Here are some things I've noticed after a few months of over-analyzing Les Mis.
(I swear, if I had these analyzing abilities toward, like, Their Eyes Were Watching God my life would be so much easier. But for some reason I can only develop intense literary analysis skills when it comes to Les Mis. (And Sherlock.) That is so like me. But on the bright side, at least I can blog about it.)
*I'll note that these are my own original thoughts - I haven't plagiarized anyone. And it's not that I'm above pretending smart people's ideas are my own (if I was going to analyze the Great Gatsby I would plagiarize the heck out of John Green (but I do that anyway in my daily life)) it's simply that I hadn't thought of doing any research until I started writing this. And I will finish writing this before I give in to the temptation.*
Musicals have a unique potential for really amazing characterization.
Les Mis is no exception. In fact, it's sort of the epitome of this. Internal monologue and conflicts thrive in musicals as in no other medium. In movies, voice overs are really the only option. Books can provide a great deal of this - but only for one character at a time. In musicals, it's not only easy, but it seems so natural. I can't think of any other way to capture the complex grief of Marius (including his anger and feelings of survivor's guilt) than with the song Empty Chairs at Empty Tables. "Oh, my friends, my friends don't ask me what your sacrifice was for." It gets me every time.
Plus, Eddie Redmayne, right?
Right.
Another great internal conflict song is also one of my favorites: Who Am I?
"Who am I? Can I conceal myself for evermore? Pretend I'm not the man I was before?" - "Must I lie? How can I ever face my fellow man? How can I ever face myself again?"
A song is the smoothest, clearest way to get all these thoughts, all these doubts out into the open. Beyond that, it's a really awesome song.
It's a story about mercy and how we deal with mercy that we don't think we deserve.
Valjean is the first to deal with undeserved mercy when he backstabs the Bishop who then protects him from being returned to jail. Then he sings about it for a good few minutes: "How did I allow this man to touch my soul and teach me love?" He concludes that he will "escape now from this world, from the world of Jean Valjean. Jean Valjean is nothing now! Another story must begin!"
Valjean is able to deal with the mercy he's been shown and decides to make himself "an honest man" as the Bishop suggested. And he does that pretty much perfectly.
Javert, however, is not able to handle the mercy he's shown when Valjean spares his life. "Damned if I live in the debt of a thief," he says. Or sings, rather. The most obvious parallels between his conflict and Valjean's earlier one are melodic and lyrical. Javert also sings, "I will escape now from this world, from the world of Jean Valjean." But his escape is a very different one, proving that he can't deal with mercy that he doesn't understand and furthermore he can't change. I could talk for hours about why exactly Javert killed himself, but I'll spare you.
Javert was wrong when he said, "There is nothing on earth that we share. It is either Valjean or Javert."
There are a lot of things that they share, while still remaining great literary foils. But really, foils can't be polar opposites; they have to comparable in some way. This is a great opportunity to make a Venn Diagram. But I don't know how to do that in Blogger so I won't.
Both believe quite firmly in justice - but different definitions of justice. Valjean is a vigilante type, who decides on his own who is worthy of saving. He's the definition of gray area. Javert, on the other hand, is much more black and white. People who break the law are always deserving of punishment, no matter their motivations. He does not believe that people can do the wrong things for the right reasons. Intention doesn't matter at all to him.
They're both completely sure that they're doing the right thing (until Javert isn't, but that's another story). They're both weird sort of loners. They both have great singing voices.
Clearly I'm running out of ideas. Let's move on.
"Who am I? Can I conceal myself for evermore? Pretend I'm not the man I was before?" - "Must I lie? How can I ever face my fellow man? How can I ever face myself again?"
A song is the smoothest, clearest way to get all these thoughts, all these doubts out into the open. Beyond that, it's a really awesome song.
It's a story about mercy and how we deal with mercy that we don't think we deserve.
Valjean is the first to deal with undeserved mercy when he backstabs the Bishop who then protects him from being returned to jail. Then he sings about it for a good few minutes: "How did I allow this man to touch my soul and teach me love?" He concludes that he will "escape now from this world, from the world of Jean Valjean. Jean Valjean is nothing now! Another story must begin!"
Valjean is able to deal with the mercy he's been shown and decides to make himself "an honest man" as the Bishop suggested. And he does that pretty much perfectly.
Javert, however, is not able to handle the mercy he's shown when Valjean spares his life. "Damned if I live in the debt of a thief," he says. Or sings, rather. The most obvious parallels between his conflict and Valjean's earlier one are melodic and lyrical. Javert also sings, "I will escape now from this world, from the world of Jean Valjean." But his escape is a very different one, proving that he can't deal with mercy that he doesn't understand and furthermore he can't change. I could talk for hours about why exactly Javert killed himself, but I'll spare you.
