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pilferingapples · 4 years

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I asked @kjack89 this question, and they pointed me in your direction.

I have made the decision that for the time being I'm going to put up reading the Brick because it's intimidating and I have so many other book collecting dust on my shelves.

But I want to have a better understanding of the Les Amis and Marius, so my question is if you could maybe make a list of sections of the book that I could read that would allow me to do exactly this? I've read many in-depth analyses from people on here, but I want to do my own deep dive into understanding them without reading the whole book when I'm not ready to take that leap.

Thanks! And I hope you've been having a great day! ❤️

No problem! I think we can do this:D I don’t know exactly what chapters you’ve focused on and haven’t, so I’m going to list them all; obviously you’ve been researching some of them already, but I’d rather state the obvious than miss mentioning an important chapter!

Honesty vol. 3& 4 are pretty intensely plotty and character heavy. But I will break them down a lot more, and I’m gonna rec chapters to you and they won’t all be pure plot but I’m gonna explain why,ok? Ok!

Vol 2.1: you want to read the last chapter of the Waterloo digression, 2.1.19 (it’ll be called something like “ The Battlefield at Night” ) - not immediately about Marius, but it describes the encounter between Thenardier and Georges Pontmercy for Vital Backstory. And it’s not that long! Volume 3 3.1- Optional, mostly about Gavroche, only a passing mention of Marius. 3.2 (optional) -- this’ll be called “ The Grand Bourgeois” or “ The Great Bourgeois” or similar. This is all about Marius’ grandfather and maternal family, and since they raise him, it’s of obvious relevance in a fic-details way; but it doesn’t actually have Marius in it 3.3 - “ Grandfather and Grandson” or some variant on that. Entirely about Marius and his childhood and immediate family relationships, and his first major character development. Definitely gotta read. 3.4- the Amis Chapters. This is obvious XD 3.5- Marius’ Wild College Bachelor Days 3.6-Marius falls in love and makes out with a handkerchief. 3.7- Hugo’s social theories and the introduction of the Patron-Minette ; skippable if you don’t want to use the P-M in your fic, essential if you do!3.8- this is the Gorbeau Raid section. Only passing encounters with Bossuet and Courfeyrac here , but intense times for most of the other characters, including Marius Vol 4 4.1.1-4.1.5 (A Few Pages of History, or similar translations) It KILLS ME to even suggest this is skippable. This is MAJOR backstory on the revolution, gives info about the revolution of 1830, the atmosphere of the time, and so on. It is INCREDIBLY relevant to the barricade sequence and the Amis as characters and everything, buuuuuut it’s not absolutely necessary to understand the immediate plot, and it is VERY detail-heavy. DO NOT skip 4.1.6, regardless! Enjolras and His Lieutenants is both super plot- and character- relevant. The plot mostly focuses on Cosette, Mabeuf, Valjean and especially Eponine until 4.54.6 is about Gavroche and the momes; wonderful but not immediately relevant to Marius. 4.7 is the Argot digression, 9000 percent social philosophy, you can absolutely ignore that for fic details >< 4.8- Marius and Cosette time, and Eponine’s big power moment in the Rue Plumet. VERY important chapters for Marius. 4.9.2- Marius summoned to the barricade 4.10 (optional) - Revolution Philosophy. personally a fave section, and more obviously plot-relevant than some disgression sections, but not Plotty. 4.11-5.1 : the barricades. There is really not a lot of fat to trim here; something is Happening all the time. Major Amis focus,of course. Vol 5. 5.3.10, 5.3.12 (optional)- Marius is unconscious, but these chapters are really useful for his post-barricade family life situation. 5.5.2 Marius is passed right out until this point of the Volume >< After this, he’s pretty much always around and Doing Things. Not his Finest Moments here, but very important to post-barricade fic!

I hope this helps!

#reading guides #good luck Nonny!#long post #Hey Nonny Nonny #answereds

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trompe-la-mort · 5 years

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Los miserables, 1971 – “Holy Hugo, they included ‘insert rare scene here’!”

Wrote this a while ago and realised I never posted it. So here goes.

Do you have a favourite obscure scene or detail in Les misérables that hardly ever makes the cut in screen adaptations? If you do, this might just be the adaptation for you. If you want to see an adaptation that tells the story well, however, this is not for you.

