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"Les Misérables" musical character interpretations: Fantine

As usual, these three characterizations are all based on performances I've seen, either in person or filmed. They can also be, and often are, combined with each other to create still more characterizations. For example, Anne Hathaway's Oscar-winning Fantine in the film version is basically "the Ingénue," but with a distinct undertone of "the Fighter." And none of them are precisely Hugo's Fantine. I'd say that they all represent aspects of the character as Hugo wrote her, and that the ideal Fantine would blend all three of them, as the occasional actress does.

I'd like to thank @quarryquest for sending me the Fantine chapter of her book on the stage history of Les Mis just as I was in the middle of writing this. It provided excellent insights.

The Lady

         This Fantine, in the words of Victor Hugo, displays “a serious and almost austere dignity.” At the beginning, her dress and hair are as neat, clean, and pretty as factory work allows, and her bearing is strikingly graceful and refined. She clearly once knew a better, more elegant life before her lover abandoned her. This sets her apart from the rough, uneducated factory folk who surround her, and at first, she might seem slightly cold and haughty in her distance from them, which no doubt contributes to how quickly they turn on her. But “I Dreamed a Dream” earns all our sympathy as she sings of her lost happiness, while in “Lovely Ladies” she moves us further by slowly sacrificing all her elegance for her daughter. Yet she never loses her core of pride and dignity. While this Fantine has as much raw anguish as any other, she tries to hide it from her oppressors under a brave face. Though she might reach the verge of tears several times, she’ll rarely let herself cry. When the moment of selling her body arrives, she’ll swallow her grief and fear with the drink she’s given, and offer a firm, resolute hand to her first customer. Her “Come on, captain…” is sultry, but not drunk or grotesque; instead, her hard, cold tone evokes Hugo’s description of the fallen Fantine as having “turned to marble.” Her rejection of Bamatabois will be calm and businesslike until he turns violent, and when “Monsieur Madeleine” approaches her, she’ll express her anger with head held high, making it clear that she sees him as no better than herself. This Fantine is a gemstone that’s thrown into the mud of the streets, but never breaks.

The Ingénue

         This is a warmer, softer Fantine than the Lady, and whether the actress is twenty-five or forty, she’ll probably seem younger too. This characterization keeps in mind that Fantine’s name means “childlike” and that her “tragic flaw” in her past was her naïveté. Despite being an abandoned mother, she hasn’t entirely lost that naïveté at first. Her air of gentle innocence is what sets her apart from the other, more worldly factory folk, and throughout the factory scene she’ll be frightened and brutally shocked by the cruelty she faces. Then “I Dreamed a Dream” will overflow with anguish, and likely with tears too. With just cause, this Fantine is more prone to tears than any other. More than the loss of her dignity, the tragedy of “Lovely Ladies” is the loss of her innocence, which dies once and for all when she accepts her first prostitution client, crying or trembling with fear as she does so. What comes next will depend on whether the director thinks the “Old men, young men…” verse contains a time skip or not. If not, then this Fantine will be awkward and nervous on “Come on, captain…” still all too new to her profession. But if so, then she’ll reenter heartbreakingly transformed: staggering drunk, crudely flaunting her body, utterly disheveled and broken. Either way, she rejects Bamatabois out of rash fear, then claws at his face in rash, animalistic rage. Abuse and misery reduce this vulnerable young woman to behaving like a cornered stray dog or cat. Yet through it all, there’s never a doubt that her heart remains pure and tender, because everything she endures is for the sake of her little girl.

The Fighter

            This is the grittiest Fantine. Her portrayal reminds us that Hugo’s Fantine was an orphan who grew up on the streets and that he describes her as having “fierce courage.” This is a passionate, determined woman, no longer naïve and never afraid to be unladylike, who boldly stands up to her oppressors and who battles all obstacles to provide for her daughter. In “At the End of the Day,” her fight with the Factory Girl will be fierce – where the Lady and the Ingénue will chiefly be victims of the Factory Girl’s attack, this Fantine will protect her letter like a mother bear – and her self-defense to the Foreman will be firm and simmering with frustration. Her “I Dreamed a Dream” will also be angry as well as anguished and yearning, and in “Lovely Ladies,” the chief tragedy will be that despite her fierce, valiant efforts to stay “above the water,” poverty pulls her under anyway. Her prostitution sequence may or may not be drunken, but it will most definitely be hard, brash, and filled with biting, feral rage. In her bitterness, this fallen Fantine will recall Jean Valjean as a convict before the Bishop’s mercy, and when she confronts him about her firing, she’ll stop just short of attacking him. None of this means she lacks vulnerability or deep, heartbreaking sadness; like any Fantine, she has them in spades. But the way she combines them with strength and anger make her a more complex figure than some other Fantines, and arguably, it makes the gentleness of her deathbed scene especially poignant. There, for the first time, we fully see the motherly tenderness that lies beneath her fire, and which has motivated her struggles all along.

