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isaakfvkampfer · 3 years

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The French Police Bureaucracy and Javert’s Patron

After extensive Google-fu, I’ve compiled as much information as I can find on the French police bureaucracy during Les Miserablès and specifically, Javert’s mysterious patron, M. Chabouillet. If anyone cares to add to this post, please do: I can’t read a word of French, and aside from the almanacs, I haven’t dug into any original documents from that time period. Most of my conclusions regarding the police hierarchy are from papers written in the mid-to-late 1800s, which saw great changes in the Paris bureaucracy.

Tracking down Javert’s Patron In the brick, Victor Hugo introduces M. Chabouillet, Javert’s patron, who facilitates his career within the police force. When we first meet Javert in Montreuil-sur-mer, he writes (Vol. 1, Book 5, Ch. 5):

Javert owed the post which he occupied to the protection of M. Chabouillet, the secretary of the Minister of State, Comte Anglès, then prefect of police at Paris.

Later, after Valjean escapes to Paris, M. Chabouillet arranges for Javert to move to the capitol as well (Vol. 2, Book 5, Ch. 10):

Javert’s zeal and intelligence on that occasion had been remarked by M. Chabouillet, secretary of the Prefecture under Comte Anglès. M. Chabouillet, who had, moreover, already been Javert’s patron, had the inspector of M. sur M. attached to the police force of Paris.

With these two pieces of information, I started digging in the Paris almanac archives for any references to a Chabouillet [1]. As it turns out, there exist two men with the surname of Chabouillè, who served within the Prefecture of Police during this time.

The first was an Architectes inspecteurs divisionnaires in 1820 [1], which roughly translates to divisional inspector architect. I couldn’t find a description of this position around that decade, or any other position for that matter. The best document on the Prefecture’s administration is a letter from H.S. Sanford in 1854 [5], so I’ll refer to it for the rest of this post even though the bureaus and their responsibilities got shuffled around like musical chairs. On pg. 344, Sanford speaks of a “…commissary of the petite voirie, who has under him four architects of the first class, and six architects of the second class.” They were part of the active service in the 2nd bureau, 2nd division, with duties involving the inspection of buildings, quarries, and mines. I don’t see this man’s jurisdiction overlapping with Javert’s position handling criminal cases. Javert would not have written him regarding M. Madeleine, and I doubt he would have the power to send Javert to Montreuil-sur-mer or Paris.

However, the second Chabouillè was the head of the 1st bureau, 1st division in the Prefecture of Police. He held this post over the years 1810 to 1831, which overlap with Comte Anglès’s term as well as Javert’s career as a policeman. (Some almanacs are missing, so he might have been there longer. He’s not listed in the position in 1808 or 1833). This bureau’s responsibilities also covered public order and security matters directly related to Javert’s investigations: “Pursuit of criminals and delinquents signalized or unknown, and against whom no writs have yet been issued… suicides and accidental deaths… carrying of forbidden arms… supervision of liberated prisoners, convicts, rèclusionnaires, and others…” [6, pg. 338]. As head of this bureau, Chabouillè ranked high up there in terms of power (see the section How Powerful was Chabouillè?), so it makes sense he would be Javert’s patron and have the authority to summon Javert to Paris.

Why then does Hugo call Chabouillet the secretary to Anglès? I believe he actually means that Chabouillet performed secretarial duties, not that his position was literally that of a secretary. There is no Chabouillè listed in the almanacs as secretary general or any form of secretary during Anglès’s term. However, Napoleon organized the bureaus as an administrative structure to aid the Prefect in carrying out his immense duties [2]. In 1809, when Vidocq entered the government, the 1st division was considered the Administrative Branch [12] since it had no active service component, and Chabouillè would have been tasked with much of the paperwork involved in policing Paris. (Later on, I think the 1st bureau, 1st division had a more direct hand in investigations). So it makes sense for Hugo to refer to him as secretary to the Prefect if we consider all bureau chiefs performed such duties.

