that fantine obsessed girl

tay | 28 | unhealthily obsessed with fantine

[thevirtuousfcntine]

wow hey…haven’t been on tumblr in…years. but what’s up i’m tay and i’ve been a les miserables fan and fantine’s #1 defender for…15 years now! was on tumblr and then deleted social media but i’m so happy to be back talking about my favorite girl again! so follow me if you too think fantine is rad as fuck.

AJ Callaghan as Fantine for tax because she was too talented to not have been bumped up as principal. plus she’s gorgeous

[thevirtuousfcntine]

my favorite fantine wigs

Na-Young Jeon

I love love her wig so much! the blonde color is absolutely gorgeous, it’s not too bright but not too ashy colored and it looks stunning on her. i’m also obsessed with the wispy bangs and the curls. i love a curly Fantine.

Caissie Levy

all of the 2nd broadway revival wigs were nice and pretty, but Caissie’s wig again had the most gorgeous blonde color, it looks super natural. I also love the curls again, it’s not too spiral curled but also not a frizzy curl, it’s a nice beach wave.

Olivia Brereton

again it’s the curls in this one for me! and the styling of how it’s pinned back too, whilst i’m not the biggest fan of the shadow root and color, but i can over look it for the beautiful curls.

Rachelle Ann Go

will i ever shut up about how much i love a curly Fantine wig? no never. and the end curls and Rachelle’s are GORGEOUS. also the dark color not only looks beautiful on her, but is just beautiful in general. The London wigs have been hit or miss for me since they changed the show but this is a hit.

Mary Kate Moore

much like how the London wigs have been hit or miss for me lately, so have the US Tour wigs. buuut i absolutely love love the styling on Mary Kate’s, with the hair pinned back and how the curls are extenuated as well.

Rebecca Seale

THE CURLS IN THE BACK!! the length, the style, the pinning is all just PERFECT. i’ve always been obsessed with Rebecca’s wig (and costume) it’s always been my absolute favorite

Celinde Schoenmaker

this is the wig from her second run as Fantine, and i love the natural color of the wig and the gentle way it’s styled, it’s not super straight but also not super curly. it just lays natural and looks super natural on Celinde.

Joanna Ampil

i am OBSESSED with the red color they used for Joanna! it blends in so natural like natural highlights and looks absolutely beautiful on her, and i love the idea of a fantine with some red in her hair

Rachel York

i’ve always been obsessed with Rachel York’s Fantine i can’t even tell you why! i believe it’s a mix of the color and length but it would be criminal to not include Rachel here

Anne Hathaway

i know Anne used her own hair in the movie so it’s not a wig but i’m glad they let Anne use her natural hair and didn’t make her a blonde. Anne just has beautiful hair and i was so sad when hen she cut it for real! Anne was so beautiful in the role obsessed.

[secretmellowblog]

Les Mis Hidden Name Meanings: “Fantine” (posting here because it got popular on TikTok)

Every character in Les Mis has a name with a deeper symbolic meaning— here’s a video I made for the official @barricadescon TikTok about the meaning behind “Fantine!”

Transcript and Digressions I left out of the video, under the cut:

Every charcater’s name in Les Mis is either a pun, a reference to a historical/mythological figure, or had some deep symbolic meaning — and sometimes it’s all of them at on.

The name “Fantine” comes from the french word “enfantine” or “childike, infant-like.” Her name basically means “Baby.” And obviously this speaks to her innocence and niavetee. But also “baby” is kind of,.,, well it sounds more like an informal term of endearment than an actual legal name?

And that’s because– Plot twist– Fantine isn’t her legal name! What is her legal name? She doesn’t have one.

And the reason she doesn’t have one is directly tied to political turmoil of the era she was born into.

Fantine grew up an orphan living on the streets, without a family without parents. Hugo tells us the origin of her name:

“she bore on her brow the sign of the anonymous and the unknown. (...)She was called Fantine. Why Fantine? She had never borne any other name. At the epoch of her birth the Directory still existed. She had no family name; she had no family; no baptismal name; the Church no longer existed. She bore the name which pleased the first random passer-by, who had encountered her, when a very small child, running bare-legged in the street. She received the name as she received the water from the clouds upon her brow when it rained.”

This moment is adapted beautifully in the Manga adaptation by Takahiro Arai, which I recommend to anyone who loves Les mis, manga, or any combination of those things.

But now let’s talk about the Directory.

To wildly oversimplifly a lot of complex history: Before the French Revolution, the Catholic Church’s records of baptismal ceremonies were often used as a registry of people’s legal names. During the French Revolution, the Revolutionary government– including the Directory– put in place a series of policies we now call “dechristianization,” where they attempted to dismantle the power of Catholic church.

Fantine was born during the age of these dechristianization policies. So she was never baptised, her baptismal name was never recorded, so she has no recorded legal or family name. She’s slipped through the cracks of the legal system, and ended up completely anonymous.

It sets Fantine up as this anonymous child of the Revolution– a stand in for everyone who was left behind when the Revolution was left behind, and kings were restored to the throne.

