#JVJ is doing his thing

[akallabeth-joie]

#i Want To Believe it's pickpockets but somehow every time it's montparnasse in a different fit#he eventually stops being sassy in his replies and is just like 'jesus christ dude please go to therapy'

Hugo keeps telling us that Valjean has told people something , or said something Often, or was Often Heard to Say X . Given that Valjean is a pretty isolated person who barely speaks about the past even to Cosette, who does he keep talking to??

[ineffable-gallimaufry]

valvert is so funny because i'll be like "omg they're so in love here" and it's like. a normal ass screenshot but the motifs are what make it gay. like idk how to tell you that somehow javert slipping into vous instead of tu is somehow more gay of him since he has his weird authority complex thingy

[fluentisonus]

I think I mentioned this before in my post a little while ago abt valjean not talking, but reading the barricade section just now & he talks so little. I think the only things he says the entire time is to ask for a gun to shoot down the mattress and to ask for javert & then say he's shot him -- people talk to him plenty but he never replies. and this taken with the fact that it's such a long section without his pov at all it I feel like really shows how much of a sort of. social/communicative wall I guess? he can & does put up sometimes, and how impenetrable & unreadable (& in marius' case disconcerting) it comes across. like even we as readers who know him really well are not getting much from this at all about what he's thinking or feeling or planning, he's incredibly hard to read without that element of internality

[random-ikea-drawer]

ok so i love les miserables

AND I JUST GOT TO SEE IT FOR THE FIRST TIME IN THE NORTH AMERICA TOUR (more specifically Montreal! (yes i flew to an entirely different country to see it)) and i am incredibly attached to enjolras and grantaire so here are just things i saw that made my nails dig into my thighs <3 (not just enjoltaire)

oh my dear months old source of no big sad

this is 90% incoherent rambling (SPOILERS)

- Grantaire had long hair and a long coat i think that deserves its own point

- During Red and Black, Grantaire did the old “Don Juan” with the bottle right in Enjolras’ face (he was not impressed)

- In this same song, Enjolras got really close to R’s face during “don’t let the wine go to your brain”

- Again, in Red and Black, when they tossed Grantaire’s bottle to Enj, teasing him, Grantaire grabbed the bottle in a… way… when he was giving it back to him

- Same song 😭 Grantaire was bouncing on a guy’s lap during the first few verses

- In DYHTPS, Grantaire pulled Gavroche aside away from the students crowding Enjolras (this broke my heart, he clearly loves him and doesn’t want him to be in a war)

- “Glad to do a friend a favor” with a very suggestive hand gesture

- In the “dogs will bark flees will bite”, Grantaire pointed a finger at Enjolras, the former getting real close putting his weapon between them. They got REALLY close

- Gavroche pulled the middle finger at Javert lmao

-Eponine fucking died (i knew that already, seen every bootleg and version available, still hit hard)

- During Eponine’s death Gavroche ran onto the stage, closely followed by Grantaire being held onto by Enjolras

- Gavroche tried approaching Eponine (that’s his sister bro :()) but was stopped and held onto by Grantaire. When she died however, Grantaire quickly bent to hug Gavroche, man the grief was so clear with them both.

- After she died, everyone cleared to their positions but Enjolras and Grantaire, seemingly for Enjolras to try and comfort him, but decided against it quickly and pushed past him. Grantaire placed his hand on his chest in mock offense 😭

- When the attack was about to start, Grantaire mocked and toyed with tied up Javert. When Enjolras called for hold, Grantaire threw his arms around Javert with a “yep!” and cue the battle starting immediately when that happened

- During Grantaire’s verse during Drink With Me, it’s back to Enjolras and Grantaire being center stage. Enjolras approached him, held onto his arm and with the same hand moved up to brush R’s hair, which lead to him breaking off the contact and rushing to the other corner of the stage.

-He was followed by Gavroche, who hugged him from behind and then they both fell asleep next to each other :((

- Gavroche fucking died (i knew he did still heartbreaking) and was caught by Enj, who handed him to Grantaire

- During the Gavroche solo, Grantaire stood center stage looking to the crowd, not even flinching when the gun sounded, only turning around when Gavroche was already at the top of the barricade

- He tried shaking him awake :(( then set him down and stared at him :((

- That was until Marius fell, Enjolras rushing to check on him, making Grantaire rush to his side

- R grabbed onto Enj and they both held the back of each other’s necks,, from my angle it looked like their foreheads touched but idk if they would do that but MANNN

-Enjolras fucking died first (no wtf :(( )

- Grantaire fucking died last (BRO.)

- Everyone fucking died bro

- Except Marius and JVJ of course

- Mr Thenardier, instead of singing “This one’s a queer but what can you do”, sang “This one’s a queer, I’ll try it to!” and dipped a guy in the wedding 😭

- The “to love another person is to see the face of god” line always makes me emotional just :((

that’s it haha hopefully y’all enjoy the ramblings, ty for reading this far, i seriously recommend going to watch it if you can it’s truly the most amazing thing i’ve ever seen man 😭 may be biased but i’m serious

[shitpostingfromthebarricade]

Jean Valjean @ himself

Victor Hugo is trying really hard to make me feel bad for Jean Valjean after he stole from Gervais, but he failed. I'll hold this grudge against Valjean forever.

[hadleysmis]

Arm Joe gameplay

My observations

- Cosette throws Jean Valjean at an opponent, and Jvj then tackles them

- Cosette can kiss the opponent on the cheek, and it summons JvJ and he beats them up

- Jean Valjean can also summon Cosette to upper punch the opponent. In the video I watched, this KOed the opponent.

- Marius headbutts the opponent repeatedly on the floor (maybe the tree hedabutting reference?)