Where did Chabouillè Live? As a nice bonus, I discovered that the almanacs contain the residential addresses of many important people! For example, M. Gisquet, the Prefect of Police in 1833, is listed as residing on Rue de Jerusalem, which is where all Prefects lived during their term. I looked up Chabouillè, and his address in 1825 was the cul-de-sac S.-Claude-Montmartre, 2. In 1827, this changed to S.-Martin, 226, which lies in the aristocratic Marais district, where he remained through his departure as bureau chief in 1833. Interestingly, he was joined at this address by two Madame Chabouillè’s: one a libraire and one a papetier with a F. Guyot. Family members, perhaps?

You can search these addresses on the Les Miserables map to get a sense of where he lived relative to other characters in the brick.

How Powerful was Chabouillè? The Police in Montreuil-sur-mer To understand how much power Chabouillè wielded, we must first take a detour into the labyrinthine structure of the French police organization. France is divided into administrative regions called departments, which are sub-divided into arrondissements, cantons, and finally, communes. Each department has its own prefecture (except Paris, see below) governed by a prefect, who is a representative of the national government, and for those arrondissements that don’t contain the prefecture, a sub-prefect carries out the same administrative duties, reporting directly to the prefect. Police responsibilities are divided between the mayor and the prefect. The prefect is responsible for the general safety of the State and his department (police generale), while the mayor is in charge of public safety in his commune (police municipale) and the countryside (police rurale).

Montreuil-sur-mer is a single commune falling inside the jurisdiction of a sub-prefecture. As mayor, Valjean is the authority on municipal police matters, which is why he can overrule Javert in the Fantine case. However, once Javert suspects M. Madeleine is actually Valjean, he can elevate his concerns to the police generale level, since an ex-convict posing as a magistrate threatens the safety of the State! What I find interesting is that Javert sidesteps the proper protocol, which is to go to the sub-prefect or even to the prefect of his region, and instead writes directly to Chabouillet. As head of the 1st bureau, 1st division in the Paris Police Prefecture, Chabouillet would hardly be involved in police concerns of a small commune like Montreuil-sur-mer, which doesn’t even lie within his department.

Perhaps Javert was afraid that Valjean had already ingratiated himself with the prefect? Working in the capitol, Chabouillet would be in a better position to maneuver politically if he wished to contest decisions of the local administrators and mayor. All prefects are ultimately responsible to the Minister of the Interior, who resides in Paris.

The Police in Paris In Napoleon’s time, Paris was unusual in that it had no elected mayor: it was “…a single commune, divided into twelve arrondissements, each with its own mayor… The real rulers of the city were the Prefect of the Seine, who had his office at the Hôtel de Ville, and the Prefect of Police, whose headquarters was on rue Jerusalem and the quai des Orfèvres on the Île de la Cité.” [10] The Prefect of Police not only held municipal police powers, but was also in charge of maintaining the security of the State (preventing plots, espionage, etc) and the safety of the department (public health, morality, etc) [9]. His reach extended across Paris and its three surrounding departments, the Petite Couronne. With so many duties, it is natural for the Prefect to delegate.

He has a second in command, the Secretary General, and two councils: the Council of the Prefecture dealt with litigation, while the General Council for the Department handled financial problems (and only convened once a year). However, the true day-to-day management happens in the bureaus, where we find Chabouillè. He was the head of the 1st bureau, one of three under the 1st division, which is governed by a superintendent. The superintendent would likely report to either the Secretary General or the Prefect of Police himself; I am uncertain what the hierarchy looked like in Hugo’s time, as my closest reference is a paper from 1954 [9]. Nevertheless, given how compartmentalized the Prefecture was, Chabouillè would be the expert on his segment of police work.

