The Beauty and Anguish of Les Misérables! (feat. Lindsay Ellis) | It's Lit! | PBS Digital Studios
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Victor Hugo’s Les Misérables is one of history’s most famous novels and one of the longest-running musicals in Broadway history. On this special episode of It’s Lit! we explore how Les Miserable became both a national and revolutionary anthem, and so publicly adored that all 1,900 pages never went out of print.
Be sure to tune into the new Les Misérables adaptation on Masterpiece on PBS. You can stream it on PBS.org, PBS Video app on your Apple TV, Roku, Chromecast.
Interested in using this video as a teaching resource? Check it out on PBS LearningMedia: to.pbs.org/3AgSrvu
Written by Princess Weekes & Lindsay Ellis
Directed by David Schulte
Animation by Jordan Husmann
Fact Checked: by Yvonne McGreevy
Produced by Stephanie Noone
Executive in Charge (PBS): Adam Dylewski
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Looking for more It's Lit? You can find the latest season on Storied, PBS's home for arts and humanities content here on TH-cam. Subscribe to Storied for that latest episodes of It's Lit and get your folklore fix with Monstrum while you're there! th-cam.com/channels/O6nDCimkF79NZRRb8YiDcA.html
"Admit it. You skimmed the Waterloo chapters."
I didn't come here to be called out like this.
what is worst i i was listening to it on audible and still skipped it....god that chapter was boring
I bet you skimmed all those descriptions of the sewers too!!!
"And so to escape Javert, Valjean and Cosette fled into a nunnery.
"Now, let's spend twenty chapters talking about the detailed history of the convent, its architecture, its history, its place in society, and Hugo's thoughts on how the monastic system has become obsolete in the society and economy of nineteenth-century Europe..."
I actually read the Waterloo book in one sitting
I only read the abridged. =[
I love how for all the characters they took pictures of the BBC series, but then when it comes to Enjolras they're like "..... nope we need Aaron Tveit."
Robinisademon how it should be
Periodt😂
“Injustice isn’t going to just itself.”
Which is of course wrong, one day we will all be dead, that will happen by itself and it's just.
Hmmm interesting....I guess this story CAN be looked upon as a nihilist fable. @@Kaefer1973
Heh, I think this is the first time I've seen Lindsay do a promotional message where she didn't sound like she was totally embarrassed.
Or obviously reading off of cue cards in a way that just screams "I don't care and you don't have to either."
This also is first time she appeared on camera pregnant.
@@dacealksne WAT!? I missed that!
@@dacealksne
Say whaaa
@@dacealksne hold up, what?
I see Lindsay, I click. That's how the dork do.
Ditto
Lindsay brings hope to a dismal and gray day....
Fun Fact. We of the Channel Islands love Victor Hugo so much we had a ferry named after him travelling from Alderney to France. It was notoriously rocky and people call it the Victor Spewgo. It's also why you can find a statue of him in the Candy Gardens, next to our museum.
Snailman Productions victor spewgo would be a good pornstar name
@@miiiwu1999 Or punk rock band name
DID SHE JUST INCITE US TO REVOLT!??!
Sounded that way to me.
Well it's not going to just itself
In the case of the USA, it is LONG overdue.
SÍ SE PEUDO!!!!!!!!!!
Well, duh. Hugo was right when he said that we need an era of good men not great men. It's about time to try and work on that
Just finished watching Lindsay’s Norte Dame video for the nth time, perfect time to upload. My teenage self could only get through the first 10 pages of Les Mis....
My adult self isn't much better. I want some sort of story, not a lecture on bookkeeping.
That said, the overall story is great, it's just written rather... exhaustingly.
Same. I adore the story (the stage adaptation is one of my favorite musicals of all time), but the book moves at a glacial pace. I had the same problems with Wicked.
Kaija Schmauss Oh god, it was the same can’t-get-through-the-first-ten-pages syndrome with Wicked too. I like the story but I think I’m a reader who’s more destined to read Non-Fiction, lol!
@@rachel_sj I found wicked a bit easier, but still not easy. In other words, I put wicked down later than Les Mis.
