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meta-squash · 4 years

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Brick Club 2.3.8 “Inconveniences Of Entertaining A Poor Man Who May Be Rich”

This chapter is so long. Here goes.

Is it normal for Cosette to have to knock to get into the house she lives in? Or is Hugo just using that as a vehicle to make Mme Thenardier meet Valjean first?

It’s times like this that I desperately wish I knew more about biblical stories and fables and things. This, a rich man in disguise as a poor man being treated poorly by innkeepers and taking something from them, sounds like a bible story or a similar type of fable. But the only two bible stories I know with similar themes are the nativity story and Sodom and Gomorrah and neither of those seem quite right. Still, this entire episode reads like a fable or fairytale.

We’ve already seen how Evil the Thenardiers are re: their treatment of Cosette. Now we are seeing their Evil in the form of treatment of the poor.

You know, that’s an interesting thing that I’m not going to get into in this longass chapter. Javert’s evil and Thenardier’s evil are different because I feel like Javert’s evil is a lot more muddied or obscured by morality and duty and things like that. Where are the Thenardiers are bad but the badness of their actions is much more black and white. I think it’s also because, technically, they never have social power over anyone unless they are manipulative, whereas Javert always has the social power. I’m not sure where to go with either of these ideas but I will look back on it for a shorter chapter.

Cosette is ugly because she’s sad. It’s like the exact opposite of Roald Dahl’s description of ugliness. I called it on the orphanage thing and kids looking years younger than they are; she looks 6 when she’s 8. That doesn’t seem like a huge difference when you look at it written down but the difference between the size and maturity of a 6 year old vs an 8 year old is surprising.

In the way that the description of the doll was a distant echo of young Fantine, the description of Cosette here is a faded echo of dying Fantine.

“Fear was spread all over here; she was, so to speak, covered with it; fear squeezed her elbows against her sides, drew her heels up under her skirt, made her shrink into the least possible space...” I’m sure this description comes from Hugo observing children in his lifetime, but I also wonder if any of this comes from his brother who had schizophrenia and was institutionalized?

“The expression on the face of this child of eight was habitually so sad and occasionally so tragic that it seemed, at certain moments, as if she were on the way to becoming an idiot or a demon.” What an interesting pair of choices. Fear and sadness either stun and numb you completely or they turn you aggressive and evil. Hugo said the same thing before when talking about Valjean’s prison time. Again, like I said before, Cosette here is Valjean when we first met him: exhausted, scared, sad, numb, hatefully terrified of the people around her; the difference is that she still has hope. She had that moment of hoping someone would rescue her, she had the moment of pausing and wondering what the doll’s paradise was like; when we met Valjean he was past that kind of hope.

(Funny that Mme Thenardier doesn’t suspect the trick Valjean just pulled, despite Valjean “finding” a 20 sous piece instead of 15 sous piece.)

I love the description of Eponine and Azelma because it’s so innocent. They as little human beings aren’t morally bankrupt at the level of their parents yet. They’re still pretty and glowing. Partly because they are well-cared for unlike Cosette, and partly because they are still innocent.

“Eponine and Azelma did not notice Cosette. To them she was like the dog. The three little girls did not have twenty-four years among them, and they already represented the whole of human society: on one side envy, on the other disdain.”

Ah, human microcosms. Hugo loves those. The Thenardier children and Cosette are the pared down, simplified version of society. It’s also an excellent example of how Privilege works in layers. The girls’ doll is worn and old and broken, but the fact of them having a real doll and Cosette having nothing is already a layer of privilege Someone else, another little girl with wealthy parents and a new intact doll would have privilege over the Thenardier girls. There are layers.

I really love this passage too because it shows the start of the zero-sum game between Eponine and Cosette. At no point are Eponine and Cosette able to be equals. But the important thing is that neither of them are aware of this. Later, when Cosette and Eponine encounter each other again in the Gorbeau house, Eponine doesn’t have the awareness to be angry about the reversal of their fortunes. She seems sad, mostly, a jealousy born from a feeling of worthlessness rather than feeling slighted. And Cosette doesn’t even recognize Eponine, so there’s no room at all for disdain on her part, unless she’s disdainful of Eponine et al due to their poverty, though that never seems to be the case. But Eponine cannot be happy while Cosette is and Cosette cannot be happy while Eponine is, because their goals occupy the same fulcrum (Marius) and they can’t both be on the same level at the same time.

Fanfiction has explored this a lot in modern AU but I wonder the kind of havoc that could have been wreaked had Cosette and Eponine met and become proper acquaintances. Their teenage personalities are two sides of the same coin. I’ve always been of the opinion that had they switched places as children Cosette would have ended up like Eponine and Eponine like Cosette. Because Eponine has the capacity for kindness within her, except that she doesn’t know how to use it selflessly; and Cosette has the same stubborn ruthlessness as Eponine, except that she is held back by convention and reduced to talking a lot in order to try and somehow glean information from Valjean or Marius.

“Now your work belongs to me. Play, my child.” This is the second (or third?) Myriel moment for Valjean. Cosette is a child, an innocent child, but her soul doesn’t need to be bought for god. As far as I can tell, for Hugo, children are always holy. Instead, he’s buying her work. But that makes sense. For Valjean, his soul needed to be bought for god because he had already lost it to sin and to evil and to doubt. Cosette still has hope; what she needs bought from her is suffering.

And here is where the parallel continues. Cosette up until now has been Valjean as we first met him: sullen, suffering, scared, dulled, close to becoming “an idiot or a demon” and now, like Valjean’s soul, her work has been bought so she can be free.

I think it is within the walls of the convent that their parallels will catch up to each other and they will become more equal.

I feel as though the cat in a dress vs the sword in a dress must be some sort of parallel to Eponine and Cosette’s personalities but I’m not quite sure how to pull the meaning out.

“A little girl without a doll is almost as unfortunate and just as impossible as a woman without children.” Ugh. Gross, Hugo. This whole chapter was so lovely and then this misogynist bullshit.

I can explain the “water on her brain” line! Mostly because it’s a medical condition I actually have! So, “water on the brain” is another term for hydrocephalus, which is a buildup of cerebrospinal fluid in the ventricles of the brain. It can be caused by being born prematurely (like mine was) or by infections/head trauma. Nowadays they can put a shunt in your head that pumps the fluid into the abdominal cavity (which is what I have), but obviously they didn’t have the technology back then. So what happens to the head if the fluid doesn’t drain, is the head will start to increase in size, and the fluid buildup will squish the brain against the sides of the skull, causing seizures and brain damage/intellectual disabilities and vision problems and other such things. I function perfectly fine except for mild dyscalculia and ADHD (which might have been genetic anyway) but back in the 19th century hydrocephalus probably would have resulted in either mild-to-severe disabilities or death.

Cosette doesn’t have hydrocephalus, but what she does have is severe malnutrition, which can make a person’s head look much too large for their body. So Mme Thenardier is likely using Cosette’s appearance due to neglect to fake that she has a neurological problem and explain why they have to “take care of” her.

Jesus fucking christ this next bit is so much. There’s so much going on. Mme Thenardier is talking to Valjean about Cosette’s mother, the drinkers are singing vulgar songs about the Virgin Mary and baby Jesus, and Cosette is under the table singing “My mother is dead.” to herself. Woof. It is, yet again, an instance of the memory of “Fantine” (in the symbolic, saintly form of the Virgin) being sullied both by the foul songs of the drinkers and the callous, flippant commentary of Mme Thenardier. And Cosette is there under the table, staring at the fire, suddenly playing the role of her own mother, rocking the sword-baby (herself) to try and comfort herself from the shock of this new knowledge that her mother is dead.

(Anyone else read As I Laying Dying, by the way? All I could think of when I read that line was “My mother is a fish.”)

We start to see Cosette’s bold personality come out in fits and starts. She’s brave enough to sneak out and grab the doll Eponine and Azelma have abandoned. But it’s also an example of how desperate she is for something pleasurable and good, considering she’s doing that at the risk of a beating.

