascinated by the obsession Javert has to destroy this man. It’s documented that Hugo based the characters of Jean Valjean and Javert on the same man and that was where my head was at.

Did you need to detox from playing Javert after production wrapped?

It was very immersive, it was six months, but I have four children and they would not tolerate hints of Javert in our house [laughs]. So that tends to be a very good way for me to shake any given character. But this did have an impact on me, not only as an actor but also in producing the show. I was buried in it, my work on this show did not end once we finished shooting. It was watching cut after cut after cut of the episodes to make sure that we were landing it, and also the marketing and the rollout – I was very keen to make sure that both the BBC and PBS were doing everything we could to get it to a broad audience. I applaud both companies in doing exactly that.

You’ve become very active as a producer in recent years. Did you move in that direction out of career necessity?

Yes, borne out of the necessity that there are stories I want to tell, there are stories I want to help other people tell, there are people who I would like to see both in front of and behind the camera. And you can either wait by the phone, hoping that other people are going to instigate and initiate that or you can use the degree of notoriety you have to try and be the instigator, and I’ve chosen to do the latter. I didn’t go to drama school thinking I would be a producer – it has been a byproduct of not wanting to be one of those people who just complains but who actually can make things happen.

Oprah Winfrey is an executive producer on The Water Man. Are the two of you close as creative collaborators?

Yes, we have several projects together in television and film. We became very good friends after we did The Butler and Selma together and we see eye to eye on the kind of stories we want to tell and representation in front of and behind the camera. She’s been a part of this project for the four years that we’ve been developing it. We’re producing it independently with ShivHans Pictures who did Captain Fantastic and Trumbo among other films; they’re fully financing it. I’m just putting my head down and trying to make the best film I can.

Is the plan for you to also star in Cyrano The Moor?

For now! We’ll see. Our take on it is rather than it being the size of his nose that curtails both his ascension in society and with Roxane, it’s the colour of his skin. It’ll be set in the 1800s in the UK, probably in the Bristol area.

What’s in store once you’ve completed The Water Man?

I’ve had to keep the acting at bay to give me the time to get The Water Man right in the edit but I have a number of films coming out soon that I’ll need to beat the drum for as they roll around. Relive, the film I did for Blumhouse that premiered at Sundance, and Come Away both come out this year. We just did some reshoots for Chaos Walking for Lionsgate, that’ll be coming out probably early next year. And then I just did Peter Rabbit 2 before I started on The Water Man. I’ve got to get The Water Man right and then I can turn my head back to being in front of the camera.

x

[eerienature]

Now it's my turn🙈💚 1, 2, 8, 11, 13, 15, 20, 21, 24, 27, 30, 37, 42, 56, 57 and 59 sorry that this is late🙈💙

ayyyyyyy my guy! ❤️

1) selfie

ditto so I’ll dm you em! x

2) what would you name your future kids?:

so i’ve always liked the name layla because i really admire the beauty of a night sky but then it literally means sheep in aapni zerbaan so ye lol; i think the name marina is pretty too like the whole nature element, i liked marwa as well till my sister said it sounds like ‘marijuana’ which just ruined it for me totally lol; yusuf is a nice one, you know because of his whole story which i just find really moving and im sure i had some more prophet names which i really like but none of em spring to mind at the mo

8) have you ever cried because you were so annoyed? 

yesssss so the other day i was dress rehearsing for an interview (pray i get the job! x) and none of my smart-wear would fit so i just angry cried it out; i have bipolar as well and before i was on the right meds i’d do that daily but now i seem to be doing a lot better alhamdulilah

11) are you listening to music right now? 

astaghfirullah sister skskskk but naa i stopped listening to music about a year ago i feel like it just dragged me down might just be me but like even the uplifting stuff has melancholic vibes to it 

13) how do you feel right now?

so like i think i missed my meds this morning and at round 7pm i got this really intense agitation where my mood randomly switched within the space of like an hour and i got angry that i was angry but now that im home and talking to you i feel a lot better - I was really on one earlier on in the day when we were messaging tho bc i was like ‘OMG IVE FOUND A NEW FRENNNNN’ which is a huge positive for me!