@@rachel_sj Same. I LOVE the musical Wicked. The metaphor about racism is brilliant. But I just couldn't finish the book it was based on. I don't need to know all the details of Elphaba's mothers affairs. I want to read about how Elphaba became the Wicked Witch of the West.
1:00 Sorry, Lindsey , but I read all of the Waterloo AND Sewer system parts.
Skimmed the Waterloo a bit just to see where it ended, but yes, the sewer system part was unexpectedly fascinating.
Me too. Unfortunately.
Don't forget the parisian gangster language!
the stupid abbey part says hi
I actually found the first 50-60 pages about the Bishop the hardest to get through. But yes, read the whole book, no skimming.
I'm a simple man, I see a video with Lindsay in it and I watch it.
we have come here to chew bubble gum and watch a new video by Lindsay.
Is that a meme or something?
@alphanum001 Carpenters "They live", a movie I might recommend not for being great itself but for having fascinating ideas and visuals about the aliens among us. or memewise just check for the "I have come here to chew bubblegum and to" scene
Lynyrd Skynyrd would be proud.
The choices of visuals combining the BBC version and the musical? ABSOLUTELY CORRECT. Both are good, Oyelowo is g o d l i k e as Javert but Tveit is the dreamcast E. Good job graphics team!
oh my gosh is that a fellow bi in the wild
@@oof-rr5nf sure is! Bi-five!
Greetings fellow bi humans
Tveit is a good choice indeed, lol
MoBro Enj (in BBC Les Mis): the last thing I hoped to see. Dark-haired, short-haired, with a thin moustache... and R himself looks like Jabba the Hutt more or less.
Lindsay said it's time to do a revolution. Let's go, comrades. To the barricades!
it's action that counts, not words and we need actions now. This calls for immediate discussion!
Do you hear the people click? Clicking the vids of angry men...
@WJ It's wise to do so at least since Aristophanes
hey Antifa is also red (THE WORLD ABOUT TO DAWN) and black (THE NIGHT THAT ENDS AT LAST)!
It is the music of a people who will not be in quarantine again!
That quote from Victor Hugo made me tear up. Les Mis, in my personal opinion, is the greatest story that’s ever been told. I had to sell myself to make my rent and it truly tore my soul in two. Les Mis does bring comfort to my heart
You took it to the next level here. Health and happiness. Cheers.
There is no justice, there is just us. ~ Terry Pratchett
The Just us league.
"In the end only two well developed characters are shown as ready to die for their beliefs"... Hey! Don't forget Gavroche!
I read the whole thing - which completely made me understand why abridged books are sold. Like, thanks for the information regarding language - and you know, if it hadn't rained, France would - maybe - could - perhaps - have won!
I recently gave my copy of _Cryptonomicon_ to a friend of mine. Like most people, I never finished it. He's very close to the end and both fascinated and excited to finish it. I have weird friends.
@@tarmaque I love Cryptonomicon! When it first came out a bunch of my friends and I read it the whole way through. We also all read the Baroque Cycle; reading books like that with friends helps.
@@Lexivor My friend is just about to start on _The Baroque Cycle_ but I doubt I'll be joining him. I loved _Snow Crash_ and _The Diamond Age_ though. However I've since moved on and am reading more Iain Banks.
You ate the whole plate.
tarmaque I couldn’t finish Cryptonomicon, but I devoured The Boroque Cycle in a couple months. Loved it.
Les Mis? Lindsay? Sounds about right
"Javert the... Javert"
if there's one thing I've learned from the memes is that Javert is Javert
@@juanjuri6127 Javert is a symbol of the misguided and narrow application of the principals of Justice.
I... actually read all 1900 pages before playing a chorus part on the musical for a community theatre show.
I read the unabridged Les Miserables after I saw the musical in high school. Did not skim over the Waterloo chapters, thank you. In fact, over 25 years later, the impact was so great the imagery remains. I never checked it for historical accuracy, but wow. Very worth a read.
I remember my peers in English honors classes being required to read the novel in high school. I wasn't in honors classes, so I wasn't introduced to it. I still haven't read it or seen any of the adaptations, but I'm considering reading the novel at some point. Cheers.