- Marius can summon skeleton Les Amis, with floating skeleton Enjolras, which then is the big combo attack. I'm imaginging it phsychologically damages the opponenet, because none of the characters actually move xd

- Enjolras can summon many things in the sky (many characters can do this). For Enjolras, he can summon a barricade to crush the opponent, then set fire to it.

- Enjolras shoots, and a shot National Guard falls down, and the opponent has to avoid being hit by the body; otherwise that's a hit.

- When M. Thénardier wins, his face goes up to the screen, and he just stares at you.

- M. Thénardier summons Mme. Thénardier, so they fight as a team. Although sometimes Mme. Thénardier just stands there doing nothing during the whole fight. So it depends on the coding's feelings that day.

- I think Éponine throws a coin at the opponent, and if the distance is right, lightening strikes it.

- Éponine repeatedly slaps the opponent. Full swing, open palm style.

- Justice is OP, and when it wins, it gets angel wings, and ascends to the sky.

- Thénardier attacks with a dagger and farting. Two different moves. He can jump high, and catch the opponent falling with a fart, which then does extra damage.

- Robo Jean can attack with his face extedning to hit the opponent. I literally have no idea how to accurately describe what I saw.

There's another video I would recommend to watch:

[foxy-llama-mama]

for anyone wondering, i saw the les mis us tour last night in DC and it. was. CRAZY. i’ve seen the tour a few times in my life and i noticed some new things so here we go:

~~ spoilers ~~

- petit gervais was actually shown in the prologue when JVJ gets out of jail, he has some line like “but monsieur!” before being shooed away

- batambois actually hits fantine with his cane, knocks her down, and kicks her multiple times before she reaches up and scratches his face (i feel like i usually see him grab her arm or something instead of actually hitting her?)

- the other lovely ladies whores are all freaking out and trying to protect fantine from batambois and the pimp men people are actively holding them back and letting him hit her

- JVJ and javert have the gayest little moment of holding a handshake before “forgive me sir i would not dare” for a solid 30 seconds

- fantine shoots up and hugs JVJ in the line before she dies and stays there until he lays her dead body back down

- mme. thenardier was just so wonderful. i loved her

- gavroche has this entire moment with javert after the robbery, yelling “yeah! clear the streets! that means you too!” (said to a cop), and when the only two people left on stage are him and javert, he completely squares up to him and then salutes and it’s a really sweet moment. it also makes little people so much more impactful because they actually recognize each other then

- enjolras has a visceral reaction to eponine and marius speaking and he hasn’t even met cosette yet. enj turns to speak to marius and sees him talking to ep and throws his hands up in the air like, SO frustrated because MARIUS THE REVOLUTION IS COMING.

- red and black is BEAUTIFUL. the entire ensemble respects enjolras so much and it’s very obvious. “marius, you’re late” is not sung and so deadpan and so enjolras.

- R gives gav his bottle after javert’s arrival and it’s really funny

- grantaire does not take his eyes off of enjolras until drink with me. at all.

-when eponine dies, gavroche turns suddenly and sees her dying and grantaire SHOOTS up and grabs him and sits in the corner with him. it’s beautiful

- R does not touch a gun at all for the entire show. whenever anyone starts shooting, he hides behind the barricade or he grabs javert in custody but he never fights at all

- when gav dies, R throws a goddamn fit and does not leave his body until enjolras is about to be shot.

- when enj dies, he climbs up the barricade and is backlit and R is sitting at the bottom of the barricade reaching upwards, and when enj is shot, he falls backwards off of the barricade and out of sight. when this happens, R climbs the barricade with no gun, just enough so his head is exposed, and gets shot and slides down the barricade. it’s very “no one loves the light like a blind man”

- when javert is picking through the bodies looking for JVJ, another officer is wheeling a cart for dead bodies, and it ONLY has enjolras in it, hanging upside down just like aaronjolras in the window. javert heaves gav’s body on top of his and wheels them both off. (i heard multiple audible gasps during this, assumedly from the other enjolras girlies like myself)

- enj and R are beside each other for empty chairs until they cross and they’re directly facing each other instead

-during the wedding song, the line “this one’s a queer, but what can you do” is changed to “this one’s a queer, i might try it too” before thenardier waltzes with a male ensemble member for like 4 bars before finishing the song

- there is a lot of rich people laughing as a bit and thenardier cues to the conductor and counts them off like 3 separate times

- the finale is beautiful as always, JVJ and the dead bishop hug before everyone just lines up in formation (R and enj are both holding one of gav’s hands on either side)

- in conclusion: i cried

If anyone else has seen the tour and would like to add little things they noticed, please do in the tags!!

[itslouisan]

Talk about Urahara: does he fit the mad scientist archetype?

Short answer: yes

Btw shout-out to @uraharashouten and @saranel since some of their posts gave me inspiration and in general how they handle his character in their posts

Elaborate answer: What forms the mad scientist archetype/why it fits Kisuke Urahara, can a mad scientist be good or morally gray?