For the second time, we see Cosette so absorbed in her moment of “I Want” that she doesn’t see or hear anything else. Again, this seems unusual considering her constant hypervigilance. But her success in getting the doll and her increased confidence due to Valjean’s presence probably have something to do with her lack of awareness.

Cosette is caught with the doll. Is this the parallel of Valjean being caught with Myriel’s silver? Mme Thenardier says “That beggar has dared to touch the children’s doll.” The gendarmes don’t say as much when they return Valjean to Myriel, but it’s pretty obvious they’re thinking something similar.

“We are forced to add that at that moment she stuck out her tongue.” COSETTE IS SO CUTE I LOVE HER SO MUCH SHE DESERVES THE WORLD. Also I just love the way Hugo writes children, it’s so real.

Why did Hugo choose Catherine for the name of the doll? Is it to do with St Catherine? She (the saint) became Christian at 14 and converted hundreds of people before being martyred at 18 after rebuking the Roman emperor for his cruelty and winning a debate with his best philosophers.

“This solitary man, so poorly dressed, who took five-franc pieces from his pocket so easily and lavished gigantic dolls on little brats in wooden clogs, was certainly a magnificent and formidable individual.” Valjean is now Myriel. Outsiders are fascinated by him because he dresses so shabbily and yet is so benevolent and charitable with his money. Again, the difference is that Myriel’s name is always known, and Valjean’s is never known.

I know I say this so often but the distance with which Hugo treats Valjean is absolutely fascinating to me. Valjean has this incredible power to just go inside himself and not move, but we never get that kind if internality unless it’s really really important (like with the Champmathieu affair). Otherwise, Hugo keeps a respectful distance, and even when we get Valjean’s emotions described to us, I feel like Hugo is always holding back a little, like he’s not letting himself see all the way into Valjean, or Valjean isn’t letting him in.

Valjean asks for a stable; I think this is the first time we see his whole thing about sacrifice of physical comfort. Things like this asking for the stable and sleeping in the shed behind the house at Rue Plumet and not having chairs and only eating black bread etc. This is the first example we see of him feeling unworthy of physical comforts to such a degree.

(It’s interesting to me that we don’t see this characteristic when he was mayor, or at least not to this extreme. Is it because it would be unbecoming of a mayor and therefore would blow his cover? Or did going back to prison hammer in that feeling of worthlessness and lesser-than and warp his perception of what he is compared to others?)

“What a sublime, sweet thing is hope in a child who has never known anything but its opposite!” We’ve said this already, but Cosette is full of hope and life and light and that is Important because it is exactly what Valjean did not have when he was in her position. But it means that she doesn’t have to work as hard in her ascent towards happiness and goodness.

And, lastly, I love that the placement of the gold Louis in Cosette’s shoe isn’t just a sweet Christmas gesture or a gesture towards Cosette: it’s also an echo of M Madeleine breaking into houses to place gold pieces on the table.

Wow. Long af post for a long af chapter. Congratulations if you read through all of my rambling thoughts.

#les miserables meta #les miserables #brickclub #lm 2.3.8 #les mis #les mis meta #doing this chapter melted my brain a little

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pilferingapples · 6 years

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Les Mis BBC: First Episode First Impression

Well, the actors are as excellent as I hoped they would be!

Cut for Spoilers or whatever term applies here

I really really really wanted to be wrong in all my misgivings about this series. I wanted to be blown out of the water by the whole thing, and have to make repentant posts about the error of my ways.

Alas, this is not a Repentant Post.

I liked some things! The set and scenery and props were all genuinely lovely. I enjoyed the animals everywhere? and the nigh-omnipresent beggars in Paris? Nicely done! And I really, genuinely, appreciate the constant background French; I know just enough to recognize it when I hear it and it does add something to the atmosphere of the piece.

The actors! What great performances! I want it clear that NOTHING I have to say in the way of character critique is down to them. Oyelowo is as good as I’d hoped he’d be, and that is saying a lot; Collins is doing a wonderful job with Fantine’s shyness and defiant hope; and the bit-part characters like Magloire and Nicolette are really standout.

I really appreciate the inclusion of the Pontmercy Family situation, and Gillenormand being placed in this first episode makes his social relevance more clear IMO; he feels less like random comic relief than he sometimes can. Really, the whole Pontmercy-Gillenormand family conflict is a standout in the episode; Gillenormand’s emotional manipulation of Tiny Marius and general domestic tyrannizing was very effectively shown (the scene with the toy soldiers!!!), and my heart was broken all over for Marius and for Georges. And Tholomyes is an amazingly perfect skeezeball; his PUA approach is clear and skin-crawling from the start.

*** Real quick Basic Plot Rundown: this episode covers roughly the era from Waterloo to Fantine being abandoned by Tholomyes. I say roughly because it weirdly changes the timeline of Fantine’s life to sync up more with Valjean’s;he gets released and goes through the silver theft with the Bishop when she’s getting dumped. The issue with that is of course that in the book Fantine is dumped in 1817 (the year 1817, when it was 1817); Cosette should just about be getting born around the year of Napoleon’s defeat and Valjean’s release, and now I guess she’s about a year old? This doesn’t necessarily have to be a big issue for chronology if the show’s just going to have Fantine and Cosette suffer for an extra two years (though: D:D:D:D: ) , and heaven knows Hugo is shifty on personal timelines, but...Les Mis *does* have certain unavoidable historical events it has to sync up with, so I’ll see how it plays out.

Besides Valjean’s last little while in prison and Fantine’s courtship and abandonment, this first episode covers the Georges-Gillenormand-Marius family situation, with Georges limping home from Waterloo only to be refused access to his son. The show cuts between the three ongoing stories so they all progress more or less in sync. We get far enough along to see Georges watching his son in church without Gillenormand knowing (thanks to Nicolette, who’s the only woman in the Gillenormand house so far), Fantine holding Cosette in their apartment and wondering what they’re going to do after Tholomyes leaves them, and Valjean curled up in the road after robbing Petit Gervais.

Okay, Actual Commentary time! Please assume a Personal Opinion disclaimer for things after this point:P

***

Several of the people I was watching with felt the constant cutting between scenes was jarring or hard to follow; I don’t know if that was the issue but I do think, overall, it just didn’t work as well as it might have. The individual scenes were very brief and the constant bouncing back and forth prevented them from building up any emotional momentum. I think..conceptually, I can see where it would be interesting to twine Valjean, Fantine, and Georges together, in many ways, but none of that thematic connection really came through either (Maybe most disappointingly to me, Valjean’s family is never mentioned, so the potential to connect all three of them as families torn apart by social inequality is lost). It really felt like just Three People Having a Bad Time in France. it really is hard to follow, because it starts to feel...kinda dull , just a collection of sad anecdotes for no purpose.

The dialogue doesn’t help. When the show leans heavily on Hugo’s writing (sadly, mostly with Tholomyes) , it’s fine, of course. But the original dialogue is clunky, pedantic, and weirdly flat throughout--and utterly lacking in nuance. It just aggressively clunks at points.

Valjean and Javert suffer the most for this. Javert basically states aloud his share of the Confrontation while lecturing a bound Valjean for ...reasons?? It’s never really clear. But hey, here you go, Valjean, have Javert’s entire backstory! ( I should say that Oyelowo almost sells it. He is incredible , and does a great job making Javert feel both his adamant self and humanly affected by the world around him. Just. some of this dialogue. Geez.) This is also one of those episodes with a weirdly more unpleasant Valjean; he doesn’t assault the Bishop, but he does much more consciously rob Petit Gervais, laughing as he scares the kid away and grinning as he first examines the coin. He also just...yells at people a lot? and argues with the Bishop and asserts his hatred of mankind very bluntly. I found it hard to believe this Valjean had any of the original’s internalized self-hatred or sense of being lower than a dog; he seems solidly outraged by his treatment, and confident of the injustice of it all. Which is definitely fair and all, but just...isn’t quite Valjean.

(Also, as I mentioned above, we don’t really get any of his pre-prison backstory; not an unusual adaptational move, but it sure doesn’t add anything to his motivation.) He seems both more casually violent and less emotionally deep than I’d expect a Valjean to be; I can’t believe , at least not yet, that he’s actually felt the Bishop’s forgiveness as a challenge in any way, even though the Gervais scene ends with him curled in the road--it just doesn’t feel connected.

Fantine does get more time--unfortunately, and unavoidably, much of that involves Felix:P . There’s also some brief conversation with Favourite about the general situation of grisettes. I think it’s a good addition, and puts in some useful context. (That said, I’m deeply uneasy about the attempt to portray Fantine and Favourite as actual friends-so much of Fantine’s story comes from her being really truly isolated. If she’d had real friends to help in the crunch, it would change things-- and if she thinks Favourite is a real friend and then Favourite fades on her, that’s even worse than canon and makes Favourite worse than in canon. Hence, Unease.)

Visually, there’s ..I won’t say nothing wrong, and certainly I can have fun for ages going over the details of this or that outfit or hairstyle (and I really do find the weird combos of Looks to be very distracting; if I knew less about the period it wouldn’t be,no doubt, but I do know a lot about How It Should Look and the fact that it doesn’t Quite sometimes makes it all feel like it’s happening in a generic Fantasy 19C) . But there’s no BIG thing wrong, it’s...fine?

It’s just ... it’s just fine. There’s no particular strong visual feel to it, nothing really striking-- unless you count the weird 60s-Acid-flashback-looking timeskip moment. It really does feel like LM 2012 in its more visually striking moments, and outside of that, it’s just very much a competently filmed period drama made in the last ten years--but that’s all. Without the specific characters, I don’t think there’s a single frame of it I’d recognize as being necessarily Les Mis and not any other random BBC Period Drama.

I guess this is really my problem with the characters and the story too-- it’s...Fine, it’s technically there , but too often there’s no sense of depth or specificity to it. Part of it’s the dialogue, part of it’s the weird pacing/ story jumps , part of it is because no one ever seems to be given a moment to respond-(Fantine crying for all of thirty seconds after being abandoned before the show decides we need her up and talking and dry-eyed was really actively jarring to me)--

There are a hundred little details I could go through but the overall effect for me was just a whole lot of Underwhelming. Yeah, there’s the Pee Scene and the (correct and fitting) visceral discomfort of Everything About Tholomyes (he ,at least, really is a Triumph of Skeeze). But the real problem so far is just that it feels like a visual outline of a story; it’s not pulling together into feeling like a lived world. It’s not taking my heart, even though, despite my surface grousing, I really want it to. It’s here, it’s fine, it’s Whatever; but all my really strong emotional reactions either Cringing or Cooing (over the very excellent babies). My heart didn’t break but the once, with Tiny Marius, and it really really should have been in pieces by the end of the episode.

I’m of course going to keep watching, as much of it as I can find a way to see; it’s Les Mis and I really am impressed with the actors. Maybe next episode, when the various stories start to come together a little, it’ll all feel more solid and more memorable. Right now, though, I’m sitting at a solid “ meh” about it.

#Les Mis BBC Talk #Les Mis BBC Spoilers #Long Post #Les Mis BBC Salt #this is not the Fun Outrage Post some people are probably wanting #it's an Actual Considered Reaction post #but Lighthearted Outrage shall no doubt be very present again soon:P

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lawisnotmocked · 6 years

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BBC Les Mis Episode 1

As promised (a few days ago ^^’) my review/analysis/thoughts on the first episode of the new bbc miniseries!

Warning for spoilers ahead! And it got really long so uh! Warning for that too!

Oh my god it’s 2000 words that's longer than some of the essays I submitted for uni good luck lads :,3

I’m just going to start with a few quick thoughts!

Antagonists like Tholomeys, Thenardier and Gillenormand are all awful scumbags and perfect to hate! So great job there!

Less of a great job with the font! Which was frankly an awful choice! Who's idea was that!

The transitions were a little weird too. Switching straight from beautiful scenery and kissing scenes to Toulon threw me off a little ^^’

Tholomeys sure did piss on a tree though huh :,) somehow that was vitally important and needed screen time :,) Didn’t need to see a nude Felix either :,)

I would die for Georges and little Marius Pontmercy though. Georges.... is handsome.... and baby Marius is so precious omg! ‘Scoundwel’! I die!

Fantine was so sweet and precious it broke my heart :,)

The scenery was beautiful too!

Oh and there were lots of animals featured too and I will talk about some of them later but I loved all of them especially the goats!

Just look at these little stars :,)

Right! Now all of that’s out of the way I’ll talk about what you were probably actually interested in if you follow me: Valjean and Javert!

I love Oyelowo’s Javert. He’s an incredible actor and he clearly understands Javert’s character and motivations. Plus..... hhhh sexy voice...... handsome.....

West is also a great actor and plays Valjean brilliantly, however there’s a few things Davies has done to Valjean’s character that I’m not too pleased with :/ But! I’ll talk about that next!

This is.... also definitely a valvert adaptation. If they keep up like this it might be even more of a valvert adaptation than 1978!

I’m going to talk about specific scenes now! And the first one I’m going to address is one that takes place in Toulon early on and has already been discussed a lot!

So. Does Valjean try to kill someone??

I mean. What happens is an intentional action. He sees a guard telling off another prisoner, waits until the guard stands underneath him and then keeps checking on him to make sure he’s still there before he drops a fuckton of rocks on top of him. Was the intention actually murder? Maybe?? He smiles afterwards but he also smiles knowing that the guy isn’t dead and is only injured? So I’m not sure ^^’ He goes down to help lift the rock off the guard afterwards, but it seems more like at this point there’s some sort of threatening/showing off directed towards Javert, who was watching the whole thing, in a ‘look what I can do you think you have the power here but I can hurt people too and the decision to save this man was in my hands’. Anyway I kind of like that? And kind of really hate it because it’s really out of character. As a nonverbal exchange between prisoner and guard, I love it. As Jean Valjean purposefully perhaps trying to kill someone, I hate it. Because that’s not Valjean. Angry Toulon Valjean is sulky and hateful, not violent. So anyway that’s my Hot Take on that scene!

So the next Toulon scene I took notes on is also a valvert scene! Javert has a guard take Valjean to what seems to be some sort of torture room and has him restrained (sounds like a fanfic opening I know I promise this happens) then the guard leaves them alone together. This scene seems to be Javert ‘correcting’ the power balance after what Valjean did earlier and it has so much potential to be an incredible scene! If the dialogue wasn’t so clunky! Javert’s entire backstory is just dumped into the interaction and all it leads up to is a joke. Hey Davies there’s this thing called buildup and using this incredibly important information about Javert’s character for something dramatic! Come on! Flashbacks! Shouting! Using it to suddenly make everything make sense! Not casually having him say it in the first episode it doesn’t mean anything to anyone at that point! Please watch Shoujo Cosette and take some inspiration from them! Even the musical drops the information at a Dramatic Moment! Wasted opportunity! Dsfsfsf anyway ^^’ despite the limitations of the script Oyelowo did incredibly with it and I’m so excited to see more of his Javert!

Oh yeah and Valjean strips in front of Javert did I mention that? (I mean. I’m not complaining about the Valjean butt 👀 and muscular shoulders 👀👀) Did I also mention that there’s implied interest from Javert? I’m actually... not liking this because I don’t trust Davies.... like, Toulon era is the least healthy way to do valvert which is fine in fandom where we understand that and do it anyway with that understanding, but in a real adaptation? Where that understanding isn’t established and it’s real popular representation and Javert is implied to be a predatory gay man? I don’t like that too much. But we’ll see it’s only the first episode maybe it’ll get better as we go along. Still not complaining about the Valjean butt uwu Also! “Monsieur 24601”! So there is some good dialogue after all! Just do that with the other scenes!