Yo the Waterloo chapters are one of my favourite bits of the book. I've read it so many times my book literally opens to that page :-)
I've only seen the Animaniacs version, Les Miseranimals.
I've only seen the Sesame Street version. Les Mousarables.
Oh god the way two ads play after she says that they lost the revolution is too real
god the very thing i adore about les mis is how hopeful it all is
(also? screamed when aaron tveit popped on screen)
I remember reading the whole thing as a teenager, and even though the ending was rather sweet, I cried so much. I didn't understand at the time much of the historical context, and some parts were so long and kept going about it, but it was still such a compelling book.
Honestly the ending was my least favorite part. I just thought it was unnecessarily cruel to Valjean. His reason to cut ties with Cosette didn’t convince me, so it just came off as Hugo piling more misery on top of someone who’d already suffered plenty.
I'm absolutely obsessed with Les Mis (my icon actually is from an older adaptation of it) and I think the main point of this video is accurate even if some of the historical details are off. (e.g. the June Rebellion was actually a worker's rebellion in real life but Hugo chose to focus on students, the monarchy was re-established in 1815 not 1830 but the king changed over because of the July Revolution of 1830) And I'm surprised Lindsay didn't talk about how Marius was kind of a Hugo self-insert with the similar backstories and all.
Totally was expecting a ‘thud’ or a ‘crack’ sound effect this time when he jumped into the water
Or Colm Wilkinson's weird "home" noise.
I remember opening Victor Hugo at the M13 prerelease. That guy is such a bomb in limited.
I didn't skip anything in this book. I took it as a challenge to read it in its entirety. That's not to say I retained it all since there were parts that dragged, but I did look at and read the words. :D I love this book. And I love France. In Paris, you can visit Victor Hugo's home. It's dreary and makes me feel claustrophobic and dizzy. The dining room has such a busy and pattern on the walls that continues to the drapery and to the ceiling that I just want out...and I normally love darkness! But his home is just too much.
Claustrophobia and dizziness...Bet.
"Always trust the injustice cause its not going away" to quote lily allen. Because well like she says you can always trust injustice to exist
I love how Lindsay is wearing the French flag colors.
Yeah, red, white and black. French colours
@@ristilukki The bottom of her dress is dark blue.
Ahem, I read all the Waterloo chapters. I complained the entire time, but I read them!
I thought the worst part was when he was talking about the patterns on the walls of a room.
@@parus6422 I most resent the two pages about the cheese industry in the town that Valjean never even wound up going to. Especially since they were supposed to be a letter someone was writing. Which isn't in Waterloo but still.
I hear Hugo and a bunch of other French literary giants were in a hashish club together. I’m sure it had some positive impacts on his work, but from what I’ve gathered of the Waterloo chapters, they’re just 19th century versions of a college student doing shrooms for the first time. I mean describing the patterns on the wall? Where have I heard that one before?
I've never read les miserables, but after watching this video, I feel compelled of doing it. And also, I'm a huge fan of Lindsay Ellis
you should read it !
I would have called Javert the guy that says "And I'm Javert."
I didnt know victor hugo was illustrated by Noah Bradley. He's one of my favorite artists.
Love the masterpiece series so much!!!
I listened to the audiobook read by George Guidall of the translation by Julie Rose. I have to drive a lot for work. So I did not skip Waterloo. Or the history of Paris' sewer system. Might have in the reading, no promises about that. It was my first time for the novel. Heckuva read!
I've read it from cover to cover when I was in high school :D It's still one of my favourites!
The animation in this series is always remarkable.
I love this series
You're always be learning me up Lindsey
Another great job, you're always so clear it's easy to re listen while I'm working. Thanks again for the insight to books I haven't thought of giving a chance. I'll have to audio book it.
Fantastic! Thank you
Great classic. Yeah another one that takes time to get through, but is worth it.
OMG!! I can't say how I love that Les Miserable my all time favorite thing is also combined with Lindsay and Magic some of my other favs!
Never read the book, but seeing this musical in London on New Year's Day 2011 is what hooked me head over heels onto musical theatre.
That was awesome, thanks Lindsay!