Ok let's start for the recipe for our mad scientist according to portrayal in media as well as writing discussions, ALSO note that these are tropes and they can be adapted and written differently

1- need to be antisocial/isolate themselves socially from others, not get how social interactions work

Kisuke ACTUALLY shows this, such as his initial time as a captain in the 12th division, shy, not knowing to what direction take, and generally not the best with social interaction and relationship with others, in fact, I always saw Kisuke as someone who's introverted and doesn't ACTUALLY want to interact, you need to talk abt his interests and things that he is passionate about to begin with, otherwise it's a raw and empty talk (btw I 100% picture him as autistic, there's no way he doesn't have hyperfocus) so yeah, checks out perfectly

2- they need to have questionable morals

*cough* Hōgyoku *cough* Rukia *cough* some notes on Ururu *cough* that Yoruichi form

Like ME as a Urahara enjoyer and someone who literally dreams abt Kisuke daily and as a hobby analyze him, I understand ALL of the examples set above, but from other people perspectives and character perspective it's acceptable to think he has questionable morals, especially when he's so passionate about his work, plus he always does what's necessary to achieve his goals so...check

(3-5 are PRETTY self-explanatory if you ever watched bleach or paid attention to kisuke at all and his doings to the plot so..yeah, maybe when I'm not tired I'll edit everything with neat examples and explanations jvj)

3- mad scientists aren't always bad, they just have a passion for a specific subject

4- dedicated hours or more in projects that usually are important to the plot

5- usually mad scientists are also used as a important character to the overall plot

6- at least have 1 artificial being created as a companion

I mean Kon was basically his doing indirectly so check, filler but...also these 3 useless bounty arc dolls that I forgot the name of because I despise the bount arc fall into the same category, plus Ururu I'm pretty certain falls into this category and I'd be delighted to make a post with hcs and interpretations on her as to why I classify her as such like Nemu but Kisuke equivalent

Verdict? Mad scientist 100%, though I think he falls into the neutral chaotic scientist vibe

[genderfeel]

need to gush about stewart clarke’s javert among other things from our multiple showings of lm these last couple of weeks

clarke is honestly up there for me with terrence mann in terms of my fav javerts….. he honestly kind of looked like him with his dead eyed stare and eyeliner. serving corpse

he was sooooo robotic during every fucking scene he was in apart from the finale but still had this soft emotion during stars. dude had literally no thoughts behind those eyes just staring off into middle distance while fantine is weeping. had 0 reaction to gavroche, thenardier, literally anyone.

single notable reaction pre-alleyway scene was clarke seeing valjean walk into the barricade and just. staring at him. like the entire time while gunfire is going on man is barely ducking or reacting he’s just staring at this dude. impeccable. made funnier by grantaire sitting between them

related sidenote was that i LOVED this grantaire. not someone i typically focus on while watching but tom hext is so so fun, loved his energy and thousand yard stares in equal measure. also fat grantaire based. i’m shocked people don’t go on and on about this dude bc he was also so fun to watch in the ensemble

katie hall was absolutely the best fantine i’ve seen, cried both times. she plays it nice and angry at times with the appropriate amount of acting. wonderful voice. same of the eponine, wonderful talents and spot on casting

i will relegate this to a brief note bc i don’t want to complain endlessly about it but mannnnn this valjean suckeddd. played it way way too angry (did not help that his eyebrows ((naturally??)) are super arched. super arai manga jvj vibes but irl). great voice but no good acting choices or really any at all. i got the distinct impression all this dude knew about the character was the show itself and didn’t really “get” valjean. left me extremely unemotional even in the last bits which is wild

side note to that: i did cry at the beginning of the finale but only bc i remembered nick cartell’s performance and was thinking about that instead. for those unfamiliar he walks with a prisoner’s limp which drives me fucking insane

side side note: the only good thing this valjean did was pause while reading marius’ letter at the word “love” in like an incredulous way. then at the end he crunched the letter up into a ball. extremely in character for the brick and could bring a more interesting depth that the musical lacks but terrible and aggro for no reason in the context of this performance

okay back to javert. his suicide? insane. wonderful acting choices playing it pretty tormented until near the end he was cracking his voice HARD which was just so painful every time. not overly angry at all. also particular more to our first time seeing him—this man was absolutely dribbling spit during some sections. like hanging from his mouth like a dog. you truly cannot do it better than this. it really made the best of what i would call a flawed but potentially good adaptation of javert derailed in a way where i’m sure mr clarke Gets javert and reads derailed like his character bible

i liked the way clarke ran around and writhed around on the ground. dedication.

goes without saying but i imagine clarke’s performance would be even better if he were paired with a more competent valjean. but what can you do 😔

baffled that they took away javert’s costume change during one day more. i have to assume someone thought people were too stupid to realize it’s javert in his little baker boy cap. a loss to us all

why did gavroche have the coconut head haircut

claire made me see this godforsaken show three times. i don’t even want to talk about the understudy javert we had to sit through i want to simply forget

he (they hate each other so much)

[bread--quest]

just watched my first ever performance of les mis and i'm experiencing every emotion ever and i need to write them all down quickly before i go to sleep so i don't forget them .ok . in some approximate order

the prisoners during look down would each like. look up for their individual line and then whoever was next to them would reach over and pull them back down which i thought was so good

hoogh the staging. the STAGING .

several of the scenes looked (i think very intentionally) like.....religious paintings...??? im sorry i dont have a better way to describe it im not catholic but like. the first one im thinking of is jean valjean and the bishop during the "i have bought your soul for god" scene . there were like definitely Intentional Pauses so you could Admire the Staging and Lighting. which i did

incidentally i wasnt counting the amount of times people crossed themselves in this show but it was A Lot

after "i'll escape now from this world... from the world of JEAN VALJEAAAAAAAAAN" the stage went black and then the words "les miserables" were projected on the screen and my dad (who was next to me) went "OH that was just the PROLOGUE??"

ohhhhh god fantine's death scene hit me like a truck. that was the first moment i cried at and oh god i cried really hard. i had forgotten that it was to the tune of on my own. awuagh

after little cosette sang "she says...cosette, i love you very much..." i distinctly heard someone in the audience GASP and go "ohhhhh...."

