#Lamarque's Funeral

[lesmisscraper]

All at once, a man on horseback, clad in black, made his appearance in the middle of the group with a red flag, others say, with a pike surmounted with a red liberty-cap. Lafayette turned aside his head. Exelmans quitted the procession. - Volume 4, Book 10, Chapter 3

So in the 2012 film, Marius got the 'Man on Horseback' role instead right?

[fluentisonus]

this scene is literally so funny to me imagine waking up totally out of it & these guys are standing over you fully dressed

[polishartsrebellion]

Showing up over a year late just to say that Andor is one of the best Les Mis adaptations I have ever seen

[ofpd]

one thing about me is that i can't comprehend that christians don't bury people asap after they die

[cosettegf]

babe wake up we're gonna be late for lamarque's funeral !!!!!!

[kim-the-miserable-rat]

The citizens of Paris with their weapons shoved up their asses at Lamarque's funeral (they are trying to look casual):

[secretmellowblog]

i just dont really understand why theyd target les mis? and like. its interrupting the work of actors and crew and house staff who dont have anything to do with fossil fuel corps. people who just paid to see the show who dont have anything to do with it.

i understand les mis is a show about rebellion and humanity but to me it doesnt make any sense.

( i say this as someone whos probably very unaware and very slow to realize the deeper meaning of things so i apologize if it comes off snobby i am just confused !! /genuine )

I'm very sorry if this comes off as rude but like.... "I don't understand why people would use Les Mis as the symbolic centerpiece of an act of protest/rebellion against the government" is just a very strange thing to say, and I'm genuinely not quite sure how to begin to respond XD. Like....it's literally Les Mis. It is Do You Hear the People Sing. The original novel was written to be a political rallying cry, it was written to bind together activists, and it has been used that way thousands of times since its publication in 1862. It's Les Mis, I don't know what else to tell you XD. Also I know this next comparison isn't perfect, but:

“I don’t understand why Les Amis interrupted Lamarque’s funeral.  Obviously I agree with Les Amis’s goals, but was this really the right way to protest? Obviously the government is doing something bad— but was this symbolic event really the right place to talk about it? Why even choose to interrupt this event, and the lives of the workers leading it and everyday people attending it? It wasn’t responsible for what was happening! 

Okay, yeah, I get the funeral is ‘symbolically significant.’  I get that Lamarque has become, in popular culture, a symbol of rebellion and resistance against a government’s unfair policies.  I get Lamarque’s funeral is a pretty big public event that has a lot of symbolic significance ties to ideas of rebellion against the state.

I get that Lamarque’s words are often seen as a rebellious call to action, so illegally interrupting his funeral could be a statement about resisting tyranny. It could be a call to action playing off the popularity and symbolic role that Lamarque has in the public consciousness.

 But at the same time— shouldn’t Les Amis have just gone to the palace and attacked the king directly? Why disrupt this symbolic event instead? They’re not really going after the people responsible! 

After all, there were so many people there who just wanted a normal day. They weren’t responsible for what the government was doing and had nothing to do with it.  They wanted to see the procession, to hear Lafayette’s speech and grieve a political figure they cared for. They wanted to hear people praise ‘resistance’ in the abstract, without actually doing it.

 Weren’t Les Amis disrupting that?  

Aren’t Les Amis bad activists? Isn’t disrupting people’s everyday lives for the sake of 'activism' always inherently a bad thing? I’m not against activism, but isn’t doing that kind of disruptive activism rude? Isn’t disrupting the lives of ordinary people just doing their jobs or going out for a special event evil— no matter why you’re doing it, or what your goals are, or whether the government actually is doing something vile that we should start to stage great events rallying against?

Even if this Lamarque's funeral has special significance because of its symbolic pop cultural ties to rebellion against tyranny—shouldn’t they have just avoided rudely interrupting some regular people’s everyday lives? 

Protests shouldn’t disrupt things. they should be big parades that don’t make anyone uncomfortable, don’t interrupt anything, and don’t disrupt any aspects of ‘normal people’s daily life.’ No one should ever target symbolic events— like a funeral for a political figure or a musical about revolution—  to make a political statement. Protests should be little quiet festivals that cause absolutely no interruption in everyday life so that we can all just safely ignore them, until the climate catastrophe they’re warning us about arrives.”  

[zmywarkastopa]

Jolly refusing to go to lamarques funeral simply because he has a runny nose is so funny to me

Like:

"I can excuse dying at the barricade but I draw the line at standing in the rain with a cold"

[thebrickinbrick]

Preliminary Gayeties, Part 3

The child gone, Grantaire took the word:—

“That is the pure-bred gamin. There are a great many varieties of the gamin species. The notary’s gamin is called Skip-the-Gutter, the cook’s gamin is called a scullion, the baker’s gamin is called a mitron, the lackey’s gamin is called a groom, the marine gamin is called the cabin-boy, the soldier’s gamin is called the drummer-boy, the painter’s gamin is called paint-grinder, the tradesman’s gamin is called an errand-boy, the courtesan gamin is called the minion, the kingly gamin is called the dauphin, the god gamin is called the bambino.”