Fantine’s namelessness is meant to show atomized . How she has NO support system. She has nothing to connect her to other people, nothing to connect her to a support system.

Finally, the way Fantine tends to “slip through the cracks” is something that follows her throughout her life. When she’s fired from her job at a factory, Maroy Madeleine never learns of it– Fantine has this tendency to overlooked and forgotten. She is born anonymous and she dies anonymous. At the end of the story, she is buried in an unmarked grave, with not even the name “Fantine” on her headstone.

It ties into novel’s questions about which people we consider worth remembering, whose lives are worth being records.

And obviously Fantine is not the only character in Les Mis whose name has a deeper symbolic meaning. If you have any other Les Mis character names you’d like to explain, leave their name in the comments below.

Thank you for watching!

From the description of the original tiktok, here are some things that were left out of the video for time:

How this all relates to Cosette’s name(s)

Fantine’s nickname “The Blonde,” and how this relates to the way she’s dehumanized by Tholomyes

How the 2018 Bbc series fundamentally misunderstands Fantine’s character, and how one sign of this is that they give her a full legal first and last name

How Fantine’s name shows up/is revealed is significant parts of the story (like when Valjean reveals her signature on a letter to Thenardier, allowing him to take Cosette away)

How Fantine’s inability to write ties into the way it’s difficult for her to record her own story

How some of Valjean’s last words are revealing Fantine’s name to Cosette

Thanks again for reading!

[24601orwhatever]

THE EPILOGUE

(across four different productions)

[24601orwhatever]

FANTINES DRESS

(Original London Ver)

all the variations of this costume are beautiful

[polyjoly]

AO3 // YouTube

Fantine needs more love! I thought this song from the movie Coco fit her relationship with Cosette really well on top of being heartbreaking </3

The manga had some beautiful moments of them together that were just begging to be edited. I was hoping to give this video a slightly haze, dream-like glow of old memories, idk if I hit that or not though lol!

[granhairdo]

can we start using this les mis 1980 image as a meme because its perfect meme material

[for-the-love-of-javert]

Les Miserables Female Characters Spam: Nancy Sullivan as Eponine performing 'A Little Fall of Rain' with John Robyns as Marius in London 2008

[thevirtuousfcntine]

nancy sullivan not only is the best eponine (i’m willing to DIE on this hill), the chemistry she had with jon robyns specifically is insane. (also considerably funny considering her future husband was watching as enjolras). if my memory serves me right, in an interview either nancy or jon (can’t remember) said they liked playing into eponine’s love for marius and idk i like see in it unfold. also jon robyns in les mis as a whole, perfect.

[ohfantine]

“Monsieur Javert,” said she, “I beseech your mercy. I assure you that I was not in the wrong. If you had seen the beginning, you would have seen.

Fantine

[heaven-by-the-sea]

Les Misérables appreciation event ↳ Favourite female character : Fantine

[womenoflesmis]

[thevirtuousfcntine]

While rare, some actresses have played both roles of Fantine and Christine Daaé in The Phantom of the Opera. While it’s more common for past Cosette’s to play Christine (which almost every Christine in the West End had played Cosette at some point it seems), I think playing both Fantine and Christine is a HUGE accomplishment that needs to be showcased! see part one here

Claire Moore

Amanda Jane Callaghan

Edyta Krzemién (one of my personal favorites)

Sierra Boggess

Anouk van Laake

[the-wraxall-illustrations]

Opening of Volume One

[thevirtuousfcntine]

While rare, some actresses have played both roles of Fantine and Christine Daaé in The Phantom of the Opera. While it’s more common for past Cosette’s to play Christine (which almost every Christine in the West End had played Cosette at some point it seems), I think playing both Fantine and Christine is a HUGE accomplishment! there’s definitely more that i can post later because it’s amazing to showcase

Carmen Cusack

Celinde Schoenmaker

Olivia Brereton

Katie Hall

Lisa Vroman

[flagbridge]

Also Sierra Boggess and Anouk Van Laake!

These roles are incredibly difficult vocally. Fantine is typically sung by a mezzo as most sopranos cannot hit an A3.

[thevirtuousfcntine]

if you haven’t listened to Anouk both as Fantine and Christine you’re missing out! she’s GORGEOUS! (there’s also so many more i can make at least 3 other posts🤭)

[thevirtuousfcntine]

I know many Fantine’s have played Elphaba in Wicked, have any played Glinda?

Hi friend!

While many actresses indeed have played both Fantine and Elphaba, usually Cosette’s have ventured on into the bubble. HOWEVER, to answer your question, a few have played both Fantine and Glinda.

Dianne Pilkington understudied Fantine in the 90’s and had played her a few times and was Glinda in the West End production.

Brittney Johnson understudied Fantine in the second broadway revival and went on to play Glinda on Broadway.

i’m sure there’s some more i forgot but those 2 came to mind

[mmegiry]

Visit Original Link

Olivia Brereton (2nd u/s Fantine) at The Staged Concert.

[womenoflesmis]