I think the best version of 'Les Miserable' is the 1995, Claude Lelouch version, with Jean-Paul Belmondo. It's an adaptation in the sense of being set a century or so later, features a main character whose life has parallels to Jean Valjean and who is obsessed with the book. The performances are all excellent, the direction and writing are outstanding and it's well worth a three hour watch.
This video made me realize Marius is extremely similar to Hugo. His royalist grandfather and republican father, a rich man fighting for the poor, etc.
thank you!! Have been having Lindsey les mis withdrawal symptoms ever since her video has disappeared from the internet
The ABC Cafe sounds like a place you'd find on sesame street
About characters who die for their beliefs: Enj and Javert... AND WOT ABOUT GRANTAIRE, LINDS???
Wot about Grantaire, dear bewildered and awkward Grantaire? Has Lindsay forgotten or overlooked that he also died for his beliefs?
Sandra Dermark I think Lindsay’s just singling out characters who died for beliefs that were.. kinda lofty and abstract? Grantaire certainly died for his singular belief in Enjolras (and only in Enjolras, as he’s at one point called out for. By Enjolras.) but ehhhh I can see why she left him out ^_^;; If the other barricade boys didn’t warrant a mention, he definitely doesn’t..
Grantaire died for and with a person he believed in, not a cause or a set of ideals. Don't get me wrong, "permets-tu?" still gives me the feels and all but like the person before me said, if combeferre, courfeyrac, feuilly etc didn't get a mention neither should grantaire.
It's awesome for a french (like me) to hear your voice say french word !
Love the use of magic the gathering cards.
One day I will get through the unabridged edition of Les Mis. Including the Waterloo section!
I mean, anything it's possible right?
I needed some Lindsay Ellis pontificating upon literary works in my life right now. Thanks internet :)
OH MY G!!! I've been waiting weeks, weeks I say, for a new Lindsay vid!!!!!!
Brilliant.
Great video, Linds! And I like your France dress. :) hope you can put more stuff out soon!
The Waterloo pages (and the Argot pages) were appendices in the version I read, so I technically didn’t skip them.
This series is the best. I can't wait for Lindsey to come back on her own channel, but this was a nice one to tide me over.
I didn't skim the Waterloo chapters. Nor the description of that congregation of nuns. Nor the account of what France looked like in 1832 regarding politics, culture, architecture and all kinds of random stuff. Being totally obsessed with Les Mis can take you a long way...
When I was 11 we moved to a new country where I didn't speak the language and kids weren't very friendly, so I asked my grandma to send me some books and one of them was Les Miserables, I read it a good 15 times. #teenangst
Victor Hugo was pretty much teen angsting through life, so that's an appropriate read ^^
Yes!! This is my favourite book! I hope there will be a video on War and Peace one day, too!
When you read novels, you set the bar high.
Très intéressant. Très bien.
killer ad pivot 10/10
I watched that new Les Mis series over Christmas & New Year on the BBC so I recommend it.
Les Misérables means the miserable ones, yes, but it also means *the impoverished ones* as la misère can also mean poverty. It's an important connotation, and one of the reasons translated copies keep the french title instead of translating it too (think something like Crime and Punishment is translated in title too).
But Lindsay, now I can navigate the Parisian sewer!
I certainly am looking forward to seeing the Les Mis series when it comes to me on Netflix!
When I was taking French my junior year in high school, one of our assignments was to dress up as a famous historical French figure-in French! Who else should I pick but Victor Hugo? Even dressed up in the beard, which my teacher ESPECIALLY liked!
Regarding how the novel focuses on a rather minor and more obscure revolution, I feel it appropriate to steal a classic quote from ANOTHER smash-hit musical: "Who lives, who dies, who tells your story..."
Lindsay is out here teaching me new words! If anyone else wondered what ingénue (awn-je-noo) means, here's wikipedia's definition;
"The ingénue is a stock character in literature, film, and a role type in the theatre; generally a girl or a young woman who is endearingly innocent and wholesome....Typically, the ingénue is beautiful, kind, gentle, sweet, virginal, and often naïve, in mental or emotional danger, or even physical danger, usually a target of the cad; whom she may have mistaken for the hero."
