Assignment #1

Les Mis is a powerful and compelling show crawling with lessons to teach, plot points that can leave you speechless and sets beyond belief. These together make Les Mis, in my opinion one of the best musicals out there with moments that appeal to nearly everyone.

What did viewing the movie teach me?

Personally, viewing the movie version of this musical taught me several things. Firstly it showed just how important the sets are. Most of this movie occurs in a dark and dreary atmosphere, perfect for this show riddled with death and sacrifice. If this movie took place all in broad daylight with sunshine and rainbows the movie would have had a completely different feel and the death's would probably not have resonated as deeply with the watchers as it did with the sets that were used. Second, watching the movie proved to me how important the characterization is in this movie. From Fantine and Val Jean who are kind souls who care for Cosette above all, to Enjolras and his cold personality who cares about nothing other than his revolution the contrasting characters give this show even more depth and help to keep the viewer engaged throughout, even though the movie is rather long. Finally, viewing the movie showed me how impactful a character's death could truly be. Many shows will kill off a character without any rhyme or reason and suddenly the character is gone and it hurts because we liked the character, but it doesn't really stick with us. Les Mis expertly handles character death, such as the death of Gavroche which teaches us just how merciless those in a war can be, or the death of Enjolras where he hoisted the flag one last time showing he was proud to die for something he was so passionate about.


Which scenes stood out to me?

This show is filled with many powerful scenes that stood out to me greatly. First, the death of Gavroche. I believe this scene stood out to me because it shows just how merciless everyone was in that war. Gavroche was a small child and he was shot without hesitation, because of this ruthless murder this scene really stuck with me. To continue, the next scene that stood out to me was lovely ladies. This scene stood out to me because it showed just how far a mother was willing to go to support her child. Fantine gives up her hair, gives up a tooth and becomes a prostitute all to earn money to support little Cosette. This scene really showed Fantine's complete devotion to Cosette and therefore caused it to stand out in my opinion. Finally, the last scene that stood out in my opinion was Javert's suicide. I think this scene stood out to me cause it showed how one single thing can really break someone. Javert was perfectly happy living in the world where it was him against Vale Jean, but then, Val jean showed him mercy. He couldn't live any longer in this world and he began to think it was him or Val Jean. This scene shows just how harshly someone can be impacted when the way they see the world is altered which definitely cause this scene to stay with me.


 Theme's and motif's

 Les Mis is a show that is riddled with theme's and motifs which add to the depth of this musical. The first theme that I saw was forgiveness. In this show forgiveness is a huge aspect. It is first shown when Val Jean steals from the bishop but the bishop forgives him and gives him a second chance after he is returned by the constable. Another instance where forgiveness is shown is when Val Jean let's Javert go even though he could have killed him. Javert had done so much to ruin the life of Val Jean but in that moment in an act of mercy Val Jean let him go. Another example of a theme in Les Mis is love. whether family love or romantic love this musical is rotten with it. The first example is Fantine and Val Jean's love for Cosette. Both of them would do anything to protect her, Fantine sacrificing her hair, teeth and life for her, while Val Jean spends all these years running from the law to care for her. Another example of love in this show is Eponine's love for Marius. Throughout the show we see her love for Marius grow, from friends to her being madly in love. In this show, though Eponine loves Marius she is willing to bring him to Cosette though she knows she will lose him. This shows how much she adored him because she simply wanted the best for him. Her love came to a boiling point when she took a bullet for Marius resulting in her tragic death. Finally, the last theme I noticed was sacrifice. In this music full of death sacrifice is a big thing. Firstly, Fantine sacrificed everything, including her life for the good of Cosette. Her daughter whom she loved dearly but never got to see because she had to give them to the Thenardier's. Another example of sacrifice is when Eponine took the bullet for Marius, the love of her life. She died for him showing what love can drive people to do. Finally the last example of sacrifice is when Val Jean sacrificed his chance at freedom to care for Cosette. He could have left and never had to deal with Javert or what he did in the past and been done but he chose to stay and care for Cosette. This shows how much a death can impact someone because if he hadn't met Fantine he would have never met Cosette.

In conclusion, Les Mis is an awe-inspiring show that can pack many many lessons into it and teach someone a lot aout forgiveness, sacrifice and love. It's a beautiful show and I'm very excited to take part.