(no subject)
User Name/Nick: Ramen
User DW: blackswanevent.at.dreamwidth.org
AIM/IM: bubblegumofficer/socalramen
E-mail: carolynpoddig@gmail.com
Other Characters: Shane Walsh, Cato
Character Name: Javert
Series:
Age: [This is important; it doesn't seem likely that a 12 year old would be a warden, for instance.]
From When?: [At what point in their timeline were they brought aboard the Barge? Inmates must have just died or were about to die.]
Inmate/Warden: [Choose one and say why they're this way. Wardens--Why does the Admiral think your character would be useful as a warden here? What do they bring to the table? Regardless of their good/evil/neutral motiviations, do they have the capacity to help an inmate achieve graduation? Inmates--What does your character still need to change about themselves? How can working with a warden on the Barge help them?]
Item: [Wardens Only -- What Gives you Your Information While Here? Examples -- a compass, a book, a palm pilot, a tarot card, etc.]
Abilities/Powers: [Remember that Inmates will have reduced powers]
Personality:
Probity, sincerity, candor, conviction, the sense of duty, are things which may become hideous when wrongly directed; but which, even when hideous, remain grand: their majesty, the majesty peculiar to the human conscience, clings to them in the midst of horror; they are virtues which have one vice, – error. The honest, pitiless joy of a fanatic in the full flood of his atrocity preserves a certain lugubriously venerable radiance. Without himself suspecting the fact, Javert in his formidable happiness was to be pitied, as is every ignorant man who triumphs. Nothing could be so poignant and so terrible as this face, wherein was displayed all that may be designated as the evil of the good.
-Victor Hugo
On the sense of duty which may become hideous when wrongly directed
Javert and Valjean, or how evil triumphs when good men do nothing
Victor Hugo presents a story that is representative of the human condition with Les Miserables. Valjean is the every man fighting for individuality and happiness, Javert represents the constant obstruction to that happiness. He is society, he is civilization, and while the boys of the barricade might represent human culture, Javert represents the shackles that man puts on himself to try and restrain the natural animal. Valjean wants to be a man, he wants to be a man and not an animal. He wants to walk the fine line between being an individual and being part of a group, a centuries old plan that men have devoted years of study to. Javert represents the primary road block to this. He is a man who is made for structures and who naturally craves it. Someone who is naturally afraid of the duality of that struggle.
In the films, Javert is constantly shown standing above it all - a very conscious staging choice - and walking a fine line between good and evil, between damnation and salvation, between animal and man. The use of staging, looking up and looking down is a centuries old conflict and Javert finds his place shaken by Valjean. He is tempted, as he would say like Jesus in the desert and Eve in the Garden of Eden. The fatal flaw, what splits him from warden and inmate is that he genuinely believes that freedom is the wrong choice to make and that salvation and a sense of individuality defeat personal happiness and destroy people's safety. He sees the system as above him and is pleased to serve. This is demonstrated with Javert and thinking truthfully that Valjean is his better and the mayor of the town. When he is faced with accusing him he hangs his head and believes himself to be incapable and requires that he be demoted.
It's easy to imagine why he might think this. Canonically his background has been being born in squalor and rising to a sense of purpose. He sees institution as the source of all good, taking him away from his mother - the gypsy and his father the galley slave. He is raised to believe that the police, the government, the structure is salvation. He embodies in fact, George Orwell's concept of "Freedom is Slavery." because in slavery a man is not supported by anything and he has to make himself heard and make himself free. Javert has no faith in himself. He has faith in what the government gives him, what the police give him, what comes from his position and his power. If asked to choose a favorite composition he would chose one with extreme difficulty. He is not inhibited by a lack of education, that education is there - he is blinded by a sense of moral purpose and learning very early on in life that it is better to serve at the right hand of the devil then be in his path.
He is the subject of jokes about this in cartoons, demonstrated in that he lives only to find Valjean, that he doesn't understand the concept of freedom or the concept of free speech. This ultimately is confirmed in the film (and the stage play) itself. When this man has set me free, doesn't he know that he's killed me? And Valjean has even without intending to. Some people are not built for freedom and some people are so lost, lack so much faith in themselves that they do not function well without any sort of structure.
