#actually it’s what Javert would have wanted

[thegreatgaygay]

Ok so the whole Les mis fandom is autistic cool cool we slayed fr

[secretmellowblog]

One fascinating thing about the way Hugo writes Jean Valjean's inner conflict is that we're almost never actually in his POV when he makes his final decisions. We spend chapters and chapters exploring Jean Valjean's thought processes as he agonizes over difficult moral choices, but in the final crucial moment, when he actually makes his choice, Hugo "cuts us off" from his internal monologue. We view what his final choice looks like from the outside, from the perspective of other characters. This is especially significant because Jean Valjean, from the outside, is often pretty unreadable. He is uncannily calm, tranquil, and polite. He's opaque. There's a moment where he's described as a "whirlwind within, calm without;" Jean Valjean uses excessively polite behavior as a defense mechanism, "picking up his calm the way a warrior would pick up his buckler." The most obvious example of this is the Champmathieu trial, where Jean Valjean agonizes over whether to turn himself in. We spend chapter after chapter inside of his POV, exploring his terror and inner conflict as he weighs his options and invents a thousand excuses for himself-- we explore his trauma-fueled reactions to the concept of returning to prison in painful, agonizing detail, from his horrific memories of prison to his surreal nightmares about being buried alive. The tension builds as chapters fly by and he still hasn't made his final decision, as he hopes some unforseen accident will prevent him from making it to the trial and he won't have to make the decision after all-- But in the final moment, when Jean Valjean *actually* makes the final choice...we're not in his point of view. Instead, it's told "from the point of view" of the courtroom, and Jean Valjean's strange heartbreaking serenity is described solely from the outside. At the moment where we most want to hear what Valjean is thinking, we're abruptly cut off from his inner monologue. This becomes even more tragic when the "adrenaline rush" of the courtroom fades away and we witness the aftermath of the trial. When Jean Valjean returns to Fantine, we see him from the point of view of Simplice and other characters. He's described as behaving "mechanically" as if in shock. From the outside he appears eerily uncannily "tranquil" and completely opaque. It is impossible to tell what he is feeling or thinking. Jean Valjean responds to Javert's violence toward Fantine with an icy, eerily tranquil restrained fury: threatening him with a leaden bar, saying "I advise you not to disturb me at this moment"-- but you can feel behind that restraint the weight of all the grief/anger from the previous chapters, which he's incapable of letting himself express openly. He has made this horrible nightmarish sacrifice that he's been agonizing over for thousands of words, he's facing unimaginable violence and grief--- and in the moments where we most want to hear how he's reacting to this, "the line goes dead." We're brutally cut off from his mental state and left to imagine what he might be feeling.

After a few moments of this meditation (Jean Valjean) bent towards Fantine, and spoke to her in a low voice. What did he say to her? What could this man, who was reproved, say to that woman, who was dead? What words were those? No one on earth heard them.

[susandsnell]

did you see the current US les mis tour? i'm thinking of going (though i haven't bought tickets yet) and i'm curious about what might be in it for valvert enjoyers (including myself)

OH DID I EVER, FRIEND. It came to Canada this past summer and I cannot recommend getting tickets enough; it's possibly the best the show has ever been, and the cast is incredible. I didn't think I'd still be crying at it at this age and bam, Act 2 rolls around and there goes my painstakingly winged eyeliner.

Valvert is imo the most played up it's been, if you want to go in unspoiled I'll leave it at that, but I'll put more details after the cut. Spoilers/me being a cringe parody of myself below.

They've gone with both a lot more physical blocking between the two of them and a much more humanized Javert + book-accurately violent (albeit For Good Reason) Valjean than previous productions, all of which lends itself very well to the ship. Lot of lingering gazes in prison/grabs at each other, a genuine rapport between Maire Madeleine and the Inspector of Montreuil-sur-Mer, and then there's the Champmathieu trial through the Confrontation. Javert actively lunges for Valjean after his confession and the two leads I saw had such an intense chemistry you could see their eyes burning through that part.

As for the Confrontation, it's been choreographed/blocked to be a lot more suggestive violent than previously; there's a barely concealed smirk on Javert's face during "you'll wear a different chain" that I remember made me think "...my 12 year old self is thriving right now." Valjean doesn't snap until Javert tries to shackle him, at which point it goes into the whole "I am warning you, Javert!" bit. He uses that incredible, Brick-accurate Valjean strength to break free, deck Javert, and garrotes him with his own chain at the song's (heh) climax, until the man goes down to his knees, and if I'm not misremembering, he half-straddles his shoulder to keep him down. Before it gets into the "And this I swear to you tonight" bit, there's a good several moments of Javert left rolling on the ground writhing, gagging, and moaning (this would become a persistent thing as the show progressed) while still crawling towards Valjean, half-conscious and half-mad with obsession, reaching towards him. And then Valjean smashes his head into a wall, Liam Neeson in '98 style. I don't know what you go to the theatre for, but personally I do to see old men cry and beat the shit out of each other homoerotically.