Okay I know the les amis only had 1 paragraph to a couple of pages to each of their descriptions BUT they were still pretty developed and very unique and lovable characters. I wan Are you really gonna tell me Jehan didn’t die for what he believed in?? Or Grantaire?!? They all deserve recognition!!!
I’m sorry but I take my revolutionaries very seriously
I think I learned that les mis was about the June rebellion way back in 2012 and the film came out, and you (& friends, iirc,) talked about it. I'd read the book at that point -- though, yes, I'd entirely skipped the Waterloo chapters except the last few pages where I saw the name thenardier I think and went back a few pages to see what that was about, lmao -- but yeah, I think you talking about that was probably the start of me diving deeper into historical/ political/ social context of pieces I read. It's heartwarming to hear about this same topic again, with new insights, and new adaptations.
Even the Masterpieces of French Literature class that I took in college only had us read an abridged version. IT LONG.
I have the same chair. Got it at IKEA. It's wonderful.
I've read the whole book. It took me three months but I did it!
I could not javert my eyes from this video
I've tried reading that exact printing of Les Mis so many times! Never could get more than 100 pages in, but I'm very, very well acquainted with the priest :)
I was going to say "why another adaptation so soon?" and then I realized it's already been 7 years since the movie.
But still... can we stop remaking and rebooting things and try new stuff? We don't NEED 60+ adaptations of this book...
"be honest, you skimmed the waterloo chapters" I ADMIT IT. I've been slowly reading the full novel and ive gotten through a lot of dredge but i just CAN NOT read pages of battle description hahah
Might as well get that series, I can't disappoint Victor Hugo now, can I?
This really makes me want to read the book for some strange reason.
When it comes to video essayists, it's Lindsey and everyone else. Period.
Lindsey versus Everybody.
@@paulcooper1046 Everybody threw the first punch at Lindsey.
the ending theme reminds me of a cruel angel's thesis
Well this has new context with Floyd
I didn't skip "Waterloo". On contrary, I thought it was one of the most beautifully written sections of the novel and sparked a massive interest in me about the small details of the battle. I did skip the convent part though:)
Waterloo 1 Convent 0
I would love to see you tackle class in the works of Charles Dickens, Upton Sinclair, and John Steinbeck.
Oh come on! The 100 (or so) Waterloo pages is one of the best bits! And then there is Stendhal's La Chartreuse de Parme, with his *eyewitness* description of the same battle... and W.M. Thackeray's Vanity Fair with his... After some 30 or so years, those are about the only bits I actually remember from those novels.
Thank you for the okay that I skipped those 50 pages over the battle of Waterloo!!
I read the whole thing. In translation that is.
It took me 15 months from starting it to finishing it.
Hey, I have that exact pretty edition of the book! (Or as we fans affectionately call it, the Brick)
Definitely watch the PBS (BBC for UK audiences likea me) version. It tells the story beautifully.
And it's with McNulty from The Wire :)
@@stefan1024 Oh yeah!
So any plans for the other famous Victor Hugo book?
Check out Lindsay’s channel for Notre Dame (and it’s many, evolving adaptations).
@@Randomgen77 I would not have known that Notre Dame was once run down and disregarded by the French, if not for that video. Handy piece of information to have in light of the recent fire.
Not to be nitpicky, but the monarchy wasn't restored in 1830. 1830 is when Charles X was deposed and Louis-Philippe became king. The monarchy was restored back in 1814.
Hugo just shuts down the arguments of Bonapartists with three words (two in the original French) through the character of combeferre. Respect, Victor!
Also, can we talk about Marius banging his head against a tree for hours because cosette is moving? A mood.
It's even more pitiful in the book, because she's like, "We're moving away for a whole month! Maybe two, even!" And he's like, "WHAT?! Two whole months?!!! But how can I LIVE?????"
@@thatjillgirl Marius is honestly such a mess in the brick but at least it's entertaining. He also has quite the character arc which most older screen adaptions as well as the stage musical barely show
I need a new episode
Yay! I love Lindsay Ellis! So glad I discovered this series!
HOW timely is this video
I saw that edition of Hunchback with the drawing of the Notre Dame and now I'm sad.