15) personality description

aaaaaaa i could go on forever, hope you enjoy the cv! so im a really perceptive person - i have a strong insight into my own situations and mindset as well as those of others (a positive side to mental illness i think, like the whole self awareness aspect) i’ve been told im ‘compelling’ which is an incredible personality trait to have! i have a mad sense of humour, talkative, very outgoing, very extroverted and i love a good bit of banter with the right people, love meeting new people and hearing their perspectives too. I’m very intellectual, i love discussions and acquiring knowledge and anything which makes you think or reevaluate your current opinions! but ya im really proud of my identity purely bc i genuinely didnt think i’d make it past 16 (suicidal depression, self harm, mad mania, abuse, overdoses, etc) but like alhamdulilah here i am and i think its my perseverance and my relationship w god which i really admire - im really proud of who i’ve become! (but i mean theyre trying to stamp a personaity disorder diagnosis onto me so i guess i could be chatting bubbles and all this could be totally subjective *x files theme toon plays*)

20) what is your favourite song at the moment?

i mean i hear the odd bop over the radio every now n then n the ‘JUST BC ITS OVER DOESNT MEAN ITS REALLY OVER N IF I THINK IT OVER MAYBE YOU’LL BE COMING OVER AGAINNNN’ song just really seems to get me

21) age and birthday?

ahh see i feel like an old granny ting now compared to you! i’m 20 and my birthdays the 5th of april so i guess we’re both april babies!

24) height

5′2 but i dont look as short as i sound i swear lol

27) things i hate

im no longer a hateful person like even the people i hate i pray for but bidah has got to be #1 without a single doubt, aside from that its all the usual stuff such as bigots, nonces, etc

30) favourite tv shows

mostly stuff on netflix like at the moment im watching ‘sacred games’ and ive never been into the whole bollywood vibe but i swear ive been missing out like! peaky blinders is amazing and tommy is beautiful i dont care if hes my dads age, bedlam was incredible, period dramas like victoria n bbcs les mis are really good, you should check out this is england, shameless, dark and NSU: german history they are mint; i love a good documentary as well

37)  favourite actor/actress

angelina jolie i think! like i have an entire hashtag dedicated to her so ya i guess shes the one!

42) favourite books

kite runner and a thousand splendid suns (defo recommend them both yasmin esp tss - if you ever do read it give us a shout and ill send you the coursework i did for it in Alevel!)

56) favourite food

ben and jerries along with cookie dough are my absolute weaknesses but im inshlla cutting down on sugar so we’ll see if anything changes w those ones!

57) favourite animals

cats for sure! mines called marno shes now 5 alhamdulilah and she is my life n soul - i like dogs but they get over excited way to easily which startles me a bit esp as im v spaced out a lot of the time so a dog tryna hug me is like arghh wyd but i mean i admire their intentions lol that n the fact theyre najis is also bit of a problem for me (whups)

59) why i joined tumblr

so i think i came across tumblr on a random google search n i figured it’d be a good form of self expression n a good emotional outlet esp as i was in a v v bad mind-space at the time so i felt i needed something to call my own which eventually became my lil blog - but ye if you go allllllll the way back to my old reblogs its literally just those black and white depression posts and gifs which is actually really upsetting to me; like although im no longer in that place anymore tumblr continues to be a very good therapeutic outlet so im v grateful for that ❤️

and thats all! thanks for reading this far b and feel free to ask me any other questions, i enjoy answering them! ❤️ ❤️ ❤️

[kainosite]

Les Misérables 2018, Episode 3

Les Mis fandom: Andrew Davies is a scoundrel.  What is he?

Me: ... Scoundwel.

The Good:

• I can’t believe the BBC actually filmed the “Now the people of this town can see you for what you really are” scene of a thousand Valvert fanfics.  They know what the people want.

• The Thénardiers are still fantastic.  Somehow the BBC has achieved the impossible feat of portraying them as loathsome abusers whom you hate with every fiber of your being, while simultaneously making them the fun comic relief you’re sort of rooting for in their capacity as the wacky crime duo.  On Christmas Eve I wanted the Seargeant of Waterloo to burn to the ground with everyone inside it, except for Cosette who was out getting water, Éponine and Azelma who were playing on the swings and Gavroche who was out back playing with Chou Chou or something.  I still grinned when Madame Thénardier cheerily reminded her husband to bring the pistol the next morning.  Striking this balance is a truly impressive achievement that I’ve only seen equalled by the Dallas production of the musical.

Their family dynamics are also coming across very well, sometimes through very subtle touches.  The differential treatment of Éponine and Azelma vs. Cosette and the way the Thénardier girls have been trained by all the adults around them to see Cosette’s abuse as a hilarious game, Gavroche being conscripted to fill Cosette’s role as household drudge once Valjean takes her, Mme. T slipping a bill out of Thénardier’s stash once he goes after Valjean – it’s all really good.