Not much more happens in Act 1 (though the Intervention through Stars has as much reverence to it about the sanctity of their chase and their dynamic as it does the very structures Javert cannot fathom Valjean existing outside of - I think he presses his fingers to his lips a little on "Lord, let me find him" after crossing himself), but Act 2 at the Barricades is where things go wild again. There seems to be an Objectifying The Inspector agenda behind the scenes of this new production and I am here for it. Thus, please know that the Valvert barricade scenes take place with the mainstay of Javert having his shirt needlessly torn open/almost off by Les Amis / his ponytail getting dishevelled / him throwing his head back and moaning / panting at some points over the singing because he got his ass kicked again. Heavy, heavy appraisal in Valjean's "give me the spy Javert"/tugging on his bonds as he pulls him away to ostensibly take him out back like Old Yeller (for show for Les Amis, sure but I sensed a bit of spite/something else). And then Valjean's Forgiveness is just. Okay, so I got good enough seats to say that Javert is licking his lips during "How right you should kill with a knife."

What really made my jaw drop was that Javert, being played a lot more emotionally and erratically at this point, actually reaches with both hands once freed of his bonds to grab hold of Valjean's rifle by the mouth and pull it up to his head/press his whole chest into it on "shoot me now, for all I care". Which, yes, Imagery, but then you have them having a legitimate moment where Valjean firmly but gently pulls the gun away/him away from the gun, and holds his face/shoulder in a way I think was? Deliberately meant to echo the blocking of the Bishop during the whole "I have bought your soul for God" in the prologue. "There's nothing that I blame you for" is almost played as a realization despite the anguish Javert has put him through. As for the sewers through the end, each man is played as having increasing realization of how much they are two sides of the same coin, but during the Soliloquy, you have Javert screaming out/sobbing some of his lines about Valjean and how dare he transcend the very structures that gave sense and shape to his world. It has to be seen to be believed.

Outside of this -- there's actually a lot more work done outside their interactions to parallel them. Javert and Gavroche are given a rapport meant to run alongside the Valjean-Cosette relationship where you see a Javert who's a lot more indulgently annoyed towards this cocky gamin than aggressive (they have such a cute, funny moment together after Look Down/Javert's Intervention bit, Javert's not even mad and more 'are you fucking kidding me I lost to an 8 year old' when Gavroche blows his cover). It pays off because they worked in him paying respects when he sees his body during the Bring Him Home instrumental as they did in the movie (albeit more organically, because the scene is staged from Javert's POV seeing all the bodies at the barricade + he stops over Gavroche, kneels to close the boy's still-open eyes, and with a stricken expression, makes the sign of the cross over his body), to the point that you absolutely get the impression Javert is seeing his younger, disadvantaged yet striving self in Gavroche. With the instrumental cue being Valjean's song of paternal feeling for Marius, the staging really drives home that Javert had so many opportunities himself to go through a similar journey of personal growth through fatherhood. And there's power in these parallels when they're not interacting, too!

All in all, they went all in on every character relationship in this production and I cannot recommend it enough. The costumes are beautiful, the sets/effects are phenomenal, and the orchestration reveals just how beautiful the score really is. Go see it!!!

[azeriairis]

I'm going to go on a rant about Les Mis adaptations real quick.

If an Adaptation of Les Mis has Javert commit a crime or abuse his power I automatically have no hope for how they will handle his character arc.

Disclaimer: I generally have no problem with Works in which a Police Officer or other Authority figure do these things, but it is so antithetical to how Javert as a character works thematically that I have a problem when Les Mis adaptations have him do so.

In the original work Javert serves thematically as an extension of the police system, and in order for this to work Victor Hugo specifies that he always does specifically what he is supposed to do, and never does anything that could even be perceived as stepping outside of the lines. However crucially he still causes harm to others and he does it by specifically doing what he is supposed to do.

Simply put: The way Victor Hugo critiques the police system in Les Mis is literally just by having a cop who rigorously follows the book cause harm, not by deviating from the book, but by following the book to the fucking letter. The takeaway this logically leads to therefore cannot be "If we root out the bad apples everything will be fine," because Javert definitionally isn't a bad apple, but is instead "the police system is fundamentally flawed and needs changing" because he uncritically unforces the system and causes harm by doing so.

This literally does not work if there is any reasonable way to label Javert a "bad apple," which having him abuse his powers or commit crimes, could certainly lead to. If Javert can be labeled a "bad apple" then it is possible for the audience to conclude that if only a "good apple" was in Javert's position everything would be fine, and that is specifically not the intended takeaway.

If you want Javert to be more complicated than "cop who does everything by the book" then there's other aspects of his character you can lean into, Specifically speaking his origins. Canonically Javert comes from a disadvantaged background and had to struggle for his position because of class-based discrimination (there is also a case to be made that he is also of a racial minority (specifically Romani) and there's some racism going on there as well, but whether or not that is the intended takeaway is rather unclear), and that his reasons for joining the police include a resentment towards his own background and a belief that his background precluded him from any other legal routes of earning a living. Maybe you could lean into how he went from someone screwed over by the system through no fault of his own, to someone who uncritically enforced the same system that screwed him over, in the process harming those who are from the same communities he himself was born into, and how that may have impacted his reaction after he was confronted with the fact that the system is broken, instead of fucking up his original thematic purpose by having him be a corrupt shitty cop.