More comparisons to come!

Villain Crimes Tag!

I had this idea for a tag game a while ago and I think its time I finally put it to practice!!! Plus I think its really cool and you guys will probably enjoy it!

Rules: What crimes would your villains be convicted of if they faced trial in the real world? In short, list what crimes your villains have commited, in modern terms.

TW. Mention of some pretty gnarly crimes - but NOT in detail - because these are Villains after all.

Supernova Initiative

The Director/Dr. Darius Merrik

Multiple counts of First & Second Degree Murder + Manslaughter (The Director, behind the scenes, is a very brutal and vicious man - the antithesis of whom he pretends to be to the population. Darius has ordered the execution of/personally killed multiple people who were accused of stirring up "illegal insurrection and rebel efforts" against the Junction, as well as has killed any and all who discover his secret experiments without his explicit permission. His methods of experimentation are also so brutal and extreme that his subjects/victims often, really often, die as a result of it, whether that was the intent or not. Darius doesn't care at all, being at most disappointed at needing to find another test subject and starting from scratch.)

Human Experimentation/Torture/Illegal Laboratories (As mentioned before; Darius is a mad scientist who conducts highly illegal experiments on people, especially those who stand against him. He believes what he is doing will supposedly "bring even more progress" too the galaxies and change the tides of the civil war, and doesn't care how many innocent people he brutalizes in the process. Countless people have already gone through his secret labs - without the population of the Junction even knowing there was a secret lab - and most of his test subjects have died as a result of the experiments, and those who did not were changed in horrifying ways)

Blackmail/Extortion (Darius often counts in severe forms of blackmail and extortion to keep his rivals in line and to make people obey him. Part of how he became so powerful and influential in the Junction was by blackmailing and extorting powerful people and eliminating any possible chance of people looking into his schemes. Another example of this is that the Director only manages to get Jack Tithus to comply to becoming his test subject by threatening to hurt the young man's sister. To protect her, Jack accepted to be experimented on.)

Funding terrorist groups & War Factions/Accesory to Colonization (The Director holds a strong position of power in the Junction, often tampering directly with the civil war by funding extremist organizations and raiding war factions in order to "facilitate" the Junction's advance into enemy territory. Because of him, factions like the Skull-Reapers - space pirates/raiders - were able to raze whole planets - like Acaeth - and allow the installment of Junction settlements there. He also vehemently supports the Junction's official military advances onto other independent planets, and often provides the government's Sentries with new weaponry and armor.)

Ecological Destruction (The Director also funds many mining and deforestation efforts in non-Junction planets, often to get the raw materials he needs for his inventions and experiments, but also to profit from the trade of those spoils. The sheer rate of these "efforts" have already caused considerable devastation and damage to those planets' ecosystems.)

Embezzlement/Money Laundering (Darius is one of the richest men in the Junction, being also one of the most influential. But where does he get that money? From his experiments, inventions and trades? Yes, but that is only a small fraction of it. Most of his vast fortune comes from money laundering and corruption schemes, especially targeting politicians who somehow pose a threat to his plans, a self-fueling cycle that maintains his sheer fortune no matter how much money he spends)

Eldora Thalax

Multiple counts of First Degree Murder, Multiple War Crimes & Genocide (she literally is a warlord hellbent on conquering as much territory as she can both in her planet and others. Eldora is a skilled warrior and assassin, and has killed people before - many of them innocent citizens of places that refused to bow to her tyranny. She also sent hitmen after her husband when he and their son ran away from her, leading to his assassination)

High Treason (Eldora has essentially betrayed her people's high council, known as the Hearth, after her mother and the actually honorable Matriachs denounced her disgustingly ways and exiled her. She also betayed many political deals to have more advantage. Eldora wrongly believes that if she gets as many conquests as she can, that the Matriarchs will forgive her and accept her back, giving her a seat at the Hearth, when she's actually proving them right about her - kinda like Lord Shen did in Kung Fu Panda 2)

Sexual Coercion (her relationship/marriage to Damen was arranged and thus she specifically didn't... really care about his consent or not. Full 'Game of Thrones' arranged marriage to make heirs kind of situation but make it futuristic - he technically said 'yes' to the marriage but did he have a choice? No.)

Kidnapping, Torture & Human Experimentation (She is known to torture prisoners of war, especially those who once held positions of power - at times just for fun, at other times for information, for compliance or to extract information. When Deimos Soll discovered how corrupt she is and tried to desert her ranks, she captured him and had him tortured AND experimented on in an attempt to brainwash him into some kind of supersoldier)

Domestic Abuse/Psychological Torment (Eldora was very abusive to both her husband, Damen, and their son, Kye. Though most - but not all - of her outbursts of physical abuse were directed at her husband, the former prince of the region she'd conquered, Eldora was extremely emotionally abusive to Kye as well, especially because she had a tendency to threaten to hurt his father further to get their boy to obey her)

Dictatorship (Eldora has conquered multiple regions of her home planet and has long since started "brainching out" her influence to other nearby planets, almost conquering an entire solar system. She is known for being a cruel, corrupt, violent and often ruthless ruler who controls the places she conquers with an iron fist.)

Illegal Arms Trade + Slave Trade (Eldora prides herself in having the most top-of-the-line weaponry in the galaxies, being an ardent client of many infamous arms dealers and intercepts some of those goods to sell to her allies. She also is known for proffiting from enslaving portions of the civilizations she conquers, especially if they try to rebel or are accused of trying to betray her, or simoly are her prisoners of war, and selling them as slaves in the underworld market to the highest bidder, though she keeps many to strenghten her armies.)

Arachnys & Red Adder

Racketeering/Fraud/Loan Sharking (They are mobsters. The most dangerous mobsters in the galaxies. The Crime King and Queen. Protection schemes, false business/racketeering, major fraud are just another tuesday to them, and a huge part of what they do on a daily basis.)

Illegal Drug Trade (Any and all addictive substances in EITHER GALAXIES is sold and manufactured by people working under the behest of Arachnys and Red Adder, especially some high-ranking crime families. They're known for making some of the most dangerous and addictive/destructive drugs in any planetary system, and keep their control over their planets underworlds by using those chemicals to keep the population obedient/dependent on their supply)

Being Leaders of a Criminal Organization/Mob (Self-explanatory. Arcahnys and Red Adder are the heads of the most dangerous and powerful crime family/mob in the Khosmonian galaxies, and now in the Junction as well.)

Illegal Casinos/Houses of Gambling (And man do they profit off of it, because those places are popular in both galaxies!)

Human Trafficking, Slave Trade, Organ Trade (They are known for being involved in the most nefarious side of the interplanetary black market, and that includes, unfortunately, the trade of people - be it in full, by selling/buying slaves to/from warlords like Eldora Thalax, with whom they have a longstanding business relationship with, or in... parts, because they also sell organs and cybernectic parts, which they harvest from humanoids and cyborgs that fall into their hands.)

Illegal Prostitution Schemes/Forced Prostitution/Dehumanization (The MAIN "business" of the Saphir crime family is the "pleasure business". They pride themselves on having the finest brothels and strip-clubs in their planets, with most of the entertainers being either slaves they've captured/bought OR... sentient robots. Not cyborgs, but actual, sentient robots, their newest and most popular invention - sentient robots, unlike cyborgs, are fully artificial despite looking like regular humanoids, and their adaptable appearance makes them very popular in the Saphir's business. Meridian Shardd, the story's most innocent character, was one of those sentient robots - having gained conscience/broken free of their programming shortly after being manufactured, Meridian ran away from the factory thankfully before being put to work by the mob, and is terrified of being found.)

Tagging (gently): @kaylinalexanderbooks, @smol-feralgremlin,

@oh-no-another-idea, @littleladymab, @winterandwords, @eccaiia,

@the-letterbox-archives, @illarian-rambling @agirlandherquill, @anoelleart,

@ray-writes-n-shit @writernopal, @anyablackwood, @unstablewifiaccess, @topazadine

@forthesanityofstorytellers, @finickyfelix

@cauliflowermaterial @thepeculiarbird,

@clairelsonao3, @memento-morri-writes, and OPEN TAG

Taglist for Supernova Initiative below the cut! 🌠

Supernova Initiative Taglist (-/+): @ray-writes-n-shit, @sarandipitywrites, @smol-feralgremlin, @kaylinalexanderbooks,

@diabolical-blue @oh-no-another-idea

@cakeinthevoid, @clairelsonao3,

@thepeculiarbird

@the-golden-comet, @urnumber1star, @ominous-feychild, @anyablackwood, @amaiguri,

@lyutenw @finickyfelix

@elshells, @thecomfywriter

The Potential of Alice x P(American McGee’s Alice/Lies of P): Romanticism, Healing, and possibly Adventure(WARNING: HEAVY SUBJECTS)

I've been thinking a lot about these two and I'm being reminded of other things from my childhood including a cringe fan fiction concept but now remembering the basic idea along with the recent works I've been reading/listening works such as CS Lewis Ransom Trilogy(currently finishing Out of The Silent Planet) and watching others such as Fritz Lang's Metropolis and looking back to Logan's Run, I think I got an idea for Alice and P(or who I call 'Pietro' which to me sounds like a perfect fusion of Carlo and Pinocchio)

I remember the game Alice Madness Returns and have played it(I still have a physical copy) and remembering while the it is about overcoming one's madness, accepting the past, and moving on, there's another theme that while in my opinion runs secondary, is important. The evils of modernity, notably scientific progress for its own sake and basing morals purely on science.

