Line #33 Fridge/LesMiserables


1	Moments pages are Administrivia/SpoilersOff. All spoilers will be unmarked. Administrivia/YouHaveBeenWarned.
2
3	[[AC:FridgeBrilliance]]
4	* Enjolras shouting "Grantaire, put that bottle down!" is usually played as him just being annoyed with Grantaire, but consider: the Amis are gathering weapons and ammunition. The last thing they need is an alcoholic waving a bottle around in a room full of guns.
5	* During Thénardier's VillainSong "Dog Eats Dog", he refers to {{God}} being as dead as the "stiffs at (his) feet". Initially, this just seemed like a usual example of a villain having NietzscheWannabe pretentions, but then it hits you... During this scene, Thénardier is in the Paris sewers, and it seems like the "stiffs" he references are Valjean and Marius, neither of whom are dead. Thus, the musical is sending the message that God is very much alive.
6	* Extra Fridge Brilliance in that one, given in "Master of the House," Mdm. Thenardier says her husband is a "regular Voltaire". Voltaire was an 1700s scholar who was very critical of the French Church.
7	* Speaking of Thenardier, prior to "Master of the House" his guests sing about Thenardier's past in which he stole from the dead soldiers after the Battle of Waterloo. He later does exactly the same thing after the rebellion fails.
8	* Here's another one from Les Mis. Jean Valjean's [[HeelFaceTurn repentence song]] ("What Have I Done?") is about how the bishop's love has turned his life around. [[InspectorJavert Inspector Javert's]] [[DrivenToSuicide suicide song]] ([[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin "Javert's Suicide"]]) is about how Valjean's love has turned his life around...only in a completely opposite way. The tunes to both songs are the same. Every song in this musical gets a reprise (most of them [[DarkReprise increasingly darker]]), and it's fittingly ironic that the hero's song about deciding to live a purposeful, redeemed life should return as the [[AntiVillain antagonist's]] song about being unable to continue with life.
9	** On a related note, Javert is the only character in ''Les Miserables'' who actually dies ''miserable.'' Think about it: Fantine dies knowing Cosette is safe, Eponine dies saving the love of her life, Enjolras and the other students die fighting for their causes, and Valjean dies surrounded by the family he has created. Javert is the only one who dies alone and conflicted.
10	* In the 2012 film, Valjean manages to casually see through every one of the Thenardier's well-practiced routines to pick his pocket. Having spent 19 years in jail, Valjean has learned a thing or two.
11	* When Javert, after denouncing Madeleine as Valjean in M-sur-M, comes to argue that he should be discharged for his actions, he declares (quoted from a non-English translation): "I have often been severe in my life. If I would not be severe towards myself now, all that I have done would become an injustice. Should I save myself more than the others? No." It's isn't until much later in the book, upon his suicide, when that line truly becomes foreshadowing and begins to shed light into the matter. Javert learns that he has been wrong about the concepts of justice and redemption for his entire life. Therefore, despite his ambition to become utterly irreproachable, he has constantly been unjust: He has arrested men and women like Valjean and Fantine a hundred times over petty laws, leaving countless men, women and children to suffer poverty, sickness and death, not realizing the injustice of it because of his blind devotion to the laws of men instead of those of God. Upon realizing this, he sees that he has failed his moral duty and gives his resignation to God by throwing himself to the Seine, because his rigid moral code demands for his punishment which he can only attain by damning himself.
12	* 'Stars':
13	** Javert promises to never let Valjean go, and swears it by the stars. in 'Dog Eat Dog', M. Thenardier 'looks up to see the heavens and only the moon shines down'. A few songs later, Javert gives up on chasing Valjean.
14	** Also, in "Javert's Suicide", one of the lyrics towards the end, just before he kills himself, is "And the stars are black and cold", showing that he believes himself to be abandoned by God.
15	** Another note about celestial symbolism: Stars are a guiding light for navigation, like a lighthouse, so they also represent Javert's moral code- the guiding light of his life. But when the light goes out... You're left in the darkness, with nothing to steer by ("There is nowhere I can turn").
