#VICTOR HUGO THE MAN YOU ARE

[ciospola]

HEAR ME OUT so the chapter in which enjolras and grantaire die and have that fucking tragically epic homoerotic moment is called "Orestes fasting and Pylades drunk". STAY with me yet: according to its etymology, the phrase "like Orestes and Pylades" is usually used to describe two inseparable friends OR to SUGGEST AN HOMOSEXUAL RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN TWO MEN! (this if anyone needed ulterior confirms on the nature of their relationship beside the Achilles AND Patroclus one)

[cloverhasnobrain]

One thing I love about my country's history is that coffee made an enormous impact in its development, so I get to make Les Amis jokes when making a summary of the lessons to study.

[variousqueerthings]

I feel bad, because the man who laughs was a fascinating movie in which conrad veidt did absolutely beautifully, with a performance that went well beyond the stratosphere of silent film excellence at the time

but also I am going to go back and save every instance of someone calling for the dog in that film, because the dog is called "homo" and I did a juvenile little chortle every time I saw it in the titles

[frmulcahy]

Every time I see The Man Who Laughs labeled as horror I want to

[mametzwood]

God closed my eyes so I could see the real Gwynplaine

[simon-like-the-chipmunk]

RIP Victor Hugo, you would've loved my brain 😔

[seesboy]

young enj thoughts won today

[victor-frankensimpart]

Does anyone in this fandom think too much about Gueulemer, because I DO.

[elmorinn]

Gwynplaine & Dea page 🥺💗

I love how this page turned out and I love Gwynplaine and Dea with my whole heart😭💓

Their designs are inspired by illustrations made by G. Rochegrosse and D. Vierge!

This one was for Gwynplaine's outfit... we will have to talk about Ursus and his design in this too. I live for this silly hat of his and I absolutely have to draw him more just for this hat

[maripr]

It seems Notre Dame and Les Mis fall on two different spectrums of what they leave the reader with

Notre Dame: the crushing weight of despair at realizing our feeble humans life are just a footnote in the majesty of history

Les mis: the hope that still burns in the midst of that despair, that even a feeble human life can do its part to change history for the better

Should reread the man who laughs to see how it falls in the spectrum. I can't remember if it was written before Les mis or after. In any case, the staggering mood difference between the two works I assume is due to being written in very different times in Hugo's life.

I would like to read his poems as well one day, as well as an indepth biography. I don't wanna sound snobbish or eurocentric but I do think he's one of the most important writers of his century.

[lil-gingerbread-queen]

I'm so fucking pissed rn at usamericans, I need y'all to shut the fuck up forever. The queer artist Barbara Butch has received at ton of murder and rape threats because of the opening ceremony. The USAmericans on her social media, in response to a statement from her lawyer, are drowning her comments with "you deserve it for insulting christianity and the Gay Testament thing you pulled".

This is terrorist behavior. Someone did something about your religion you didn't like so you wish harm upon them, that's terrorism. When the terrorist attacks happened in France, my father, a christian, said to us that he feared the christian extremists more than anything. French people were killed for mocking muslim extremists, and my father told us to fear the christian extremists, who don't like not being the ones in the spotlight. And I knew he was not wrong. France is a country with a christian culture after all (a country being secular doesn't mean it erased centuries of influence), we know well how violent christianity can be.

You see, France is "the first daughter of the Church", because of its particular history with christianity. No other country has the same connection to christianity as France has. This is because catholicism and the Vatican were only capable to expand their power because of a deal made with Pepin Le Bref, the emperor Charlemagne's father. Long story short, the French monarchy was essential to the Church, the Church was essential to the French monarchy. And the French monarchy are oppressors, so the Church also is. So much blood was spilled in the name of the Church (the massacre of the Saint-Barthélemy). Missions, when the Church would send priests with knights to kill people who weren't christians "correctly" (missions aren't a modern thing, they existed before America. And that's why we hate them in France). If you criticize the Church, you would go to jail. We fought for the right to criticize and mock the Church, you cannot take that away from us.

Leonardo Da Vinci who painted La Cena was a gay man who used his queer lover as a model for religious figures.