Where did Javert figure in the ranks compared to his patron? Well, some bureaus had sub-sections, each governed by an inspector general, but I don’t think this was the case for the 1st bureau, 1st division (at least it isn’t mentioned in Sanford’s letter). Beneath the inspector generals were the commissioners. Paris at the time was divided into 12 arrondissements, each further sub-divided into quartiers for a total of 48 across the city. A quartier was overseen by a commissaire de police, who “…superintends its cleanliness and lighting; takes cognizance of misdemeanors; makes the first examination of crimes and offenses… The commissaries are in constant communication with the people, and attend to the complaints they may have to make. Their residence is known at night by a square lantern of coloured glass hung at the door.” [6] In the early 1800’s, commissioners were generally educated men with prior experience in the military or a literate occupation, such as a clerk, secretary, or tax employee. It was extremely rare for a junior police officer to be promoted to the position [11, pgs. 38-41]. Thus, at best, Javert was one rank below the commissioner, serving as a chief inspector in a quartier. This is probably as high as someone of his background could climb in the career ladder… which makes it all the more interesting that he enjoyed the patronage of a man like Chabouillet.

Miscellaneous Prefect’s Uniform: “…this took the form of a blue coat embroidered with silver at the collar, at the cuffs and at the pockets, under which there was a white vest. The trousers were also white. A red scarf with silver fringes and a hat also embroidered in silver completed the outfit.” [2]

Prefect’s Salary: The salary of the Prefect of Police in Paris was 50,000 francs. For comparison, a principal inspector was paid 7,166 francs, and a rank-and-file inspector earned 1,500 francs [6, pgs. 154-155] [7].

Prefect’s Secretary: In addition to the Secretary General, which was a powerful political position in its own right, the Prefect of Police often employed a secretaire intime du Préfet, which literally translates to “intimate secretary of the Prefect.” Of all the almanacs I studied from 1807 to 1833, the only Prefect who had multiple individuals in this capacity was M. Gisquet: M. Nay was the secretaire intime, chef, and M. Nabon de Veaux was the sous-chef [1]. Take that as you will in your head-canons.

Office of the Sûreté: “At the time of Vidocq’s ingress to government service, 1809, the police force, or Prefecture, in Paris was comprised of two divisions: the First Division, or the Administrative Branch, and the Second Division, or Special Investigative Branch. The latter, managed by Monsieur Henry, was the unit to which Vidocq belonged; it concerned itself with the overall battling of crime.” [9]

Drownings and Accidental Deaths: “La Morgue, Marche Neuf - This is a place in which are deposited for three days the bodies of unknown persons who are drowned, or meet with accidental death. They are laid upon inclined slabs, open to the inspection of the public, in order that they may be recognized by those interested in their fate. Their clothes are hung up near them, as an additional means of recognition. If not claimed, they are buried at the public expense.” [6] This is where Javert’s body would have been taken. Since the 1st bureau, 1st division handled suicides and accidental deaths, it is likely Chabouillet learned of his protégé from a report on his desk…

References [1] Almanach du commerce de Paris, archives (You can search some of the almanacs, but the function is quite poor and misses many matches. Your best bet is to download the pdf, check the index, and manually comb the relevant pages. For some reason, the Prefecture de Police pages are missing from the 1820 pdf in the archives, but you can find them on Google Books). [2] Williams, Robert D. Napoleon’s Administrative Army - His Prefects. Member’s Bulletin: Napoleonic Society of America. Issue 72. (Summer/Fall 2002): pp. 15-20. [3] Napoleon’s Law for Reorganizing the Administrative System (Febuary 17, 1800) [4] Letters on France and England. The American Review of History and Politics, Vol. 3. (1812). [5] H.S. Sanford’s Report on Administrative Changes in France since 1848 [6] Galignani’s New Paris Guide for 1859 [7] The Cabinet of the Prefect (September 1, 1862) [8] Payne, Howard C. An Early Concept of the Modern Police State in 19th Century France. 43 J. Crim. L. Criminology & Police Sci. 377. (1952-1953) [9] Chapman, Brian. The Prefecture of Police. 44 J. Crim. L. Criminology & Police Sci. 505. (1953-1954) [10] Paris under Napoleon: The Administration of the City (Wiki) [11] Merriman, John. Police Stories: Building the French State, 1815-1851. New York: Oxford University Press, 2006. (I have uploaded the full pdf here for your perusal) [12] Vidocq and the Office of the Sûreté

#les mis history study

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isaakfvkampfer · 3 years

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Random History Things

Also known as “All your historical faves were gay or bi so suck on that crusty old white dude historians” Honestly, it’s amazing what you discover about history when you look into it… My fave part was when Alexander wanted to have his ASHES MIXED INTO THOSE OF HIS GODDAMN LIFELONG LOVE… and because that love was a dude, the amount of historians that have basically gone, “True brotherly love/just guys being dudes” I mean… hilarious. Not to mention, Pompeii was like one giant orgy pit, it was insane. And they found an ancient ‘nsfw’ scroll in Egypt, that the archaeologist who found it tried to destroy it… but like, there are a lotta phalluses and sex jokes in the hieroglyphics like… That time they discovered a female skeleton in ‘the grave of the most famous gladiator in all of rome’ and immediately began looking in the graves surrounding, bc it ‘couldn’t have been her’… Or the time they found an ancient mountain princess, with weapons and all the honours of a warrior… and assumed it was a dude until the people who look at skellys to determine biological sex basically smacked them in the face with their findings… The two hella gay dudes from Egypt. Plato was basically a nickname, bc he was actually a RIPPED AF dude who had my favourite approach to arguing… If anyone disagreed, he flipped a table and basically shouted “FIGHT ME” at them… and would. Boudica got downplayed a lot, but she was such a badass. Cleopatra may not have been as beautiful as they say, but like… as has been discovered, the only people who were referring to her as beautiful were the romans (and they were mocking her. You couldn’t be beautiful AND smart AND a woman), but like the Arabs and every other country they interacted with were in awe of her intelligence and multilingual ablities… Vikings assumed women and math were magic. So guess who were the best mathematicians before the christians got involved? Also, if you insulted or made a move against a viking woman… you could 100% be burned alive, it was one hell of a system. Egyptians weren’t white, and to perpetuate this, a lot of archaeologists went around CHISELING OFF THE NOSES of statues… bc they were obviously African. Archaeologists ALSO ruined a LOT of statues from Ancient Greece and Rome. Why? Well, they used to be painted… and looked like sort of gaudy theme park mascots… which didn’t fit the refined image of white latin-speaking ancestors. Many fine details were lost to the scrubbing.