And if you still want a shitty corrupt cop in your Les Mis Adaptation, then make an original character. This way you can use this OC to acknowledge the actual problem that "bad apples" who abuse their power, break the law, and violate people's rights are often able to act with complete impunity without facing any consequences, whilst also not fucking up the original point of Javert's characterization, that even the "good apples" who do everything by the book cause harm because the book is flawed and needs changing.

[wanderinghedgehog]

So, I just made a post about the violence that’s often added to The Confrontation in Les Mis, but I think I want to talk about my theory as to why the scene in the book is comparatively not so violent. I think that the main reason for this is Valjean and Javert’s book characterization.

Starting with Valjean, it’s not at all controversial to say that he is almost always quite nonviolent. It is rare for him to even threaten someone, much less actually attack them. Of course, part of this is a way to avoid suspicion and the attention of the police, but part of it is also out of genuine goodwill. He’s just a cool guy who doesn’t actually want to hurt people. Even an example like Montparnasse is strangely relevant. Yes, Valjean fights him in self defense, but only to then lecture him about the dangers of thievery, give him some money, and send him on his way. Because of all this, it’s quite notable that he threatens Javert during the confrontation. Prior to that moment, Valjean’s requests had been mocked and ignored, so it seems reasonable that he would want to find another way to get something he wants. It’s a relatively small thing, paying his respects to Fantine, but he certainly wouldn’t have been allowed it anyway if he had simply asked. Really, Valjean only threatens Javert and doesn’t attack him because it’s not necessary.

But why was this threat so effective? He’s one guy with an iron bar. Surely, Javert must’ve had a backup plan if Valjean retaliated. But it doesn’t look like he did. Javert doesn’t seem to be well armed and the guards are stationed downstairs. He really just walked into that room and assumed that his authority as a policeman would be enough to keep control over the situation. Javert enters this scene extremely confident. This is arguably him at his most terrifying. But even so, when Valjean threatens him (apparently unexpectedly), all Javert can do is back up and wait. This leads me to my main point about Javert. His primary weapon is his authority, his legal right as a policeman to condemn and arrest whoever he perceives as criminals. Javert is a threat to people, not because he could physically hurt them, but because it is essentially his job to play judge and jury, though perhaps not executioner. Presumably, this is what leads him to approach Valjean alone, attempt to arrest him and subsequently be threatened with a metal bar. Javert had no faith in Valjean’s good nature and nonviolent tendencies. None at all. He just assumed that he himself was authoritative and commanding enough that no one would dare mess with him.

Again, this is my theory, my explanation for why this scene plays out the way it does. Anyway, I find this all very interesting.

[pilferingapples]

I am, regrettably, thinking about Gillenormand

and I think--part of why he's so deeply unpleasant is because his basis of morality isn't centered around considering people as people, themselves, individuals with their own unique needs and wants , but as Roles

for Gillenormand, doing the Right Thing is not about how his actions actually affect other people, but about how well he's playing his perceived role (which in his case is Haute Bourgeoisie, with a pre-FRev understanding of that role)

This is why there's no problem for him with being generous, in paying his servants or offering individual charity or just giving gifts, etc; that's what a man of his station SHOULD be like, in his reckoning of the world ; it's a way of asserting his social status, arguably even a social duty in that (to him) it enforces social order. Servants, poor people, and/or the women and children of a household should expect financial largesse from their patriarch; certainly they shouldn't be independent of their betters! And a good bourgeois patriarch should be able to extend gifts on a whim-- it proves his security and enforces his social power. The flipside to this of course is that the beneficiaries of this should be Grateful, and above all should recognize the rightness of his authority here. He provides them with material possessions; they center their lives around doing everything he wants, and acknowledge his authority. Huzzah for the patriarchy!

So in terms of less material generosity, in terms of anything that would require considering his kids or his servants as fully separate people who not only could but even perhaps should have desires and plans that aren't About Him -- oh he's not having that. That is Defiance! Chaos! Romanticism, Probably! Scandal! The Reds!

Exceptions exist , to be sure-- if they fit a person's Role. Gillenormand is entirely fine with the idea that Marius is having affairs without telling him, that's what a good bourgeois boy should be doing! It's Fine if Magnon tries to extort money from him, with the implication of affairs-- that's playing into their respective social roles. But if his own daughter wants to talk about their family? When he said not to? HORRIBLE. Marius isn't psychic and doesn't spend enough time ferreting out Gillenormand's True Secret Meaning? Treachery! Marius is hurting him on purpose!

It's not entirely unlike Javert's concept of social order, although Gillenormand's version is nigh-inifinitely more complicated--but then, both he and Javert would probably agree that Gillenormand should be the one handling complexities; Javert only needs to know who he should Obey (practically everyone, by the rules either of them keeps).

if all of that's right, I think part of what's going on with him after Marius recovers is not just that he's realized Marius is able to operate independently of him and thus isn't someone he can bully anymore--it's that Marius is , in his eyes, really moving into being the acting male head of household, and thus the person the rest of them owe fealty to. Especially with Marius getting married and probably starting his own family, and ESPECIALLY especially with Marius being independently wealthy--he's becoming the center of the family, instead of Gillenormand.