Molière, famous french playwriter, mocked and criticized christianity.

French people beheaded statues of Christian figures during the Révolution of 1789.

Parisians executed Christian priests during the Commune of Paris. After killing civilians in masses, the French President build le Sacré-Coeur, a basilica to ask the christian god for forgiveness for the blood he spilled. Not the people, for who he had no mercy, but God. He was the last French President to speak about God in his speeches, because of how disgusted French people were.

The people are the right to criticize and mock religion, it's called the right to blaspheme. Especially the people who have suffered from it. But also, the people have the right to make reference to other artistic works. It's not "insulting" to do so.

It's our fucking country, our fucking culture, our fucking history, get the fuck out of it.

Especially when it was actually a reference to another painting, about the Greek gods.

[your-villainous-neighbour]

like god intended

[thrustin-timberlake]

yes you should absolutely be aware that the music you like when you’re 14-16ish will always have a stronghold on you. there is nothing inherently wrong with this. however. the one that concerns me is that the les mis phase that occurred during those years still impacts me. do you know what that’s like. to have grantaire be one of your main comfort characters. i’m 24. it’s been 10 years. let me go. why is he a character i can always go back to. i don’t want this. i didn’t ask for this.

[barricadebops]

I keep seeing these tiktoks that are like "convincing you to read this classic lit book from its opening lines" and I just---

"In 1815, Charles-François-Bienvenu was bishop of Digne. He was an old man of about seventy-five. He had been bishop of Digne since 1806."

Who is going to be convinced to read that 💀

[leofromsomewhere]

re: names,

reminder that of all the (well over 50) characters in les miserables, only four* of the men have first names, 2 are named (french equivalent of) John, and one of those Johns, the mainest character, is named (french equivalent of) John McJohn. do not worry about your characters' names

*technically five, but we see felix tholomyes all of once, long before anything happens.

Every writer needs to go and read some fairly decent scifi with inconsistencies and plot holes in it and calm down. Nothing takes the stress out of writing like watching KA Applegate completely forget major plot threads mid-series, of Andy Weir have someone detach the gloves of the space suit that he specified doesn't have detachable gloves last chapter, or CJ Cherryh change the laws of the Assassin's Guild once every three books, and go "these guys rule I loved those books so much." Instant stress relief, every writer should do it.

Also if you're having trouble with character names then you need to read Snow Crash and have your brain remolded by two characters named Hiro Protagonist and Yours Truly, and stop taking names so seriously.

[magpie-murder]

okay we need to have an intervention.

i've noticed that people don't leave the same kind of unhinged compliments under fanfics that visual artists usually receive (eg, "i want to eat your art"), so i've come up with a list that you need to start employing when your friends send you their WIPs and when your favorites update on ao3 but you're having a hard time commenting something that sounds intelligent and you still want to support them

"you're like if [famos author] (eg, Victor Hugo if the fic is angst) was into [fandom]"

"well THIS has been added to my pre-sleep daydream schedule"

"this fic invaded my mind and consumed my brain like a spore"

"I'M LOSING SLEEP OVER THIS ONE, FOLKS"

"yOu'Ve AlReAdY lEfT kUdOs HeRe"

"this fic has me scratching at my yellow wallpaper, it's so good"

"this fic has me checking under my floorboards for the heart of a kind man i murdered, it's so good"

"i'm making my parents read this"

"i know only one chapter is out so far, but i'm going to print this out, staple it together, and put it on my bookshelf next to the canon material"

"this fic gave me another mental illness"

(you can only do this one once) "i made an ao3 account specifically to bookmark this"

"i'm going to print this out so i can eat the words on the paper"

and a couple that are just nice (without the feral nature):

"i made a custom playlist to listen to while i read this fic"

"this fic reminds me of [song]"

"i really liked the part where [x], it really stuck with me"

"i really liked this line, [quote the line,] it was so well-written!"

artists: draw fanart of the fic!! it doesn't matter if you think your art skills are good and it doesnt matter if it's just a sketch!! let the author see it!!

make a moodboard!! for the fic!! let the author see it!!