madame thenardier was GREAT, she sang every line like she was rolling her eyes. also she made some. Gestures with a baguette during master of the house

beautiful little moment: after jvj gave cosette the doll she gasped, kind of backed away from him in shock, and then paused and ran towards him and hugged him, and then there was a noticeable moment where he sort of didn't know what to do for a second and then hugged her back and scooped her up to carry her away. waugh

look down paris 1832!!!!!!!!! AAAAAAA

i didn't realize until just now that it works so well to have gavroche be singing what's basically the intro to "okay so here's what's happening now. this is paris and it sucks," because gavroche is the character introduced at the start of the 1832 book!!! the gamin expresses paris!! i love that!!!! also gavroche was excellent. adore that boy

marius was such a dork <3

eponine fully Threw his book across the stage and he was like "haha i love the way you..... tease. Hm"

the paris sets were so cool!!!! they were like. whole apartment building sets and actors would pop out of windows and stuff!!! very neat

one of the women had a "vive lamarque" sign hanging out her window lmao. rip

grantaire kept hugging people/flopping on them

enjolras was Very Blond and Very Enjolras-y. when grantaire tried to flop on him he pushed him away and then they made Intense Eye Contact about it

gavroche delivered "general lamarque is dead" surprisingly solemnly and quietly, and there was a moment of silence that i thought really brought in the gravity of the moment well

also he got up on a table to say it and afterwards enjolras patted him on the shoulder (which he did a lot) and then picked him up and lifted him off the table :)

DO YOU HEAR THE PEOPLE SING <3 AAAAAAAAAAA

grantaire kept pulling gavroche back from joining with the rest of the revolutionaries :(

marius actually CLIMBED OVER THE GATES to cosette's house, i was very impressed

ONE DAY MOOOOOORE was sooo good

the thenadiers peered out of one of the really tall windows and had a little periscope (??) to look at the revolutionaries with

the barricade was very striking, if lacking in Symbolic Coffin. very pointy looking though

my dad said "is that javert??" a few minutes after javert appeared at the barricade and his reaction to the reveal was EXCELLENT

gavroche flipped off javert LMAO

little fall of rain was very good but the thing that hurt me the most was that towards the very end gavroche came on stage, saw what was happening, stepped towards her, and was pulled back a bit by grantaire. and then after she died gavroche went forward and picked up her hat and gave it to marius, and then walked away, and when grantaire reached out towards him he just kind of walked past. it was a really really good bit of like. subtle characterization and plot and just AAAAAA

"is your life just one more LIE" in drink with me was very directly addressed to enjolras, who then had another moment of Very Intense Eye Contact with grantaire. then they stormed off to opposite sides of the barricade and gavroche, who was sort of standing between them looking worried, looked back and forth a few times and then went over to grantaire and hugged him :((

the barricaders in general were so good

jvj hit an INSANELY high note at the end of bring him home

THEY DID SOMEHTING VERY CRUEL AND FUCKED UP and had gavroche's song of little people be interrupted by a gunshot and a gasp from the barricade, and THEN he started singing AGAIN, and everyone seemed relieved, and he came back up over the barricade and THEN. GUNSHOT. and. enjolras caught him and held him and then like. passed him down the barricade to grantaire??? in this incredibly lit and really like. again. like it looked like a painting . i am rapidly losing coherency. it hurt so bad man

the one thing i am sad about (WELL. IM SAD ABOUT A LOT. BUT I MEAN SPECIFICALLY ABOUT THE ADAPTATION FROM BOOK TO MUSICAL) is that grantaire and enjolras didn't die holding hands :((

at least they got one more moment of Very Intense Eye Contact in (after gavroche's death...)

oh GOD enjolras in the cart hurt so bad. WITH THE FLAG. i really thought he was evoking some famous painting but i could be wrong

javert knelt down over gavroche's body, shook his head, crossed himself, gently tapped gavroche, and then stood up and pointed at him so the cart guy would take him away

enjolras had like. one hand dangling out of the cart when it came in, but as it was leaving the stage the other hand dropped which was a FANTASTIC acting moment . also damn those actors were great at pretending to be dead

javert's suicide was BRILLIANTLY staged, somehow the actor really made it look like falling while standing up the whole time (possibly being raised somewhat? unsure)

he was also the only character who's death was not shown in illuminating light . which. damn.

turning turning hit me unexpectedly hard. ooooof

and then empty chairs at empty tables was. well. i dont think i need to say more. the lights were a fantastic choice

i think i started crying at "it is the story of those who always loved you" but honestly the entire last song was really blurry. IT OPENED WITH JEAN VALJEAN LIGHTING THE CANDLESTICKS. THE CANDLESTIIIIIICKS

THE BISHOP CAME OUT AND HUGGED JEAN VALJEAN. AUGH

also gavroche was standing between enjolras and grantaire when they first came out which i have to think was intentional

there was basically nothing on stage but the actors for the last song which made it incredible imo . i briefly considered becoming french. a lady offered me a tissue. the end

[pilferingapples]

this is an invitation to infodump. i would LOVE to hear the thoughts you have on beggars at the feast, should you want to talk about them

AUGH ok ok let's see how well I can articulate...anything

OK so first: In the Letters server lately we've been talking a bit about how , in the book, Thenardier is WAY more the Human Nemesis than Javert is. He shows up earlier than Javert does; he's able to be a threat in ways Javert can't be, and to people Javert can't and wouldn't even try to touch ; he shares a TON of paralleling symbolism and class-blurring roles with JVJ; he's the last Personal Threat remaining in the novel, and the last thing we hear about him is that he's not only thriving , he's committing worse atrocities on a grander scale than anything we saw in the book, and getting nothing but social approval for it.