I really hope that's right, actually, because if it is then Marius and his new role in the household is something Gillenormand won't be trying to work his way around to taking over the household again; this is the order of things and he's got his new role. But also: gad, what a depressing ideology. What a depressing person.

[lonelyroommp3]

☕️ russell crowe stars

look they were never ever going to win casting someone who does not have a gorgeous rich baritone voice in a renowned gorgeous rich baritone role. nothing that man could do would ever get a majority of viewers saying wow, what an amazing javert, because they just cast somebody with fundamentally the wrong voice type and that is, of course, most obvious in stars. and here's the thing: i actually don't care. there are a billion different versions of stars i can listen to if i want to hear it sung as god and claude-michel schoenberg intended. that's not what i'm there for if i'm watching les mis 2012. russell crowe brings something different to the table, i love his acting in the role, and even if his stars is not the vocal masterpiece of the century or even the vocal masterpiece of that specific week in december 2012, i don't care, because at least it's just kind of meh and not actively aggravating to my ears unlike some other vocal performances i could mention in that movie (cough. bring him home)

send me a ☕️ and a topic and i’ll talk about how i feel about it

[theminecraftbee]

minecraft bee. starign at you. you mentioned nosey neighbors. hello they're my favorite guys do you have anything to share , /nf

so the thing is you may have noticed I have a thing for writing guys who are trying their best in a broken system and like, ALL of one piece is that to some extent, but then I went “what if I make bigb and pearl marines” and they are now ESPECIALLY that. because like—

okay the thing is that in one piece the world government SUCKS. like every arc we learn more and more reasons the world government is the WORST INSTITUTION EVER. and as such, their military force, the marines, generally serve as antagonists and suck, but. MANY individual marines do not suck. because the thing is that ridiculously powerful pirates also exist and they DO hurt civilians and many marines DO want to protect those civilians! we even have people like smoker who is like, javert levels of determined to hunt the straw hat pirates, but ALSO willing to put that aside for the greater good and work with them temporarily (see: alabasta). we have people like garp, who mostly at this point wants to train the next generation and is constantly torn between duty and family. we have koby, my beloved, who was tormented by pirates for so long and joined the marines to get stronger and protect people and stands up to the admirals to try to get them to stop the fighting at marineford after the marines had already effectively won! and yeah MANY of the marines we meet are assholes who use their power over people to get what they want but ALSO they’re often complex people or even good people who have been placed within an evil system.

(side note: being a civilian in the one piece world sucks and is terrifying, for the record, and while one piece is a lighthearted comedy most of the time, oftentimes it does remind us of that anyway. which is definitely part of “why the world government”; if YOU lived in the one piece world, YOU’D probably want the guys who constantly feed you propaganda about protecting you from the pirates who will kill you to be in charge because like. you do not want the pirates to kill you. which many of them will. for fun. JUST BECAUSE THE GOOD GUYS IN ONE PIECE ARE PIRATES DOESN’T MEAN THE BAD GUYS AREN’T ALSO PIRATES WHEN THE BAD GUYS AREN’T THE EVILS OF A CORRUPT SYSTEM THAT SEEKS TO MAINTAIN ITS OWN POWER ABOVE ALL ELSE.)

anyway the POINT is.

so then I made the nosy neighbors marines, and also gave them a cool dynamic where pearl is newer to being a marine on the grand line and while not NAIVE (her village was destroyed by pirates) she has a strong image in her head of protecting people while bigb has been worn down by the system over the years and is more used to the bullshit the world government would have him do and is resigned to it. and bigb teaches pearl a bit about the way the world actually is on these oceans but pearl teaches bigb a bit about how they don’t have to GIVE UP in protecting people just because there’s government bullshit in their way. and ALSO they get to relentlessly pursue Cleo’s pirates AND have a fun dynamic of people going “oh there’s a devil fruit user between the two of them, surely it’s the scary one with the axe” (it is not its bigb bigb just knows how to be subtle, unlike some people).

and that’s why this au has me staring at the nosy neighbors like “OH. THEM.”

[dekusheroacademia]

Deku vs Kacchan part 2 as a trial by combat

My main life passion is King Arthur and medieval literature, so when I read Deku vs Kacchan part 2 it was clear to me that this was a trial by combat resolution. I have noticed a couple of comments here and there, of people who seem to not understand the point of Deku vs Kacchan part 2 at all, or even what it meant for Bakugou's character, so I thought I would write the summary of what I could get from it, and the most likely (in my opinion) explanation of what the whole thing means.

This is just from Bakugou's side, given that Deku's side of those chapters are a bit more complicated (he is confused as he never knew what was going on in Bakugou's anger filled head).

First of all, what is a trial by combat?

It was simple a trial, a way to demonstrate something (who is right and who is wrong) by combat. There is a A side, and a B side, and two fighters, each representing one of these two sides. Whoever win demonstrates that their side is correct.

Usually this was for something unrelated to fighting ability. Ex. Did my wife cheat and slept with you? (classic Lancelot and Guinevere situation), Lancelot says nope, and he wins, so nope it is.