The majesty of human conviction and the horrors of Error
On Javert and what makes him a human versus a villain and what makes him capable of redemption
The majesty of conviction is that it is a virtue born of animal instinct that actually helps keep people civilized. Conviction is born from the single minded desire to survive, to hunt, to bring down game, to protect, and to defend. Conviction is used by people in power to save countries, and by families to defend arguments. Conviction is another word for driven, determined, and strong, and when used properly it is the difference between a man who is a helper and a man who is a killer. Javert is a killer and he is made a monster, by choice. That's where the redemption comes in. He has to change his choice. Why was it a bad choice? He chose the system that damaged his mother and father. He states that he was born in squalor and seeing what squalor bought them he still chose to be better then that and allowed himself to be corrupt by it.
This is not an unintelligent man. He actively pursues Valjean and continues to rise through the ranks of the department without demonstrating any hallmarks of corruption or buying his promotions. Seeing that, why would he tie himself to a cause that is clearly biased?
Why did he choose to be convicted and allow himself to slip into error? As illustrated in the previous app section Javert's sole strength is conviction. His sole strength is in living for shackles and living for order. He supports order and supports the system, when in power he is just as corrupted by it as others but he makes that choice himself because he doesn't see anything redeeming in the lower classes. Javert misses the people who he is supposed to protect in favor of the law because he feels let down by the people and refuses to acknowledge that. Let down because of the choices his mother made, the choices his father made, and the choices that Valjean made. He sees no point in redemption, people will always be wolves and even those pretending to be sheep will still - deep down - be wolves.
The Joy of Ignorance and the Pity of Triumph
Or how Javert is blinded to the horror of the world he was born into by his choices
When you are put into a position of public trust or police power, you have an obligation to consider the letter of the law as opposed to the spirit. A good example of this (for a bit of background) is the California Motor Vehicle Code. The California motor vehicle code is written so stringently that you cannot get into a car, start it up, and drive without doing something wrong. Everything from the placement of the vehicle in lines to the actions of the driver behind the wheel are usually wrong.
This isn't because police want to catch people breaking the law, this is because if someone makes a major mistake, then the police have an excuse to pull them over. Something like 80 percent of crime happens in a car, and if the police can find probable cause to search the vehicle they might take it and discover what? An open container on the front seat gives them the license to open the trunk and ask to see the glove compartment.
(The downside to this of course is that if you are not doing anything STRICTLY illegal or dangerous then they do have this license. However the reverse is that if they ask to search your vehicle then you can in fact say no and they have to abide. It is a question of obeying the law of the letter versus the spirit. There are hundreds of stories of men and women giving policing power and the idea that they have to choose what they will enforce.
The central theme of Les Miserables is choice., and Javert is a character who does not choose easily. He is crippled by his birth, has no faith in humanity and has eliminated choice for himself. He will by nature look for a leader and follow them to the letter. A warden of his would have to be very hands on and very involved. They would have to insist that they obey only him, and then work to break him of his choices and show him that there is something to have faith in. He is not someone who has lost their faith in humanity consciously - he simply never had it by virtue of birth. In a way he has to be treated as someone from a dystopia - he is someone who knows the world can be better but has absolutely no concept of what that is or why.
This is important because Javert revels in power given to him by position. He does not question the pre-ordained order of events until he sees direct action taken about it. He does not see Cosette in the film when told that she has been taken away. He does see the barricade boy and the child, and he is reached and moved by the boy's sacrifice. When he has physical representations of choice and change, this is something that a warden can build on. In short, he's someone so smart they're dumb. He needs literal examples of the good in people. They cannot come from criminals. Javert has no respect for people who come from poverty (all the more reason that I would pair him with a graduated warden in a heartbeat.) and what poverty entails since poverty and criminal behavior are synonymous in the France depicted in Les Miserables.
He is a man who has never known the right choice, embraces the wrong choices, but can be motivated to do better. He is absolutely faithful, and commends his soul and calling unto God because he is conditioned to look for larger and stronger figures who provide structure. Does that suggest that he is weak? Yes. In some ways Javert is very weak, but his circumstances have made him almost crippled in making his own choices and decisions. He's a long-term case, but he's not completely incapable of changing. (Largely in thanks to Russel Crowe's fantastic performance.)
The evil of Good
Or why honestly, there are no truly evil characters. Also known as the never-ending debate between why the innkeepers are actually the real antagonists of the novel.