Thenardier is a nightmare, and he's triumphant, and as such he's a condemnation of society in an equal and opposing way to Jean Valjean. Valjean's story (and Fantine's , and the Thenardier siblings' ,. and the Amis , etc) says "look what we're destroying, look at the actions we punish". Thenardier's ultimate triumph as a literal slave trader flips it around and says "look what we support, look at what we endorse, look at what we elevate and approve." (now within the book I could take this farther , I could point out that the only thing within the novel that breaks any of the miserables free of their oppression to any degree is crime of some kind, be it revolution or theft or Being an Accomplice or exploitation, and the only thing that costs the (relatively) privileged their security and power is to truly ally with the miserables, but !! I'm talking about the musical)

In the musical Thenardier is softened a lot. Like... a LOT. The Thenardiers' exploitation of Fantine is barely mentioned ; their violent abuse of Cosette is turned into a joke; their abuse of Eponine is minimized (and their other kids are either Not Appearing in this Play or not obviously connected to them) ; and that final doomstrike epilogue, Thenardier becoming a slave trader, is gone. He's no longer the primary and most dangerous human antagonist; as in many other adaptations, that's now Javert.

So there's a different arc but it's there : From Master of the House and the Robbery , when he largely comes across as a gross but funny Comic Villain ; to the Attack on the Rue Plumet, where we finally see a bit of danger to him; to Dog Eats Dog, where he is really just acting on the same philosophy we saw in MotH but now doing something most people have a more immediate revulsion to, and the mask is really off; to , finally, Beggars at the Feast. If Beggars at the Feast is done RIGHT, This is Where The Villains Win.

They've gotten knocked around, sure, but they've also just gotten a ton of money, and, if done right, they are either blending in with the society party or, in the best staging * , they end up leading the dance. It's Master of the House all over again, only this time we're not being invited to laugh along with Thenardier's "band of soaks" ; this isn't the dregs of society, an easily stigmatized lower-class punchline.

This is Society, capital S Society, and they're just as ready to go along with him-- MORE ready to go along with him, even, because at least some of his inn customers usually get to be affronted and argue a little, but arguing with him risks some Unpleasantness, and isn't everything in Society so pleasant? Isn't it nice here, at the party? Let's not argue with the openly hateful people singing about how they want to destroy us all; look, they're dancing and singing! Let's just follow their lead. Won't that be nice.

And without getting into modern politics just because it's ALWAYS so current and I could never update the references frantically enough, I'll say that this is where Stage!Thenardier most echoes those Book!Thenardier Napoleon III vibes. Hugo knew what this dance looked like. He fell for it at one point.

(and hey, maybe it even raises some unease in audience members who laughed at MoTH and the child abuse and the Robbery without thinking about it-- maybe some people realize Oh Shit, We Fell For It Too. Not necessarily, but maybe?? ) And so it's fitting that it's this scene that has IMO a very clear sense of the book's incredibly specific political message ("Parisians, France, Please Overthrow Napoleon III, Probably With Barricades" ) , albeit in reverse. The Thenardiers gloat "Clear away the barricades and we're still here!" -- to them, a brag on how they endure all the changes around them.

But also implying: don't clear away the damn barricades. If you don't want the Thenardiers to run the show , help shore up that furniture wall and fight (for a modern international audience, this is probably going to be Not AS Specifically Involving Barricades).

So yeah. I'm not gonna say it's the most important song in the whole show , but it's important in ways I rarely see critics or commenters notice.

...Or it's just a funny musical reprise and you can have the Thenardiers be immediately thrown out of the wedding as frauds bc hahaha the poors thought they could play with their betters, good thing we're all so much smarter and cooler than that in the upper crust. That's fine too.

yes I have opinions; also I'm Correct

[ineffable-gallimaufry]

in depth analysis of why i didn't like les misérables (1998) under cut. because. i have actually coherent thoughts tbh but also. well it's a lot

section one: a thing that people didn't like (maybe) that i liked but it also leads into an actual issue i had

so, little lead in to this! so you know where valjean is stealing the silverware? happens every time? and then how they switched it up so the bishop walks in and then valjean fucking punches him in the face for no reason? yeah. so i don't have a problem with that. controversial take but yeah. lemme get into that... with... how jean valjean is introduced in the book!

so, there's three scenes we see of jean valjean before we go into his madeline era which show two sides of him namely that he is both a man made cruel by the prison system and a man rejected by society. what we get of jean valjean in the scene where he steals the silver is a first glimpse of the violence and desperation he is living in. mostly we see it in the scene with petit gervais but i digress. my point is, jean valjean in this part of the book is NOT the same as he is when we next see him in m-sur-m. so, what he can be is desperate. when he punches the bishop, that is because he is desperate to steal the silver so he can survive. that makes sense. also, it makes the bishop even better since he's willing to forgive jean valjean even AFTER that.

so. that's not the problem though. the problem is, this is jean valjean from the past! looping back around to petit gervais, this is where he actually gets better. when he meets the bishop, that's when he gets the means to get where he gets, and he is able to have someone believe he can be better. after petit gervais, jean valjean realizes he fucked up! he sees himself as a monster! and then THAT'S where he commits to bettering himself. (pleaseee adapt petit gervais into more things pretty please) but where '98 fucks up is that they don't have valjean grow! he doesn't get better! he's still the same guy! what the hell! he was supposed to improve and grow! and because he doesn't do that, this leads to quite a few problems later on. but that's other points.

section two: the police shit. aka beauvais

you betcha i have a problem with a random character who's name i couldn't even remember!! captain beauvais, in case you forgot, is the captain in m-sur-m and he's more sympathetic to jvj, he lets himself get knocked out after fantine dies (i will get back to the scene i promise) he's not in the book! and he's one of my biggest problems, that being how this movie handles the idea of the police!

here's how the book sees it. javert is a character who is clearly not in the right, but it is made explicitly clear that is BECAUSE he is doing his job. now i don't know if that's what victor hugo intended but the way i've been reading it is that javert is a good cop which makes him a bad person, or rephrased, it's because he is a cog in a fundamentally abusive system that he's our antagonist, not because he's uniquely malicious

in fact, this is basically stated outright in the chapter "Javert Satisfied", through the quotes "Javert, though frightful, had nothing ignoble about him," and "Without himself suspecting the fact, Javert in his formidable happiness was to be pitied, as is every ignorant man who triumphs," we see here that javert is not supposed to be malicious! what he is, evidently, is ignorant!! and where does he get that ignorance?