16	** Remember when Javert sings "And if you fall, like Lucifer fell, you fall in flames!"? Let's see. Lucifer fell because he was punished by God, and fell into the flames (hell). Javert fell because he wanted to punish himself, and fell into... the water (Seine).
17	** "... And if you fall, as Lucifer fell, the flames, the sword!" Those are methods of execution. When Javert realizes that he is not right in his beliefs, he executes himself. And the ending of "Stars": also foreshadows his death: "Lord, let me find him, that I may see him safe behind bars. I will never rest, 'till then, this I swear, this I swear by the stars!" Here, Javert realizes that he [[MortonsFork can either arrest Jean Valjean, thereby making a morally reprehensible choice by sentencing a good man to prison and thus damning himself, or let Jean Valjean go, thereby making a morally reprehensible choice by breaking divine law (as he sees it) and thus damning himself.]] Once he finally understands that he will be doing evil either way, [[BreakTheBeliever and that all the beliefs he has held so close to his heart were wrong,]] he is unable to resolve the conflict and is only able to find peace by killing himself. However, given that suicide is considered a mortal sin, he's ''still'' made the wrong choice, thus ''still'' damning himself, and as such is never able to find rest ("I will never rest, 'till then, this I swear, this I swear by the stars!"... Remember that line?), not even in death. [[FridgeHorror Compounding this, he is the only dead character not seen in the final reprise of "Do You Hear The People Sing?", implied to be set in Heaven, meaning he is either in Purgatory or Hell.]]
18	* In the song "Red and Black":
19	** "Red- a world about to dawn!" Think of the phrase "Red sky at morning, sailors take warning." Now go back to "One Day More." "One more day before the storm!" and "A Little Fall of Rain." Get it?
20	** "Like the flowing of the tide, Paris coming to our side!" The tide goes in and out...
21	* In "Lamarque is Dead":
22	** Enjolras never finds out how many guns they have, which explains why they run out of ammunition later. Both times that he asks Feuilly and Combeferre if they have the guns they need, he gets interrupted before they can answer: first by Grantaire, then by Gavroche. Note that this only applies to the cut production of the musical- the full version (as demonstrated by the Complete Symphonic Recording) has an extra set of lines before Gavroche's interruption where there is quite a lot of detail given about the amount of ammunition in each district.
23	** Enjolras is going to get that answer before the revolution starts.
24	* Another reference to the tides - "Could it be he's some old jailbird/that the tide now washes in?" And like the tide, Valjean goes 'out' as well; he escapes from both Javert, who's singing, /and/ the barricades!]
25	* Most people are very divided on Russell Crowe’s performance of Javert, citing an overall lack of range, volume, and vocal presence, especially in “Stars.” It is usually seen as a declaration of Javert’s crusade to capture Valjean, using the stars and God as his witness. However, in the film version, Crowe’s Javert is singing this song right after Valjean has just escaped him for the second time. Crowe’s Javert sings the song much more softly, but with just as much emphasis, while walking along a narrow ledge. This is not a Javert that is planning a personal crusade, but a Javert reassuring himself in his faith that, just as the stars have their order in the sky, so too does the world have an order, which is the law. His faith in this order is illustrated by his walking on the ledge; it is dangerous, and he could fall, but he firmly believes that God will keep him from falling in accordance with this order, just as He orders the stars in the sky. This is referenced again in “Javert’s Suicide; once again, he is walking along a ledge and pondering the order of the world. However, this time, his belief in this order is shaken. He remarks that “the stars are black and cold,” and is no longer certain about his faith in God or the nature of the law. When this faith is challenged, he falls from the ledge and dies.
26	* In the novel, Thenardier asks for money to support three people, even though the only family he has left is his younger daughter, Azelma. Earlier in the novel, when the Patron-Minette was breaking him and Babet out of prison, it described Montparnasse, the handsome young dandy of the group, to be practically a son-in-law to Thenardier. Thenardier wanted the extra money so he could bring Montparnasse and marry Azelma off to him. (Assuming he wasn't just lying so he could get more money. He told Marius that his wife was still alive.)