Human beings, are dramatic by nature. We are the only creatures in the animal kingdom that naturally create drama, we are the only creatures that perpetuate drama. Dramatic acts from everything that we do in this game to everything that we as creative individuals do are a key tenant of civilization. Dramatic acts, unlike law and conviction do not have any basis in survival. They are created purely by civilization, purely by culture. The challenge in dramatic acts is to illustrate the human condition. Why? Why not? Why ask people why they create art in the first place?
There is a sense...that people know that people who are evil can be good and don't choose to acknowledge it. Conversely people who are good can also be evil. The more that people create like Victor Hugo did, the more people see that the human condition and the human experience are not as clear cut as people make them out to be. As we age as a species this is something that becomes more and more pronounced and people want to see it. They want to read about it. They embrace, unconsciously the study of comparative mythology and anthropology even if they don't chose to take that as a particular discipline! Something about one toned one note characters is picked out as wrong. that is the basis of
It has been proposed that Javert practices a form of Legalism. This is not true, as he refers his cause to God and the Law, and while the law governs his life it does not govern his sense of spirituality. In Stars he compares the law to the lord's wrath. He is a religious man and I disagree with the idea that the law is a religion for him in the film. Taking it from film canon he clearly believes in the idea of a creator and a deity.
Day to day activities, things that Javert likes are not particularly shown. He exists as a man completely insular, enjoys fine wines and other trappings of his office but the man has no family and lives for his profession. It's safe to say he feels a connection to other men in his profession but it's not even anything close. While Hoffman has friends and colleagues, Javert has no one. He does not consider the law a religion, rather he offers it up as a sort of sacrifice to god and considers that it is his will that he pursue everything with such swift justice.
Barge Reactions: Upon arrival, and confirmation that this is neither heaven nor hell (the latter will be particularly difficult to explain and get through to him.)
Path to Redemption: [(INMATES ONLY) Please outline possible ways a Warden can get through to them, possible triggers, methods, motives for them to change. This section can serve to give Warden players some idea of which route to take in working with your Inmate. While we don't expect every Inmate to become redeemed, they have to AT LEAST have potential for it. Irredeemable Inmates are not acceptable.]
History:
Sample Journal Entry:
Sample RP: [3-5 paragraphs, 3rd Person POV. Must be Barge setting specific.]
Special Notes:
User DW: blackswanevent.at.dreamwidth.org
AIM/IM: bubblegumofficer/socalramen
E-mail: carolynpoddig@gmail.com
Other Characters: Shane Walsh, Cato
Character Name: Javert
Series:
Age: [This is important; it doesn't seem likely that a 12 year old would be a warden, for instance.]
From When?: [At what point in their timeline were they brought aboard the Barge? Inmates must have just died or were about to die.]
Inmate/Warden: [Choose one and say why they're this way. Wardens--Why does the Admiral think your character would be useful as a warden here? What do they bring to the table? Regardless of their good/evil/neutral motiviations, do they have the capacity to help an inmate achieve graduation? Inmates--What does your character still need to change about themselves? How can working with a warden on the Barge help them?]
Item: [Wardens Only -- What Gives you Your Information While Here? Examples -- a compass, a book, a palm pilot, a tarot card, etc.]
Abilities/Powers: [Remember that Inmates will have reduced powers]
Personality:
Probity, sincerity, candor, conviction, the sense of duty, are things which may become hideous when wrongly directed; but which, even when hideous, remain grand: their majesty, the majesty peculiar to the human conscience, clings to them in the midst of horror; they are virtues which have one vice, – error. The honest, pitiless joy of a fanatic in the full flood of his atrocity preserves a certain lugubriously venerable radiance. Without himself suspecting the fact, Javert in his formidable happiness was to be pitied, as is every ignorant man who triumphs. Nothing could be so poignant and so terrible as this face, wherein was displayed all that may be designated as the evil of the good.
-Victor Hugo
On the sense of duty which may become hideous when wrongly directed
Javert and Valjean, or how evil triumphs when good men do nothing
Victor Hugo presents a story that is representative of the human condition with Les Miserables. Valjean is the every man fighting for individuality and happiness, Javert represents the constant obstruction to that happiness. He is society, he is civilization, and while the boys of the barricade might represent human culture, Javert represents the shackles that man puts on himself to try and restrain the natural animal. Valjean wants to be a man, he wants to be a man and not an animal. He wants to walk the fine line between being an individual and being part of a group, a centuries old plan that men have devoted years of study to. Javert represents the primary road block to this. He is a man who is made for structures and who naturally craves it. Someone who is naturally afraid of the duality of that struggle.