…the heart we use to symbolise love came from an ancient greek/roman herb that was either an aphrodisiac, or a contraceptive. Maybe both? …the same people used to put the same sort of shit graffiti we do. “I fucked your mother here”, “Salonicus defecated in this spot on a rainy night”, etc. …they had little dick symbols on the pavement to point the way to brothels. And there were a LOT. …olive oil was like huge++++ in ancient greece and rome for guess what. Also, you could basically rent a gladiator (any gender) for the night, if you wanted… and had the political connections to get away with it without scandal. - Viking women were gifted a kitten on their wedding day. It would grow into a mouse-seeking missile over time. They could also sword fight. The women of Sparta went into training camps of a similar nature to that the men undertook. There was a HUGE thing about physical perfection back then, it was like living in a gym or something. Babies that were a) imperfect/deformed/diseased, or b) failed the Dunk Test, were killed or left out in the cold to die. Unwanted. Men could only get married at age 30, after they had completed their military training and service (which is why they often had a lot of m/m tendencies, given they most likely hadn’t seen a woman 90% of their lives but they had a lot of companionship out there in the camps). Spartans believed only heroes deserved to have their names remembered. Men who died in battle, and women who died in childbirth. Mayans and Aztecs used to sacrifice children on mountains. The children were chosen either during pregnancy or after birth, as their heads were still soft and malleable, parents would be instructed to carefully shape the child’s head like that of the mountain they would be sacrificed on, through binding. Aztecs had a day f the year for pulling their child from both ends… to make them taller/specifically the neck longer. Aztecs believed chocolate was dangerous for women; although the version they had was less refined than current versions. They also used to sacrifice people for just about anything… the losers of a game, the winners of a game, their enemies, their best warriors, slaves, people who were too pretty or talented… certain priests and priestesses. Oh, so there were festivals each year where a priest or priestess would ‘invite a god/goddess’ into their body to use them as a vessel. They would be treated in a lovely, reverent, fearful way and oversea a lot of sacrifices that day (sometimes drinking the blood), and then be killed at the end (goddesses usually beheaded; gods often beheaded, but a certain god had his heart removed while still beating). - The myth about ladies changing clothes all the time was from the reign of Queen Elizabeth (Tudor period), bc guys couldn’t handle periods. Heck, tablecloths exist bc they were afraid guys would glimpse a table leg and get hard so fast they died from bloodloss. Like, honestly,,,, ankles were sexy back then? And pants had to be called ‘southern unmentionables’ or something ridiculous… So like, ladies didn’t have the undergarments and sanitary products we have now; most fancy ladies barely had bloomers at all (the outfits were so ludicrously large and floofy, you couldn’t lift the skirt up or get out of them fast enough to pee, so they often went fre to the wind in order to more easily utilise a chamberpot or a latrine hole. Ah, classy, right? So, that time of the month rolls around, and of course, there is no stopping it. The thing is, normally the Queen (with a king ruling) and noble ladies could just slip away to deal with it or go into seclusion or whatever was necessary back then. But bc the Queen was the sole ruler, she had to be in court the whole freaking time. So she’s siting on the throne concerned about the fact that her underlayers of dress, and several of the ones outside (SO MANY LAYERS) are all getting soaked in a nasty way… and she can’t leave by saying, “Guess what’s happening right now, guys?” And bc she doesn’t leave, and the men are such sissies she can’t tell them WHY wi/ut them all fainting in horror (also many were twats about the ‘being a female ruler’ thing)… her ladies can’t leave either. They attend her as long as she’s in court, right? She clever liz started this thing where ladies needed to ‘change clothes to be fashionable’. In short, giving the ladies leave to change up to and including 8 times a day. Hell on the seamstresses, and the laundry maids… but a good way to get around the nonsense set down by the dudes. - Some of the first biological warfare was an army catapulting dead animals and bodies over castle walls to kill the inhabitants and end seiges early. One of the worst Viking punishments was the Blood Eagle; which involved basically opening the chest cavity, pulling the ribs open and flinging the lungs over each shoulder. They also used people for spear-throwing practice. Then again, they believed the universe came from a giant’s armpit sweat… so… - MORE hiSTORICAL FACTS YOU DIDN’T ASK FOR

#history

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isaakfvkampfer · 3 years

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Free Online Language Courses

Here is a masterpost of MOOCs (massive open online courses) that are available, archived, or starting soon. Some are short, some are very interactive, some are very in-depth. I think they will help those that like to learn with a teacher or with videos. I checked each link to make sure they are functioning.

Arabic

Arabic for Global Exchange (in the drop down menu)

Arabic Without Walls

Intro to Arabic

Lebanese Arabic

Madinah Arabic

Moroccan Arabic

Read Arabic

Chinese

Beginner

Basic Chinese

Basic Chinese I

Basic Chinese II

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Basic Chinese V

Basic Mandarin Chinese I

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Beginner’s Chinese

Chinese for Beginners

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Chinese for Travelers

Chinese Made Easy

Easy Mandarin

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HSK Level 1

Introduction to Chinese

Learn Oral Chinese

Mandarin Chinese I

More Chinese for Beginners

Speak Chinese like a Native Speaker

Start Talking Mandarin Chinese

UT Gateway to Chinese

Chino Básico (Taught in Spanish)

