One of the most interesting things about The Last of Us is the focus on Joel’s aging woes. He’s played by an actor significantly younger than him, so they put the works on making him look older and tired. And so much of the drama, so far, centers around the fact Joel feels too old to keep going as he used to and therefore feels unqualified to be the protector he’s always believed himself to be just as he finds someone he wants so badly to protect.
It’s been a long time since I watched the gameplay but I don’t remember there being so much focus on that, so it’s interesting that the show is doing that.
Needed to have a gander at Damien Moreau for reference, so looked at San Lorenzo job again - please anyone watch that episode and observe carefully Moreau when Eliot has a puppy. I swear he makes a face like he's trying to hide the fact that he finds this adorable.
I love my bestie @delightfulmuffinclamauthor, cause she's always supporting me, helping me, and she's just a beautiful soul that i'm really happy i met, love you💕💙🥰
@ironicsnap AHHHHHHH THANK YOU HELLO OK I HAVE A LOT OF FEELINGS ON THIS I’LL TRY FAIL TO BE CONCISE (Also: only knowing the film is VALID!)
Stage!Javert blindly worships the irrational laws of an irrational society.The fact that Javert’s actions are insanely over-the-top and unreasonable is the entire point. There is no good reason for someone to spend 19 years in prison for stealing a loaf of bread--- but Javert is the Law, and the Laws are not reasonable. (I LOVE him as a character, he has Nuances and is ultimately very tragic!)
But the movie...
Russel Crowe and Tom Hooper have said in interviews that they thought Stage!Javert was a poorly written character (we’ll talk about that later in the post!) so in the movie they tried to “FIX” Javert. Basically they attempted to portray a character whose entire Thing was being over-the-top and unreasonable...... as a rational level-headed person doing Rational Normal Things.......and it backfired amazingly. It made meme history
But to elaborate:
STAGE JAVERT
There’s a lot of variation in how Javert is performed, but I argue the best Javerts are like----- if CAPS LOCK were a person. Imho Javert is iconic for HUGE CONFIDENT SONGS and a POWERHOUSE VOICE. Even the more restrained Javerts still portray his character as kind of a....diva?
This is why he’s one of the most memorable characters in musical theatre. The other characters will be singing their sad little songs, and then suddenly...BAM! Javert’s threatening scary voice BOOMS out as he steps onto the stage!! And even if you’re way in the back row you’re like “Oh shit!!! RUN! Everyone needs to run!!!!!”
(^this is Norm Lewis he’s great)
But the Intensity(tm) of his character is occasionally played for laughs too. He’s so Dramatic 24/7 that it can become comical. (a lot like Carmelita Fox.) He’s a diva clearly in love with the sound of his own voice, and the sound of his own name--- he makes tons of hammy proclamations about himself in the third person. “YOU KNOW NOTHING OF JAVERT!”
If you listen to anything from the stage musical, please let it be Philip Quast’s version of Stars (Javert’s big solo) which conveys pretty much everything about drama queen Stage Javert
(And! So! IT! MUST!!!! BE!!!!!!!! FOR SO IT IS WRITTEN, ON THE DOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOORWAY TO PARADISE!!)
Also In the stage musical Stars is followed by a moment where Gavroche breaks the fourth wall and says basically: “Did you guys hear that shit song? 🎵That inspector’s such a diva.”🎵
SO YEAH. Valjean and Javert are counterparts. Valjean is all about self-doubt and his big song is “Who Am I?”--- meanwhile Javert’s always caps-lock yelling about how “I’M JAVERT.”
Valjean spent 19 years in prison for stealing a loaf of bread, Javert was the son of criminals who was born inside a jail. But Valjean came out of his prison experiences with the belief that the system is wrong, it should always be questioned, and even the “lowest” people deserve empathy.....while Javert came out with the belief that the system is ALWAYS UNQUESTIONABLY RIGHT no matter how wrong it seems, and no one from his class deserves empathy (not even himself.)
And there’s so much to say about that--- about how Javert is a victim even as he beats down other victims like him-- how Javert enforces the very system that made him an outcast!!!!--how in the book it’s explicitly stated that Javert developed his irrational obsessive self-destructive worship of the Law out of “despair”--- but for now let’s just say Valjean has anxiety while Javert is a diva.
Lindsay Ellis once said that we don’t necessarily like characters because they’re “good” but because they have clear motivations, and Javert is ALL about clear motivations. He earnestly believes in enforcing a cruel broken irrational system.