It's a nineteen-part (coincidence? I think not...) TV adaptation by the Spanish channel RTVE within its show “Novela”, a show of multiple literature adaptations that ran for fifteen years in total!

And the best part: You can see it all online on RTVE's webpage: http://www.rtve.es/alacarta/videos/los-miserables/

You can skip all episodes with mod 5 = 1 (except the first one), those are the episodes originally shown on Mondays, recapping what happened last week.

Like the Italian TV adaptation, this is unfortunately hindered by its budget. Unlike the Italian TV adaptation, this has the additional problem of its screenwriter's frankly bizarre understanding of concepts such as “pacing” and “importance”.

Now, don't get me wrong, I think it's rather cool to have an adaptation that includes many of the more obscure scenes, but I know the book and I know the context for all of these. I think asking how much sense the plot actually makes to someone who only knows this adaptation is a legitimate question.

Time is “wasted” on montages, dream-sequences and scenes of characters tossing and turning in bed, all of them many times longer than they have any right to be. Partially, it feels like the screenwriter couldn't decide which plot details to include and then just tried to incorporate as many of them as possible – continuity be damned. As an example, he took the time to include Mabeuf's death at the barricade, but it doesn't mean anything, since it happens to a character we have never seen before. Because Mabeuf's entire background is missing. To top it off, the watching students call him “le conventionel”, probably just to tick another box on the check list. To get another time saver, “show, don't tell” is occasionally blatantly violated. We get Valjean's entire history from him telling his life story to the bishop. The backstory of Marius and Gillenormand is conveyed in their fight before Marius leaves, meaning all the info is solely for the benefit of the audience, because all characters involved already know this stuff. Yet, bizarrely, they occasionally have time for a “show” where none would have been necessary. We get a far too long montage of Fantine with Cosette in Paris, that includes Fantine getting fired from her old job. Honestly, you can cover the question of why Fantine leaves Paris with a single line – you know, like it's done in the original?

I wouldn't usually mind, but it not only messes up the pacing, but it also takes up time that could have been used to flesh out some of the details. Or even some of the main plot points. We have Marius letting Thénardier go at the end, but Marius doesn't owe him a debt in this one. It might have made the Gorbeau robbery easier, but at the end, Marius has no real reason to not call the police. That is, if Thénardier is even a prison escapee. It's never shown nor mentioned how he got out of prison after the Gorbeau house robbery. On a smaller scale, it leads to a few bizarre moments, where introductions or transitions are missing, as if someone was trying to cut the corners wherever possible. For example, one episode starts with Marius' and Gillenormand's fight, without any introduction to their conflict or any real introduction of the characters (apart from Marius being the cute boy from the park). Or take the Champmathieu trial. The prosecutor asks for the witnesses to be heard and the very next moment, the judge is already questioning Brevet. No scene of the witnesses entering the room or at least the camera pointing out that they've been there all the time (because I definitely missed that in the overhead shots of the fairly small courtroom set); no scene of the judge calling the first witness, which becomes even worse when he does it to every subsequent witness.

Between this kind of overly short editing and long, drawn-out scenes of Marius healing (which commits the additional cardinal sin of making us think that it's finally over with a short conversation, only to continue for another minute or so) or of Fantine tossing on her bed (which we only later realise is prossibly Cosette's birth!), it feels a bit like there were too many people involved and no two of them could disagree over the tone and style of this adaptation.

I have another, if slightly petty, complaint: Why do the opening credits contain pictures of scenes we never get to see? It makes it pretty hard to identify which actor played which character and it also made it look they would include scenes that end up not being there. From the credits, you could be forgiven for thinking that there are scenes in Toulon, that Valjean's sister shows up or that they include the scene where Éponine stops Patron-Minette from robbing the house in the Rue Plumet. None of these actually happen.

Just to finish my list of complaints about this adaptation, let me talk about Javert. Now, I like the basic idea of what they did with the character, if only because it is the opposite to what most other adaptations do. In many adaptations, Javert is portrayed as a far more villainous character than in the book. These guys went the opposite way. Javert is calm and polite most of the time (making his one outburst when he arrests Valjean even more meaningful) and in one scene seems concerned about Fantine's safety (while she's still employed at Madeleine's factory that is), when he meets her in a disreputable part of town after dark and insists on accompanying her to her destination. Yes, it's later made clear that he still uses this to find out what she was doing there in the first place and this is what kicks off the chain of events leading to Mme Victurnien finding out about Cosette, but the two scenes taken together imply that Javert is both caring about the safety of an innocent civilian and spying on said civilian, just in case they're not as innocent as they seem to be. If they had done it like this throughout the movie I wouldn't be complaining.

Yet, it also means they had Javert come up to Madeleine, stating that he is happy to be the first to congratulate him about his appointment as mayor. It makes Javert's later resentment of Madeleine seem quite petty. Or the end of the “Confrontation”, where Javert, rather than leading Valjean out of the room, just makes a hand gesture to ask him to step out. Which again could have worked, but then he would have had to stay polite for all of the scene. Which he didn’t. They also decided not to stick to it for the entirety of the series. The portrayal of Javert in the later parts is more “traditional”, so to speak.

The acting is solid, for the most part, but hardly ever outstanding, although I’m likely not the best judge. Valjean's acting is fairly, occasionally too, subtle and he's a bit too calm for my taste in his entire encounter with the bishop. The actor, Pepe Calvo, is better known for his work in spaghetti western movies and I've by now realised that the reason he seemed familiar to me from the beginning is because of the western “Dead Men Ride” which I saw as a child, in which he plays a Myriel-like character of all things. I've described my thoughts on Javert, but I think that is due to decisions by the director and the scriptwriter, not the actor. Fantine has an annoying tendency to overact, especially in the later parts of her appearance. Cosette, fortunately not played by the same actress, is a bit boring. Little Cosette, however, does outstanding work for a child actress. Both Thénardiers are decent; they went the “Mme Thénardier needs to look sufficiently trustworthy for Fantine to leave her child with her”-route and she doesn't quite manage to be as scary as she should be. Everybody else is rather unremarkable.

Oh, and while we're at it: If you cast as Cosette an actress who actually looks like a teenager and as Marius an actor who might be in his early thirties, you need to specify that Marius is only a few years older than Cosette. Please!

But now to what I like about this adaptation: It's occasionally insane attention to details.

I've complained about the over-abundance of dream-sequences, but some of them really work. Showing one of Cosette's daydreams explains her life, character and dreams much better than any number of “real” scenes could have. Even more awesome is the inclusion of Valjean's dream before the Champmathieu trial. I mean, “Tempête sous un crâne” is usually going to be a weird scene anyway, you might just replace it with a weird dream while you're at it. Also, holy shit, they included Valjean's dream! That's a definite first.

Here's a list of further uncommon scenes this movie has: -Valjean steals Petit-Gervais's coin, although he does it before meeting the bishop -The bishop gets some exposition. It's only done in two conversations with his sister and Mme Magloire, but it's there -The scene of Tholomyès and Co. dumping the girls -A meeting of the Amis verbatim from the book -Gillenormand believes Marius to be dead and faints when Marius opens his eyes.

And here's a list of crazily uncommon scenes this movie has: -Fantine's meeting with the Thénardiers includes the girls using a cart chain as a swing -Details about work in the jet factory -Fantine thinks she hears Cosette outside the hospital -Cosette lying about watering the guest's horse -The coffin-escape! In full, glorious length and details. -Javert has a letter from the prefect in his pocket -Marius' note to identify his corpse -Escaping from the barricade in National Guard uniforms (although Valjean doesn't put in the one he is currently wearing) -Valjean writes the letter explaining to Cosette the origins of his fortune

Also, the ending is really well done. I really recommend you watch it for yourself, I don't think describing it can do it justice.

Generally, avoid this for a first look at Les Mis, but for a fan this is an interesting adaptation to watch and I suggest you give at least some parts a look, if only for the novelty.

#Les Misérables #los miserables #los miserables 1971 #movie adaptation #les misérables adaptations

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a-book-dragon · 5 years

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Modern AU: The Les Mis characters as roommates

Jean Valjean

~ Has done half of the chores while the others are still sleeping.

~ Repairs the car and other electric devices and carries the groceries.