"Javert had been born in prison, of a fortune-teller, whose husband was in the galleys. As he grew up, he thought that he was outside the pale of society, and he despaired of ever re-entering it. He observed that society unpardoningly excludes two classes of men,—those who attack it and those who guard it; he had no choice except between these two classes; at the same time, he was conscious of an indescribable foundation of rigidity, regularity, and probity, complicated with an inexpressible hatred for the race of bohemians whence he was sprung. He entered the police; he succeeded there."

read that quote again! he was born in a prison (and yes i will get into the prison shit) and that's where the problem is. this upbringing leads him to believe that his only redemption is through policing, leading him to not question the methods and stuff! javert isn't good BUT the reason he isn't good is explicitly connected to the way the police system is broken!

and that leads us to ... captain beauvais! or rather what he represents, the idea that the system isn't the problem, javert is! this movie goes out of its way to portray javert as being particularly bad, something that goes counter to the fact that he is supposed to be an example of how no matter how noble someone believes themselves to be, policing is a fundamentally broken system that merely suppresses those seen as outside the pale of society, rather than treating people as people! the point is that javert is a part of the very same system that threw jean valjean in jail for stealing when he was hungry!

remember how victor hugo said, "So long as there shall exist, by virtue of law and custom, decrees of damnation pronounced by society, artificially creating hells amid the civilization of earth, and adding the element of human fate to divine destiny; so long as the three great problems of the century—the degradation of man through pauperism, the corruption of woman through hunger, the crippling of children through lack of light—are unsolved; so long as social asphyxia is possible in any part of the world;—in other words, and with a still wider significance, so long as ignorance and poverty exist on earth, books of the nature of Les Misérables cannot fail to be of use. "??? remember that???

javert is made out as particularly bad in '98! when they're chasing valjean, he is the one that specifically pushes them so hard the cart crashes! and beauvais is the main problem here because they insert him in as a sympathetic character from the police to juxtapose against javert, making it so that there's no longer an angle that is critical of the systems that are the problem! aka, the whole fucking point!! arghhhh!!!

section three: why tf did jvj beat up javert???

see. okay. while i do think javert deserved it for being a super extra huge asshole in this. and i think he was probably into it, that's not my point. it's not about javert!! it's about jean valjean. let's look at the book again.

so, this is in "authority reasserts its rights" btw. fantine dies, jean valjean threatens javert, talks to fantine and says ... well they don't say, but he gets his closure. and then what he does is, he turns to javert and he says "Now, I am at your disposal." he notably does NOT beat him up. he submits himself to the law! and that's really interesting! because that has implications!

see, because this isn't just a one time thing! jean valjean tries to break out of jail four times and this turns his five years into nineteen, the nineteen years that break him. when he is offered the opportunity to sleep in a bed, all he can remember is how he hasn't slept in a bed for NINETEEN YEARS! this greatly impacts his character going on and they aren't acknowledging it! when he escapes the first time, it's said that, "He wandered for two days in the fields at liberty, if being at liberty is to be hunted, to turn the head every instant, to quake at the slightest noise, to be afraid of everything," and then, when he is put at liberty finally, he is still afraid of conflict on the same level! victor hugo specifically says "Jean Valjean had entered the galleys sobbing and shuddering; he emerged impassive. He had entered in despair; he emerged gloomy." see, he emerges prison with two options, his violent impulses and the passive acceptance of what happens to him, BOTH bad! but as we see in part one, this violence is something that he grows out of! and this leaves one last maladaptive problem, his avoidant tendencies! this is what his response is, avoiding that violence and submitting to authority!

and that's our problem from part one again. he hasn't grown. if jean valjean, at this point, reacts with violence, he hasn't grown! like, and we can see this tendency again and again! when jvj sees the chain gang in... well, "the chain gang" they say, "Jean Valjean’s eyes had assumed a frightful expression. They were no longer eyes; they were those deep and glassy objects which replace the glance in the case of certain wretched men, which seem unconscious of reality, and in which flames the reflection of terrors and of catastrophes. He was not looking at a spectacle, he was seeing a vision. He tried to rise, to flee, to make his escape; he could not move his feet." he is trying to run! when he is confronted with the horror of his past, he wants to run instead of confronting the problem head on! when javert shows up after jvj and cosette arrive in paris, when jean valjean sees javert, it is said, "He recoiled, terrified, petrified, daring neither to breathe, to speak, to remain, nor to flee, staring at the beggar who had dropped his head, which was enveloped in a rag, and no longer appeared to know that he was there," and even when he has javert completely at his mercy, he says, "I do not think that I shall escape from this place. But if, by chance, I do, I live, under the name of Fauchelevent, in the Rue de l’Homme Armé, No. 7."

what does this all mean? jean valjean WOULD NOT beat up javert. that's just a complete failure to understand that during and after his madeline era, he is non-confrontational! i mean, when i said avoidant, that was honestly a misnomer. he doesn't even run. what he does is submit himself to the law. time and time again. when he frees javert, he offers himself up. when he sees anything that threatens him, he freezes! and that's why in this scene, it makes the most sense for him to immediately submit to javert, and the law! whoever wrote this movie SUPER fucked up with jean valjean! and speaking of fucking up with jean valjean...

section four: how the fuck did they screw up cosette so bad‽

do i really need to go into this. over protective mother jean valjean is how he do be, and he does hate marius because he has a weird fucking relationship with cosette but like. let's not get into his weird complexes. because here's the main thing:

HE WOULD NOT FUCKING SLAP COSETTE

let me back this up. "two misfortunes make one piece of good fortune" specifically gives us of valjean, "It sometimes happened that Jean Valjean clasped her tiny red hand, all cracked with chilblains, and kissed it. The poor child, who was used to being beaten, did not know the meaning of this, and ran away in confusion." this is important, because it shows that valjean is explicitly counter to the thénardiers in his parenting! where the thénardiers beat cosette and shit, jean valjean DOES NOT. he is supposed to be gentle. he's not "figuring out what he's doing and super fucking up" he literally helped his sister raise her kids! and he forgot what that was but upon starting to raise cosette, he comes back to this! he loves her so much you guys! and let me bring you another quote, victor hugo tells us of valjean and cosette, "He protected her, and she strengthened him," HE PROTECTED HER! that's the whole g*ddamn point! he's an overprotective mom, he's scared to have his daughter leave him alone again, and he loves her so much he wouldn't become that horrible! and he doesn't!

jean valjean would never hurt cosette, and if you wanted to go in that direction, make that actually hold weight! make him realize that he's hurting cosette by clinging onto her so hard! make him realize that he's in the wrong, and make him more self sacrificial because he feels extremely bad about doing that! i mean, obviously... i don't think it works. but my point is, if you do it, give it weight. make it matter! they didn't do that and they fucked up their relationship in the process. bad movie. don't do that.

section five: uhhh wtf was up with marius

i don't actually have in depth analysis of this. i am done with my in depth thoughts. they just entirely fucked up les amis de l'abc. idk what to say. horrible job. i'm gonna call it a day tbh. it's late. i don't have any like actually interesting things to comment on. hope you enjoy if you did read this since... it's my analysis and i wrote it up and all that

[heartbreakterrorbird]

M-Sur-M era JVJ is my favourite because he's still selfish, he's still focused on his own redemption and making himself feel as if he has done 'enough' to be cleansed of his sin. He's self absorbed, and that is what leads to Fantine's death- not Javert- but the fact that JVJ is always looking towards the next thing he can do to redeem himself and not focussing on the needs of the actual people he is tied to by his responsibilities. His later pariah self-sacrificing mindset is also unhealthy and harmful in its own way but I find this period in time where he is still in selfish survival mode fascinating

[fateandloveentwined]

Characterising Valjean: masks and struggles

Okay, so jvj's sudden intense self-deprecation towards the end of part five has always eluded me. Like, where did that come from? Hadn’t he already turned over a new leaf with the bishop and with Cosette?

Les mis has many themes, but if we cast aside all the themes focusing on french insurgencies and her people, abstract grace and love and Progress, at the heart of the brick we find her characters, and to look at Valjean, perhaps there are two things that explain his abject self-deprecation and wretchedness/misery which were so pivotal to his last chapters in the book and central to his overarching character.

below has absolutely no regard for spoilers proceed with caution lol thanks

I. Masks and veneers.

It is my sorry fate that, only ever able to command respect that is fraudulently obtained, that respect humiliates me and inwardly oppresses me, and if I’m to have any self-respect others must despise me.

cough erik poto

As stated patently in his final ruminations, JVJ never considered himself successful. Everything he did which he was respected and lauded for, it was attributed to disguised versions of himself, Monsieur Madeleine and Fauchelevent. As valjean he never achieved anything of worth, he was terrified in his first days in paris hiding from javert's pursuit and finding the convent, he never felt anything of worth as valjean but a criminal and convict pursued for the entirety of his life.

Throughout the book, he lived a struggle between accepting valjean and donning another disguise that would be some other benevolent man: the extensive deliberations on his way to Arras (who am I?), his timidity after Cosette's marriage in which he deemed his work done — either he is to don a new identity or resume the one he hid away for the many past years; towards the end, as Cosette and Marius were increasingly besotted with each other, he withdrew, letting Javert arrest him again under conditions — he resigned to the resumption of his fugitive identity.

In all these years, his convicted past self loomed over him unfailingly, especially considering his canonical rearrest after Fantine’s death — in spite of all the good he did in the world he was never, in essence, a free man of his mind.

Which brings us to our second point.

II. Jacob's wrestle

The terrible struggle of old, of which we have already seen several phases, began once more. Jacob wrestled with the angel for only one night. Alas! how many times have we seen Jean Valjean forced to grapple with his conscience in the dark, and struggling frantically against it!

The bring him home reprise in the finale is SO poignant, even more so than the original number because of what it truly meant to Valjean in the book. The musical "redeemed" many characters by painting them in a better light: Javert, with his misguided understanding of religion vs. reading the law as bible; Eponine, with her scream saving jvj's household at Rue Plumet. As for jvj, his many wrestles with faith were downplayed for the sake of simplification, going as far as to him praying earnestly for Marius’ life at the barricades in the musical when in the book, let’s face it, he was physically saving Marius but in his mind he probably didn't understand why he was doing something so foolish.

Predestined fates do not all follow a direct route. They do not run straight before the one who is predestined. They have dead ends, blind alleys, obscure turnings, daunting crossroads offering several alternative routes.

And so with the musical where all these mental struggles were downplayed, in the book he wrestled with the faith he has chosen, first during his torturously slow tread to Arras (who am I?), his ruminations on Marius (akin to heart full of love reprise), and his final confession to Marius — so many times had he struggled; there's the idea that God redeemed him through the bishop, and he did good as a man — yet still why had his life been so tortured and full of agony? At first I questioned the use of the title “the miserables/the wretched” — for les amis de l’ABC, the destitute people of the republic, I could see their wretchedness, but for Valjean — as the main character, why was the title so unfitting of the main character? But no. Internally he was wretched, he was pitiable and miserable, and in the aura of his bring him home we forget about his moments of wrath flung out about his faith and life philosophy, blunt anger at the injustice not of the world but of how his life had been — unredeemed, in spite of; the arrant, incomprehensible fear of being pursued and hunted, the resignation to his fate at the very end: moments at the sewers, before javert and before the loving newlyweds.

