The film version of Les Miserables will hit theaters on Christmas Day 2012. I’m pretty psyched, especially after seeing the first trailer. I felt apprehensive about the casting of Anne Hathaway as Fantine, but she managed to break my heart with the first few bars of “I Dreamed a Dream.” I think this film will be a huge success, both critically and commercially.
Given the international excitement surrounding the film, this seems as good a time as any to admit that I’m not very fond of Eponine.
I feel like I’m committing heresy among Les Mis fans by saying that, but it’s the truth. Eponine, the international spokeswoman for girls crushing on their male best friends who swoon over the richer, more popular girl, has never moved me the way she’s moved many girls and women my age. I feel for her and I’m sad when she dies, but she’s never been my favorite character in the musical, and sometimes I feel bewildered by the amount of love Les Mis fans have for her.
I shouldn’t be bewildered. Eponine, after all, has the torch song for all teenage girls suffering from unrequited love, the show-stopping “On My Own,” sung here by the incomparable Lea Salonga.
It’s show-stopping, all right, because the plot of the play stops entirely in its tracks once Eponine opens her mouth.
Don’t get me wrong – I will never in my life pass up an opportunity to hear Lea Salonga sing. She is magnificent. But by the time “On My Own” comes around, the revolutionaries are about to fight in the battle of their lives, the battle that might determine the whole future of France, when the poor folk rally against the 1 percent and the Mitt Romneys – and the play has to stop so a street urchin can sing about the boy she likes who doesn’t like her back.
Of course, Eponine isn’t the only character who has the “pity me, my life is so sad” song. The whole play is a “pity me, my life is so sad” song. But at least Fantine in “I Dreamed a Dream” has problems other than “the boy I love doesn’t love me back.” Fantine sings, “The boy I loved didn’t love me back and he knocked me up and left me to support a kid all on my own, to the point where I’ll have to sell my hair and two front teeth and become a prostitute just to keep my daughter from starving.” (Based on the trailer for the Les Mis movie, “I Dreamed a Dream” will happen after Fantine becomes a prostitute – which, in my opinion, is a good storytelling choice. The song will be much more devastating if it happens after Fantine has hit rock bottom.)
And yes, I know that Eponine has more problems than “the boy I love doesn’t love me back, because he loves this other girl, even though she wears short skirts and I wear T-shirts, and she’s cheer captain and I’m on the bleachers.” She’s poor and her father is abusive and cruel. But she doesn’t sing about any of that. Her songs all revolve around Marius.
(To be fair, my indifference to Eponine might have less to do with the character itself and more to do with the fact that “On My Own” is one of the most overplayed songs in musical theater history. It’s a lovely song, but it’s the go-to-song for every girl who wants to impress the audience with her big pretty voice and gravitas. Case in point: Rachel Berry.)
Meanwhile, many Les Mis fans who love Eponine hate Cosette. Cosette isn’t as sympathetic because she’s spoiled and rich and doesn’t have many problems, at least not compared to the other characters in the play. Do the Cosette-haters remember that this spoiled, rich, privileged adult started off as a starving little girl who was abused and neglected by her foster parents? Who was also teased by her foster parents’ daughter – Eponine?
Maybe they don’t. Sometimes it’s hard to remember that the little bug-eyed Cosette who sang “Castle on a Cloud” turned into the wealthy, pretty Cosette at the end of the musical. The Forbidden Broadway parody of “Castle on a Cloud” includes this lyric:
“Lost in the labyrinth of this plot/you’ll be relieved when I get shot…”
Except…Cosette doesn’t get shot. She’s one of the only major characters who’s still alive by the end of the play. Eponine is the one who is shot. Could it be that the writers of Forbidden Broadway confused young Cosette for Eponine?
They wouldn’t be the first to make that mistake. When Samantha Barks was cast as Eponine for the upcoming film version of Les Miserables, my first thought (after “THANK GOD it’s not Taylor fucking Swift”) was, “I can buy her as Anne Hathaway’s grown-up daughter.” Then, a second later, I remembered that Amanda Seyfried as Cosette was playing Anne Hathaway’s grown-up daughter, and that Eponine and Fantine are not related by blood, not even a little bit.