Intermediate

Chinese Stories

Intermediate Business Chinese

Intermediate Chinese

Intermediate Chinese Grammar

Dutch

Introduction to Dutch

English

Entire post here

Finnish

A Taste of Finnish

Basic Finnish

Finnish for Beginners

Finnish for Immigrants

Finnish for Medical Professionals

French

Beginner

AP French Language and Culture

Basic French Skills

Beginner’s French: Food & Drink

Diploma in French

Elementary French I

Elementary French II

Français Interactif

French in Action

French for Beginners

French Language Studies I

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French Language Studies III

French:Ouverture

French Through Stories and Conversation

Improving Your French

Mastering French Grammar and Vocab

Intermediate

French: Le Quatorze Juillet

Passe Partout

Advanced

La Cité des Sciences et de Industrie

Reading French Literature

Frisian

Introduction to Frisian (Taught in English)

Introduction to Frisian (Taught in Dutch)

German

Beginner

Basic German

Basic Language Skills

Beginner’s German: Food & Drink

Conversational German I

Conversational German II

Conversational German III

Conversational German IV

Deutsch im Blick

Diploma in German

German Alphabet

German Modal Verbs

Rundblick-Beginner’s German

Study German

Advanced

German:Regionen Traditionen und Geschichte

Landschaftliche Vielfalt

Reading German Literature

Hebrew

Hebrew Alphabet Crashcourse

Know the Hebrew Alphabet

Hindi

A Door into Hindi

Business Hindi

Virtual Hindi

Icelandic

Icelandic 1-5

Indonesian

Learn Indonesian

Irish

Introduction to Irish

Italian

Beginner

Beginner’s Italian: Food & Drink

Beginner’s Italian I

Oggi e Domani

Survive Italy Without Being Fluent

Intermediate

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Advanced

Advanced Italian I

Italian Literature

Italian Novel of the Twentieth Century

La Commedia di Dante

L'innovazione Sociale (Check language under translation)

Reading Italian Literature

Japanese

Beginner’s Conversational Japanese

Genki

Japanese JOSHU

Kazakh

A1-B2 Kazakh (Taught in Russian)

Korean

Beginner

First Step Korean

How to Study Korean

Learn to Speak Korean 1

Pathway to Spoken Korean

Intermediate

Intermediate Korean

Latin

Latin I (Taught in Italian)

Nepali

Beginner’s Conversation and Grammar

Norwegian

Learn The Norwegian Language

Norwegian on the Web

Portuguese

Brazilian Portuguese for Beginners

Curso de Português para Estrangeiros

Pluralidades em Português Brasileiro

Russian

Beginner

Basics of Russian

Easy Accelerated Learning for Russian

Russian Alphabet

Russian Essentials

Russian Phonetics and Pronunciation

Reading and Writing Russian

Travel Russian

Advanced

Reading Master and Margarita

Russian as an Instrument of Communication

Siberia: Russian for Foreigners

Spanish

Beginner

AP Spanish Language & Culture

Basic Spanish for English Speakers

Beginner’s Spanish:Food & Drink

Fastbreak Spanish

How to Self-Study Spanish

Introduction to Spanish

Restaurants and Dining Out

Spanish for Beginners

Spanish Verbs Basics

Intermediate

Español en línea

Spanish:Ciudades con Historia

Spanish:Espacios Públicos

Advanced

Corrección, Estilo y Variaciones

La España de El Quijote

Leer a Macondo

Spanish:Con Mis Propias Manos

Spanish: Perspectivas Porteñas

Reading Spanish Literature

Swedish

Intro to Swedish

Swedish Made Easy 1

Swedish Made Easy 2

Ukrainian

Read Ukrainian

Ukrainian for Everyone

Ukrainian Language for Beginners

Welsh

Beginner’s Welsh

Discovering Wales

Multiple Languages

http://ocw.mit.edu/courses/global-studies-and-languages/ : MIT’s open courseware site has assignments and course material available.