Dsfsfsf just found “Was Valjean putting his head under a water fountain entirely necessary? No. Did I appreciate it anyway? Absolutely.” in my notes without any context too lol

Uhhhh Myriel scenes! Myriel is perfect and I adore him Valjean is still too aggressive it doesn’t feel like him :/ The scene when Myriel gives Valjean the candlesticks was too creepy too I didn’t like that what’s with the creepy music Davies it’s a nice good scene :,3

Petit Gervais sings! No singing allowed! Illegal!

Didn’t like what Davies did to the petit Gervais scene though!! Valjean intentionally stole the coin knowing what he was doing. It was supposed to be unintentional and unconscious that’s what makes it emotional and that’s what breaks him goddamn it! Of course I was very happy to have Petit Gervais included but I still feel like this scene had so much potential that was almost reached but just wasn’t quite!

But. It’s only the first episode. I still have hope that Valjean’s characterisation might improve later on! Please for the love of god let’s not have a repeat of 1998!

So far I would say the miniseries is enjoyable enough and definitely still worth watching! No les mis adaptation is perfect and this certainly isn’t a bad one as of the first episode!

So now you’ve read the part you actually wanted to read it’s time for me to talk about (potentially unintended) animal symbolism >:3 Look I had the decency to put it at the bottom at least! Could I have made it a separate post? Yes. But I didn’t die mad about it.

Hugo’s animal symbolism in the Brick is clearly something Davies has picked up on and decided to incorporate aspects of into his own adaptation. I don’t know how far or deep he intends to go with the symbolism but from the beginning there’s a fair bit of animal imagery in speech, mostly in relation to Valjean, but it’s also once used with Tholomeys when Favourite says “he looks as if he wants to eat you Fantine!” Hugo used imagery of predators (and of eating people :,3) to indicate individuals as dangerous so this is very fitting with that line of symbolism. But Sirius! You say, a comment like that doesn’t automatically mean intentional animal symbolism! Not on its own no, but alongside everything else it looks more likely that it’s intentional!

As I mentioned, the majority of animal imagery in speech in this episode is in relation to Valjean. The first example is when a guard calls a prisoner a ‘filthy dog’ in one of the Toulon scenes. The prisoner isn’t Valjean but Valjean is watching. The next example is also in reference to dogs when Valjean asks Myriel “how can I love my fellow man when he treats me worse than a dog?” I’m pretty sure this is a reference to the line “I am not even a dog!” from the Brick which I got very excited about! As a brief summary of the symbolism of dogs in les mis, Javert is a dog. He’s a social outcast like Valjean but he chooses to protect society as a policeman, making him a domestic dog and not a wild beast. Valjean is ‘not even a dog’ and ‘treated worse than a dog’ because even though they’re both social outcasts, Javert’s position gives him some sort of status, while Valjean is left with a yellow passport and nowhere to sleep. The final reference to dogs is... actually not the final reference and comes before Valjean talks to Myriel but I’m talking about this out of order lol.

Valjean goes into a building looking for somewhere to sleep and instead finds a dog who barks at him and chases him off. This is a reference to one of my favourite scenes in the Brick which includes this quote: “I went into a dog’s kennel; the dog bit me and chased me off, as though he had been a man. One would have said that he knew who I was.” Javert is a dog. This scene is foreshadowing for the relationship Javert has with Madeline in M-sur-M. I really hope Davies takes the symbolism this deep by giving us a scene in the future that links Javert with dogs in this series! He probably won’t ^^’ But I’ll still be looking out for it!

Here’s a post with links to more analysis I’ve done on dogs in the brick if anyone was interested!

Moving on to the other animal symbolism used with Valjean! Yeah that’s right I’m still not done! After Valjean takes off with Myriel’s silver, Madame Magloire calls Valjean an “ungrateful beast” and then tells her brother off for “letting a wild beast like that into your house”. There is, of course, also the scene when Valjean (to quote my notes) ‘roars like a beastie’ before running away after Myriel gives him the candlesticks. The symbolism of ‘wild beast’ is also something used by Hugo in the Brick and the meaning of that symbolism is described surprisingly unsubtly: “the peculiarity of pains of this nature, in which that which is pitiless–that is to say, that which is brutalizing–predominates, is to transform a man, little by little, by a sort of stupid transfiguration, into a wild beast; sometimes into a ferocious beast.”

That’s all I have to say about Valjean but!! I’m still not gonna shut up!! Because now I’m gonna talk about Cosette!!

In her room, Fantine has a bird in a cage.

Look it even gets a shot to itself!

This bird is also shown at the end of the episode when Fantine is holding Cosette.

There they are! This file is saved as birbsette on my laptop lol.

Anyway, I’m fairly certain that this is a reference to Cosette’s Hugo Assigned Symbolic Animal being a songbird, specifically a lark. Of course it could be that the bird in a cage is actually associated with Fantine but we’ll have to wait until future episodes to see if the use of birds is continued and who they’re linked to if it is!

So! In summary! Davies has actually set up the basis for a lot of animal symbolism in the first episode and I’m very excited to see how far he decides to take in in further episodes! And we also learnt that Sirius has a hyperfixation! Thanks for getting this far folks and as always feel free to add anything on to or correct any mistakes in my ramblings!

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spacetrashpile · 5 years

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Hi. I was very lucky to see the National Tour of Les Mis tonight and HOLLLLYYY SHIT. It was beautiful and I loved it and I have to talk about it a bit. This is gonna be a long post so buckle up.

Okay so to start: Everyone killed it, every performer was amazing, and the children in the show were so good.

Act 1

The staging for Look Down was really cool, and all the different prisoners killed their solos. Valjean and Javert’s interactions were great to watch throughout the show, and this was just the beginning.

The ensemble in this show was just *chef’s kiss*. They were always entertaining to watch, and they did everything so well.

Who Am I? KILLED me. I may have ascended during that song, it was so amazing. The blocking was so simple and yet so striking, and there were a million different parallels in that blocking to the blocking in Stars and Javert’s Suicide, even in the directions the actors faced at different times. Amazing.

The Foreman in At The End of the Day was as disgusting and horrible as he always is and FANTINE. This is just a side note, but the woman playing Fantine needs to be Anastasia some time, she’d kill it.

I Dreamed A Dream, lovely and simple. 10/10

Lovely Ladies was,,, interesting to watch with my mother. I tried not to look at her the whole time but WHO BOY. It was well done and the Foreman being the first person to solicit Fantine after she became a prostitute? That killed me, I did not know that was gonna happen.

The scene with Valjean and Javert after the cart incident was so stressful. I knew Valjean wasn’t going to get arrested there and yet I felt so terrified that Javert would know, props to those actors.

Come to Me, first time of many times I cried during this show. Fantine was such a beautiful singer and her displays of emotions killed me. When she called out to Cosette,,, :( She died hugging Valjean and he placed her really gently back on the bed and I was holding back tears.

Confrontation was GREAT but for the first minute I couldn’t see Javert at all because he was standing right on the end of the stage where my vision was obscured and I just kept internally going “Sir,,, sir please move to the middle of the stage, please”

Young Cosette, my baby. Castle on a Cloud was adorable but at the same time I almost cried, I love her. One side thing that was super weird, Young Eponine was white but adult Eponine was a WOC?? And I don’t know why?? I don’t know, just a bit strange.

Madame Thernardier! She stole every scene she was in my GOD. She had such a powerful voice and stage presence that you couldn’t help but watch her every move, she was great. Monsieur Thernardier was funny and crude and he did a very good job, Master of the House had the whole theater dying laughing.

Young Cosette and Valjean’s interactions were genuinely some of my favorite moments of the show. They were very few, of course, but they were lovely.

Stars SLAPPED. Every parallel to Who Am I? was really cool, and the set was very beautiful. They had Javert bless himself a LOT during the show, and most of it was of course during Stars. Javert was one of the best performers in the show, hands down.

Gavroche was adorable, and all eyes were on him the second he came on stage because he owned it. He knew what he wanted to do and he did it.

Marius was adorable and also Latino which was really nice. His first meeting with Cosette was so adorable and I think this might just be bias towards those two on my part, but God every interaction they had with each other was so good.