Their reactions to Valjean were good too.  Mme. Thénardier was thoroughly unimpressed with this roughly dressed man she’d decided was a hobo and only reacted with hostility when he was kind to her little whipping girl, but Thénardier as the criminal mastermind of the outfit decided the moment he noticed Valjean paying inordinate attention to Cosette that he must be a pedophile and they’d stumbled upon a lucrative financial opportunity.  I know some people don’t like this change, but honestly it makes a ton of sense.  Valjean’s interest in Cosette is strange, and considering the usual clientele of the inn cheer whenever Mme. T hits the kid with the strap, the Thénardiers aren’t used to seeing other people regard her plight with compassion.  Unlike in the Brick, this Cosette is a very pretty child, something discernible even beneath the dirt.  And it’s Thénardier, so of course he thinks the worst.  Valjean doesn’t volunteer that he’s representing Fantine (perhaps in this universe where he knows Javert is so fixated on him, he’s worried that would make him too easy to trace?), so really, what else is Thénardier meant to think?

• There are some priceless interactions between the protagonists and Thénardier: when he’s trying to haggle and Valjean keeps ignoring him and just repeating “How much?”; Javert’s baffled “Nothing!” when he asks Javert what Javert is planning to do for him.

• Javert and Gavroche’s preliminary encounter over the coffee cup was a nice, subtle touch.

• A+ hair analogy between Fantine last week and Valjean this week.  A+ removal of the godawful ponytail.  That prison barber in Toulon deserves the Légion d'Honneur.

• I’m enjoying Javert’s meteoric rise at the Prefecture and I love Rivette.  “But Kainosite, you love every long-suffering lieutenant.”  Yes, what’s your point?  Javert deserves a long-suffering lieutenant and so do I.  Although it’s hilarious how much Oyelowovert is Fanfic Javert, in his relationship with his subordinates as much as in everything else.

I also enjoyed Javert’s phrenology skull, which I hope he sometimes monologues at Hamlet-style.  A black Javert might hesitate a little before going all-in on phrenology, but I do appreciate his commitment to cutting-edge criminology research.

• LMAO at Javert’s fanart commission.

• Valjean and little Cosette are adorable together, and I really appreciate how much time Davies devoted to just depicting them interacting and letting the relationship breathe.  The strength of their bond is going to be very important later on, especially to Valjean, so it’s worthwhile to establish it now.  And they were suuuuper cute.  This adaptation tends to cut out Hugo’s humor sections, so it was nice to get a bit of relief from the grimness with endearing family time.

• I rather like Cosette calling people “nosy bitches”.  I mean, who socialized this kid?  The Thénardiers, that’s who.  It makes her seem more like a real child and less like a perfect little doll designed to reward first Valjean and then Marius for fulfilling their roles as protagonists.

It’s also an early hint at Valjean and Cosette’s unhealthy isolation and codependency.  The principal tenant is actually fulfilling her duty of care here in a society without any proper system for child safeguarding.  Cosette never seems to leave the apartment, certainly not to attend school or to learn a trade.  There’s no family resemblance between herself and her guardian.  (Incidentally, I’m impressed by how much Mailow Defoy really does look like the child of Lily Collins and Johnny Flynn.  All the matching between the kids and their “parents” has been superb.)  They give inconsistent stories about their relationship.  And Cosette is, as previously mentioned, an exceptionally pretty child.  The principal tenant should be worried - she doesn’t want Hector Hulot taking up residence in her building, and this pair are deeply suspicious.  But they can’t perceive her attention as legitimate concern, just as an unwarranted and unwanted intrusion into their little idyl.

• Similarly, Valjean’s early worries that he’s isolating Cosette too much by denying her all contact with the outside world or other children her own age are a nice piece of foreshadowing, as is her blithe answer that the only friends she needs are Valjean and Catherine.  Of course she’s content: she has food and warmth and security and the undivided attention of a loving adult.  To a child whose previous experience of the world has been so traumatic, their isolation must seem like paradise.  But this isn’t healthy and it isn’t sustainable, and the show is flagging that up early.  In many adaptations Valjean’s Cosette Issues seem to come out of nowhere, so it’s great that they’re laying the groundwork here.

• The whole “For a dark hunt, a silent pack” sequence is very well done.  There’s a nice piece of foreshadowing with the lamplighter hoisting up a candle as Valjean and Cosette are coming into Paris.  (Most of the Parisian lamps are nice flickery ones, although you do occasionally see those peculiar white ones we saw in Montreuil.)

I also appreciate Davies cutting Valjean’s canonical “Be quiet or Mme. Thénardier will catch you and take you back” line to Cosette from the Brick, which was an awful thing to say to a traumatized child.

• Things continue to look right.  The courtroom setup was really quite good.

The Meh:

• After watching the episode twice I think I finally understand what was going on with Javert at the trial.

His plan to entrap Valjean is no less incredibly stupid and risky than it was last week, but at least Javert has finally realized this.  He looks increasingly worried as each convict gives his testimony and identifies Champmathieu because they’re getting closer and closer to the end of the trial and Valjean still hasn’t acted.  Unlike Étienne in the 1952 movie, Oyelowovert has already testified and perjured himself, so he has no failsafe – if Valjean refuses to take the bait then Champmathieu is condemned in his place, the real Valjean is protected from legal pursuit forever, Javert’s perjury has real, long-term, perverse consequences, and Javert needs to find a new career.  The shock we see on his face when Valjean finally confesses is relief and the shock of seeing a scenario he must have played out a hundred times in his dreams becoming a reality before his eyes, or possibly a consequence of him coming in his pants, not shock at the revelation that Madeleine is Valjean.

But there are few members of the audience who are keener observers of Javert’s face than I am.  Most of those people are probably in the Valvert Discord chat, and none of them could figure out this scene on their first viewing either.  We should not have to analyze Javert’s microexpressions to determine the answer to a question as fundamental as “Did Javert sincerely believe Champmathieu was Valjean?”

• On the whole the trial was bad but I did appreciate Brevet just yanking out his suspender to show the court.  Although @prudencepaccard​ is gonna be mad it wasn’t checkered.

• The amount of time it takes Valjean to escape from Toulon is really of no great importance to anything.  Maybe this Javert gave them specific instructions to search him with care so his files kept getting confiscated and it took him longer to file through his chains.  We know the Orion incident never happened in this universe, so maybe it took two years for Valjean to spot a good escape opportunity.  Who knows?  Who cares?  It has zero impact on the plot.

People concerned about the extra time Cosette was left languishing with the Thénardiers should direct their complaints to Brick Valjean, who faffed around in Montreuil for a month while her mother lay on her deathbed constantly asking for her, and only decided to go pick her up once he was under arrest and it would obviously be impossible.  Davies’ sins pale in comparison to Hugo’s in this regard.  At least Westjean tried to send someone to retrieve her.

• ‘Rosalie’?  Okay, fine, but I’m not sure why this adaptation feels compelled to give everyone first and last names.  Thénardier could just call her ‘Darling’.

• I know they also abandon Catherine in the Brick, but in the Brick Valjean doesn’t pause in their flight to pack the candlesticks, the objects that are precious to him, and Cosette doesn’t specifically ask about bringing her.  Put the pillow under the blankets to fake out Javert like a normal person and let your child keep the one toy she’s ever had, what the fuck is wrong with you, Valjean?

On the other hand, the doll is made of dead people and it may be possessed, so perhaps this was just responsible parenting.  I’m calling it a draw.

• It’s not that I have any great objections to giving Simplice more screen time or letting the Mother Superior of the Petit-Picpus convent decide to shelter a convict, but there was no particular reason not to use Fauchelevent for the Fauchelevent plotline.  It’s a small instance of a good deed being paid forward that underlines the main theme of the book, as does Simplice’s act of self-sacrifice in lying to Javert to protect Valjean.  All of that has been lost and nothing has been gained in its place.  (Also is Cosette just... “Cosette Valjean” in this adaptation?  “Cosette Thibault”?)

The Bad:

• If Javert perjures himself to trap Valjean that is an incredibly big deal and we should see it.  I accept that this Javert might do it: Oyelowovert cares about his career and about ruining the lives of criminals, not about the rules.  If he can trap Valjean, superb.  If Champmathieu ends up in the galleys because of it, well, he’s a filthy apple thief and he deserves it.  Javert is subverting the course of justice in the service of a greater social justice.  But this monumental deviation from his Brick characterization, this enormously consequential lie, should not occur off-camera, for fuck’s sake!