Javert was wrong when he said, "There is nothing on earth that we share. It is either Valjean or Javert."
There are a lot of things that they share, while still remaining great literary foils. But really, foils can't be polar opposites; they have to comparable in some way. This is a great opportunity to make a Venn Diagram. But I don't know how to do that in Blogger so I won't.
Both believe quite firmly in justice - but different definitions of justice. Valjean is a vigilante type, who decides on his own who is worthy of saving. He's the definition of gray area. Javert, on the other hand, is much more black and white. People who break the law are always deserving of punishment, no matter their motivations. He does not believe that people can do the wrong things for the right reasons. Intention doesn't matter at all to him.
They're both completely sure that they're doing the right thing (until Javert isn't, but that's another story). They're both weird sort of loners. They both have great singing voices.
Clearly I'm running out of ideas. Let's move on.
Why does Javert kill himself?
Just kidding, I'm not going to spare you. Muahahahah. Ha.
As I've stated before, he couldn't handle the mercy he'd been shown, undeserved mercy in his view, by a man he'd decided long ago was a bad man. Until, of course, on the bridge he "begins to doubt." That is a major problem for someone with the psychology of Javert. You know, maybe he just realized he wasted over a decade of his life on his obsessive Valjean-hunt. I mean, what's up, Javert? You got a wife? You got a family? You got a first name? No? Well, maybe there are some deeper-rooted issues here.
Okay, so we already knew Javert had a thing for heights. So the odds were not in his favor.
I can't stop making jokes. Sorry. Okay, time to be serious. The main idea is doubt: "Must I now begin to doubt, who never doubted all these years?" His world has been turned upside down, it's "lost in shadow." Most importantly, though "the stars are black and cold." We already know that Javert has a thing for stars, but also for what they represent: law and order. He values order, consistency, predictability - in the stars and in the world. Valjean causes him to doubt not only the past 10 or so years of his life, but the entire world - what world is this if a convict turns out to actually be a good man? A better man, even, than the police man who's chased him all these years? And that's what Javert can't deal with - that's why he can't go on.
A few notes on symbols...
The red flag of the revolution sort of changes meanings. It starts off as a symbol for freedom, hope, etc. All the usual things. But when the barricade thing kind of goes downhill (i.e. everyone dies), the red flag switches quickly to symbolizing death, blood, etc. All the usual things. So, when Enjolras dies in the movie holding the flag and it's sort of streaming out the window with his body - it's supposed to look like blood. And on stage, Enjolras's body was in a cart, lying on top of the flag, so the same idea. A little more complexly, if you join together the "before and after" meaning of the flag, it's basically the cost of freedom.
It's funny 'cause Enjolras/Grantaire is actually canon...
...they die holding hands. #sobbing
As I've stated before, he couldn't handle the mercy he'd been shown, undeserved mercy in his view, by a man he'd decided long ago was a bad man. Until, of course, on the bridge he "begins to doubt." That is a major problem for someone with the psychology of Javert. You know, maybe he just realized he wasted over a decade of his life on his obsessive Valjean-hunt. I mean, what's up, Javert? You got a wife? You got a family? You got a first name? No? Well, maybe there are some deeper-rooted issues here.
Okay, so we already knew Javert had a thing for heights. So the odds were not in his favor.
I can't stop making jokes. Sorry. Okay, time to be serious. The main idea is doubt: "Must I now begin to doubt, who never doubted all these years?" His world has been turned upside down, it's "lost in shadow." Most importantly, though "the stars are black and cold." We already know that Javert has a thing for stars, but also for what they represent: law and order. He values order, consistency, predictability - in the stars and in the world. Valjean causes him to doubt not only the past 10 or so years of his life, but the entire world - what world is this if a convict turns out to actually be a good man? A better man, even, than the police man who's chased him all these years? And that's what Javert can't deal with - that's why he can't go on.
A few notes on symbols...
The red flag of the revolution sort of changes meanings. It starts off as a symbol for freedom, hope, etc. All the usual things. But when the barricade thing kind of goes downhill (i.e. everyone dies), the red flag switches quickly to symbolizing death, blood, etc. All the usual things. So, when Enjolras dies in the movie holding the flag and it's sort of streaming out the window with his body - it's supposed to look like blood. And on stage, Enjolras's body was in a cart, lying on top of the flag, so the same idea. A little more complexly, if you join together the "before and after" meaning of the flag, it's basically the cost of freedom.
It's funny 'cause Enjolras/Grantaire is actually canon...
...they die holding hands. #sobbing
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