http://www.utexas.edu/cola/centers/lrc/: Ancient Languages

https://www.fun-mooc.fr/: MOOCs taught in French

http://univesptv.cmais.com.br : MOOCs taught in Portuguese

https://miriadax.net/home:MOOCs taught in Spanish & Portuguese

http://ocwus.us.es/Courses_listing: MOOCs taught in Spanish

http://www5.fgv.br/fgvonline/Cursos: MOOCs taught in Potuguese

http://interneturok.ru/: MOOCs taught in Russian

http://www.open-marhi.ru/courses/: MOOCs taught in Russian

https://www.rwaq.org/: MOOCs taught in Arabic

http://ocw.nthu.edu.tw/ocw/: MOOCs taught in Chinese

http://ocw.uab.cat/: MOOCs taught in Catalan

https://ocw.tudelft.nl/ : MOOCs taught in Dutch

http://ocw.hokudai.ac.jp/: MOOCs taught in Japanese

http://ocw.tsukuba.ac.jp/: MOOCs taught in Japanese

http://open.agh.edu.pl/ : MOOCs taught in Polish

I’ll keep an eye out for new courses and if you know of any, let me know so I can update this list.

Last updated: July 1, 2016

#language

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isaakfvkampfer · 3 years

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Behold! The Chinese adaption of les mis comic where the artist accidentally(or not) added a bit valvert stuff.

Translation as below:

P1:

Javert couldn’t believe his ears. He was rooted in place, stunned. He looked at Valjean, and still he showed no sign of taking his life. “I don’t understand,” he said at a loss.

P2:

Jean Valjean smiled mournfully and said:

“When have you ever understood? Javert, go!”

***

This adaptation was made like 40 years ago.

They reprinted it this Aug.

But I recommend the old version bc the new versions(bound volume in 2001 and 2020 version) cropped them... when EVERY PAGE OF IT IS ARRRRRT AHHHHHHHHHHH

***

Of course, in Brick context, I believe Valjean is the one who thinks nothing of their relationship.

#valvert #Javert #les mierables #les mis #jean valjean

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isaakfvkampfer · 5 years

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這位就是失蹤已久的 afrai, twitter. com/zenaldehyde/status/1135633004481667073, 有甚麼的都去問或稱讚她吧, or ask why she wrote TSATP to be so dramatically angsty lmao

谢了啊……还没鼓起勇气搭话...看来是没法发在ao3了

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isaakfvkampfer · 5 years

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I need show only fans to understand that while Crowley saving Aziraphale on a grander, historic scale is canon, legit and amazing, on a smaller, more everyday scale Crowley is completely useless and Aziraphale absolutely ruthless. I mean, Crowley’s name and number are in call center databases who pester you with annoying sales and advertisements while Aziraphale makes mafia members who try to threaten his shop leave and forget about him.

#good omens

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isaakfvkampfer · 5 years

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all right. I got one. https://discord.gg/6uavwK2

Why there’s no essay called Why do we love The Sacred and the Profane and how has it traumatised the fandom for 10 odd years? Not that it has traumatised me tho. I am all feelings and want to talk about it. Is there a discord thread somewhere dedicated to this?

#good omens #the sacred and the profane

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isaakfvkampfer · 5 years

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Why there's no essay called Why do we love The Sacred and the Profane and how has it traumatised the fandom for 10 odd years? Not that it has traumatised me tho. I am all feelings and want to talk about it. Is there a discord thread somewhere dedicated to this?

#good omens #the sacred and the profane

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isaakfvkampfer · 5 years

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Folks let me talk about Crowley and sunglasses, because I have a lot of emotions about when he wears them and when he doesn’t, and Hiding versus Being Seen.

We’re introduced to the concept of Crowley wearing glasses even before we’re introduced to Crowley, by Hastur: “If you ask me he’s been up here too long. Gone native. Enjoying himself too much. Wearing sunglasses even when he doesn’t need them.”