Also it’s not clear what reason a Javert who is happy to lie under oath would ever have to throw himself into the Seine.

• Why the hell was Valjean so hostile to the other convicts?  He assumes they’ve been paid off, but... by whom, and to what purpose?  By Javert, to entrap him?  We the viewers at least know that can’t be true – Javert only found out about Champmathieu from the Prefecture, after Champmathieu had already been identified as Valjean.  By the public prosecutor at Arras, who is desperate to close the case of a minor highway robbery that happened almost a decade ago on the other side of the country completely outside his jurisdiction?  By the many enemies of Champmathieu the random hobo, who really want to see him go down for a felony?  It makes absolutely no sense.

Possibilities that make more sense: a) the convicts are sincerely mistaken about the appearance of a guy they’ve not seen in eight years, b) they just wanted to get out of Toulon for a month and they’re willing to say anything to do it because Toulon is a hellhole, as the first episode made exceedingly clear, c) they know perfectly well Champmathieu is not Valjean and they’re lying to protect the liberty of their old comrade by condemning a stranger in his place.  The whole dynamic of this scene – Madeleine, the respected mayor and factory owner, who’s been clean and well-fed and safe for years, yelling at these filthy men in their convict uniforms, Chenildieu with some kind of open wound across his forehead, quite possibly a lash mark – is deeply unpleasant.  It makes Valjean look like a complete asshole and sets a sour tone for the whole episode.

• The entire trial is just off.  Valjean’s off-putting and inexplicable hostility to his fellow convicts, Javert’s mystifying facial expressions, the audience who keep laughing at unfunny lines – the scene just doesn’t work, it doesn’t come together.  It was at something of a disadvantage because I came into it having just watched the 1952 trial scene for the previous episode’s review post, which is the best ever adaptation of the Champmathieu trial, and any other version was likely to pale by comparison.  But this one was particularly poor.

• I said last week we’d have to see what the series made of Valjean’s externalization of his emotions.  Well, what it has made is an awful lot of shouting at everyone, starting with the poor convicts and continuing from there, and also an excess of violence.  Valjean charges into the soldiers in Montreuil-sur-Mer and bowls them over, he threatens to knock Thénardier down and then to blow his head off, he gets Thénardier into a headlock and grapples with him.  Even when Westjean is coming into the convent he has to practically break down the doors.  Everything is violent action with him.  It’s OOC to the point where it’s becoming a problem rather than merely a different interpretation of the character.

All this aggression isn’t even effective at making him seem dangerous!  The thing he does in 1978 where he gently removes Javert’s hand from his collar is vastly more intimidating because it showcases his superhuman strength.  He should have just plucked the gun out of Thénardier’s hand like he was taking it away from a child instead of all this undignified scuffling.

• Tumblr, a humble reviewer has failed in accuracy, and I have come to bring this matter to your attention, as is my duty.

I argued last week that Westjean is not a misogynist: he yells at everyone in his vicinity regardless of gender.  Well, you were right and I was wrong.  That menacing lunge he takes towards Victurnien while screaming at her, calling Mme. Thénardier “woman” and shouting at her to bring his supper, the way he bursts in on the nuns at the end – it all adds up to something pretty unpleasant.

• I have never in my life seen an adaptation that makes Fantine’s death so much about Jean Valjean’s manpain.

If you look a 1978, an adaptation that gives if possible negative fucks about Fantine, it still manages to make the confrontation over her deathbed a conversation between three people, in which she has agency and reacts to what people are saying and is present in some capacity other than that of an object to make Valjean sad.  Someone compared Collinstine to a substitute Coin of Shame, and I think that’s really apt: Valjean is distressed and guilty because he’s failed to rescue Cosette, so he goes to Fantine’s bedside to sear the image of her despairing face onto his retinas in the same way he seared the imprint of Petit Gervais’s forty sous onto his palm.  He’s punishing himself by deliberately upsetting her.  For both Valjean and the camera, this scene is all about Valjean’s feelings and not about Fantine’s.

The person in this room with the biggest problems is not Jean Valjean, for pity’s sake.  I like to see the man cry as much as the next fangirl, but this was vile.