27	* In the film version of the musical, Valjean starts as a convict with a shaven head, dressed in red tatters. By the time Fantine is arrested and confronts Valjean, her head's been shorn and she's wearing a bright red dress, as an ironic echo of Valjean's own helplessness and powerlessness.
28	* When Javert is unmasked as a spy at the barricades in the book, he makes no attempt to lie about his agenda even if he will be otherwise be executed. Why would he go so far in his decision not to lie that it would end up killing him? Hugo strongly implies that Javert is part Romani from his mother's side; Given the century's attitudes, he has likely suffered from discrimination most of his younger life. He hadn't only risen from poverty, but he had to fight for his good reputation and integrity in the eyes of the prejudiced society where many would've deemed him a liar and charlatan. Javert would never sacrifice his integrity even in the face of death, because in his black-and-white world it would mean succumbing to the nature the society would brand him with.
29	* In the 2012 film, Sacha Baron Cohen's Thenardier accent slips between Cockney, over-the-top French, and a bit of fake plummy in between, making him the only character to have any kind of French accent (for everyone else, [[TheQueensLatin The Queens French]] applies). This differs from the norm in which the character just slips between Cockney and a fake plummy accent. However, this might make sense, as the novel suggests that Thenardier might not actually be French, but instead a Belgian who lived near Waterloo and started passing himself off as French at the same time he started passing himself off as a soldier. Thus, as part of TranslationConvention, Cohen's Thenardier does the usual slip between lower class accent and fake upper class one, but he also has the noticeable French accent to mirror how the character's actual background is with Belgian French or Flemish, but is putting on a French (from France) accent
30	* Many of the songs in the musical, while eminently memorable, have rather simplistic -- one might even be tempted to say ''banal'' -- melodies. "Master of the House," "Look Down", and "Do You Hear the People Sing" all have short melodies that repeat the same snippets many times. For an internationally renowned musical, they might seem to fall a little flat ... ''UNTIL'' you get to "One Day More", and you suddenly realize that those earlier melodies were simple ''because they all had to work together when sung at the same time!'' 'Twas true SugarWiki/AwesomeMusic at that moment.
31	* In the musical, Valjean tells Fantine he's seen her face before. While yes, he ''has'' seen her before as one of the many (likely nameless to him) faces at the factory, it's possible that in her current circumstances, desperate to take care of her child but unable to and resorting to shady practices for it, Fantine reminds him of the sister her lost.
32	* One lyric in "Do You Hear The People Sing" says "''The blood of the martyrs will water the meadows of France.''" This is likely a reference to UsefulNotes/ThomasJefferson's "tree of liberty" quote (see the linked page). Jefferson was an early contributor and strong supporter of the French Revolution, so it makes sense that the Amis would pay homage to him.
33	** That could also be a reference to the La Marsellaise "Marchez, marchez, qu'un sang impur abreuve nos cillons", which also makes sense as the students were shown singing it in the book. But interestingly, it's an inversion of the future French national anthem's line, which means: "March, march, and let the ''impure blood [of our enemies]'' water our fields".
34	* In "(Building) The Barricade", while Javert is [[PaperThinDisguise rather poorly]] masquerading as a revolutionary, he sings in a different melody (and if memory serves, a different key) than the members of Les Amis, but neither does he sing in any of his associated melodies. This backs his attempt to conceal his identity, while simultaneously reinforcing the idea that he doesn't quite belong among the barricade boys.
35	* When you think about the tone of the story, it makes perfect sense for Thenardier and his wife to be the AdaptationalComicRelief in the musical--with a good 99% of the cast being tragic, broken people, it would be extremely distasteful to laugh at any of them...so the comic relief characters are [[CardCarryingVillain the two people who AREN'T tragic.]]
36	* Ever wonder why Javert looks up after [[spoiler: pinning his medal on Gavroche's clothes in the aftermath of the battle?]] ''He's looking at Enjolras.''
37	* This doubles as a TearJerker at the end when all the deceased cast at the end stand behind the large barricade in heaven. It hits you when you remember is heaven is as you visualize it to be. To the Friends of the ABC, their heaven was a world where everyone would stand by them and they weren't alone. [[spoiler: Compared that to how they felt abandoned behind their last barricade to [[DyingAlone die alone]] [[AllforNothing and in vain.]] ]]
38	* When Jean Valjean sings "Who Am I?" about whether or not to reveal his identity to save an innocent man, the words "Who am I?" have two possible meanings. "Am I Monsieur Madeleine or am I Jean Valjean?" and "What kind of person am I?"
39	* The musical makes incredible use of parallels, contrasts, and leitmotifs across the span of the work in order to send various messages. One is the contrast between two tunes: "Empty Chairs at Empty Tables" and the "authority" melody used mainly by Javert, but also by the soldiers in "Valjean Arrested, Valjean Forgiven." "Empty Chairs" is sung of course by Marius, but the tune is also used by the Bishop of Digne ("Come in, sir, for you are weary / And the night is cold out there"). This is a healing song. The Bishop uses it to heal Valjean's soul, and Marius uses it to heal his own, for, right after he finishes singing it, Cosette notices a change in him, singing: "Every day, you walk with stronger step / You walk with longer step / The worst is over". The "authority" tune (for example: "Tell his reverence your story / Let us see if he's impressed" or "Could it be he's some old jailbird / That the tide now washes in?") is in direct contrast to "Empty Chairs". Notice they use the same meter, and the words of either one can be sung to the tune of the other! And the Bishop segues directly from one to the other: he uses the "authority" melody when dismissing the soldiers, and switches to the "Empty Chairs" melody when they are gone and he speaks only to Valjean again. The message here is that authority and law, here in Les Mis, are forces of good that have been twisted to evil purposes, which reflects a Hugo quote from the book narration: "Probity, sincerity, candor, conviction, the idea of duty, are things that, when in error, can turn hideous."
40
41	[[AC:FridgeHorror]]
42	* Remember in ''Waltz of Treachery'', when Thenardier said that he "[[ExactWords treated [Cosette] like one of [his] own]]"? Well, technically, [[AbusiveParents he wasn't lying...]]
43	* Most of the characters singing in ''One Day More'' only have one day more to live.
44	* In the novel the narrator remarks that Madame Thenardier won't hire maids for their inn anymore, since her husband would go after them. This is the exact reason why they keep Cosette. Now imagine what would have happened if Cosette had still been with them when finally hitting puberty (or probably even before.)
45	* Gavroche to Enjolras: "If you are killed before me, I will take your musket." On the outside, that scene is just funny--but when you think about it, Gavroche, a little kid, not only understands that they're both going to die, but he talks very matter-of-factly about it.
46	* While it doesn't really play a role in the musical itself, a ''[[SarcasmMode truly lovely]]'' line sung by Thénardier about using [[KickTheDog body parts from horses and even poor dead house cats]] as filler for sausages will sometimes stick in one's mind, especially for those that are cat lovers, those eating while watching, or both. Especially in [[Film/LesMiserables2012 the 2012 film]], when the cat he uses is ''right there'' when he's singing.
47	** While we're at it, his line about [[MysteryMeat mixing God-knows-what into material that he claims as 'beef']] is hardly better...
48	** He ''did'' say that he serves [[ExactWords "food beyond compare" and "food beyond belief"...]]
49	* In the song "Plumet Attack", right after "Heart Full of Love", Thenardier tells Eponine that if she screams to warn Valjean and Cosette that she'll "regret it for a year". Later, after she does it, he shouts "I'll make you scream, you'll scream alright". In at least one of the stage versions, he's physically restraining her as he says this. Just what does he do to her afterwards? Especially since the next time we see her, it's for "On My Own", in which she seems considerably more broken-down and sad, wandering the streets at night daydreaming about Marius, and she's obviously not staying with her family any more. She may well have been afraid to go home.

Context Fridge / LesMiserables