#les mis feels

[mo-moomin]

No I don't think most people understand just how much my insides get affected whenever I listen to "Stars" and the Javert in question gets to the second verse.

Like, the sheer vulnerability in that one word, the concentrated emotion the singers put into the moment Javert looks up, sighing "..stars" oh so softly, the utter fragility you can feel seeping from him in that one single word,..

...Yeah. That gets me.

[dimesandnickels]

Les Mis: “Some will fall and some will live, will you stand up and take your chance?” 

Me: *laughing hysterically* “S-some? Some? Only some will fall?!” 

[wavewillow123]

Les miserables

Spoilers if, for whatever reason, you have not seen the musical live or seen the movie version. i would seriously recommend it if you haven’t. 

you have this character who sees the world, and how to give justice, as very black and white. Javert was born in a jail and worked his way up through the ranks in i’m assuming a honest way. As an adult he only saw the world in one way. it was the same with the people in it. Once a criminal, always a criminal.  

Now enter Jean Valjean, a character who is as morally grey as they come. Valjean becomes a thief to save his nephew. he breaks patrol and goes on the run, only to create a new identity for himself and become a mayor that gives hundreds of people jobs in a very trying time financially (along with a lot of other problems but that’s not the focally point at moment) he keeps fantine from going to jail and let’s her die in peace. He tells the court that they have the wrong man despite it shattering the life he had made for himself, and thus affecting everyone he employs. he saves Cosette, even though he’s on the run. Overall, Valjean does a lot of good, while being a convict and on the run. 

the beginning of the musical is where these two characters meet. and from that moment on their story is intertwined. Javert from then on focuses on finding Valjean, almost to an obsessive level, even remembering him and being determined to find him some ten years down the line. Valjean gives Javert multiple chances to just walk away and let the situation be, even going as far as to save his life. And more than once Valjean only asked for an hour or two so he could save someone elses life in that moment. Despite this Javert still goes after Valjean again and again. 

Until the last time Valjean and Javert meet. Javert, having warred with himself again and again about whether Valjean was good man or not (by definition of his black and white view), simply cannot handle the fact that Valjean is as morally grey as he is. He lets Valjean walk past him, even with the line “one more step and you die.” he throws away his gun and has the song called Javert’s suicide. Javert’s world has been completely turned upside down by this person who was lowly convict. this person who had spared Javert’s life. Javert is literally stuck between the law and his new outlook of justice and morals. 

all of this leads to Javert’s death, which i find quite sad actually. Javert is the antagonist of the musical, and one who has been wrote as very tragically human. He fights with himself throughout the whole musical, only to lose himself in the end. This makes me to wonder if Valjean feels responsible for it after he hears about Javert’s death.

Paired with the other main story line of the musical, the failed revolution and the deaths of the barricade boys(that is worthy of another post), Valjean and Javert’s story line makes Les mis a very heart wrenching musical to watch and think about. 

I’m just having a lot Les Mis feels right now. 

note: i have not had the pleasure of seeing the musical performed or read Victor Hugo’s novel, although i would love to. I’ve only seen the 2012 move adaption. 

[nonmodernists]

talk to me about how lonely combeferre feels when enjolras is in full-on leader mode, i have so many feelings about ittttttt

[zero-graviza]

Whenever -- when. ever. -- Drink With Me comes on, I literally drop everything to sing, no, to perform along with it.

I go above and beyond the call of duty. I don't just sing the words. I smile them, I cry them, I shout them, I believe them. And, if it's the 2012 movie's Drink With Me, I pause it at the appropriate place to fit in the missing and extremely important part Grantaire generally has.

Generally with wet eyes and this startling conviction that comes from being a character for the duration of a song or set of lines..

[zero-graviza]

*Sings Grantaire's part of Drink With Me*

*Cries hot, sometimes angry, tears almost every single time*

[zero-graviza]

The Students: *singing* They will come one and all! They will come when we call!

Me: *sobbing* NO THEY WON'T.

[voidjumpergem-blog1-blog]

So. in Les Mis whenever we hear anyone say Jean Valjean it's always said with a certain tone. Every time in the movie it's said with a negative connotation:

with anger (Valjean to Javert),

with hatred (Javert),

with hatred again (Valjean's soliloquy)

with despair and obviously equated with his prisoner number (Who am I: "WHo am I? I'm Jean Valjean....Who am I? 24601")

with false shock and shame, trying to beguile ("Jean Valjean in the sewers one night")

Other than those few times we don't hear his name at all. But there's one time. the last time his name is spoken and it's spoken in love and forgiveness and awe by someone who finally realizes Jean Valjean is not defined by his sins:

"Who am I? Who am I?"

"You're Jean Valjean."