How Fandom Destroyed and Protected Me
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really loved
Les Misérables. The book, movie, or musical, you ask? Yes. I own several copies of the book and have read it cover-to-cover multiple times, including Victor Hugo’s lengthy 9,000-word aside about argot a type of archaic French slang used by thieves and its role in literature, as well as his 5,000-word rant about why convents suck. I watched Tom Hooper’s 2012 film adaptation of the musical three times in theaters, even though Russell Crowe’s Javert made my ears bleed and I never understood
why Hooper needed every close-up shot to be just off-center. After my 15th show, I stopped counting how many times I’d seen the musical live, in two languages mind you. (This is not including the number of times I’ve watched the 10th and 25th-anniversary concerts. I truly don’t want to think about that number.) Can I still sing both parts of