And Javert never questions his beliefs.....because his beliefs are so irrational that they can’t survive being questioned. His Confidence is really insecurity. Javert worships the Laws with the blind unquestioning faith of a religious fanatic because there’s no other way you can be loyal to laws that are so obviously wrong. He wants to believe the cruelty has a point-- it doesn’t. “Lawful Neutral” doesn’t exist because laws are not neutral, and the way they victimize vulnerable people like Valjean or Fantine is impossible to justify.
No reasonable person would ever spend years hunting down a bread thief, and that’s the point! Javert is not reasonable, because Javert is the Law, and the Law is not reasonable. Javert is (caps lock) JAVERT
And JAVERT never questions himself the way Valjean does because his beliefs are so irrational that if he questions them his faith will shatter, and he’ll shatter with it.
ACT 2: MOVIE JAVERT
Hello! Thank you for sticking with me this far. Really, it means a lot. I have a a lot of feelings and this post is so long, you’re being so patient. But it’s about to get really interesting I swear!!!
SO.
Crowe often mentions in interviews that he thought Javert’s character was shallow. He only took the role because Hooper promised they would “fix” Javert:
I just found the character in the stage musical to be too simple, and I didn’t believe in either his actions or his conclusions. And I said all that to Tom Hooper in a way to say “thanks but it’s not for me” but (...) Tom engaged me in the thought process of how we could solve those problems....”
another one:
This is probably an unpopular attitude but I didn’t like (Javert’s character) in the stage show. I didn’t respond to it at all, I just thought it was ugly and simplistic, I couldn’t follow his conclusions. So I had a meeting with Tom Hooper where I outlined all the things I saw as negatives....
I wasn’t looking to be influenced by any performers in the stage musical(....) For me Javert is so much more complex than the stage musical portrays him to be.
Javert, one of the most memorable characters in all musical theater-- in all fiction-- is “too simple!” So yeah, the top half of this post was a lie. Javert has no depth whatsoever. Sorry i made you read all that, rip 😔
So how did Tom Hooper and Russell Crowe ”fix” one of the most iconic characters of all time?
Hooper was clearly like “we can’t have Javert be a zealous fanatic who does irrational things, that’s not realistic(tm). Javert needs to be more level-headed and reasonable, like a real cop. “
Hooper thought that Javert’s beliefs being irrational was a plot hole he needed to fill, a flaw he and Crowe needed to correct, instead of being the entire point of Javert’s character. Tbh Hooper/Crowe seem to be going through the same crisis as Javert. “how could...enforcing the law.....be unreasonable? No, clearly Javert must’ve had a point.”
For example: in the movie but not in the musical, the Thenardiers tell Javert that Valjean kidnapped Cosette. Now Javert thinks Valjean might be a kidnapper, not just a bread thief! Now Javert has a fair logical reason to hunt him down!
Plot hole FIXED! Javert is fixed now
But like, actually not. The point of the musical is that the real plot holes...... are in SOCIETY. The fact that Javert’s hunt for Valjean was unreasonable was the entire point. When you try to make it reasonable, it’s like-- what is the story’s message supposed to be now? That laws and cops are inherently good, and are only “bad” when a contrived misunderstanding happens?
By trying to have it “make more sense,” the message becomes incoherent.
Another good example of a plot point that is magically incoherent because of the changes to Javert’s characterization is Javert being caught as a spy.
In the musical and book, Javert surrenders immediately. He understands he can’t escape-- so he decides to die with as much dignity as possible. In the musical he sings “shoot me now or shoot me later!” and he earnestly means it. (in this version of the musical, he even throws out his arms in a Crucifx pose when he says “shoot me now or shoot me later”, which I like because its SO EXTRA.)
Musical Javert does not care if he dies.
And that’s the point, it’s.. it’s so unreasonable, how little Javert values his own life. It’s so irrational, how he reacts to Les Amis threatening to shoot him with “fine,” and reacts to Valjean threatening to Knife him to death with “okay.” All that matters to Javert is his cause-- his life means nothing, his pain means nothing. (when Valjean saves him, Valjean puts more effort into fighting for Javert’s life than Javert himself did.....which is why Javert SHORT-CIRCUITS)
But in the movie Javert’s like “shoot me now or shoot me later- SIKE!” And then immediately tries to run away.