In the meantime, Laigle was engaged in reflection; he said half aloud:—

“A B C, that is to say: the burial of Lamarque.”

“The tall blonde,” remarked Grantaire, “is Enjolras, who is sending you a warning.”

“Shall we go?” ejaculated Bossuet.

“It’s raiding,” said Joly. “I have sworn to go through fire, but not through water. I don’t wand to ged a gold.”

“I shall stay here,” said Grantaire. “I prefer a breakfast to a hearse.”

“Conclusion: we remain,” said Laigle. “Well, then, let us drink. Besides, we might miss the funeral without missing the riot.”

“Ah! the riot, I am with you!” cried Joly.

Laigle rubbed his hands.

“Now we’re going to touch up the revolution of 1830. As a matter of fact, it does hurt the people along the seams.”

“I don’t think much of your revolution,” said Grantaire. “I don’t execrate this Government. It is the crown tempered by the cotton night-cap. It is a sceptre ending in an umbrella. In fact, I think that to-day, with the present weather, Louis Philippe might utilize his royalty in two directions, he might extend the tip of the sceptre end against the people, and open the umbrella end against heaven.”

The room was dark, large clouds had just finished the extinction of daylight. There was no one in the wine-shop, or in the street, every one having gone off “to watch events.”

“Is it midday or midnight?” cried Bossuet. “You can’t see your hand before your face. Gibelotte, fetch a light.”

Grantaire was drinking in a melancholy way.

“Enjolras disdains me,” he muttered. “Enjolras said: ‘Joly is ill, Grantaire is drunk.’ It was to Bossuet that he sent Navet. If he had come for me, I would have followed him. So much the worse for Enjolras! I won’t go to his funeral.”

[black-rabbit-razumikhin]

Raz Reads Les Mis (XXXII)

Saint Denis - June 5th, 1832

Saint Denis is a place not a person...

What is an emeute? What is an insurrection?

An emeute uproots the society for the inclusion of an ideal, an insurrection wants self-organisation?

I will admit, the poetry of it all and the subsequent action leaves me a little hazy on this point

From the funeral to the sudden appearance of the barricades, everything happens so fast

The funeral procession of Lamarque includes ten thousand National Guards

Ten thousand?? That's a massive number

And that's just the Guards, there are more people

So we know Enjolras&c are here, if the Guard is here, does that include Theodule?

For head count purposes

Anyway, the large number of Guards is both because of the respect that Lamarque commanded and also because things are getting testy and this seems like the perfect time for people to try something

The people, of course, try something

Three shots are fired, two are mortally aimed, a woman screams that the events are too early

Lafayette - that Lafayette - is here to keep up morale

Out of the pavements, directly from the streets, comes the people of Paris against the Guard and anyone who is a mark of authority

Barricades are placed up in the blink of an eye

(I really liked the image of the uprising being under the feet of society the whole time, waiting for their moment)

Joy and terror together mix at the beginning of all the action

Already there is talk of 800 people being arrested

By the evening, Paris is tremoring with anxiety

When I was trying to double check my understanding on the difference between an insurrection and an emeute, I found out that the June Rebellion is a real event that happened in France. I immediately stopped looking, even the history books contain spoilers for what's about to happen. I admit, when I picked this up a month ago (y'all it's been a whole month!) I did not think I was reading historical fiction.

[pinkponygrl]

*at lamarque’s funeral* well, what we really need is a femininomenon!

(a what?!)

A FEMININOMENON xx

[lesmisscraper]

Marius after leaving Gillenormand's House once again. Volume 4, Book 9, Chapter 2.

Clips from <Il cuore di Cosette>.

[breadvidence]

@wanderinghedgehog prompted "specific au time! You know the blood test scene from The Thing? For some reason, it reminds me of Javert at the barricade. I think the suspense works well in both. Not sure if this is a coherent pitch, but make of this idea what you will."

((I'm not sure this is a coherent response, but I appreciate the prompt. That being said—beloved mutual, are you also a LML Discord pal, because if not this is the third independent case of someone proposing a crossover between Les Mis and Carpenter's The Thing, which is fuckin' baffling.))

⁂

The benefit, Combeferre likes to remind them, is this: the Thing taught them the mode of transmission for cholera. It arrived from the long-supposed and new-tread land of Antarctica in crates—for which Grantaire’s less elegant comment riding on Combeferre’s, we might have left the business of exploration to Weddell, to the Russians, to the Americans, and seen this beast congeal together all of London and Boston and Moscow instead of dear Paris, but by God, at least we know all these deaths come from shit!,—and it ran itself into the gutters, into the Seine, into the sewers. The rats are the Thing. The Thing wears the shroud of Marat.

General Lamarque dies split, squelched, moist, screeching, equipped of new writhing tentacular appendages, set afire by his valet. Truly a man of the people.

Political progress does not halt for the sake of monsters: ask the Ultras: they will confound themselves that history continued after Robespierre. Lamarque’s funeral, ashes though he might be, signaled uprising. Paris offered up her streets, piecemeal. Cats become lions. In the Luxembourg a bourgeois and a swan and little children are of a single squirming flesh, but revolution poses demands—and shall we question the righteousness thereof? Call it petty, to distract the guard when they are equipped nightly with torches, with the checking of the populace, with the fastidious murder of flesh that falls to pieces and attempts to make its wriggling escape into the dark, but ask too which of the citizenry come under their survey.

