Les Miserables and The Issue of Race
Les Miserables is one of my favorite stories—I’ve read the book, seen the stage musical, watched at least four different film versions including the anime, and read a ton of spin-off books and fan-written literature. As a whole, the story focuses largely on religious and social issues. However, the one social issue that it seems to ignore is that of race. In the original, most of the characters are (presumably) white with one possible exception—Javert. There’s been a lot of speculation over the years as to whether Javert is canonically white, Roma, or half/half—chiefly because of a dispute over Hugo’s use of the term “bohemian” which can refer to either the Roma race or a wandering sort of lifestyle. Given that Javert’s mother was said to be a fortune-teller (an occupation commonly associated with Roma people during that time period), my inclination is that the inspector was probably at least half Roma. But we don’t really know because that’s literally all Hugo ever tells us…which begs the question, if the author DID intend for Javert to be of Roma or mixed race origins, WHY is the issue never addressed again?
If Javert had been a minor character, it might not be such a big deal, but he’s NOT just a side character. In fact, I’d argue that, next to Valjean, he might be the most important character. He’s the primary antagonist, and without Javert, there really isn’t much of a story because, well…Valjean wouldn’t have had any reason to run. He could has just stayed the mayor and raised Cosette in M-sur-M, and that would be that. End of story. Not quite as interesting, is it? Javert drives the plot for a good portion of the novel, and with a character who’s that important, you would think it would be necessary for Hugo to address social stigmatisms of the time period associated with the Roma people.
Think about it. I mean, it’s hard enough for the kid of two criminals to get into the police force. But if that kid also happened to be of a race that was considered socially inferior at the time, it would have been near impossible for him to rise up to the position of inspector…and even then, he probably would have had to endure some whispers behind his back from his peers. And if that’s the case, then Javert deserves even more respect for having overcome not only social but racial barriers.
Though set a bit earlier than Les Mis, Emily Bronte’s gothic romance novel Wuthering Heights clearly addresses the race issue with the character of Heathcliff. Over and over again, the reader is reminded of his dark appearance and (probably) Roma origins and how it affects both his family life and his love life with Catherine. Not so with Javert.
Why is that? Was Hugo afraid to address the issue of race? Did he feel like he just couldn’t work one more issue into the moral fabric of the story? Or was it that he truly never intended Javert to be anything but white?
This issue is also ignored on the stage and on screen. While there has been at least one person of color representing Javert on stage (the lovely Norm Lewis aka King Triton), it’s more the result of colorblind casting than of a conscious decision to represent the character in a canonically accurate light. (Though Roma people more closely resemble the people of India, from which they are descended, than those of African descent like Mr. Lewis.) Furthermore, I don’t think any film version that I’m aware of has ever portrayed Javert as anything other than white with the possible exception of the anime, Shoujo Cosette, which presents the character with black hair and somewhat tanned skin. Don’t get me wrong, I love Quast, Varela, Perkins, and Crowe as much as anybody, and they are all very talented men, but I don’t understand why most of the productions don’t even attempt to make his race canonically accurate. Granted, I don’t know of many Roma actors…but couldn’t they at least get someone with darker skin and hair or use stage makeup or something? I get that not everyone can sing and there are only so many people who audition for a part, but in a non-musical interpretation for the big-screen, you’d think they’d consider his physical appearance on the casting call.
Perhaps it is BECAUSE Hugo never makes a big deal about Javert’s race that it has largely been ignored on screen. If a person of color played Javert on screen, it would be glaringly obvious to the audience that (given the period) there should be some racial prejudice going on, but since that doesn’t happen in the book, it would probably be ignored in the movie as well, and that would just leave the audience confused as to why the race card was never addressed. But just once, I’d really like to see someone who looks like they could pass for a Rom in the role. Just once, I’d really like for an actor/director to take the role and run with it and give a whole new interpretation of the character with perhaps a few missing scenes from his past. Even if you want to argue that Javert is canonically white, it still surprises me that this potential aspect of the story has never really been explored in any mainstream production.
(That being said, the race issue IS addressed in some detail in both “Barricades: The Journey of Javert” and the “Pont-au-Change” Les Mis sequel series. But still….)
What do you think? I’d love to hear some other people’s opinions.