In Deku vs Kacchan part 2 we have something more attached to the "strength" of the characters, so a combat to get the right answers make a little more sense.

Now, what are the two points, and what is the question?

Bakugou's question is "Which one of us has the correct way to admire All Might?" and the two sides are:

A) Bakugou's side: focusing on dominance/strength, winning over saving

B) Deku's side: empathy, kindness, focusing on saving

They both admire All Might but in two different ways. For Bakugou these two ways are not compatible, impossible to co-exist, only one of them is correct. In a trial by combat, if Deku wins, then (B) is correct, if Bakugou wins then (A) is correct.

The problem here, is that Bakugou has more information that can suggest to him a possible answer. In particular, we know that Bakugou's way of admiring All Might had led him to a bunch of negative consequences: being saved by Deku, being not chosen as successor, failing the first combat against Deku, failing the license exam, getting kidnapped, having to be saved again. And of course, being the cause of All Might's retirement. So he feels guilty, and he already can sum up that his way (A) of admiring All Might... surely cannot be correct, because look at what led him to.

I think this is why Bakugou wants to use this trial by combat to demonstrate to himself that he is correct in his guilt, he was the one being wrong, and this is why we see him surprised or even mad at having won:

Because now he has these two conflicting points:

Trial by combat says he won, he is correct

Actual life consequences say he is not correct

So now that Deku lost, what does this mean? I think this conflicting answers can only be resolved in completely nullifying Bakugou's way of seeing the world. He can only accept that this is not a correct way of identifying an answer, that winning and force are not the only way to go, but also their two modes are not as incompatible as he thought, maybe not ALL of his mode of admiration was incorrect.

This also reminds me of Javert from Les Miserables, someone who also saw everything in black and white, and that had to face the crumbling of "black/white incompatibiliry" of different ways of seeing people and the world (sadly, it did not end well for him).

[breadvidence]

@secretmellowblog meta'd on my shitpost (picking at parallels and patterns in character deaths, check it out) and brought up the connection between Javert & Éponine. I could chew on this topic at length, it's like gristle, not much to go on but you go on anyway. Couple of offhand thoughts:

These are two children of criminals who yearn for bourgeois respectability without believing in their ability to attain it. Because of the age and sex gap there's differences in how that manifests, alas—for men, there's a career; for women, a husband. (I mean, historically, there could've been a career for a woman, but in the context of a novel by Victor Hugo—less so.) They both aim lower than what they want. Javert, there's a whole melodramatic passage about it in the novel, check I.V.V. Éponine—well, why Marius? She could pine after anybody; she's might've fucked men of his social class or higher, and almost certainly ones wealthier. I think he hits a perfect blend of the bourgeois and the disreputable, prudery and good manners in a worn-out coat.

Occurs to me to wonder—do we have textual evidence that Javert has always conformed to his adult understanding of probity? Fic tends to take the course that he broke with his parents very young and functioned as an accessory to authority from childhood, but I don't recall there's definite evidence he wouldn't see a part of himself in Éponine's exploitation by her father. (I.V.V includes the phrase "as he grew up" prefacing the description of his attitude towards society etc. I could read a lot into those four words.)

In the back of my brain is a depressing Javert survives post-Seine unfix-it fic which functions mostly as a narrative accounting of why his return to the police would be a betrayal of his moral awakening (and why he might reasonably make that betrayal, should he survive—why should he grasp that the institution itself is nonfunctional, or functions to harm, when what's been fucked is his sense of his own ability to determine right?)—anyway, should such a thing be written, say that Éponine survives too so that she can become a police informer with Javert as her handler (before his derailment Javert would never, but if all criminals are not inexcusable, if not all crimes are to be punished, why the fuck not use informants, they're useful and the other officers do it). Éponine threatened to bring the police down on her father and PM; she's never going to be the kind of girl who the law protects, but she clearly thinks it functions well for someone.

... To be silly, the gap between Javert and Éponine isn't actually age, it isn't sex, it's that she is effective at accomplishing her goals (except for fucking Marius, sad trombone noise) while nothing Javert does stays done (except the once).

[expired-applejuice]

Incorrect quotes part 4

Javert: hold the fuck up!

Les Amis: *hugs Grantaire aka their fuck up*

-

Valjean: *shatters a window and climbs through it*

Valjean: *turns around and helps Cosette through it* Breaking and entering is wrong Cosette.

Cosette: Okay.

-

Combeferre, trying to get Enjolras out of bed: Don't make me get the water bucket.

Enjolras: You wouldn't.

Courfeyrac: *walking past dripping wet* Yes, he would.

-

Montparnasse: What if fairies were real?

Jehan: What?

Montparnasse: Faries. What if they were actually real?

Jehan: W-wait...faries aren't r-real?

Montparnasse: Of course they're not-

Jehan: "tearing up*

Montparnasse: HAHAHA TRICKED YOU FARIES ARE REAL JUST KIDDING! Please don't cry I love you

-

Bossuet: You know, I'm starting to regret showing you how that blender works.

Grantaire, drinking toast: Why do you say that?

