#sb and l listens to les mis

[smallblueandloud]

how far can you get in writing les mis fanfic before it becomes obvious that you can't pick a single les amis (is that their name??) out of a lineup: an experiment by essbie andloud

#i was rereading the fic and like. this is hilarious. i was SO VAGUE about their descriptions #sb and l rambles #sb and l is writing #sb and l listens to les mis #les mis #éponine de bergerac

[smallblueandloud]

me, in tears about a video about parents accepting their queer kids: oh man. Oh Man. okay. okay! okay i'm going back to my normal life now! i'm gonna try to write a fanfic >:D

me: the fanfic is for les mis, so i'd better put on the soundtrack to get into the right mood!

me, halfway through scrolling through spotify, tears still in my eyes, thinking fondly about how much pain "a little fall of rain" usually causes me and how i can't wait to put it on again: Wait. Wait This Might Backfire

#GUESS WHO'S GONNA BE BAWLING TONIGHT FOLKS #it's good for you! i think. listen man i just watched jadzia and worf go on a vacation to raisa. lesbean's texting me back. life is GOOD #i deserve a cathartic cry once in awhile about how beautiful the world is! especially and including the tragedy of fiction! #sb and l rambles #sb and l is writing #sb and l listens to les mis #les mis #éponine de bergerac

[smallblueandloud]

also just like. more and more, i am convinced that the way i headcanon cosette's personality isn't just interesting for me but is actually canonically supported? like, yes, she's the most classic Blonde(tm) i can think of, but also i think she's always aware of her situation and how she can affect it in a way that marius, bless his heart, just isn't. and i have receipts!

[tried to make this a bulleted list but tumblr mobile apparently CANNOT handle those anymore so! guess we're doing this formatting now]

first off, the entirety of in my life. "what's the matter with you, cosette?" shows a self-awareness that i wouldn't expect from her if she were just her archetype. immediately after, she laments how she doesn't know what her situation is, and it's making her antsy. later, she questions her father about his past, and he blows her off in a way that implies she's asked these questions before. she also criticizes him for seeing her as a child, which he ignores. (specifically i'm thinking of the way she says "i'm no longer a CHILD, and i long for the truth that you know!")

secondly, the general theme in a heart full of love of marius representing doubt and cosette representing stability. see: "i am lost" / "i am found", and "do i dream?" / "i'm awake". later, she actually seems to lead marius to realizing this is real, beginning the "and it's not a dream" line and then letting him join in.

then there's the attack on rue plumet. which, okay, we know i am obsessed with, but also the cosette characterization implied there FASCINATES me. let's go over the events of that song and the previous one from her perspective, shall we? she meets her idiot love-at-first-sight at her gate and has a beautiful duet with him. then, while she's gazing soulfully into his eyes, they hear a scream. he appears to recognize it, identifying the screamer as his friend éponine, who's trying to warn them that someone's coming. (ignoring the possibility that she recognizes the name as her childhood friend's,) marius disappears and immediately her father shows up, panicked about the scream. cosette, without hesitation, shifts tunes to a comforting song, claims that it was HER scream, and then uses her childhood melody to slip in the fact that it was three men she saw that he should look out for.

it's my theory that she does this -- literally and musically aging herself down -- to calm him down, because there's no way she did it out of the joy of her heart: she literally SAYS several songs earlier that she doesn't enjoy being treated as a child. the only reason it DOESN'T calm him down, why it instead makes things worse, is because she accidentally trips over his javert feelings, something she also told us she doesn't know anything about.

and then, of course, there's a heart full of love (reprise). where marius is drowning in his sadness and unanswered questions and cosette tries to pull him out of it. she starts off with their love melody (a heart full of love) and then reminds him, "and it wasn't a dream", which marius actually! starts off with her, instead of her having to pull him into it! she sees how he's feeling, sees how to pull him out of it, and does it successfully! i am a big fan of looking at when characters use leitmotifs and whether they're doing it "on purpose" -- i don't think valjean and javert, for example, use each other's tunes on purpose, i just think they're similar. but cosette is definitely someone who would be aware of what leitmotifs she uses, or as "aware" as a character in a musical can be, and i like that a lot about her!