The Les Amis de L’ABC. Oh my God. They were all so amazing and watching them do anything was wild, even just in their first scene in the streets.

Cosette was so good, those high notes could just kill me. Marius jumped the wall into the garden after she went inside, and then he threw a pebble at her window to get her attention, classic and adorable. When she came out on the little balcony he started the song and he purposely voice cracked on the first line and it was so endearing. Cosette then came down and they did the rest of the song face to face and Marius did the song really well, I loved his performance in the whole show, but especially here.

I know I just talked about the Les Amis but I’m gonna talk about them again. All of them were so great, but my eyes were constantly drawn to Combferre. He had such good interactions with the other Les Amis and he had really great reactions to everything that was happening, props to him. Red and Black was just overall good, after Grantaire taunted Marius (during which he climbed on one of the tables), Marius took his bottle from him and the Les Amis started throwing it around with each other before Enjorlas took it, sang a bit, and gave it back. Grantaire and Gavroche also had really good interactions throughout the whole show, they had this really deep bond, and you could tell just from how they worked with each other. Do You Hear the People Sing? was so beautiful, I just loved it a whole lot.

One Day More, I almost gave them a standing ovation. They deserved it. The blocking was lovely and it was so beautiful.

Act 2

This Eponine, I genuinely think she could rival if not best some of the greatest Eponines, INCLUDING Lea Salonga. She killed On My Own and there was some guy in the audience who yelled “bravo” really loudly when everyone was applauding, which is great because she deserved it.

Valjean had a limp in act two, which was super interesting. I don’t know if that’s a consistent in every production or not, but I really liked it. When he read the “Now that I know you love me too” part of Marius’s letter, he kinda slowed down as he read it and paused after the “love” as though he was confused about it, which was great, very funny

Gavroche revealing Javert on the barricade is always one of my favorite parts of the show, if only because I love Gavroche so much. This was actually one of the few times where he’s not right next to Grantaire during the show which I thought was interesting. After he reveals Javert, Combferre pulls a gun on him and Gavroche just walks in between them and puts the gun down like a whole adult, it was great. At the end of the song, he straight up gave Javert the finger and I was crying laughing because that small child SOLD IT.

A Little Fall of Rain, oh boy. Eponine and Marius’s voices complimented each other so well but still, I don’t want this scene to happen. The first person (other than Marius of course) to notice Eponine was dying was Gavroche which HURT because he reaches out for her but one of the Les Amis pulls him back. When she’s carried off stage after the song her hat falls off, and Gavroche picked it up and then very solemnly handed it to Marius and I SOBBED.

The scene where Valjean lets Javert go was really good (Javert’s acting man, like I said, one of the best performers in the show). As Javert went off stage, Valjean kept the gun aimed at him for a few moments before turning and firing at the sky. Also the gun actually went off? Like sparks and everything, it was so jarring I was NOT ready for it.

Drink With Me was really nice, everyone’s voices blended super well and it was really pretty. Grantaire’s solo (which I am always happy to hear) was really good, and so was the Grantaire. They didn’t go as far out with Grantaire and Enjorlas as I might have liked (no hug at the end of his solo, which I know some productions do), but when he went off stage afterwards, Gavroche went and tried to pull him back on which I thought was really nice.

Bring Him Home OH MY GOD. I was halfway through standing up at the end of the song before I realized we weren’t giving that man a standing ovation, he was EVERYTHING. Bring Him Home is a really special song for me overall and it was just so beautiful.

Gavroche’s death killed me as it always does. He climbed over the barricade and sang almost his whole song over there. After the first shot (the one that doesn’t kill him) there was this super long silence and even though I knew he wasn’t meant to die there, I was freaked out, it was so horrible. He was climbing up the top of the barricade as the song ended, and he threw the bag of ammunition over there before he finished climbing, actually. He got right in the middle of the barricade as the song was ending (”So you better run for cover”) and he stood up tall RIGHT in front of Enjorlas who was ready to help him over, and that’s when he got shot. He fell right into Enjorlas’s arms and it was awful. Enjorlas turned around, all back lit from the lights, and he handed him to Grantaire who was right below him. Grantaire brought him over to stage right and laid him down, and he stayed with him for most of the scene.

The deaths of the Les Amis, oh my god. It was painful, and loud; the guns were firing constantly, and every death was worse than the last. I think Claquesous was the first I saw die, although I don’t know if he actually died first. Both Combferre and Courfreyec were at the top of their barricade, and the shots fired them back it was awful. There were a lot of people lying dead on the barricade. Enjorlas died almost in the main gap where Gavroche was shot, right next to it, and then Grantaire, who’d been at Gavroche’s side the whole time, ran all the way up the barricade, right in the main gap next to Enjorlas and he put his fist in the air and was shot like that. It was just, oof. It was sad but they did it very, very well.

They also had a small scene after the barricade was cleared away that just twisted the knife in further. Javert and two other soldiers came out, and the two soldiers were leading a cart. Javert prayed over Gavroche’s body, which was nice, but the cart killed me. The only body in the cart was Enjorlas, and he had his hand dangling out, still barely hanging on to the red flag. After Javert prayed over Gavroche, he picked him up and placed him in the cart next to Enjorlas. I died. Just, my God.

Dog Eats Dog was gross because ew the sewers but ya know. I felt so bad for Marius and the guy Thernardier was dragging around because there was SO MUCH FOG on stage and I know how hard it is to breathe in that stuff. The scene looked cool as hell though, so pros and cons.

Javert’s Suicide, holy shit. As Valjean went off stage with Marius, Javert had a gun aimed at him the whole time before he ripped it away and aimed at the sky, although he didn’t shoot, and it was basically a perfect mirror of when Valjean let him go. The first half or so of the song he actually wasn’t on the bridge, and I straight up thought they were going to have him shoot himself, which would’ve been wild. But as he started to spiral more he backed up and the bridge set came down. Something I noticed almost immediately was that the back side of the bridge was the same set as during Stars and I was YELLING. He didn’t technically jump off the bridge, but he climbed up on the front and then at the end of the song the sides and back of the bridge pulled away and the part he was standing on backed up into the spiraling water backdrop and it looked so, so cool.

Empty Chairs at Empty Tables. I cried HARD, this Marius killed the song, and really sold his guilt. During Turning the women had brought out candles and left them in different places on the stage, so it gave the scene really nice lighting. About halfway through Empty Chairs at Empty Tables I noticed something. I can’t say for sure, but from what I could tell, each of the candles was placed in the spot where one of the Les Amis died, as well as one where Marius lay when he was injured, and just: holy shit. The Les Amis came ON STAGE during the song (also the sign for the cafe de L’ABC was in the background the whole time too, oof). They each picked up their candles, and Marius picked up his as well, and they all held them out to Marius as he sang “Oh my friends, my friends, forgive me/That I live and you are gone”. At the end of the song Marius raised his candle like a glass and then blew it out and like. Damn.

Just a small thing I noticed, Marius and Valjean were mirrored entirely during Who Am I? Reprise, they were both dressed in all black and they both were limping on the same leg. Idk I just thought that was cool.

Marius and Cosette’s wedding was really nice and I loved it but then I realized as I was watching that all the male wedding guests were Les Amis de L’ABC and I started crying again. At least Cosette’s wedding dress was pretty, and at least Marius punched Thernardier in the face.

Oh the Finale. OHHHH the Finale. I was sobbing the whole way through, everyone was amazing. They had Fantine with her long hair, and she was in an all white dress too. When Valjean died, he stood up and Fantine ripped off the shawl he was wearing to reveal his pure white shirt which was REAL nice. I thought that they had given Eponine an all white costume too, but I realized near the end that she was still in the costume she died in, hat and all, except her coat was now pure white. All of the ensemble came in first, but then the bishop came onstage and hugged Valjean which was really, really nice. The Finale was beautiful as always.

Okay, that’s all. I know it was a lot but I just loved the show so much and really wanted to talk about it. Props if you got here.