Courfeyrac: ooh can I have some?

-

Bossuet: COURFEYRAC DID YOU EAT THE COOKIES I MADE

Courfeyrac: there was cookies?!

Bossuet: yes. And you ate them

Courfeyrac: no I didn't

Bossuet: then where are they?

Joly, walking in: *mouth full* these are some good cookies

-

Bahorel: I'm going to bed.

Feuilly: It's noon.

Bahorel: Time isn't real.

-

Enjolras: Grantaire, you risked your life to save me!

Grantaire: And I'd do it again! And perhaps a third time! But that would be it. <3

-

Javert: Alright. Time for a new team-building exercise. We're going to put everything we love into this box.

Montparnasse: Can I put Jehan in the box?

Javert: No.

Courfeyrac: Can I put Jehan in the box?

Javert. No.

Grantaire: Can I-

Javert: No one can put Jehan in the box!!

Enjolras: This is a terrible team-building exercise!

-

Grantaire: So, you like cats?

Enjolras: Yeah, I do. They're cute.

Grantaire: *slowly pushes a glass of the counter*

-

Enjolras: Combeferre, I told you to take out the trash.

Combeferre: Oh, right! Sorry!

Combeferre: Courfeyrac, will you go on a date with me?

Courfeyrac:

-

Combeferre: Okay, I'm going to get the wedding cake.

Courfeyrac: Perfect, while you do that I'll check on the ring bear.

Combeferre: ...

Combeferre: You mean ring bearER, right?

Courfeyrac: ...

Combeferre: Look me in the eyes and tell me you are not going to bring a dangerous wild animal to our wedding.

-

Musichetta: Isn't it amazing what friends learn from one another?

Joly: I learn a lot from Grantaire because he makes so many mistakes.

-

Grantaire: Why were you up yesterday until 3am?

Bahorel: How did you know I was up until 3am?

Feuilly: everyone could hear you clapping to the FRIENDS theme song every 25 minutes.

-

Grantaire: Whoa, you're being a little-

Combeferre, who hasn't slept in 4 days because he was studying: Truculent? Obstreperous? Recalcitrant?

Grantaire: I was gonna say "cray-cray".

-

Courfeyrac: You know you've made it when you see your picture up everywhere you go.

Enjolras: Courfeyrac... Those are our wanted posters.

-

Grantaire: The Ocean is a soup.

Combeferre:

Combeferre: Do elaborate.

Grantaire: What are needed for something to be a soup?

Combeferre: Erm... Water, salt, some form of vegetation, and personally I prefer some meat in mine.

Grantaire: *Tilts head*

Combeferre: The Ocean is a Soup.

Grantaire: The Ocean is a Soup.

-

Bossuet: Okay, it's obvious that you're not over this whole "Grantaire, you are incapable of believing, of thinking, of willing, of living, and of dying" thing, yet.

Grantaire: What makes you say that?

Joly: We found you in the park throwing rocks at children.

Grantaire: WHY SHOULD THEY BE HAPPY?!?

-

Musichetta: How did you break your leg?

Eponine: Do you see those porch stairs?

Musichetta: Yes.

Eponine: I didn't.

-

Grantaire: Hey Apollo? If my apartment burned down would you let me stay with you?

Enjolras: Yes of course I would!

Enjolras: Wait... Grantaire?

Enjolras: Grantaire come back!!!

-

Bahorel: We both look very handsome tonight.

Feuilly: You know you could have just said looked good and I would have said "So do you?"

Bahorel: ... I couldn't take that chance.

-

Courfeyrac: What's the word for when your hands are bisexual?

Combeferre: Do you mean ambidextrous?

Courfeyrac: I'm in love with you.

-

Valjean: so I have this rock, it's very beautiful. Javert gave it to me.

Fantine: I watched him throw it at you

Valjean: he's very sweet.

[unicorngunter]

So I'm fresh out lesmis production in Łódź and I have to make some notes in hope to draw them later :D

-This time instead of giving Javert a baton, they gave him little leather gay whip. What can I say. Slay queen

-Marius and Enjolras are the smallest of all amis. They are just little dudes just some guys. Eponine is actually taller then Marius and I love this.

-While taking Cosette from Thenardiers, Valjean clean her hands and blow up her nose with his handkerchief. Its like super super cute. Also in the end he does this little dance with her, my heart was melted ;;

-Fantine actresses are always a top tier in this production. I guess this Fantine at some point began to cry or just acted it really well. Wow. It was powerful.

-Big Grantaire guy is here again! Extra as always. This time on his "I never heard him oooh and aaah" line he actually smacked Marius on his butt at the "aaah" part". That was very Grantaire coded. During the "Red and Black" he hides behind other amis backs to actually drink (yes hes huge amd hes hiding behind them bent in a half its hilarious i love it). At the end someone presented him with a flower. Well deserved! But I have one "but". The actor like THE MOST EAGER of them all for all the revolution thing. He's always here for everything. And while it still valid, I can't stop thinking about how cool would it be for the biggest strongest guy to actually contribute nothing to the whole thing. He sure is fit for fighting, but he just won't do it. Because it's the core of the character, isn't it?

