DE: Politic kills

[yakalskovich]

So, in contrast to yesterday's DE, how do your characters feel about being on the receiving end of power, what is their relationship to the authorities above them, and how do they react to injustice?

Apologies to the Les Mis contingent for the no-brainer.

Comments

[immortalthief]

No brainier for Amanda, she doesn't do taking orders.

In justice, if being done on someone she cares about she is likely to interfere (if she doesn't think they can handle it). Otherwise, it's a toss up.

[camwyn]

Ellen lived most of her life in a surveillance state with an absolute ruler- that's basically what Overseer Almodovar was. She's happier on the surface and out from under the eyes of those in charge, but it's easier for her to deal with things when she knows there's a hierarchy to fall back on. However, she's likely to flip her lid if authority lies to her to get her to do something.

(I am currently working on trying to integrate her timeline with the stuff about the Brotherhood of Steel in Fallout 4. The background info we get on their situation in that game never mentions anything about the specific events of Fallout 3, or the Lone Wanderer, and the timelines don't currently mesh up with what I've got Ellen doing. I'd planned on making things AU anyway...)

[tu_vas_triompher]

But it's not a no-brainer for any of the Les Mis crowd? It's a think-about-a-lot-er; they're not just all sitting around being Angry About Power.

That said, Feuilly and Lesgle do have pretty similar answers. They think quite a lot about the source of power, what makes power legitimate. In 1832 Paris, Feuilly and Lesgle were both very certain that the source of the government's power was illegitimate, coming from a denial of inherent human rights--and coming specifically from a series of usurpations of power: Bonaparte, the Bourbons, and most recently the king who used a republican revolution to get on the throne. And yeah, they feel like it's their responsibility to help establish a representative republican government.

On a smaller day-to-day level, Lesgle is pretty restless about being told what to do, including through indirect things like custom and fashion. Feuilly is more used to it; he's been a worker under one boss or another since he was a little kid. He's not particularly anti-authority; he does best when there's a fair amount of structure in his life and that includes working with people whose judgment he respects. But uh, they're both...really really sensitive to any hints of injustice. Not just on a personal level--for Feuilly, it's really not much on a personal level at all--but injustice affecting others.

[just_cant_lose]

I'll do my Les Mis boys first, and the others if I've got brain later. This will be a simplified summary as it is.

Valjean first got on the receiving end of power when he was twenty-five, and got arrested. He'd been suffering because of the state before that, given that he had no education, was illiterate, there was no work and his family was left to starve, etc - but that wasn't abnormal for the time. But being sentenced to five years for stealing bread and then turning him into a slave, leading him to try and escape and thus extend his service and then to stick him with a passport that called him dangerous, thus stopping him finding any kind of acceptance or job and driving him back towards crime...*takes breath*...well, he wasn't best pleased with authority, and it's influence on his life. He knew he had committed these crimes, and admitted it, but also came to think that he was being unjustly punished for them.

So then, after the Bishop, he turned to a higher authority - God, and conscience. As soon as he surrendered to them, earthly authority ceased to affect him in the same way. Obviously he still had to avoid it, but he stopped fearing it or blindly raging at it. He trusts in God, and relies on his conscience to steer him the right way. He is saddened by injustice to others, resigned when it happens to him, and tries to soothe it in others by giving away everything he has. He wouldn't say authority ruined his life - his blames himself for that, given that he did steal - but he does know his life would have been very different if injustice were not actively enforced by the state.

Javert - well. I'ma leave it to Hugo (though I'm abridging).

'This man was composed of two very simple and two very good sentiments, comparatively; but he rendered them almost bad, by dint of exaggerating them,—respect for authority, hatred of rebellion...He enveloped in a blind and profound faith every one who had a function in the state, from the prime minister to the rural policeman...On the one hand, he said, "The functionary can make no mistake; the magistrate is never the wrong."...He fully shared the opinion of those extreme minds which attribute to human law I know not what power of making, or, if the reader will have it so, of authenticating, demons, and who place a Styx at the base of society.'