• Valjean’s visit to Fantine on her deathbed is a stupid, irresponsible thing to do and a direct cause of her unhappy death in the Brick and in every adaptation where she survives long enough for Javert to turn up. Valjean knows he has no good news to give her, he knows that the criminal justice system will be after him sooner or later, he knows that having Fantine and Javert together in the same room is a phenomenally bad idea, and he has urgent business in Montfermeil, or if he’s resolved to stay in Montreuil-sur-Mer to await arrest then he urgently needs to designate some representative to go and pick up Cosette in his place.  Instead he loiters by a sick woman’s bedside until Javert shows up and predictably traumatizes her to death.  As a result, Fantine dies in misery and Cosette suffers under the Thénardiers for another year.

But in the Brick it was at least not an insane thing to do.  When he left Arras he was not being pursued, and he reached Montreuil well ahead of the news about the trial.  The magistrates in Arras were in two minds about how to handle the situation.  Given Madeleine’s status, the widespread affection and admiration for him in the region, and the fact that he turned himself in, it’s not inconceivable that had it not been for his little Bonapartist slip in the courtroom, they wouldn’t have issued a warrant for his arrest at all and would simply have sent him a summons to appear at the Var Assizes to stand trial, or directed him to surrender himself at the prison in Montreuil rather than sending Javert after him.  I’m not sure it’s likely, given that he’s a known flight risk and parole violator illegally occupying a public office and they seem keen to get their hands on his fortune, but it’s not inconceivable.

In this adaptation Valjean breaks away from the police in the street and leads them straight to Fantine’s deathbed.  There is no fucking excuse for this.  NONE.  Brick Valjean was a fool to come at all and a bigger fool to stage a massive confrontation with Javert while he was still in the infirmary, but his mistakes were those of a man under immense stress who never bothered to think about Javert long enough to construct a working psychological profile of him.  Westjean’s mistakes were the mistakes of a selfish asshole too caught up in his own feelings of guilt and shame to have any regard for the people he allegedly cares about and wants to help.  Valjean is an extreme deontologist and his actions are always self-absorbed to a certain degree, because they’re fundamentally more about whether he can feel he’s done the right thing than about the actual effects of his actions on other people.  (He and Brickvert have that in common.)  But it should never get to the point where he’s actively harming people to this extent.

• Brickvert doesn’t seem to care for firearms much, and Oyelowovert looks like a jackass waving his two giant pistols around, but he’s a different character and if he’s decided they make him look cool then fine, I guess.  But in that case he should not be intimidated by Valjean’s strength in the infirmary.  You have guns, idiot!  If he threatens you just shoot him in the leg!

Guns completely change the dynamics of this scene, as the Dallas staging of the musical conveys very well.  The BBC handed Javert some pistols and then forgot he had them.

• In 1862 people would probably have found the implication that Catherine has Fantine’s hair to be sweet and charming, because the Victorians loved toting bits of their dead relatives around and hair mementos were so common that no one would have considered it weird.  In 2019 it is CREEPY AND GROSS.  I know there’s no ethical consumption under capitalism but we did not need to know that Cosette’s doll was made from the body parts of desperately impoverished and now dead women, really.

• Oh, so we’re flipping over beds when we fail to catch our favorite fugitive convict now, are we?  Great, now everyone is yelling.  FFS, Javert, I thought you were supposed to be the emotionally continent one.

• Where was Marius this week???  If Davies was happy to cut that leg of the stool out of whole episodes then why the fuck not just let Georges die when he’s supposed to and let Marius have a coherent character arc?  It makes no sense whatsoever.

I’ve got to be honest, I was not a fan of this episode.  But it did get Valjean and Cosette’s relationship right, and that is the most important relationship in the story.

[lawisnotmocked]

BBC Les Mis Episode 1

As promised (a few days ago ^^’) my review/analysis/thoughts on the first episode of the new bbc miniseries!

Warning for spoilers ahead! And it got really long so uh! Warning for that too!

Oh my god it’s 2000 words that's longer than some of the essays I submitted for uni good luck lads :,3

I’m just going to start with a few quick thoughts! 

Antagonists like Tholomeys, Thenardier and Gillenormand are all awful scumbags and perfect to hate! So great job there! 

Less of a great job with the font! Which was frankly an awful choice! Who's idea was that! 

The transitions were a little weird too. Switching straight from beautiful scenery and kissing scenes to Toulon threw me off a little ^^’  

Tholomeys sure did piss on a tree though huh :,) somehow that was vitally important and needed screen time :,) Didn’t need to see a nude Felix either :,)

I would die for Georges and little Marius Pontmercy though. Georges.... is handsome.... and baby Marius is so precious omg! ‘Scoundwel’! I die!