-I think I saw at least two enjoltaire hugs during the show. One while building a barricade, and one during the Drink with me, if I remember correctly. And it's hilarious because Grantaire guy is the tallest (you don't understand he's actually huge, mounting above all others). While Enjolras is the smallest. So Grantaire have to bend to hug him properly xD

-When Gavroche is shot, Valjean hands him to Grantaire and his actor put like his whole grantussy into tenderly hugging this small body. Then, like in the previous production, Grantaire leaves the stage with this small body in his hands and never actually comes back. So... Not everybody dies au?

- but what i want to say all actors are so cool! They have such strong voices and they didn't shy away from showing them. Every time I go to this production, at least one lady near me starts crying. Today a lady near me started on "Empty chairs" and weep until the end.

I'm so glad I had a chance to see this. All day on the road was totally worth it. But I regretted my choices when I got here and there was all this fair ladies standing in their fine dresses and cute makeup. And then there was me. In my fucking jeans and pink shirt x)

[secretmellowblog]

I’ve mentioned this before, but I love how insincere Jean Valjean is whenever he interacts with Javert in Montreuil-sur-Mer. Whenever Jean Valjean compliments Javert, it’s never reflective of his true feelings; it’s always just empty insincere polite flattery he’s using in an effort to get Javert to behave the way he wants (usually to get Javert to stop talking, stop being suspicious of him, and go away.)

When Jean Valjean is actually alone and thinking honestly about how he feels about Javert, during Tempest in a Skull, he refers to him as “that Javert, who has been annoying me so long (…) that frightful hunting dog!” And enthusiastically hopes he will leave town. Jean Valjean is described as “glacial” to him, resenting his cruelty towards Fantine.

When Jean Valjean insists at the police station that Javert is an honest man and proper police wouldn’t arrest Fantine, he doesn’t actually believe that— Jean Valjean knows, from experience, what proper policework means. He has been on the receiving end of “proper policework” all of his life. Fantine is legally “in the wrong” and proper police would arrest her, it’s just that the laws are vile. Jean Valjean is just lying and saying whatever thing he thinks will manipulate Javert into letting Fantine go; he knows Javert wants to do policework properly, so he pretends that a proper police officer would let Fantine go. It doesn’t work, because both he and Javert understand that this is not the truth, and a proper police officer *would* arrest a sex worker who violently assaulted a wealthy man. As a result, when his polite conciliatory bootlicking fails, Jean Valjean eventually needs to fall back on using his Authority as mayor to force Javert to leave Fantine alone.

But again, the funniest way this manifests is during the scene where Javert attempts to have himself fired.

Because Jean Valjean spends most of the scene dissociating, panicking over the revelation about Champmathieu, wrapped up in his own head, not really thinking about Javert at all and barely listening to him. Then he attempts to say whatever empty polite nothings will end the conversation without raising Javert’s suspicions. This is something we’re later told is something he’s doing solely out of terror of “the great danger” of Javert’s presence.

Jean Valjean doesn’t really think Javert is a “good man” who he “esteems.” He just wants the conversation to be over without arousing any suspicion, so he treats Javert with empty bootlicking deferential (unsuspicious) politeness.

…but sadly, this is the wrong Dialogue Option. Jean Valjean then becomes helplessly trapped in a series of Unskippable Javert Cutscenes.

Jean Valjean is trying to treat Javert with this bland indifferent (unsuspicious) politeness in order to end the conversation quickly and unsuspiciously, and Javert responds by going on a series of longed passionate Deranged tangents where he pulls out a Pepe Silvia conspiracy board and explains why the concept of kindness enrages him.

It’s very powerful.

[bogusbyron]

You BETTER make a fucking LM fashion post. I need that.

note: im not a professional in the slightest . mens historical fashion is a major special interest of mine and all my info comes from my own research which might not be correct so feel free to add corrections but be nice about it or ill cry

ill do a more in-depth post about it at some point when i get the chance and i've actually thought about it in more detail but for now the most fun details ive been working on in my own design is specifically Madeleine .

while probably not brick-accurate (as ive not had the chance to read it and most of my information comes from posts i read and what my friends tell me) i just think its a fun little take on his character using fashion of the time which im autistic as hel about.

one thing about 1820s fashion that usually sticks out to me is the height of all of their collars. One key feature of collars in the early 1800s was that they were quite tall (though by the 1850s they were tall on opposite sides to how they were in the 1800s-1820s. they kind of changed from being high at the back of the neck to high at the front, pointed towards the cheeks.)

This works wonders for my Valjean as he has quite a distinguishing scar down the side of his face near his right eye that would be very easy to identify, as a result, he grew his hair out longer to allow his hair to drape rather lazily down the side of his face. while this was entirely unfashionable, it was better than being clocked as immediately suspicious by Javert.

where fashion comes into play is that all these high collars were also perfect for a character design detail of him looking a bit more mysterious. i'm yet to draw something to properly convey this (i'll probably do it in another post if i ever get round to it, if more people want to hear about my fashion choices for my designs?) i think this is the best i got .

this was drawn quickly and without reference so you'll have to excuse the inaccuracies but it gets the gist across, the high collar and cravat working to conceal a part of his face (and you can also see the draped hair in play). while not totally effective in concealing his identity, that's not wholly the point of course . but i think it still gives him both a cozy kind of look like hes trying to stay warm in his coats but also i hope it also gets across that he's hiding.. Something. he's a little suspicious. but hes nice about it

[dolphin1812]

Why is Javert so funny?