~ Manages the finances and succeeds to earn and save enough money for everyone AND for charity.

~ Drives Cosette to school every morning and never forgets to warn her to not be late or go to remote places, watch out when she crosses the street and not talk to strangers (BECAUSE COSETTE, DO YOU KNOW THAT ONE OF MY FORMER CELLMATES RAPED AND KILLED A GIRL YOUR AGE?)

Javert

~ Quite useful, because he's very disciplined and does everything he has to perfectly. Though when something is not in its place, he FREAKS OUT.

~ Orders around, but nobody listens to him.

~ Hates Gavroche, Eponine and the barricade boys.

~ Still mad at Jean Valjean, who forgot to pay a bread in the shop 3 months ago, because he was reading at the time.

Fantine

~ Cleans around very well. Still looks cool.

~ Very economic, because she knows what poverty is.

~ Every time someone gets ill, she is like "IS THIS TUBERCULOSIS!?"

~ Saves Valjean from heart attack when Cosette is 10 mins late.

Cosette

~ Arranges the house so it looks like a magazine.

~ Helps with chores more than the other kids.

~ Takes Marius, Gavroche, Les Amis and Valjean shopping, demanding that they dress properly.

Marius

~ Very lazy and distracted.

~ But if Cosette asks him something, he becomes like a reactive rocket.

~ Works a part-time job.

Eponine and Gavroche

~ The troublemakers.

~ Their teachers often call the adults of the family. Gavroche is the class leader, ruins the discipline and calls the teacher a slut. He often gets in fights to defend kids who are getting bullied. Eponine skips most of the classes, stalking Marius and hanging out with the guys of her gang (the Patron Minette, the terror of the high school, created years ago by Thénardier who also studied there as a kid).

~ Ponine and Gavy pray that the teachers will call Jean Valjean or Fantine, but no. They are BFFs with Javert and always call him.

~ They show Cosette some tricks she applies on Javert (you little bastard cop ruined my dad’s life!). She in return does their homework.

Enjolras

~ Is often absent, organizing protests about saving the environment, higher payment and better services, rights of people of different religion, sex, orientation, race...

~ At home, he is either a cute nice guy, a loud activist, or a kid locked in his room posting on Tumblr.

Combeferre (my crush)

~ His room is in perfect order.

~ Likes reading in some corner, but when an interesting topic arises, he appears quickly.

~ Helps Enj with all that activist stuff, organizing it efficiently.

Courfeyrac

~ The soul of the home everyone loves.

~ Brings lots of friends around.

Jehan Prouvaire

~ The cute airhead that forgets everything.

~ He once forgot his backpack at school. A girl found it and gave it to him. Now he has written 10 poems about her.

Joly

~ Is a doctor for the entire household, they save money cause they don’t need to call an actual one.

Feuilly

~ Saves money to go to Poland.

~ Isn’t the best student, but works hard.

Bossuet

~ Has good intentions, but breaks every glass he touches.

Bahorel

~ Is hardly ever home.

~ Gets in fights with everyone, about everything.

Grantaire

~ Drunk all the time.

~ The rest, especially Enjolras, can’t count how many times they have gone to search for him around the clubs in the middle of the night.

Thénardier

~ Javert caught him stealing money and threw him out of the house.

Mme. Thénardier

~ Always very rude, can help, but doesn’t want to.

~ Still tries to exploit Cosette, who doesn’t allow it anymore.

Bishop Myriel

~ Reads the Bible and prays all the time, but doesn’t preach and intrude.

Some kiddos from the brick but not from the musical

Azelma

~ Very shy, only talks to Eponine, but is of help in the Patron Minette.

Mr Gillenormand

~ Marius is in school trying to be cool, and then his grandpa appears like “Honey, you forgot your lunch”

~ Then he gets snacks out of his BMW and throws a party in the schoolyard.

Mr Mabeuf

~ Has turned all the yard in a flower garden and spends all his expenses on books, which Jean Valjean and Les Amis often borrow. Marius stains them with coffee (anyone surprised?) and Mabeuf forgives him only cuz they are friends.

Well guys, I hope you liked it...

#lesmis lesmiserables jeanvaljean lesamis cosette javert fantine marius enjolras fandom

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