Fantine was so sweet and precious it broke my heart :,)

The scenery was beautiful too! 

Oh and there were lots of animals featured too and I will talk about some of them later but I loved all of them especially the goats!

Just look at these little stars :,)

Right! Now all of that’s out of the way I’ll talk about what you were probably actually interested in if you follow me: Valjean and Javert!

I love Oyelowo’s Javert. He’s an incredible actor and he clearly understands Javert’s character and motivations. Plus..... hhhh sexy voice...... handsome.....

West is also a great actor and plays Valjean brilliantly, however there’s a few things Davies has done to Valjean’s character that I’m not too pleased with :/ But! I’ll talk about that next!

This is.... also definitely a valvert adaptation. If they keep up like this it might be even more of a valvert adaptation than 1978!

I’m going to talk about specific scenes now! And the first one I’m going to address is one that takes place in Toulon early on and has already been discussed a lot!

So. Does Valjean try to kill someone??

I mean. What happens is an intentional action. He sees a guard telling off another prisoner, waits until the guard stands underneath him and then keeps checking on him to make sure he’s still there before he drops a fuckton of rocks on top of him. Was the intention actually murder? Maybe?? He smiles afterwards but he also smiles knowing that the guy isn’t dead and is only injured? So I’m not sure ^^’ He goes down to help lift the rock off the guard afterwards, but it seems more like at this point there’s some sort of threatening/showing off directed towards Javert, who was watching the whole thing, in a ‘look what I can do you think you have the power here but I can hurt people too and the decision to save this man was in my hands’. Anyway I kind of like that? And kind of really hate it because it’s really out of character. As a nonverbal exchange between prisoner and guard, I love it. As Jean Valjean purposefully perhaps trying to kill someone, I hate it. Because that’s not Valjean. Angry Toulon Valjean is sulky and hateful, not violent. So anyway that’s my Hot Take on that scene!

So the next Toulon scene I took notes on is also a valvert scene! Javert has a guard take Valjean to what seems to be some sort of torture room and has him restrained (sounds like a fanfic opening I know I promise this happens) then the guard leaves them alone together. This scene seems to be Javert ‘correcting’ the power balance after what Valjean did earlier and it has so much potential to be an incredible scene! If the dialogue wasn’t so clunky! Javert’s entire backstory is just dumped into the interaction and all it leads up to is a joke. Hey Davies there’s this thing called buildup and using this incredibly important information about Javert’s character for something dramatic! Come on! Flashbacks! Shouting! Using it to suddenly make everything make sense! Not casually having him say it in the first episode it doesn’t mean anything to anyone at that point! Please watch Shoujo Cosette and take some inspiration from them! Even the musical drops the information at a Dramatic Moment! Wasted opportunity! Dsfsfsf anyway ^^’ despite the limitations of the script Oyelowo did incredibly with it and I’m so excited to see more of his Javert!

Oh yeah and Valjean strips in front of Javert did I mention that? (I mean. I’m not complaining about the Valjean butt 👀 and muscular shoulders 👀👀) Did I also mention that there’s implied interest from Javert? I’m actually... not liking this because I don’t trust Davies.... like, Toulon era is the least healthy way to do valvert which is fine in fandom where we understand that and do it anyway with that understanding, but in a real adaptation? Where that understanding isn’t established and it’s real popular representation and Javert is implied to be a predatory gay man? I don’t like that too much. But we’ll see it’s only the first episode maybe it’ll get better as we go along. Still not complaining about the Valjean butt uwu Also! “Monsieur 24601”! So there is some good dialogue after all! Just do that with the other scenes!

Dsfsfsf just found “Was Valjean putting his head under a water fountain entirely necessary? No. Did I appreciate it anyway? Absolutely.” in my notes without any context too lol

Uhhhh Myriel scenes! Myriel is perfect and I adore him Valjean is still too aggressive it doesn’t feel like him :/ The scene when Myriel gives Valjean the candlesticks was too creepy too I didn’t like that what’s with the creepy music Davies it’s a nice good scene :,3

Petit Gervais sings! No singing allowed! Illegal!

Didn’t like what Davies did to the petit Gervais scene though!! Valjean intentionally stole the coin knowing what he was doing. It was supposed to be unintentional and unconscious that’s what makes it emotional and that’s what breaks him goddamn it! Of course I was very happy to have Petit Gervais included but I still feel like this scene had so much potential that was almost reached but just wasn’t quite!