Honestly Crowley’s whole introduction is a fantastic; we learn so much about his character in a tiny amount of time. The fact that he’s late, the Queen playing as the Bentley approaches, the “Hi, guys” in response to Hastur and Ligur’s “Hail Satan”. I like this intro much better than the one originally scripted with the rats at the phone company, but I digress.

Crowley wears sunglasses when he doesn’t need them. Specifically, he still wears them around the demons, and when he’s in hell.

You know where Crowley doesn’t wear glasses? At home.

We never once see him wearing glasses in his flat, except for when he knows Hastur and Ligur are coming. That’s an emotional kick to the gut for me. Here’s one of the only places Crowley’s comfortable enough to be sans glasses, and when he knows it’s going to be invaded he prepares not just physically with the holy water, but by putting up that emotional barrier in a place where he wasn’t supposed to need it.

An argument could be made that Crowley actually never needs glasses. We’re shown that it’s well within the angels’ and demons’ powers to pass unnoticed by humans. Crowley and Aziraphale waltz out of the manor in the middle of a police raid, and going unnoticed by the police takes so little effort that they can keep up a conversation while they stroll through. Even an unimaginative demon like Hastur apparently doesn’t have trouble with the humans losing it over his demonic eyes. The humans in the scene at Megiddo are acting like “this guy is a little weird” and not “holy shit his entire eyeballs are black jelly”

That means that Crowley’s glasses are a choice, just like Aziraphale’s softness. Sure, he could arrange matters so that nobody ever noticed his eyes, but he doesn’t want to. Crowley wants acceptance, and he wants to belong, and he’s never, ever had that. He didn’t fit in before the Fall in Heaven, he doesn’t fit in with the demons in Hell. With the glasses, and with the Bentley and his plants and with the barely-bad-enough-to-be-evil nuisance temptations, he’s choosing Earth. This is where he wants to fit in, perhaps not with the humans, but amongst them.

Even after Crowley is at his absolute lowest, when he thinks Aziraphale’s dead and he’s on his way to drink until the world ends, he takes the time to put a new pair on when the old ones are damaged. He needs that emotional crutch right now, even with everything about to turn into a pile of puddling goo he’s not ready for the world to see his eyes.

Which is why I swore out loud when Hastur forcibly takes them off.

It’s about the worst thing that Hastur could have done. Rather than leading with a physical threat, his first act is to strip away Crowley’s emotional defences. It’s a great writing choice because god it made me hate Hastur, even more than all the physical violence we see him do.

It’s also the moment that Crowley really truly gets his shit together, and focuses all of his considerable imagination on getting to Tadfield and Aziraphale to help save the world. He’s wielding the terrifyingly unimaginable power of someone who’s hit rock bottom and realised it literally could not get any worse than this. He doesn’t put another pair of glasses on after discorporating Hastur, and he spends the majority of the airbase sequence without them.

He puts them back on again, I think, at the moment that he really lets himself hope. When he thinks ‘shit, there may be a real chance that we get through this to a future that I don’t want to lose’.

The vulnerability is back, and he needs Adam to trust him. In Crowley’s mind being accepted by a human means he needs to have his eyes hidden. Someone give the demon a hug, please.

Interestingly, there’s only one time in the whole series that we see Crowley willingly choose to take his glasses off around another person. Only one person he’ll take down that barrier for, and even then he’s drunk before he does it.

Dear God/Satan/Someone that makes my heart ache. Crowley’s chosen Earth, but he’s also chosen Aziraphale. He’s been looking for somewhere to belong his entire existence, and it’s with the angel that he finally feels it.

When the dust settles and the world is saved and they finally have space to be themselves unguarded, I like to imagine Crowley takes off the glasses when it’s just the two of them; the idea of being known doesn’t scare him quite so much anymore.

#Good Omens #Crowley #essay

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