#Les Miserables #les mis #le amis de l'abc #jean valjean #javert #that's as many tags as tumblr will take #anyway i loved this show and im so lucky i got to see it

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lizardrosen · 7 years

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Les Misérables at the Cadillac Palace Theater (October 17)

I saw Les Mis live for the first time ever, last night and boy oh BOY do I have a lot of thoughts!

Act I

Very dark, except when it was bright on a specific person for emotional impact

THAT TRIANGLE OF THE SHIP with the rowers and then Javert standing and looking over all of them!

Specific light on each person singing their bit “I know she’ll wait, I know that she’ll be true” etc.

So many beautiful little moments as Valjean is on parole! A little girl falls down and he tries to help her, but her parents whisk her away :(

A perfect Bishop Myriel, and the literal mob that brings Valjean back with torches, and then he sends Baptistine in to get the candlesticks, so good!

The stormclouds during Valjean’s Soliloquy, the light, the way he turns away and then back, and his very real struggle

I like this Fantine a LOT, especially how quiet and despairing “I Dreamed A Dream” starts out, ah!

So DARK, ugh, is this necessary

Love the courtroom in Arras, love the confrontation!

Valjean is so gentle with Fantine and then later so playful with Cosette, good dad, A+

Thenardiers were an appropriate level of silly, but also had that dark underbelly of humanity side to them

Moving buildings! Gavroche is such a presence from the start. Also, he was absolutely teeny

Enjolras looks like a young god, and has a strong voice to match

Marius had the perfect curly black hair, and a fitting air of melancholy

The Robbery is much better onstage than the soundtrack or movie made it

at the end of the robbery when Javert's like "clear this garbage off the street," Gavroche chases the people off too and says like "you heard the man, get out of here, we don't have all day" and meanwhile the buildings are rolling off, so it's just him and Javert looking at each other, and Gavroche smiles and slooooowly raises his hand in a salute

STARS! The way there’s more of them little by little and they get brighter, and the light on him gets brighter by the end. At one point he kneels down (and this Javert played it like he honestly believed he was praying and faithful in the name of the Law), and the shadow hit the posts of the bridge in a very cool way. Very good. (And Gavroche, watching, because of course he is)

This Eponine is amazing and powerful and has good chemistry with Marius, poor baby.

The Amis have a good group dynamic but I can’t tell them apart — I did figure out who Courfeyrac and Combeferre are by the end of the play

Gavroche screaming to get their attention to tell them Lamarque is dead, and then absolute silence and he gets a little nervous, but says it anyway!!

When Enjolras says “they will come when we call!” most of the Amis are in a group around him, and Grantaire stands close by, almost a part of them, but removed, still. Marius is even further back, torn but turning towards the doorway (and Cosette). Grantaire grabs Gavroche before “Do You Hear The People Sing” starts, but the kid is still devoted to the cause, despite his efforts

This was honestly the first time I’ve truly understood and liked “In My Life” which just goes to show how good this Cosette is

MARIUS is such a DORK when he meets Cosette! There’s a part where his voice goes really high, a part where he’s still knocking on the door but she’s already snuck outside and is behind him, and he did the “I don’t know what to say” just perfectly and adorably.

EPONINE, daughter of a wolf, what a good moment, and you truly believe she will do anything to defend this house against her father!

Then when Valjean comes out to see what’s going on, Marius is still trying to talk to Cosette, and Eponine has to shove him behind a pillar so he won’t be seen. It was a short moment but very nicely done

During One Day More, everyone had their own pools of different colored light, and it was very cool

THE RED FLAG CATCHING THE LIGHT AS THEY WAVE IT!!!!

Act II

Valjean and Cosette leaving Rue Plumet and Eponine meeting Valjean

The Barricade comes back into place behind her as she finishes “On My Own,” and she just starts handing off chairs as if she belongs there

Javert fought back a little after he was caught but at least he didn’t punch anyone

So DARK and everyone blended into the background, bleh!

Good “Little Fall of Rain” Eponine had very convincing death rattles, and everyone in the background, close enough for solidarity, but not intruding. GRANTAIRE pulling Gavroche away so he doesn’t need to look, sad babies!

There was a bit after Little Fall, where Marius and one other person have their guns at the ready, and Enjolras just touches his arm and says "Marius. Get some rest." A quiet and good moment.

During Grantaire’s part of “Drink With Me,” everyone grabs him to get him to shut up, but Enjolras just walks slowly down to his level, grabs the bottle and stares at him until he retreats to his wall, and Gavroche comforts him but he slowly sinks down to the floor

THE LIGHTING when Gavroche dies — he's singing the Little People song, and then you hear the shot, and everything freezes, and then he sings the next verse faster, like he's trying to get away, and THEN he climbs over the top and raises the cartridge box over his head victoriously, and then there's two streams of light in an X just as he's shot and falls into Enjolras' arms

The moment with the wagon at the end of the shooting, and Javert makes a cross over Gavroche, but still has him tossed in with the rest, unceremoniously. As it should be

DOG EAT DOG was perfect. He’s truly evil and horrible, and glories in it!

The projections as Valjean carries Marius through the sewers could have been corny and lame, but it worked!

The lighting as Valjean and Javert meet

JAVERT’S SUICIDE

I REALLY liked how he did this one

when he's first singing, he almost sounds like he's about to CRY because his world's been upturned, not because he's sad

and then it's like a rubberband stretching and he flips to being completely unhinged, and it was gorgeous in a horrible kind of way

and he's pacing across the stage trying to convince someone who isn't there that he knows what he's talking about, needing to justify *any* decision

At “the world I have known is lost in shadow” (maybe) there was a percussion bit that sounded like marimba or something just swelling underneath his existential crisis

People make fun of the effect where the bridge flies up to look like he’s falling down, but they SHOULDN’T because it was AWESOME and sad, especially as the darkness swallows him up and we’re left with the haunting reprise of Stars

The candles used in “Turning” are later picked up by the Amis as Marius sings “Empty Chairs at Empty Tables” and then they blow out the candles all at once. Marius hit a perfect combination of sad and angry and lost, and then Enjolras is the last one to leave, and they share this look, both so sorry for what’s happened, but not quite hopeless, and they hold their candles out to each other. Finally Marius blows out his candle and raises it up as the darkness grows around him.

Valjean’s Confession was really good, and Marius trying so hard to understand and help and make things better

The Wedding was unremarkable (and one of the brightest things in this production, but still SO dark, whyyy?) but the Thenardiers were an appropriate level of ridiculous, and I adored Mme. Thenardier’s purple dress with the lace and the FEATHERS.

I cried my eyes out at the Epilogue, which I often find a little boring, but in this case the dim light REALLY worked to get across Valjean’s despair and isolation. And then Fantine and Cosette’s white dresses really shone out to bring light back into his world.

“To love another person is to see the face of God” literally gave me chills, and then “Do You Hear The People Sing” was SO GOOD

#les mis #pilferingapples #long post #valjean #javert #marius #enjolras #eponine #gavroche #is this grantaire #thenardiers #not quite liveblogging my life

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martyslittleusedblog · 7 years

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A Record of Wasteland’s Should-Be Residents, Locations, etc.

Credit to @wasteland-unused for doing the research! I’m hoping that if these ideas are all compiled into one place, it’ll be easier to think of a story involving them. There’s a lot of stuff, so look below the cut. They’re supposed to link to their respective pages, but something’s gone screwy with my blog’s theme...

