(x)
enjolras x grantaire
public service announcement:
grantaire would never consider himself “”“friendzoned”“”
the “”“friendzone”“” is an oppressive concept that enforces deluded notions of control over another person
do you really think that grantaire has any sense of control between him and enjolras
or that he feels that enjolras owes him anything
if you do then you need to think again
Heck, he asked permission to die with him…
Do you permit it?
WHY THOUGH
THE IMPLICATIONSNO THAT IS NOT WHAT IS HAPPENING
They are just going to…play basketball…or something.
I AM NOPING THE HECK OUT OF THE IMPLICATIONS HERE.
you did it, hammy. you’ve killed your own character.
and you didn’t need my help at all.
This is simultaneously adorable and tragic. Adoratragic.
Just think, Enjolras probably had no idea that Grantaire actually loved him-
I mean, he knew there was something there I imagine, he knew Grantaire sought to be an accepted Pylades. But I don’t think he knew the depths of it and that it was actually love rather than lust, I don’t think he guessed that til right at the end. Most people probably wouldn’t: it would be like, I dunno, knowing some guy who’s the loud clownish kid at the back of the class, who’s always making what he thinks are subtle passes at you but badly flirting with everyone else as well, who always drinks too much at parties and you wish he’d sort himself out-
-and then he, well, gets up after a battle and offers to die with you. It would really mess with your head…
will you take your place with me?
Grantaire is the first—and in this shot, the only—one to follow Enjolras up the stairs. Grantaire, “incapable” of believing, thinking, willing, etc, is the first one to follow him when he asks.
Maybe he just likes the view?
WAIT I NEVER NOTICED THIS BECAUSE IT’S SO IMPORTANT
in the dvd commentary tom hooper talks about ascending stairs being a running theme for approaching goodness or whatever, most notably because valjean always leaves javert at the bottom of a flight of stairs (once when he’s carrying fantine away, once when he’s carrying marius away)
and grantaire is the fucking first to follow enjolras up the stairs of morality every time even though he’s a cynic he cares so much about everything and tries to hard not to and enjolras thinks he’s incapable of believing, thinking, caring, etc. but the movie disagrees
i wish i had good meta to write about this but i’m just sobbing on my keyboard
Pretty much everything there is to say about E/R has already been said, but:
Sometimes I go through my tags for it and I’m just reminded of how much I adore the whole thing. In a book that’s around 85% about how people can be changed by love or lack thereof, I really really like that one of the loves celebrated is that of a man for another man. And we’re told it’s the main thing that pulls Grantaire out of darkness, makes him ‘someone once more’, and eventually totally transfigures him.
So basically, an (albeit one-sided) gay relationship presented as a source of goodness and purity and change for the better? There’s a lot of literature etc can’t manage that now…
exr problem:
Grantaire referring to Enjolras as a god when they’re in a serious relationship.
I think
this is probably way too overarching to really get to the root of the problem?
Because let’s be real, there’s nothing unhealthy or problematic about calling someone you love a god. I call my friends gods when they do something sweet. I called my ex a god when ze would write me fic when I had a bad day. When they said lovely things to me and I was feeling down, when I needed someone to talk to and they were there, when it was a rainy day and they made me laugh. There’s absolutely nothing wrong with that.
Where are the issues? In unacknowledged power imbalances that leave Grantaire being taken advantage of by Enjolras, because Grantaire believes Enjolras to be godly and thus believes himself incapable of refusing him. When Enjolras’ very real and legitimate feelings are ignored as the “marble lover of liberty” and “Apollo” because hell, he’s a god, what does he need feelings for? Those are issues. Things like that are problems. Grantaire teasing Enjolras as Apollo when Enjolras is okay with it? Not a problem.
If it’s something you’re uncomfortable with in fic, point it out, discuss it, get to the heart of the problem, talk about it, that’s cool! But painting it as “problematic” regardless of context and setting and situation does a few really harmful things:
- it suggests that it is also problematic in real life regardless of setting and situation and context
- it suggests that anyone who writes this uncritically, regardless of setting and situation and context, is perpetuating problematic behavior and endorsing it
- it suggests that anyone who reads this uncritically, regardless of setting and situation and context, is perpetuating problematic behavior and endorsing it
- it makes the fandom as a whole more hostile by making people uncomfortable with writing fic because there’s a laundry list of unproblematic things that are being painted as problematic (regardless of setting and situation and context)
please be more aware of these things when discussing issues of power dynamics and consent in fic because in some situations context does matter.