Maybe the Cosette-haters are making the same mistake that I and the writers of Forbidden Broadway did. Maybe they conflate adult Eponine with young Cosette. It’s an honest mistake. They even wear similar outfits.
For whatever reason, I’m not a big fan of Eponine. She’s fine. She’s just not close to my favorite character in the show. She wasn’t even my favorite character in the book.
You know who is my favorite? Javert. Even as an eighth-grade nerd who occasionally pined for my own Marius, my favorite character was always the antagonist, the vengeful police officer who obsessively tracked down a fugitive for decades.
Maybe there was something wrong with me as a child. When I got the Les Miserables 10th Anniversary Concert VHS for one birthday, it wasn’t “On My Own” or “A Little Fall of Rain” that I watched over and over again. I fast-forwarded to “Confrontation” and “Stars” and “Javert’s Suicide.” I am very nervous about Russell Crowe’s ability to sing those songs, especially when I’m used to the amazing Philip Quast.
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I find Eponine much more likeable in the book, but you’ve mixed up the timeline a bit. Eponine is significantly younger than Cosette. She’s a child, pathetically following Marius and doing his bidding in the hopes that he’ll notice her, without ever holding out hope that he might actually take notice. She’s utterly pathetic, and what makes her so sympathetic is the SHE KNOWS IT.
Ahh, thanks for the reminder. I haven’t read the book in a very long time, and it’s hard to remember the age difference between Marius and Eponine when I’m used to watching Michael Ball and Lea Salonga.
Correction: Eponine isn’t significantly younger than Cosette, in the novel it specifically says that when Eponine was 2 years old, Cosette was almost 3 years old, so… they are like the same age.
Regarding Being SuperMommy, I think Eponine is about a year older than Cosette in the story. I haven’t touched the Brick in a long time, but I’m pretty sure Cosette is younger than her. Other than that, I love Eponine in both the book/musical mostly due to the fact that when I first read/saw it, she reminded me a little bit of Eowyn for LOTR(who I basically adore to pieces), both of whom are unlucky in love, mostly pathetic in their society and risking death to escape their pretty miserable lives. (and because I love Eponine’s hat, ok?)
Digressing, but has anyone ever heard Russell Crowe sing before?
Crowe has a band. There’s no indication that he can pull off “Stars” or “Confrontation,” though.
NO not significantly younger. they had dolls all of them at the same age – maybe a year or two – no more. AND AS THEY SAY – below – actually – Eponine was a year OLDER.
As a child, I used to do one-woman performances of the ENTIRE SHOW complete with voices, but I always wanted to be Eponine. Or, well, really, I always wanted to be Gavroche, because clearly when you’re eight, the cheeky chappy Cockney urchin is the most fun and fitting role. Now that I am no longer a child, I still do love Eponine, though that is at least partly in the way of… all the really good roles in this show are men, and if I were ever to be cast in a production, the really juicy options are limited. I can feel your lukewarm-ness towards her.
Also, TOTALLY WITH YOU in re. the love for Javert. He is my faaaaavourite. Granted, I seem to have a weird thing for the Zealous Lawman trope, but still. Hell, maybe Javert is responsible for that. I will listen to The Confrontation and Stars over and over again. Philip Quast gives me goosebumps, and excited as I am about some of the casting for the upcoming movie, I admit, I am nervous about Russell Crowe, just because. Not Philip Quast. Also, he lacks the Javert Muttonchops of Epic.
Regarding Gavroche, I listened to “Little People” all the time when I was younger. It seemed especially apropos when I got interested in Lord of the Rings and pretended he was singing about hobbits.
Also, he lacks the Javert Muttonchops of Epic.
LOL.
Javert is where it’s at, and Eponine is a bit whiny and maudlin — indubitably. Totally with you on that!
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Eponine resonates with audiences simply because ‘On my own’ is *the* perfect unrequited love song and most of us have ‘been there’ to some degree. You do the song and the character a great injustice by reducing it to ‘girl has a crush on a boy’. Love is more important than that, and love doesn’t have a gender. I’m a guy and this song speaks to me like no other part of Les Mis. Revolutions and social issues on the other hand, meh… if I were in charge of the production, Les Mis would turn to be a much shorter story about Marius-Cosette-Eponine love triangle 🙂
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I always thought there was something odd about me always being drawn to Javert! Maybe I always like an anti-hero, I don’t know. Just found him a fascinating character.
I actually like Cosette better than Eponine. Even though Adult Cosette is more pampered and sheltered than she was when she was an abused child, she’s still that lonely, gentle sweetheart who is searching for answers about her past. It’s a plot that is so understated in the musical, but eh, I thought it was interesting.
I could never stand cosette personally. Although Eponine seems annoying to some, her story is supposed to be a forgotten beauty within the midst of horror. In the book she is not beautiful, and its almost impossible to cover up Samantha’s beauty. I admit that No one can beat Lea but Samantha does pretty well. She does not sing about other issues because Marius is her only salvation. She tries not to dwell on what happens at home and Marius gives her that opprotunity. None has ever treated her so sincerely like an equal and a friend. Yet she wants more she longs for this lost affection that she has never received. She has experienced love on her side knowing what it is like to feel for someone that much, but she has never experienced love coming from others. She yearns fr her love to be returned for her to feel that strong and beautiful emotion that she has never felt. She never gets the chance. She realises that it will never happen and she is holding o. To a lost hope. She decides to accept it and tries to make Marius life better. She still has feelings but she tries to selfless and help him even if it rips her apart. Truthfully I think she died a little bit before she got shot when her heart broke. She loves hi. So much yet knows her will never return at kind of love that she accepts her fate and tries to help him achieve her lost dream of finding love. She is the most inwardly beautiful character other than Marius and Jean. And yes Javert is a riveting character I love Stars especially when Broadway’s stars perform it. If Taylor Swift was Eponine I would die.
I agree. Although I love Les Mis I don’t understand why Eponine has to sing On My Own in the middle of the climax. She was written to be annoying and when Frances Rufelle originated her she was annoying and clingy and that is how I like my Eponine. Over the years she has evolved to be less annoying and prettier. The only reason Eponine only focuses on Marius is because he is all that she loves and cannot live without him. The second act rotates (get it? rotates, like the stage?) mostly around Marius and how the two women both love him and do not want him to die.
Javert is a very complex character and I do not see him as a traditional antagonist and I believe that Hugo would agree. He is misguided and only does what he thinks is best. He believes that criminals must be caught and doesn’t see how Valjean benefits society. When he commits suicide, his true “I am the law” nature is revealed and he realizes his failure. His entire story revolves around this way of thinking and when it fails him he cannot comprehend that and takes his own life. His story should be viewed as tragic as any other character.
Okay… everyone is entitled to their own opinion… but did you REALLY need to write a whole article, and post it on the internet, about how much you dislike Eponine? Unnecessary. And btw, Eponine was only rude to Cosette because she was just a little girl, following in her mother’s footsteps, who didn’t know better. PLEASE stop comparing I Dreamed A Dream to On My Own! Fantine and Eponine have different problems in their lives, sure Fantine’s problems are a LOT worse. But, you can’t expect their songs to be the same, because they don’t have the same problems. Please stop comparing the two songs. They are both beautiful.
I just reread my article, and nowhere did I say that I disliked Eponine. I alternate between feeling indifferent towards her and feeling sorry for her.
But just like I’m entitled to my opinion, you’re entitled to misinterpret what I wrote and act as though I’m insulting your best friend rather than a fictional character, I suppose.
Another reason why a lot of people like On My Own, is because it’s a very relatable song. I Dreamed A Dream isn’t nearly as relatable. Plenty of girls and women are in love with a guy they know can never be their’s.(I can’t figure out how to spell that, oh well) I doubt there are many women who were left by their boyfriends while they had a chile, then had to sell their hair, their teeth, and eventually become prostitutes. And I get that Fantine’s problems are a lot worse than Eponine’s, but I think that people just tend to like songs that they can relate to more. On My Own is a very relatable song. I Dreamed A Dream? Not so much.
I am very sorry that I came across as rude, I wasn’t trying to be.
I understand why so many people find Eponine relatable. I don’t DISlike the character at all and I’m not trying to insult anyone who relates to her. I’m just expressing an opinion.
But then, I was a bit of a weird kid, in that even 13-year-old me was fascinated by Javert rather than the girl just a few years older than I was 🙂