As such so profound it is, towards his final moments in the musical he reprises “God on high” and prays to bring himself home, he yields to the things in life he doesn’t like and defers to God’s judgement, the faith he has followed on and the bargain he has made so many long years ago — it was not at Arras that his soul truly belonged to God, it was at these final moments where he prays that he has lived his faith through — and that was when I felt jvj’s character fully unravelled.

It was a starless night and extremely dark. No doubt, in the shadows, some immense angel stood with wings outspread, awaiting his soul.

---

oops this has gone on for way too long but i was itching to dissect jvj and have put it off for so long since reading the book i just had to do it for myself anyway.

Also living for all the nonexistent COMC Edmond Dantes and JVJ crossovers because discounting the timeline they share too many similarities in knowledge acquisition imprisonment and faith and pretences to not have met and had many an interesting tete-a-tete.

*quotes taken from christine donougher's translation. explains my tendency to use wretched over miserable lol.

[autumnalmess]

Unpopular opinion: does anyone else just fucking hate the 1985 original London recording of Les miserables or is it just me?? I'll give my propaganda reasoning below, give that a read first:

Okay, my reasoning:

OBVIOUSLY Colm Wilkinson is incredible. Not disputing that. So slightly remove that from the equation when I say I don't like this recording. Of course, a lot of the singers are really great (specifically Marius, Eponine, Cosette, jvj, fantine, Enjolras, loads of the Amis), and there are some songs that I like, but as a whole it feels really clunky.

In terms of timing, I know it was more of a concept album for England and they obviously changed a lot of bits afterwards, but in the recording it feels like all of the singers are very unsure of the timings. Whether this is because they actually were or because of artistic decisions to phrase things strangely, in the listening experience, it really comes across with an uncertain feel. Nothing seems to come in quite at the right time, and a lot of the singers will be just a couple of beats delayed in their coming in, which they may have been instructed to do by the musical director, but it feels strange all the same. And a lot of the singers play around with the timings so much that it feels at odds with the accompaniment.

Second, this is gonna be an insanely unpopular opinion, but I think Roger Allam in this specific recording (not commenting on his performance live) is a bit abysmal. He's an insanely talented actor and I love him in the thick of it, but here he does not show off his ability as a singer well at all. He speaks most of the lines, which is fine for some songs but feels awkward when he's really baring his soul in the soliloquy. Also his technique as a singer is really questionable. The way he holds his consonants completely restricts his vocals, giving it no vib and no room to grow especially on the big notes, it does not do justice to the build of the music. Furthermore, I feel he skims over the tops of the notes a lot, which really pisses me off because in a piece of music so carefully curated like Les miserables, every note is important to the flow and the harmony. This is not to slag him off. I'm sure he was good in performance, but I feel this specific recording does not reflect that.

Musically, they don't go ham with the drums enough. If you want to understand what I mean, just listen to the french version. Also, the music in this version, again, feels a little uncertain. Like there are points where a couple of instruments are playing a melody, and theres a countermelody that doesn't really sound like it fits. And you know it just needs a third harmony to bring it all together. It's just little things that make it sound less refined as a whole. (Side note but this pisses me off: a lot of the time the songs are a lot slower in tempo than all the other recordings and it just feels like it lacks energy a bit)

Propaganda time: The main reason I don't like this one is because it's not as good as the french version, which feels consistently refined and energised and raw. The emotion comes through from all of the singers so much more, without losing track of the notes or the rhythms. All the singers have wonderful technique, specifically jvj and Javert, which makes their songs so much more powerful. Just listen to Comment faire? (Same as Who am I) and youll get what I mean about the drums and the countermelodies. Also they have some baller theme and variation in that song which really brings out the music student in me.

Conclusion: I'm absolutely so sorry if I've just ripped apart your favourite recording. Do feel free to ignore everything I've just said because most of these are just like teeny tiny little things that annoy me specifically. And I'm sure most of this is just because I've spent too much time listening to the french version that now I turn my nose up at perfectly respectable other versions. If you love this one, you're valid. And I do listen to some of the songs on it. I love their little fall of rain and finale. I just can't stand roger allam's soliloquy or stars.

[kingedmundsroyalmurder]

There's something there in the contrast between the Bishop, who denies himself all but basic needs and enforces that on the women in his house, and Jean Valjean, who denies himself all but basic needs and ensures that the women in his household never want for anything.

Myriel's self-denial comes from self acceptance. He lives how he does because he truly believes that it's the right thing and that others need his resources more than he does. And that conviction is what allows him to enforce his voluntary poverty on Magloire and Baptistine.

JVJ, meanwhile, is depriving himself of things out of self hatred. It's not that other people need things more than he does, it's that he is The Worst and as such doesn't get to have nice things. But Cosette is absolutely not The Worst, she's actually The Best and so should have all the nice things in the world. If JVJ learned that Cosette had her eye on a sofa set, it would be in her room by morning.

And it's interesting to me because so much of JVJ stems from a misundesrtanding of the Bishop. He's going through the motions of self sacrifice without understanding the reason behind it, and so he doesn't really get anything from that sacrifice. Myriel and even the convent nuns are depriving themselves of material things to do good, and get spiritual satisfaction from it. JVJ is just sad and self loathing.

And yet JVJ is also the one who doesn't enforce that sacrifice on others by virtue of his power over them. And because Hugo gets so weird about both Cosette and Baptistine, I'm not sure if that's meant to be read as a positive.