I think I have a new favorite wild coincidence from this book:

“He no longer thought of Jean Valjean,—the wolf of to-day causes these dogs who are always on the chase to forget the wolf of yesterday,—when, in December, 1823, he read a newspaper, he who never read newspapers; but Javert, a monarchical man, had a desire to know the particulars of the triumphal entry of the “Prince Generalissimo” into Bayonne. Just as he was finishing the article, which interested him; a name, the name of Jean Valjean, attracted his attention at the bottom of a page. The paper announced that the convict Jean Valjean was dead, and published the fact in such formal terms that Javert did not doubt it. He confined himself to the remark, “That’s a good entry.” Then he threw aside the paper, and thought no more about it.”

Of all the days Javert, who hates reading, could have read a newspaper, he specifically reads on the day Valjean “dies.” And he believes it has to be true because it’s said “formally.” And he feels the need to comment to himself about it. The mental image is just so funny.

I do think this chapter serves not only to update us on Javert’s side of the chase, but to remind us that he’s the best police officer we’re going to see. We last saw Javert when he checked in on Sister Simplice in his search for Valjean, but right before that, he’d killed Fantine with his presence and his cruelty. We’re well-positioned to hate him, and we’re definitely not supposed to be rooting for him. At the same time, Hugo makes sure to remind us that Javert is “moral” in his own way. For instance,  as an officer in Paris, “Javert rendered himself useful in divers and, though the word may seem strange for such services, honorable manners;” police work isn’t “honorable,” but Javert comes as close to making it so as is possible through his integrity. He even gets back on Valjean’s trail through a duty that seems much more sympathetic than chasing ex-convicts: searching for an “abducted” child. We know that Cosette wasn’t “abducted” and that Valjean is an infinitely better caretaker than the Thénardiers, but the police don’t. Javert may suspect that Valjean was involved with this, but ultimately, he’s there because he’s been called on to check on a “kidnapped” child, and if Cosette had actually been kidnapped, it’d be very easy to think positively of his work. 

He’s also so cautious while pursuing Valjean, partly for selfish and/or career-related reasons (he’s secretive, he likes drama, and he wants the credit for capturing such a “dangerous” man), but because of his “conscience” as well. He doesn’t even pick up the chase until he’s certain that this man is a criminal of some sort, either Jean Valjean or someone well-connected. We still despise him for what he’s done, but we’re also made to recognize his integrity (and perhaps to contrast him with the implied bluster of other police officers, who brag about their “captures” even before they catch anyone, whereas Javert is quiet about his work and only wants to be praised when he feels he’s earned it. He seems humble and modest in comparison). 

At the same time, we can’t forget the situation Valjean is in. Javert fears catching him too quickly for this reason:

“The reader can imagine the effect which this brief paragraph, reproduced by twenty newspapers, would have caused in Paris: “Yesterday, an aged grandfather, with white hair, a respectable and well-to-do gentleman, who was walking with his grandchild, aged eight, was arrested and conducted to the agency of the Prefecture as an escaped convict!””

Javert worries about this man’s “respectability,” but with the exception of that line, basically everything else is true. Valjean was almost arrested while walking with the child he cares for, without having done anything immediate to warrant the attention of the police. This arbitrary and unjust division based on “respectability,” then, is what makes all of Javert’s actions absurd and cruel. The best of the police force still punishes people based not on their morals or their actions, but on generalized perceptions of their identity. 

[a-la-sante-du-progres]

I know Hugo's love for details gets made fun of a lot but I think it's honestly endearing. The sewer exploration was really interesting, I can't say Myriel's background left a mark in me but it was so pleasant to read. Loved the descriptions of Paris, the description of the light related to what was happening in the city. In fact often I've been left wanting more details when I read Les Miserablès (and Hugo in general). Why did Grantaire have that Robespierre waistcoat? How bad was his relationship with his father? How was he ugly? How was Enjolras' relationship with his (human) mother? How much did Cosette remember of Eponine? Would she be resentful? Favourite and Fantine. The whole story of Le Cabuc that sounds interesting as fuck? How did Les Amis react to 1830 victory (actually I think skipping the 1830 revolution brought some issues to the 1832 uprising plot)? How did they react when their victory was stolen? The background of Valjean and his sister? What was the impact of the ethnicity of Javert's mother on Javert? Etc etc

It's also... "relaxing", I don't know... in Les Mis as well in other novels of his, when I met a character I get to know their personality, at least a brief backstory usually, the context of their behaviour. If something happens I know how it happened usually. I don't have to keep asking myself wtf is happening, I don't have the risk to miss crucial event or motivations. And I can see literally the events unfold behind my eyes, either because the author is precise with his material descriptions or because he gets to portrait the "vibes" with vividness.