Why did he say all that “shoot me now or shoot me later” stuff if he didn’t really mean it, and it contradicts the things he does a second later? The lines make no sense anymore! By trying to make Javert act more reasonable-- fighting for his life instead of being eerily irrationally glad to die for his cause-- they make this scene incoherent. It makes no sense for Javert to boast about how he’s So Ready to Die five seconds before he runs away/fights back because he doesn’t want to die! I love it
But IMHO having Javert fight back here also weakens/confuses the moment where Valjean lets Javert go. Because again-- the original point was that Javert was unsettlingly okay with dying for his cause bc his life (outside of Serving His Purpose) just didn’t matter to him. But THEN Valjean saved him, and Javert had a crisis bc Valjean put more value on Javert’s life than Javert himself ever had. “Why would you sacrifice so much to save my life when even *I* have never thought my life was worth saving?” So when you make Javert a reasonable guy who already believes his life has value and stands up to Fight for his life until he’s knocked out-- I feel you lose a lot of the impact of Valjean saving him, and it makes his crisis/suicide a lot less coherent.
And there are lot of moments like this in the movie and I could make this post a billion miles long if I listed them all--- but just...?
I think the reason Crowevert is so well-known for being weird and a meme is that-- it’s not just his singing voice that’s strange. It’s everything!!! !It’s his whole deal!!!! They changed his character drastically from the book/musical, but didn’t have a clear idea of what his new character was supposed to be other than “less simple.”
But obviously the clearest place you see this is in the General Performance.
Stage Javert sings over-the-top stuff because he’s supposed to be over-the-top. He’s a fanatic, zealot, diva, etc
But novice singer Russel Crowe was clearly directed to act “realistic,” to sing his dialogue the way a RATIONAL singing French police officer would.
Except the things he’s trying to sing in this “rational” way are wild diva lyrics written for a scary drama queen.........anyway the point is AND IM JAVERT!!
There are a lot of amazing edits of this iconic line--in fact, someone edited stage musical Javert Philip Quast’s audio over it! CONTRAST:
Do you...hear what I mean? It’s subjective but stage performers generally embrace that Javert is over-dramatic. Meanwhile Crowe tries to sing diva lines like “AND IM JAVERT” as if he’s a rational police officer simply stating a fact for Valjean’s benefit.
and it’s iconic, a cultural reset.
And this is like, every aspect of his performance throughout the film.....scenes and dialogue where the *entire point* was originally that Javert was acting over-the-top/irrational/like a diva become ??????????????
??
??????
Like again I could name tons of moments but for the LAST THING I’ll say is: I recommend contrasting Crowe’s version of Stars with the Philip Quast version of Stars that I linked earlier in this post.
In the musical this song is SO INTENTIONALLY HAMMY that Gavroche makes fun of Javert for it....But Crowe tries to sing things like “and so it must be for so it is written on the Doorway to Paradise” as if that’s casual stuff normal people think.
So TL;DR
Javert does insanely over-the-top things in the musical because he’s supposed to be an insanely over-the-top fanatic. It’s a commentary on how society’s laws are so irrationally cruel they are impossible to justify.
But then the movie Fixed(tm) Javert by trying to portray the guy who chases down a bread thief as a level-headed dude with fair reasons for doing that. They tried to make him seem Reasonable even when it broke the logic of the story and made everything incoherent.
This why a lot of people like film Javert, and why I liked him when I was 13 lol--- because he’s more “reasonable.” He’s not a scary fanatic whose dedication to the Law highlights how broken our laws are, he’s just a mumbly confused Russel Crowe blundering around Paris trying to live his life.
But on the other hand....huh.The entire point of Javert was that that the violence of the Law is senseless in a way that could never be justified, something Javert committed suicide over realizing. And then Tom Hooper was kinda like “But cops are good! We need to stand up for cops by making sure Javert’s decisions are portrayed as justified!” :/ so yeah I mostly like Crowevert for how weird he is but that aspect does rub me the wrong way tbh
Still. sad confused stupid puppy dog Crowevert is just living his life. he just doesn’t know what he’s doing ever. and you’re not sure whether Javert doesn’t know what he’s doing or Crowe doesn’t know what he’s doing. an icon
Also: if you’re ever interested in checking out the stage musical, I recommend listening to the 10th anniversary concert! It’s basically just the most famous bits of the musical and cuts out a bunch (Like the iconic “Shoot me now or shoot me later/Every schoolboy to his sport” verse!! how could they) but if you’ve seen the movie you should know what’s happening. It’s my current favorite version to listen to, and something to have on if you ever want background music!!!!