In the films, Javert is constantly shown standing above it all - a very conscious staging choice - and walking a fine line between good and evil, between damnation and salvation, between animal and man. The use of staging, looking up and looking down is a centuries old conflict and Javert finds his place shaken by Valjean. He is tempted, as he would say like Jesus in the desert and Eve in the Garden of Eden. The fatal flaw, what splits him from warden and inmate is that he genuinely believes that freedom is the wrong choice to make and that salvation and a sense of individuality defeat personal happiness and destroy people's safety. He sees the system as above him and is pleased to serve. This is demonstrated with Javert and thinking truthfully that Valjean is his better and the mayor of the town. When he is faced with accusing him he hangs his head and believes himself to be incapable and requires that he be demoted.
It's easy to imagine why he might think this. Canonically his background has been being born in squalor and rising to a sense of purpose. He sees institution as the source of all good, taking him away from his mother - the gypsy and his father the galley slave. He is raised to believe that the police, the government, the structure is salvation. He embodies in fact, George Orwell's concept of "Freedom is Slavery." because in slavery a man is not supported by anything and he has to make himself heard and make himself free. Javert has no faith in himself. He has faith in what the government gives him, what the police give him, what comes from his position and his power. If asked to choose a favorite composition he would chose one with extreme difficulty. He is not inhibited by a lack of education, that education is there - he is blinded by a sense of moral purpose and learning very early on in life that it is better to serve at the right hand of the devil then be in his path.
He is the subject of jokes about this in cartoons, demonstrated in that he lives only to find Valjean, that he doesn't understand the concept of freedom or the concept of free speech. This ultimately is confirmed in the film (and the stage play) itself. When this man has set me free, doesn't he know that he's killed me? And Valjean has even without intending to. Some people are not built for freedom and some people are so lost, lack so much faith in themselves that they do not function well without any sort of structure.
The majesty of human conviction and the horrors of Error
On Javert and what makes him a human versus a villain and what makes him capable of redemption
The majesty of conviction is that it is a virtue born of animal instinct that actually helps keep people civilized. Conviction is born from the single minded desire to survive, to hunt, to bring down game, to protect, and to defend. Conviction is used by people in power to save countries, and by families to defend arguments. Conviction is another word for driven, determined, and strong, and when used properly it is the difference between a man who is a helper and a man who is a killer. Javert is a killer and he is made a monster, by choice. That's where the redemption comes in. He has to change his choice. Why was it a bad choice? He chose the system that damaged his mother and father. He states that he was born in squalor and seeing what squalor bought them he still chose to be better then that and allowed himself to be corrupt by it.
This is not an unintelligent man. He actively pursues Valjean and continues to rise through the ranks of the department without demonstrating any hallmarks of corruption or buying his promotions. Seeing that, why would he tie himself to a cause that is clearly biased?
Why did he choose to be convicted and allow himself to slip into error? As illustrated in the previous app section Javert's sole strength is conviction. His sole strength is in living for shackles and living for order. He supports order and supports the system, when in power he is just as corrupted by it as others but he makes that choice himself because he doesn't see anything redeeming in the lower classes. Javert misses the people who he is supposed to protect in favor of the law because he feels let down by the people and refuses to acknowledge that. Let down because of the choices his mother made, the choices his father made, and the choices that Valjean made. He sees no point in redemption, people will always be wolves and even those pretending to be sheep will still - deep down - be wolves.
The Joy of Ignorance and the Pity of Triumph
Or how Javert is blinded to the horror of the world he was born into by his choices
When you are put into a position of public trust or police power, you have an obligation to consider the letter of the law as opposed to the spirit. A good example of this (for a bit of background) is the California Motor Vehicle Code. The California motor vehicle code is written so stringently that you cannot get into a car, start it up, and drive without doing something wrong. Everything from the placement of the vehicle in lines to the actions of the driver behind the wheel are usually wrong.
This isn't because police want to catch people breaking the law, this is because if someone makes a major mistake, then the police have an excuse to pull them over. Something like 80 percent of crime happens in a car, and if the police can find probable cause to search the vehicle they might take it and discover what? An open container on the front seat gives them the license to open the trunk and ask to see the glove compartment.