"I provide a service. In the great and awful metropolis, appetites of all sorts must be gratified"-The Dollmaker

In the game, we see the hideous side of industrialized imperial Britain. Factories with unethical labor, prostitution and pedophilia, reductionist and materialistic thinking while various occult movements among high society. Britain was moving away from its humbler Arthurian and more spiritual roots and towards unrestrained capitalism, imperialism, rationalism and America and most of the west following suit, believing these things were substitutions for morality following with The Enlightenment.

Something the romanticism movements in the West were trying to fight against and CS Lewis and Tolkien were speaking ferverntly against in their works.

Which in turn, ravages Wonderland and only Alice looking back to her fond memories and her family, and yes even the horrendous memories of that terrible night and her days in the asylum, does she overcome her tragedy, heal wonderland, and bring an end to Bumby before anymore harm can be done to others.

Now what recent game has a slightly similar theme in regards to criticism of science and industry and neglect of wisdom and basic nature?

Lies of P

The miracle of Ergo was discovered Geppetto of The Alchemists and combined with robotics launched the city of Krat into a magitek robotic utopia.

But like all Utopias, the secret to its success is ugly, unethical to the uttermost horrendous degree, and not worth it.

But the upper class The Alchemists, began to see themselves as gods and saw themselves justified in what they did to the common folk for the sake of scientific and occult progress. Driven by a kind of thinking which its bitter and rotten fruits are on full display in London in Alice: Madness Returns

P as he learns slowly transforms into a human learns about the simpler things in life, emotion, feelings, art, music, and basic human decency. All without the help of some kind of occult or intellectual knowhow.

Now you ask

"What do Alice, P, and romance between them have to do with all of this?"

Alice and P are individuals who were victims of this cruel ideology, or at least its by-products, and are trying to get out of victimhood and move on.

Now the fan-fiction I am conceptualizing them in a story with a few other individuals. Something akin to The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen minus the suck of the movie or the VERY controversial content of the original graphic novels(but what do you expect from Alan Moore.)

Basically, they're recruited by an organization to stop an evil secret society composed of wealthy aristocratic elites obsessed with the occult and unethical scientists from corrupting civilization in pursuit of some kind of transhumanist new age technocratic utopia or something.

But among the subplots of that story is the budding romance between Alice and P aka 'Pietro' helps to convey romanticism vs enlightenment theme.

Though I definitely think their romance should be more accidental, it should happen when they aren't looking for it.

But the main idea came to me when looking up clips of the 1976 movie Logan's Run

Long story short; in a hedonistic utopia which kills its people at age 30 under the guise of 'renewal', a security guard tasked with hunting and killing those who try to escape their fate who are called runners. He soon finds his own time is up and flees with a woman. During their journey, they fall in love and realize the natural order of growing old may not be so bad after all and soon free the rest of the citizens.

Now picture this, Pietro and Alice, a young man and woman after their lives being mired by the byproducts of modernity, come to understand each other, and find solace in each other. Now also healing though a natural bond between man and woman that has existed way longer before any of this hyper-rationalistic and reductionist jargon and gibberish.

Now I am well aware American McGee strictly said romance was not part of Alice's story in American McGee's Alice and Alice Madness was not romance. Same can be said about Pietro. But in this story they've past that point, they're ready to move on.

In fact, that's precisely why I think Alice and Pietro are a good match, because both really don't know much about romance, and discovering it in each other and figuring out how it works makes so much sense.

Now I hear they call Alice asexual, and I don't know I can confirm that with me being straight as an arrow. But I definitely agree her trauma makes it hard for her to fully embrace and that can be said for P as well. But I think the fact they discovering it and learning to appreciate it better than anyone else is a story worth telling.

I'm not trying to fetishize the aforementioned sexuality, but I feel like these two can really fit the bill of "appreciating parts of humanity that other people take for granted"

These two may be inspiration for an original work at least

But anyway, that's my long dumbass ramble why I like these two together so much