Javert's blind adherence to authority is what has allowed him to serve under the varying changed of regime that happened in France during his time. He doesn't have political views of his own, barring a preference for monarchy, he follows the rules laid out by whichever regime is above him, simply because they're above him and therefore cannot be wrong. He's a tiny cog in the state machine, and he respects all those who keep it running. He's entirely blind to any other form of authority, which is why when Valjean opens his eyes to compassion, and mercy, and the good that doesn't follow the rules, he can't take it.

Courfeyrac, unsurprisingly, does not dig the authority currently controlling France. Given the manner of his death, I'm not going to go deep into Republicanism, or even just the desire for a democratic governmental system with a king at the top; it's pretty obvious that he does not consider Louis-Phillipe's regime either legitimate, or fair. What I will say is that he has the type of personality that naturally rebels against injustice, and would have been like that long before he understood wider politics. In my head, that's the start of his interest in politics - he was a nobleman's son, and saw people of 'lower stations' being treated badly, and couldn't understand why they were supposed to be lesser beings just because they had less money. So he reacts to injustice...badly. His innate niceness rebels against it, and being smart and social, it was only natural that this expanded into politics and wanted to make things change.

Argh, enough with the essays. All of this is superficial and I've probably said most of it before, but heigh ho.

[electro_kinetic]

Someday Valjean should really, really hear the Body Count song Cop Killer. Just sayin'.

[never_shall_yield]

Heh, I just listened to it, and I feel a Toulon!era Valjean could easily relate to the fury in it, oh yeah.

[i_am_your_host]

For the Master of Ceremonies...it's complicated! It depends on what kind of power and authority he's dealing with.

He obviously can't do anything about an oppressive government, so in that respect he is powerless, and he resents this and is angry about having to live in fear. And fear is a great motivator. His boss, the owner of the Kit Kat Klub, is a Nazi sympathizer, so he has to go along with his demands to keep the political jokes to a minimum. But that is the only way Emcee can rebel, by working political satire and commentary into the show.

When it comes to interpersonal power, Emcee chafes when in the presence of people who think they're better than him and so assume they have power over him. And because he's a sex worker, he comes across these people a lot. For the most part, he takes it. He plays up to their arrogance and his own powerlessness. But he also takes their money, so, so what? Sometimes being submissive is essential to survival.

And sometimes he has to turn a blind eye to injustices. It really does come down to self-preservation. But when he feels like he can actually do something to help, especially regarding his boys and girls whom he is deeply protective of, he will.

[ceitfianna]

Most of mine are very similar in their answers which is it depends on the power and they will stand up for injustice.

Will became a traitor to the crown for the sake of injustice but he's lived his entire life in the feudal system and to him, its how the world works. Most of his arguments in Milliways are based on people who see themselves as better without realizing that there's a responsibility to power. That view is held by all my monarchists-Will, Quentin, Sameth, Jane and Ivan

Quentin has been learning a lot about how authority can be misused since his time knowing Toby but he's the product of the system. He's more likely to fight injustice when it impacts someone he cares for.

Charles prefers to subtly change authority, he won't rise up and he'll take directions in his own way. His behavior in the Facility was a good example of this, he convinced them to do what he needed and he tries to do what he can against injustice, but he doesn't always know how to use his tools best.

Sameth is authority with only his father and mother and technically his sister above him as Heir. He's quite happy to be told what to do, he might grumble but he trusts that they know what's right for the Old Kingdom. Injustice is something he cares about but he's not good at speaking out against it.

Moist is really good at making authority think he's behaving as he should and then fleecing them. He's only bothered by injustice to him or to people that he wants to impress.

William is mixed on authority, a lot of it depends on where the authority comes from and while he's polite and follows society's dictates, he can see the cracks. In terms of injustice, he'll get angry and though he can't always do a lot, he tries.

Jane is aware of many of the various permutations that authority and injustices can take in her world and she listens and points them out.

Ivan is military trained and a part of a republican monarchy, authority is normal to him and he's used to it coming from all directions. He finds its best to be quiet and do what needs to be done. Injustice is something he's not great at dealing with unless prompted.

Demeter doesn't like authority or injustice and makes her own justice.

Tumnus tends to obey authority as he doesn't feel he's brave enough to stand up to make a difference. That's changing due to the Pevensies but the White Witch left scars.