Residents

The MixUps

Phoebe the SeaBee

Fear, Shame, and Ignorance

The Lost Boys

Zeke Holloway

Lucky, Madame Mim’s cousin

Atticus Thorn

Pink Elephants

Mousercise / Ossercise

Vermithrax Pejorative

Wienie

Toby Bear

Max Hare

Supai

The Hunter (from The Black Cauldron)

Major Domo and Minor Domo

The kid from A Cowboy Needs a Horse

Terrible Tom

Waldo C. Graphic

The robots from Modern Inventions

Blackbeard, the original central pirate captain in the Pirates of the Caribbean ride

Looking-Glass Land Chess Pieces

Double-O Duck (a prototype of Darkwing Duck)

The White Rabbit’s Monkey gardener

Moana’s nine brothers (and maybe prototype!Moana)

The Cape Dogs

Casey and his daughters, the Caseyettes

Scrapped Dumbo crow designs

Captain Hook? (the version from the Peter Pan peanut butter commercials)

Concept art Dash

The characters of Fun with Mr. Future (possibly including Mr. Future himself)

Snug the Pilot

Winnie the Pooh characters (jerkass comic versions)

The Broken Toys

Redfeather the Turkey

Creepy Thanksgiving parade floats (from the ‘70s!)

Eilonwy

The Argumentative Grasshopper

Neverland Mermaids

Scrapped worm-like monster from Hercules

Scrapped versions of Elsa and the Queen of Arendelle

The Music Box

Spink

Windwagon Smith and his love, Molly

The original Hatbox Ghost

Old King Cole (Would he still be a king? Because Oswald is king...)

Early version of Lady

Bucky Bug, June Bug, and Bo Bug

Early Captain Hook

The Magic Mirror

The Skeleton Crew from James and the Giant Peach

Nasira

Stromboli

The Fair Folk

The Horned King

Orddu, Orwen, and Orgoch

Patricia and Percy Pig

Mheetu

Clarice

Slimy the Weasel (as a Blotling)

Giant dinosaur mouse

Herbie the Love Bug

George Geef (and maybe Goofy Jr, too)

Push the Talking Trash Can

Expedition Everest’s animatronic yeti

Kat Nipp

Trudy van Tubb

Experiment 000 (Cyber)

Zeus / Jupiter and Vulcan (Fantasia versions)

Yeti animatronic

Fifi the Pekingese Dog

The mice in Great Guns and All Wet

Babkak, Omar, and Kassim

The Crows from Dumbo

Scrapped!Gaston(s?)

Brer Rabbit, Brer Fox, and Brer Bear from Song of the South (and Splash Mountain)

Keelhaul Pete

American folk tale characters (protagonists, primarily)

Fifinellas (female Gremlins) and Widgets (baby Gremlins)

Lyth

The Dreamfinder and Figment the Dragon

Drossel von Flügel and Gedächtnis

Master Control Program (MCP)

Rejected Sleeping Beauty fairies

Various obscure Disney robots

9-Eyes

Kopa

Sheriff Crabb

Rocky the Rhino

The Lion and the Unicorn

Woody Pride (scrapped version)

Inspector Javert (from That Missing Candelabra)

Yzma (scrapped version)

Francine “Fanny” Cottontail

Maleficent (scrapped versions, plus disguise!)

Julius the Cat

Belle’s extended family

Previously-scrapped Beetleworx

The pirates from the King Neptune short

The Mechanical Cow

Eega Beeva

Willie the Whale

J.P. Whiskers

Sora (scrapped version)

Miklos Mouse

Sylvester Shyster

Burrito

Señorita Cactus

The Mariachi Butterflies

Donna Duck

The Aracuan Bird

Miguelito Maracas

Scrapped Peter Pan pirates

Maximilian (already has a Beetleworx, but perhaps put the real one in?)

Elvira (and scrapped version of Edgar?)

The Fujitas

Banagi

Captain Gore and Priscilla

Scrapped “Drink Me” bottle

The White Knight

The Gryphon and the Mock Turtle

The Duchess and company

The Golden Harp?

Scrapped Dwarfs (with, um...certain exceptions...)

Bootleg Pete

Dentist Pete

Robin Williams lost boy from Back to Never Land

Lucky the Dinosaur

Sunflower and/or Otika

The Jabberwock

Characters from Mistress Masham’s Repose

Humphrey the Bear (He made a cameo in 2, apparently, but how about a proper appearance?)

Clara Cluck

The Nutcracker Sentries

Don Quixote

Arawn

Captain Cleaver

Gendarme

Locations

Wintertime Park

The Tick Tock Croc Aquarium

Oswald’s Barrel House

Mickey’s Kitchen (possibly re-opened in Wasteland as Oswald’s Kitchen)

Cannibal Cove/Pirates’ Cove

Mission to Mars

Videopolis

The factory on top of the beanstalk

The Walt Disney Story

“Disney’s America” (or, as I like to call it, Americaland)

World of Motion

El Rio Del Tiempo

Discovery Island (see here if you’re wondering about the Adventurer’s Club)

Pooh’s Playful Spot

River Country

Disney’s Dark Kingdom

Disneyland New York?

Time Keeper

Silent Film Stunt Show

Previously-scrapped Wonderland area

Back to Never Land

Demon Jungle

Beastly Kingdom

Music

Feed the Birds

Arabian Nights Reprise #1

Wherever You Are

Mickey Mouse Disco

We’re Gonna Get Outta this Dump

Chimpanzoo

Babkak, Omar, Aladdin, Kassim

Laughing Place

Proud of Your Boy

The Cinderella Work Song

Dancing on a Cloud

If You’ll Believe in Me

I’m Odd

Snuff Out the Light

Beyond the Laughing Sky (which may sound kind of familiar...)

Warrior Face

You’re Never Too Old to Be Young

Music in Your Soup

Beta Epic Mickey tracks (known so far)

Blue Oak Tree

Beware the Jabberwock

Dream Caravan

Misc.

World War II Insignias

Pack Mules?

Photo Cutouts

Booze

Duck Pimples

Cranium Command

Stitch’s Great Escape

Beacon of Souls

Mickey Mouse Club Circus

Flubber AKA Flying Rubber

Wind-Up Mickey Toy

The Star of Astoroth

Plaza Swan Boats and Mike Fink Keel Boats

Guns and other military equipment

Cigars

Scrapped Content from Epic Mickey

The characters, concepts, etc, from 10 scrapped Disney and Pixar films

The collar of the Cat from Outer Space

1930′s Horace X Clarabelle Valentine’s Day card

Mickey’s Army Uniform

Animatronic Hook’s Flying Ship

A very hurtful (to Oswald) quote from Walt (WARNING: angst)

Disney Animator Memorials

Tom Oreb “stylish” 50′s redesigns of classic Disney characters

Spectrobes

What’s this about ICP!?

Unproduced Disney TV shows

The magic sword from The Black Cauldron

The Golden Pelydryn

The Crypt

The Black Cauldron concept art by Tim Burton (potential Bog Easy Blotling ideas?)

The Great Movie Ride

Indicators of the fallen of Wasteland

Peter Pan’s Shadow (either a Pete Pan’s shadow or Blotlings resembling Peter Pan’s shadow)

The ExtraTERRORestrial Alien Encounter

The Jug Pump

Disney Princess Academy

Blotlings inspired by The Army of the Dead from The Black Cauldron

Chernabog’s Minions (as Bog Easy Blotling designs)

Splashtacular

Maelstrom

America Sings

Polyps

More about Gremlins (Read the PDF of the book here!)

Pig Head / “Toonarooned”

Scrapped Blot ideas

Tapestry of Nations Parade

Creepy vintage Oswald merch

20′s slang

The Shadow King

Blot!Mickey (could be used for a Blot!Miklos or something)

More creepy vintage Mickey merch

Gas flares

#epic mickey #wastelandunused #creativity fuel #imagination fuel

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lawisnotmocked · 6 years

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BBC Les Mis Episode 2

I’m back with more incoherent screaming (and spoilers) buckle in lads!

Starting again with some quick things!

What even is time anyway? The passage of time is a made up concept invented by the musical.

Font is still laughable :,3

I would!! Die for little ‘Ponine and Zelma!!!

Olivia Colman is an incredible Madame Thenardier!! Definitely one of the highlights of this episode for me!!

I really love the Thenardiers and all the Thenardier scenes! Except! When Thenardier hit Madame T I wasn’t expecting that. It just seemed a little unnecessarily violent? Like, nothing was really achieved by adding it in other than seeing her get hit we can already see that Cosette is in an abusive household and it holds no significance later on either? Yeah wasn’t too fond of that :/

I would die for little Marius :,,) but it was a really weird choice to have Gorges die when he was so young?? Interested to know what Davies is going to do with that now. Are we going to have 7 year old Bonapartist Marius??