#btw whenever i talk about acting choices i'm listening to the 2010 cast recording on spotify #i'm just! i love her! lots of thoughts about her and éponine constantly :D #sb and l rambles #sb and l listens to les mis #les mis #cosette #cosette x marius #this is why she should be roxane but i am stubborn and gay so instead she's christian lmao #it's fine it's doable this au is more about éponine and their relationships w her anyway #this post is an ESSAY i am gonna stop typing now for a little while lmao #éponine de bergerac

[smallblueandloud]

"her name was éponine: her life was cold and dark, but she stood unafraid" 😭

there's just something so upsetting to me about her and her life and the tragedy of it, how very loved she was and could have known if only she'd lived. she's SUCH a clear personality, so much of a person and so interesting, despite being a side character in a narrative that's honestly more about jean valjean than it even is about marius or cosette. she has TWO WHOLE SONGS to herself!! and it's all about HER, like yes, they're both about her love for marius, but her love for him is so fascinatingly individual and about HER feelings rather than MARIUS and i'm just. god. my beloved. no wonder i want to cast her as [redacted]

#that's probably also a side effect of marius being uh. Not Super Interesting lmao #that's okay! we love him anyway! #sb and l rambles #sb and l listens to les mis #eponine #eponine x marius #still crying about ''i love him... but only on my own'' [end of on my own] / ''i know him!'' [beginning of a little fall of rain] #ALSO JUST LIKE. ONCE AGAIN THE IMPLICATION IN ATTACK ON RUE PLUMET THAT SHE'S NEVER REALLY STOOD UP TO HER FATHER BEFORE #BUT SHE DECIDES TO AND THEN SHE DOES AND MARIUS DOESN'T EVEN REALIZE WHAT THAT MEANS FOR HER

[smallblueandloud]

i noticed today for the first time that éponine says "he was never mine to lose" in a heart full of love, and then in the reprise, valjean says "she was never mine to keep", and i'm just. Sad about them. and also i'm feeling DEEPLY justified in the decision to include a whole jean valjean subplot in the au i'm working on solely because he gets to bond with éponine! let them be friends!

#jean valjean has a favorite child in law and it is NOT the philosophy major lmaoooooo #sb and l rambles #les mis #i should really have an Essbie's Les Mis Crying tag whoops #sb and l listens to les mis #sure! i can fill up that tag later #right now i'm going to listen to on my own and then a little fall of rain because i love pain

[smallblueandloud]

in case you ever wondered why i dislike the disney movie so much, i just pitched the musical version of into the woods to someone solely on the basis of "the characters literally kill the narrator halfway through act 2". so. fight me, disney.

#into the woods #sb and l rambles #sb and l listens to itw #i'm listening to les mis right now but you KNOW what comes next

[smallblueandloud]

SO I’M PLAYING THE SW SOUNDTRACKS ON SPOTIFY DESKTOP AND UH

[image description: the song progress bar from spotify desktop, except there’s a lightsaber handle in front of one side and the “in progress” meter is glowing green like the blade of a lightsaber. end id.]

WAS NO ONE GONNA TELL ME THAT SPOTIFY HAD MY BACK HERE??

#star wars #spotify #sb and l rambles #sb and l watches sw #i've been listening to so much les mis and itw that my brain broke #the only music it's accepting is instrumental stuff that's VERY different from everythingelse #therefore: sw

[smallblueandloud]

“Who cares about your lonely soul?

We strive towards a larger goal.

Our little lives don’t count at all.”

Wow, Enjolras. Way to be depressing.

(To those who plan a revolution - morale is important. Boost it. Don’t say a bunch of existentialist nonsense and rain on your people’s parade.)

#les mis #sb and l rambles #musicals #really though #the whole musical is just really #REALLY #depressing #i never cry during movies #but i cried twice during that one #but the music is really good #i'm listening to that song right now #i mean #yeah #marius is acting like an idiot #but MORALE dude #keep it high #saa