Used to watchwords, indeed finding it apiece with having sworn to go through fire, the friends of the abased take no issue with a regular check of the tissue, a little fire to the blood, a trickle, a sizzle, a proof of humanity. With great excitement do they seize upon one among them who balks a the test, having been caught in study at a table. They tie him with certainty that he is a monster. There’s a faith, under idealism, even idealism that has murdered, that has known itself unpardoned and unable to be itself the future, that the greatest parts of what it fights against is monstrous.

His blood hisses, burns, stinks, as would any man’s, unmoved but by the agitation of steam, and his gaze is ironical, ignorant of why those ranged against him might have thought—wished, quiet, and soulful—he was other than human.

“It is good,” Enjolras said of him, “that we do not have to spare so much effort in disposal.”

[littlesongbirb]

I changed my mind, instead of headcannons, I have notes of things I saw during Les Mis. Enjoy these from my notes app (a lot of them are about Gavroche and Grantaire)

- all the sex jokes by the Thènardiers are peak humour

- the first thing Gav does when he walks onstage is he flips off an officer

- After Javert tells the people to clear the streets, Gavroche hustles them out, giving Javert a salute afterwards before running off

- Kid went "YOU HEARD THE MAN!!" and it was adorable

- Harrison Fox is my new favorite Gavroche

- During the Thènardier's robbery, Montparnasse has got all his knives out. He points one towards Cosette but Marius stands between them

- Grantaire standing on the table Enj is working at when he goes "It is better than an operaaaAAAAA"

- Enj scooping up Gav from under his arms once given the news about Lamarque

- During Red and Black when Enj is singing about Lamarque's funeral, everyone crowds around him, including Gavroche though Taire pulls him away

- Might be a director's choice but Gav and Taire and always next to each other

- VALJEAN GAVE COSETTE A LITTLE BOOP

- Marius straight up jumping Cosette's fence

- When he's at the top on the fence while climbing over, he and Cosette make eye contact from her window

- Marius' nervous voice crack during his first "a heart full of love"

- First thing Cosette does after Thènardiers gang leaves is check and see if Èponine is okay

- also may be a director's choice, Combeferre having Gavroche on his shoulders during One Day More instead of the usual Grantaire

- I'm literally staring at Gav and Taire the whole time

- Èponine was 10/10

-Gav calling out Javert is always great

- Enj raises a gun towards Javert when he gets called out, Gav just reaches out and lowers it

-HE GAVE HIM THE MIDDLE FINGER

- They gave the kid a drink as a reward

- Gav walks in on Éponine dying and Taire picks up her hat and hands it to him

- I could freaking SEE how tightly Taire was hugging Gav during little fall of rain

- During Drink with Me, when Enj and Taire start arguing, Gav steps between them

- Enj puts his hand on Taire's shoulder but he pushes him away

- GAV GOING UP BEHIND TAIRE AND HUGGING HIM WHEN HE GOES TO SULK IN THE CORNER

- Taire and Gav sleeping next to each other during Bring Him Home

- Enj catching Gav's body and handing him to Taire, who lays next to him up until Enj dies

- Taire stumbling into the barricade, arms out after Enj dies

- Taire is the last to get shot :((

- I still need a version where Taire holds the kid until he dies THEN I will die from sobbing (kinda did it in the 2019 concert but I need to see it done in a musical production)

- Javert is so gentle with Gav's corpse

- Enjolras and Gavroche dead in the cart together :'(

- They hooked Javert onto a wire system so he actually gets lifted up when he jumps off the bridge, bro really looks like he's falling

- Empty Chairs At Empty Tables the candles for the fallen become shot glasses, each ghost drinking to their friends

- THEY CHANGED THE LYRICS TO BEGGARS AT THE FEAST BUT IT'S EVEN BETTER

- Thènardier goes "This one's a queer, might try it too" AND FREAKING FLIRTS WITH ONE OF THE DUDE ENSEMBLE

- Valjean booping Cosette's nose before he give her his confessions

- Grantaire's right behind Gavroche during the finale

[akallabeth-joie]

11am, June 5

Lamarque’s funeral procession begins. Enjolras sends the gamin Navet to Bossuet with the message “A-B-C.”

[dolphin1812]

It’s not surprising that if Marius missed the cholera sweeping Paris, he also missed Lamarque and his death. Lamarque was a general who was elected to the Chamber of Deputies in 1828 and became very popular. He also had many successful campaigns in Napoleon’s army (so he was liked by many Bonapartists, although Les Amis liked him as republicans). He died at the beginning of June 1832 of cholera. The noise Marius hears is likely from the funeral, which became a catalyst for protests.

And Cosette has already vanished! Poor Marius! And he’s now been sent to the barricade!

The pistols were so ominous, though. There’s a real possibility he intended to kill himself and Cosette with them, realizing his dream of a shared tomb. Now, he has the barricade instead.