Fantine’s letter writer needs to shush no one asked for his damn opinion >:/

Now moving onto My Boys (featuring Fantine too)!

I don’t care what anyone else says about Valjean’s ponytail it’s the cutest thing ever and I love it :,) and his awkward little speech omg that was very in character and also adorable!

After the first 10 minutes things get... ehhhh. Valjean comes across a little bit judgey of Fantine when he interviews her to work in the factory, but sure okay, having the two characters meet isn’t a bad choice they’re establishing the fact that Valjean knows Fantine works for him so he’ll recognise her later.

Can’t deny that Monsieur le Maire is very attractive (sorry had to get that out of the way ^^’) and okay a scene with him handing out coins to children good all still very in character!

I loved the shot of his bare bedroom after the factory girls were talking about it too and lighting the candlesticks that we can see he’s kept too. As of this point no major issues!

Ooh damn guess who comes into the factory next!! The new handsome chief of police here to ask in his lovely deep voice if you prefer to be called Monsieur or Daddy!! (Spoiler he prefers Monsieur le Maire) God this scene!! Once again is so nearly perfect!! There’s the awkward tension and clash of opinion and Oyelowo and West’s incredible acting!! But the dialogue sucks!! It feels so forced!! Please Davies!! You almost had it there!!

Oyelowo’s Javert is so dedicated and fanatical I love him so much god please give this man a better script hhhhhhh :,,)

Okay okay as I’m watching I’m thinking actually the second half of this scene is a little better it flows more easily and Javert’s monologue was actually not too bad.

Oof I hated the implication that Valjean was interested in/attracted to Fantine though. Especially since, again, it served no purpose other than making Valjean seem creepy and making it appear that his later actions were motivated by attraction. Served literally no other purpose wasn’t used again past that point just made everything else Bad. I hate it.

What comes next?? Cart scene cart scene!! And Javert on a horse 👀 I... don’t know if it’s just because I’m making heart eyes at Dominic West and David Oyelowo the entire time but I really liked this scene!! No complaints even the dialogue was pretty good!

The next scene however.... *deep sigh* the next scene....

I... really did not like the choice to have Valjean stand there, listen to Fantine explain herself and her situation in tears to him, and then loose his shit at her and fire her. That’s just. No. Not only is that so incredibly and painfully out of character, but it’s also messing up the entire point of Fantine’s story?? And making Valjean a really dislikable character?? God I just. I hate this scene so much ugh!!

No letter Jav rides straight the fuck to Paris! I don’t know how I feel about this scene? On the one hand... who the fuck is this man the Javert I know would never challenge an authority figure!! But on the other hand I guess it’s kind of fitting for Oyelowo’s Javert? So yeah. Don’t know how I feel about this. I guess I didn’t dislike it but you’re on thin fucking ice Davies and you’re lucky I like Oyelowo’s more dominant Javert.

*deep sigh* Valjean.... buries the candlesticks with his money. What about the symbolism Davies?? What! About! The symbolism! During the scene where he’s supposed to throw them into the fire!!

Valjean and Javert meeting in the street on horseback after both returning from their Highly Suspicious Missions was a Good Scene though I loved that! It made me think of the Awkward Eye Contact Scene in the brick when Valjean is staying in Gorbeau House :p See! The issue is! That most of this isn’t too bad! And some of it is really good! But there’s a few utterly awful things that just ruin the entire episode for me! And that sucks!!

Anyway. I really loved the scene where Fantine sells her hair and teeth I think that was done well! But it was really goddamn sad as well!! ‘Les mis is sad’ says local man who knows storyline :,3

After this I felt like Fantine’s story gets a little unnecessary graphic? Maybe it’s just a personal opinion but it felt a little bit like the scene where Madame T was hit. Apparently Davies can’t write a single female character who isn’t a Tragic Powerless Victim Of Men (Specifically Their Sexual Urges) :/ But again, just a personal opinion I can see how other people might like that scene as a way to show how truly awful Fantine’s life became.

Oookkkayyy Fantine’s arrest. Personally I liked the beginning of this scene! As always Oyelowo was incredible and his Javert was rough (but he did just drag a woman off a gentleman and she was attacking him so I think that’s not an unexpected or totally unreasonable reaction) and dismissive, and I loved Fantine begging him to let her go and then calling Madeleine a monster. Big oof but in a good way. Making me feel feelings.

Javert literally throwing her to the ground felt a little too much? But Davies it Just Like That apparently :/

My main problem with this scene was actually Valjean-who-doesn’t-really-feel-like-Valjean-anymore. What Fantine says about him is all true. We aren’t given any reason to believe he changed at all from the man in Toulon. Instead of Fantine being hurt by ✨society✨ it’s Valjean himself who is the direct cause of her suffering. ( @pilferingapples explains this much better and in a lot more detail here!) Add on the fact that Davies established earlier on that Valjean was potentially attracted to Fantine and this totally messes up his motivation for helping her too and oof I hate it :,) Valjean has been turned into a dislikable character, Fantine’s hatred for him specifically is justified and Javert is becoming a sympathetic character! What did you do to my emotional support dad Jean Valjean Davies?? D:<

Hhhh the scene when Javert asks to be dismissed... it’s good!! The dialogue feels a lot better and Oyelowo is incredible and it’s as tense and dramatic as it should be! Except! It isn’t Javert asking to be dismissed. It’s Javert actually being dismissed. Because Valjean says nothing. No insistence that Javert remain as a police inspector. Nothing. That’s! Not! Jean Valjean! Davies! And how is that even going to work with the storyline is Javert just going to get his job back after Valjean confesses?? Is this the Bad End where Valjean never even goes to Aras and Javert looses his job as an inspector?? What are you doing here Davies?? Uuughh this isn’t actually a bad episode it’s just Valjean’s awful mischaracterisation that’s killing me here!!

To continue the thread of Valjean’s Awful Mischaracterisation, shouting at who I think is Sister Simplice?? Oof.

I know I mentioned the candlesticks being buried in the woods before but. Why?? Valjean has no candlesticks to throw into the fire so instead it’s Petit Gervais’ coin that takes their symbolic place. I know I said I was happy to have Petit Gervais included but that doesn’t mean I wanted his ghost to haunt Valjean and take the symbolic place of Myriel :,,) So yeah. Weird choice but go off I guess??

I still. Am kind of hopeful that perhaps Valjean’s characterisation might improve in later episodes? It’s only episode 2 right we’ve got 4 more to go! But at the same time I’m nervous that It’s Only Going To Get Worse :,) Anyway I’d die for Oyelowo’s Javert and he’s good.

Well there are my Hot Takes on what actually happened in the episode now it’s Animal Symbolism O’clock >:3

The bird symbolism is back baby!! And I really loved the way this was done! The bird is symbolic of Cosette. Working in Madeleine’s factory is how Fantine is able to send the Thenardiers money for Cosette and she makes a little bird while she’s at work. However when the bird is discovered, Fantine is told that if she keeps making things like that instead of working she’ll be fired. Foreshadowing! The discovery of Cosette is what gets her fired. I’m genuinely impressed with this this is some proper complex symbolism!

Bird symbolism can’t save you from your Valjean related sins Davies but Valjean being given Fantine’s jet bird after he fires her can also be seen as foreshadowing for Valjean meeting Cosette, but also a signal that Fantine can’t look after Cosette anymore and won’t be able to go and fetch her like she wanted because she doesn’t have her job anymore.

There’s also the continued use of wild beast/non-human creature to refer to those outside of polite and civilised society when Javert asks Valjean “you would risk your good name to help a creature like that?” during Fantine’s arrest.

Still nothing to connect Javert to dogs though :/ But I’m still hopeful! Maybe next episode!

#Les Miserables #les mis #bbc miniseries #javert #jean valjean #fantine #monsters of our making

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