But. It’s only the first episode. I still have hope that Valjean’s characterisation might improve later on! Please for the love of god let’s not have a repeat of 1998!

So far I would say the miniseries is enjoyable enough and definitely still worth watching! No les mis adaptation is perfect and this certainly isn’t a bad one as of the first episode!

So now you’ve read the part you actually wanted to read it’s time for me to talk about (potentially unintended) animal symbolism >:3 Look I had the decency to put it at the bottom at least! Could I have made it a separate post? Yes. But I didn’t die mad about it.

Hugo’s animal symbolism in the Brick is clearly something Davies has picked up on and decided to incorporate aspects of into his own adaptation. I don’t know how far or deep he intends to go with the symbolism but from the beginning there’s a fair bit of animal imagery in speech, mostly in relation to Valjean, but it’s also once used with Tholomeys when Favourite says “he looks as if he wants to eat you Fantine!” Hugo used imagery of predators (and of eating people :,3) to indicate individuals as dangerous so this is very fitting with that line of symbolism. But Sirius! You say, a comment like that doesn’t automatically mean intentional animal symbolism! Not on its own no, but alongside everything else it looks more likely that it’s intentional!

As I mentioned, the majority of animal imagery in speech in this episode is in relation to Valjean. The first example is when a guard calls a prisoner a ‘filthy dog’ in one of the Toulon scenes. The prisoner isn’t Valjean but Valjean is watching. The next example is also in reference to dogs when Valjean asks Myriel “how can I love my fellow man when he treats me worse than a dog?” I’m pretty sure this is a reference to the line “I am not even a dog!” from the Brick which I got very excited about! As a brief summary of the symbolism of dogs in les mis, Javert is a dog. He’s a social outcast like Valjean but he chooses to protect society as a policeman, making him a domestic dog and not a wild beast. Valjean is ‘not even a dog’ and ‘treated worse than a dog’ because even though they’re both social outcasts, Javert’s position gives him some sort of status, while Valjean is left with a yellow passport and nowhere to sleep. The final reference to dogs is... actually not the final reference and comes before Valjean talks to Myriel but I’m talking about this out of order lol. 

Valjean goes into a building looking for somewhere to sleep and instead finds a dog who barks at him and chases him off. This is a reference to one of my favourite scenes in the Brick which includes this quote: “I went into a dog’s kennel; the dog bit me and chased me off, as though he had been a man. One would have said that he knew who I was.” Javert is a dog. This scene is foreshadowing for the relationship Javert has with Madeline in M-sur-M. I really hope Davies takes the symbolism this deep by giving us a scene in the future that links Javert with dogs in this series! He probably won’t ^^’ But I’ll still be looking out for it!

Here’s a post with links to more analysis I’ve done on dogs in the brick if anyone was interested!

Moving on to the other animal symbolism used with Valjean! Yeah that’s right I’m still not done! After Valjean takes off with Myriel’s silver, Madame Magloire calls Valjean an “ungrateful beast” and then tells her brother off for “letting a wild beast like that into your house”. There is, of course, also the scene when Valjean (to quote my notes) ‘roars like a beastie’ before running away after Myriel gives him the candlesticks. The symbolism of ‘wild beast’ is also something used by Hugo in the Brick and the meaning of that symbolism is described surprisingly unsubtly: “the peculiarity of pains of this nature, in which that which is pitiless–that is to say, that which is brutalizing–predominates, is to transform a man, little by little, by a sort of stupid transfiguration, into a wild beast; sometimes into a ferocious beast.” 

That’s all I have to say about Valjean but!! I’m still not gonna shut up!! Because now I’m gonna talk about Cosette!!

In her room, Fantine has a bird in a cage.

Look it even gets a shot to itself! 

This bird is also shown at the end of the episode when Fantine is holding Cosette.

There they are! This file is saved as birbsette on my laptop lol.

Anyway, I’m fairly certain that this is a reference to Cosette’s Hugo Assigned Symbolic Animal being a songbird, specifically a lark. Of course it could be that the bird in a cage is actually associated with Fantine but we’ll have to wait until future episodes to see if the use of birds is continued and who they’re linked to if it is!

So! In summary! Davies has actually set up the basis for a lot of animal symbolism in the first episode and I’m very excited to see how far he decides to take in in further episodes! And we also learnt that Sirius has a hyperfixation! Thanks for getting this far folks and as always feel free to add anything on to or correct any mistakes in my ramblings!