(The downside to this of course is that if you are not doing anything STRICTLY illegal or dangerous then they do have this license. However the reverse is that if they ask to search your vehicle then you can in fact say no and they have to abide. It is a question of obeying the law of the letter versus the spirit. There are hundreds of stories of men and women giving policing power and the idea that they have to choose what they will enforce.
The central theme of Les Miserables is choice., and Javert is a character who does not choose easily. He is crippled by his birth, has no faith in humanity and has eliminated choice for himself. He will by nature look for a leader and follow them to the letter. A warden of his would have to be very hands on and very involved. They would have to insist that they obey only him, and then work to break him of his choices and show him that there is something to have faith in. He is not someone who has lost their faith in humanity consciously - he simply never had it by virtue of birth. In a way he has to be treated as someone from a dystopia - he is someone who knows the world can be better but has absolutely no concept of what that is or why.
This is important because Javert revels in power given to him by position. He does not question the pre-ordained order of events until he sees direct action taken about it. He does not see Cosette in the film when told that she has been taken away. He does see the barricade boy and the child, and he is reached and moved by the boy's sacrifice. When he has physical representations of choice and change, this is something that a warden can build on. In short, he's someone so smart they're dumb. He needs literal examples of the good in people. They cannot come from criminals. Javert has no respect for people who come from poverty (all the more reason that I would pair him with a graduated warden in a heartbeat.) and what poverty entails since poverty and criminal behavior are synonymous in the France depicted in Les Miserables.
He is a man who has never known the right choice, embraces the wrong choices, but can be motivated to do better. He is absolutely faithful, and commends his soul and calling unto God because he is conditioned to look for larger and stronger figures who provide structure. Does that suggest that he is weak? Yes. In some ways Javert is very weak, but his circumstances have made him almost crippled in making his own choices and decisions. He's a long-term case, but he's not completely incapable of changing. (Largely in thanks to Russel Crowe's fantastic performance.)
The evil of Good
Or why honestly, there are no truly evil characters. Also known as the never-ending debate between why the innkeepers are actually the real antagonists of the novel.
Human beings, are dramatic by nature. We are the only creatures in the animal kingdom that naturally create drama, we are the only creatures that perpetuate drama. Dramatic acts from everything that we do in this game to everything that we as creative individuals do are a key tenant of civilization. Dramatic acts, unlike law and conviction do not have any basis in survival. They are created purely by civilization, purely by culture. The challenge in dramatic acts is to illustrate the human condition. Why? Why not? Why ask people why they create art in the first place?
There is a sense...that people know that people who are evil can be good and don't choose to acknowledge it. Conversely people who are good can also be evil. The more that people create like Victor Hugo did, the more people see that the human condition and the human experience are not as clear cut as people make them out to be. As we age as a species this is something that becomes more and more pronounced and people want to see it. They want to read about it. They embrace, unconsciously the study of comparative mythology and anthropology even if they don't chose to take that as a particular discipline! Something about one toned one note characters is picked out as wrong. that is the basis of
It has been proposed that Javert practices a form of Legalism. This is not true, as he refers his cause to God and the Law, and while the law governs his life it does not govern his sense of spirituality. In Stars he compares the law to the lord's wrath. He is a religious man and I disagree with the idea that the law is a religion for him in the film. Taking it from film canon he clearly believes in the idea of a creator and a deity.
Day to day activities, things that Javert likes are not particularly shown. He exists as a man completely insular, enjoys fine wines and other trappings of his office but the man has no family and lives for his profession. It's safe to say he feels a connection to other men in his profession but it's not even anything close. While Hoffman has friends and colleagues, Javert has no one. He does not consider the law a religion, rather he offers it up as a sort of sacrifice to god and considers that it is his will that he pursue everything with such swift justice.
Barge Reactions: Upon arrival, and confirmation that this is neither heaven nor hell (the latter will be particularly difficult to explain and get through to him.)
Path to Redemption: [(INMATES ONLY) Please outline possible ways a Warden can get through to them, possible triggers, methods, motives for them to change. This section can serve to give Warden players some idea of which route to take in working with your Inmate. While we don't expect every Inmate to become redeemed, they have to AT LEAST have potential for it. Irredeemable Inmates are not acceptable.]
History:
Sample Journal Entry:
Sample RP: [3-5 paragraphs, 3rd Person POV. Must be Barge setting specific.]
Special Notes: