#aporeticelenchus

5- Favorite Overused Tropes again I feel strongly these are NEVER overused , for the very objective reason that I Like Them, but : the thing where there’s diagetic BGM but you don’t KNOW it’s diagetic, it’s just music playing over the scene and then someone changes the station or takes off their headphones or w/e and it stops? gets me every single time , absolutely love it

21 (any question) oooh, what makes an adaptation enjoyable For Me... leaving aside the basic things that make any kind of story enjoyable (craft/performance/etc), I really love it when an adaptation can bring out an aspect of the story that I’d never fully experienced, or help me view the story in a new way that compliments it? 

Just to stick with Les Mis bc we all know it--three of my favorite adaptations are Shoujo Cosette; the 1925 silent version;  and the 1995 version set in the early-mid 20C. These are all very different shows/movies! 

But Shoujo Cosette has a luxury of time to spend developing Cosette’s internal life, and her relationships with other people--Valjean, Marius, Eponine, Gavroche-- in a way else I’ve seen even tries to do, and it deals with the political and social ideas of  the original in a way that is , definitely, not exactly what Hugo was talking about, but is in dialogue with that in an interesting way.  

1995 really highlights the way the same societal issues keep playing out across time, as well as how a story can resonate with different people in different ways and still be the basis for forming community; it’s miles away from being a direct presentation of the same story but summons up the moral and social questions so powerfully

1925 is very true to the novel (especially the first half!); there’s no narrative additions. But the performances for all the characters are so good that it fleshes out the characters without needing to add a single line. Like I finally feel like I really understand , on an emotional level, what Valjean is doing in the time at the Montfermeil inn?? And it’s all in just seeing how everyone moves and looks and acts. 

Already answered 4 and 38 (terribly poorly, i’m afraid) right here

23. how do they feel about nicknames, titles, or labels that have been given to them? how do they feel about their name?  Oh! Good question. I think she doesn’t mind her name. It’s actually a pretty name, a soft sounding name to her ear, which she appreciates. As for titles, nicknames, labels etc. I don’t think she had to deal with those really? Titles would utterly baffle her, I think; labels it might depend what they are. Nicknames would fluster her, most probably.

Just this week I had a doctor's office receptionist as for my birthday and act surprised I was over 18. SOLIDARITY.

storm -> get lost in magic cave system

aliens come

find special weapons

zombie villagers

everybody shrinks

talking unicorn attack

hidden bombs

injured baby dragon

Ohhh okay.  I’m imagining a Road to El Dorado AU.  Marius and Courfeyrac have been assigned to follow Grantaire to the Barriere du Maine, as Bahorel had tipped off Enjolras that Grantaire mainly goes there to gamble.  They find Grantaire there, indeed gambling, and when he sees them there he introduces them as his friends; they also find that Grantaire is actually gambling for information relevant to his task.  When it is discovered that Grantaire is using loaded dice, he quickly excuses himself, leaving Courfeyrac and Marius to fend for themselves.  Many wacky antics ensue in which, repeatedly, they almost escape before the police catch up to them.  Marius is terrified, but he trusts Courfeyrac and is flooded with enough adrenaline to keep up with him and catch on to each of his plans to elude their pursuers.  Cut to them both in jail.

When Grantaire comes back to the cafe alone, Bahorel’s instincts tell him where the other two must be.  He arrives to break them out of jail with another wacky plan in which he disguises himself as a guard in a completely OTT fashion, but he and C/M play it so confidently and convincingly that no one at the jail questions them until they’re already gone.  Whoops, they’re being pursued again.  Bahorel picks the lock of a gate that seems to enclose a thick garden; it’ll be easy to hide here.  A young woman hears the commotion and looks outside.  Bahorel and Courfeyrac are successfully hidden, but Marius is in a panic and still trying to find a place to hide that is secure enough for his comfort.  He looks up and stares at Cosette, and their eyes meet.  He’s not blushing, it’s just the blood in his cheeks from running so hard.  After a few seconds, Marius is able to stutter out that he’s not a thief, he swears it, he just needed a place to hide and he’ll be leaving as soon as possible.  Cosette steps out into the garden and walks toward Marius.  She’s not afraid of him, why isn’t she afraid of him?  He could’ve come to rob and kill whoever lives here.  He tries to run, trips and falls, and starts scrabbling away.  Cosette hears Valjean coming out of the house, and quickly tells Marius where to hide.  She convinces Valjean that the startled sound he heard was her being surprised by a bird flying out of the bushes.  She and Valjean go back inside, and after a decent amount of time has passed, Marius, Courfeyrac, and Bahorel exit quietly.  Bahorel teases Marius about the girl, and Courfeyrac joins in; Marius, still shaken by previous events, doesn’t notice his lack of enthusiasm.

I mean, the thing I love most has gotta be the gentle humor and critique of genteel society at the time.

1) Egwene/Someone Who Is Not An Infuriating Dipshit

2) Aludra would hit it off with Riff from Sluggy Freelance. (IDK about romantically, since both characters read as pretty aromantic to me, but they’d definitely bond over blowing shit up FOR SCIENCE!!!!!!)

3) This probably doesn’t count, but I always wished that at least some of the poly arrangements had been less relentlessly no-homoed.

Honorable mention: Speaking of folks in poly arrangements - and this one definitely doesn’t count - but Rand/Elayne could have been much more interesting than it was. Like, there’s this bit in A Memory of Light where Brandon Sanderson gamely attempts to handwave the fact that they’ve spent, ooh, maybe a few weeks in each other’s company:

“The conversation reminded him of their time in Tear, stealing hidden kisses in the Stone between sessions of political training. Rand had fallen in love with her during those days. Real love. Not the admiration of a boy falling off a wall, looking at a princess* - back then, he hadn’t understood love any more than a farm boy swinging a sword understood war.

Their love was born of the things they shared. With Elayne, he could speak of politics and the burden of rule. She understood. She truly did, better than anyone he knew. She knew what it was to make decisions that changed the lives of thousands. She understood what it was to be owned by the people of a nation. Rand found it remarkable that, though they had often been apart, their connection held.

Yeah, remarkable - especially since this is the first time they’ve discussed these things since Book 4. (There was the reunion in Book 9, but that was mostly establishing, “Yep, poly as hell over here”/sexytimes.) Even accounting for the fact that Rand isn’t a reliable narrator, it still rings a bit hollow when you consider that they were separated for most of his stint as a ruler - and for the worst of his instability.

But let’s say they weren’t.

What if, instead of going to Ebou Dar after being named Aes Sedai, Elayne had gone to Caemlyn to claim her throne? And they had to negotiate their relationship as fellow monarchs? That could have led to some interesting conflicts.

Enjolras/Grantaire

A++. Obviously my Les Mis OTP. I originally just read it because I searched Les Mis fic on AO3, filtered by kudos, and went “well, I guess all the popular fics have this pairing, so I’ll check it out.” They have such a satisfactory arc in the book (and Grantaire is such a relative nonpresence in the musical) that I hadn’t really thought terribly much about them independently. And Lo! I was struck, and fell headlong into this hellpit. It’s hard to find fic that really captures my various interpretations of them, whether canon-era or transplanted to the modern world, but luckily I’m easy to please and am happy to read endless variations where they have strayed rather far from canon characterization.

Grantaire/Marius

N/A. I have legitimately never given this any thought beyond bro shenanigans. I imagine Grantaire is more puzzling to Marius than any other Amis (even Enjolras and Combeferre, who he may be intimidated by, I think he can understand), whereas I imagine Marius is pretty transparent to R. I think that could lead to great comic potential. Also they are both 

Courfeyrac/Combeferre