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revolution_fr2007-08-11 02:26 pm
toi-marguerite.livejournal.com) wrote in revolution_fr2007-08-11 02:26 pm
"Our revolution has made me feel the full force of the axiom that history is fiction."
In honor of our monthly topic of Saint- Just, I pose the question of how Saint Just should be portrayed in fiction, and what everyone thinks of Saint- Just's representations in fiction.
In the books/movies/animes I've seen:
-Rose of Versailles: Saint- Just is a very pretty blond psychopath who stabs people through the roofs of carriages, wears a mask, and runs around the sewers of Paris. His only real purpose is to show up and threaten innocent royalists/blow things up/otherwise maim, kill, or get his jollies from a massive bloodbath. For some reason I found this Saint-Just to be completely hilarious- mostly, I think, because when the revolutionaries met up Saint-Just would pop up from behind a pew in the church, say something about wanting to kill, then, when he got shot down, hiding back underneath the pew again. Then he outran a carriage. That was pretty sweet. However, there is an awesome Rose of Versailles AMV about Saint- Just.
-A Place of Greater Safety: Here he's handsome, cold, impassioned and rather (in my opinion) juvenile. It's rather negative, overall, but he had his Spartan obsession, he had his military service and his illicit poetry, and he had his earrings (I always feel so saddened when Saint-Just doesn't have his earrings). It seemed very factually correct, if a little bit too negatively interpreted, i.e. Saint- Just didn't like Desmoulins, and thus obviously caused Robespierre to turn on Camille Desmoulins.
-The Scarlet Pimpernel Series: As much as I love The Scarlet Pimpernel and as much of a Sir Percy fangirl I am, I shall be the first to say that the series is rife with historical inaccuracy. Robespierre, after all, continually spouts the wish that all of France had one head so that he may cut it off and appears to keep all important papers of state in his snuff box. Saint- Just gets off really well however. He's hailed as one of the most romantic figures of the period (most likely because the heroine of the series is his cousin), a "fiery young demagogue" who only repeats whatever Robespierre-the-Antichrist tells him to, and a highly intelligent, handsome young man with an air of command. Of course, a few paragraphs later the author will express some desire to see him dead, which sort of cuts short his positive interpretation, but he's overall elegant and eloquent and much more interesting than almost all of the other minor characters.
-Danton: This is the one with Gerard Depardieu. Saint- Just had his earrings (yaaay!) and brought bouquets of flowers to an ill Robespierre, which I thought was wonderful and adorable. Of course, Saint- Just also expresses a wish to kill someone in almost every scene he's in and pouts when Robespierre tells him 'no'. It's really cute in a completely creepy sort of way. I think he's also at Danton's hearing, but I watched the movie too long ago to remember entirely.
-Neil Gaiman's craptastic "Thermidor": Generally, I love Neil Gaiman. His stuff's fantastically creative, fits together perfectly, has a wonderfully engaging narrative, and is well- researched enough to be believable. However, this story in his otherwise great comic series, The Sandman is abysmal. Saint- Just is a cruel, sadistic psychopath who randomly sleeps with an Englishwoman he's known for less than a month (my brain, it asplodes!) and then throws her into jail for no apparent reason (maybe she was just really bad?). I was actually so glad when he just randomly arrested her because I hated that Mary Sue like no one's business. Gaiman has Saint-Just say Danton's famous quote about Liberty and a mattress of corpses, and also makes Saint- Just into some sort of ugly, badly- drawn pervert. Oh, also, a bunch of chopped off heads sing to him and Robespierre (who is inexplicably ugly and fat), which undermines their confidence, and that's why the Jacobins fell.
-Vanity Fair by Thackaray: He's mentioned once, actually, which is why I included his picture and a paragraph on him in my essay on Vanity Fair for English class. He inspires a rich woman with a life-long passion for Frnace. *g*
-A Far Better Rest: This is sort of a published fanfic about A Tale of Two Cities. It's actually really well done and corrects some of the gross historical inaccuracies Dickens so blithely jotted down. Saint- Just is portrayed very sympathetically and very humanly. Sydney Carton (<3) almost befriends him. Saint- Just is handsome, a bit distant, earringed!!, and ultimately a very zealous young man with fierce loyalties.
-The Black Book AKA The Reign of Terror: Saint-Just and Robespierre are once more the Sources of All Evil. This movie includes the famous scene where Saint- Just kicks a kitten. I watched the movie solely for this. Oh, and Couthon's demented and has pet bunnies. But that rather pales in comparison to Saint-Just the Psychopath Who Kicks Kittens Across the Room to Show How Evil He Is. Of course, since the plot revolves around how Robespierre wrote a list of everyone he wants dead in a black book and everyone's now looking for it, one cannot expect much.
Any other books/movies/TV shows/animes? Does anyone have any other opinions on the fictional representations listed here?
In the books/movies/animes I've seen:
-Rose of Versailles: Saint- Just is a very pretty blond psychopath who stabs people through the roofs of carriages, wears a mask, and runs around the sewers of Paris. His only real purpose is to show up and threaten innocent royalists/blow things up/otherwise maim, kill, or get his jollies from a massive bloodbath. For some reason I found this Saint-Just to be completely hilarious- mostly, I think, because when the revolutionaries met up Saint-Just would pop up from behind a pew in the church, say something about wanting to kill, then, when he got shot down, hiding back underneath the pew again. Then he outran a carriage. That was pretty sweet. However, there is an awesome Rose of Versailles AMV about Saint- Just.
-A Place of Greater Safety: Here he's handsome, cold, impassioned and rather (in my opinion) juvenile. It's rather negative, overall, but he had his Spartan obsession, he had his military service and his illicit poetry, and he had his earrings (I always feel so saddened when Saint-Just doesn't have his earrings). It seemed very factually correct, if a little bit too negatively interpreted, i.e. Saint- Just didn't like Desmoulins, and thus obviously caused Robespierre to turn on Camille Desmoulins.
-The Scarlet Pimpernel Series: As much as I love The Scarlet Pimpernel and as much of a Sir Percy fangirl I am, I shall be the first to say that the series is rife with historical inaccuracy. Robespierre, after all, continually spouts the wish that all of France had one head so that he may cut it off and appears to keep all important papers of state in his snuff box. Saint- Just gets off really well however. He's hailed as one of the most romantic figures of the period (most likely because the heroine of the series is his cousin), a "fiery young demagogue" who only repeats whatever Robespierre-the-Antichrist tells him to, and a highly intelligent, handsome young man with an air of command. Of course, a few paragraphs later the author will express some desire to see him dead, which sort of cuts short his positive interpretation, but he's overall elegant and eloquent and much more interesting than almost all of the other minor characters.
-Danton: This is the one with Gerard Depardieu. Saint- Just had his earrings (yaaay!) and brought bouquets of flowers to an ill Robespierre, which I thought was wonderful and adorable. Of course, Saint- Just also expresses a wish to kill someone in almost every scene he's in and pouts when Robespierre tells him 'no'. It's really cute in a completely creepy sort of way. I think he's also at Danton's hearing, but I watched the movie too long ago to remember entirely.
-Neil Gaiman's craptastic "Thermidor": Generally, I love Neil Gaiman. His stuff's fantastically creative, fits together perfectly, has a wonderfully engaging narrative, and is well- researched enough to be believable. However, this story in his otherwise great comic series, The Sandman is abysmal. Saint- Just is a cruel, sadistic psychopath who randomly sleeps with an Englishwoman he's known for less than a month (my brain, it asplodes!) and then throws her into jail for no apparent reason (maybe she was just really bad?). I was actually so glad when he just randomly arrested her because I hated that Mary Sue like no one's business. Gaiman has Saint-Just say Danton's famous quote about Liberty and a mattress of corpses, and also makes Saint- Just into some sort of ugly, badly- drawn pervert. Oh, also, a bunch of chopped off heads sing to him and Robespierre (who is inexplicably ugly and fat), which undermines their confidence, and that's why the Jacobins fell.
-Vanity Fair by Thackaray: He's mentioned once, actually, which is why I included his picture and a paragraph on him in my essay on Vanity Fair for English class. He inspires a rich woman with a life-long passion for Frnace. *g*
-A Far Better Rest: This is sort of a published fanfic about A Tale of Two Cities. It's actually really well done and corrects some of the gross historical inaccuracies Dickens so blithely jotted down. Saint- Just is portrayed very sympathetically and very humanly. Sydney Carton (<3) almost befriends him. Saint- Just is handsome, a bit distant, earringed!!, and ultimately a very zealous young man with fierce loyalties.
-The Black Book AKA The Reign of Terror: Saint-Just and Robespierre are once more the Sources of All Evil. This movie includes the famous scene where Saint- Just kicks a kitten. I watched the movie solely for this. Oh, and Couthon's demented and has pet bunnies. But that rather pales in comparison to Saint-Just the Psychopath Who Kicks Kittens Across the Room to Show How Evil He Is. Of course, since the plot revolves around how Robespierre wrote a list of everyone he wants dead in a black book and everyone's now looking for it, one cannot expect much.
Any other books/movies/TV shows/animes? Does anyone have any other opinions on the fictional representations listed here?