Hello Enjoltaire Nation, Today I Give You Another Offering

“Dedma” has been an interesting word for me. I never personally used it but it’s been on my mind for the longest time.

ignoring • the act of ignoring • feigning unawareness • short for "dead malice"

Like it doesn’t just mean ignoring!! It is used with the assumption that someone did you wrong. Like it specifically has something to do with someone who you are trying to be petty with. It’s inherently petty.

It’s interesting to me that we had to create words like these to describe this specific action. We couldn’t just say, “pabayaan mo na.” NO.

We created and use this word because we feel the need to acknowledge or recognize the idea that we are deliberately ignoring someone to keep our own peace, when in fact, we are being petty as hell.

Don’t you think that’s fucking interesting? We are so obsessed with the image of our lives that we try to describe our own experiences for other people in fear of them mischaracterizing us. We have to shape our slangs and language around the idea of being perceived.

We can’t just say we’re ignoring someone. No, we have to say that we’re ignoring them in spite of their shitty attitude. We have to make sure that we are in the right. This slang was so intentionally created for the sake of the “bigger person”.

That shit is interesting to me. To me, personally, I can never use this word because I can never be so petty, though I wish I could. “Dedma.” Wow. Using this word really does give you the image of the bigger person.

Behrouz Gharibpour's 1997 Les Misérables tele-theatre | تله‌تئاتر بینوایان

Behrouz Gharibpour is well renowned in theatre (especially in traditional Persian puppeteering!), and he directed Bahman Cultural Center's 1997 production of Les Misérables. (Link to the recording of production at the bottom of this post)

Gharibpour had previously worked on a Farsi translation of Les Misérables in 2006.

The location of the 1997 play was important as the Bahman Cultural Center was in the capital’s less affluent southern district. To contrast, the theatre audiences would mainly comprise of the wealthy sector of society.

Around about ten years later, he directed and wrote a stage adaptation of 'Uncle Tom’s Cabin' in the same center.

“My aim in staging this play was not just to depict poverty— I also wanted to call attention to ignorance, because I believe ignorance to be more painful than poverty." [...] “The media censorship of blacks in the United States and the U.S. government’s behaviour towards racial minorities in housing and also the slowness in delivering relief after the destruction wrought by Hurricane Katrina indicate that discrimination still exists in the society. [Uncle Tom’s Cabin] raises many other important issues and questions. Our behaviour towards Afghan immigrants in Iran is an example of one of the main issues touched on in the drama."

Available at: https://www.tehrantimes.com/news/163730/Ignorance-is-more-painful-than-poverty-in-Uncle-Tom-s-Cabin

By 2007, Gharibpur resigned as director of the Iranian Artists Forum "following criticism of certain performances staged at the venue which highlighted Iranian and foreign scholars and intellectuals."

"[...] About dealing with the ancient and traditional rituals of Iran; I must say that it is not the only issue of dealing with ancient and ritual roots. The main issue is reconciling the audience with the theater. Many people are still afraid of the theater and think that the theater belongs to a certain class, and this special class is intellectuals and book readers. I attracted a large number of audiences to the theater by performing the plays "Les Misérables" and "Uncle Tom's Cabin".Therefore, my concern has not changed since I entered the world of theater at the age of fourteen, and that was to attract the audience as much as possible."

Available at: https://theater.ir/en/165680

From these statements, we can see that there are political ties and messages conveyed from the stage adaptations of Les Misérables in Iran. In fact, in the later 2019 production, the same issues were raised about the wealth disparity and the irony of the theatrical performance of Les Misérables when it was only available for the wealthy.

It seems that, even after twenty odd years, similar sentiments are expressed by the public.

At the end of the day, Gharibpour fought to have his plays be more accessible to combat these struggles, of which he places responsibility in Iranian cultures on the relationship between class, wealth, and theatre.

He has additionally compared his translations and works to the current socio-political environment of Iran.

However, there had been criticisms to the above:

“Other social classes can attend other plays; you shouldn't expect the entire public to come and see this particular production. Of the 150,000 people who saw our work, are all of them wealthy, privileged, and without pain? I strongly disagree with the claim that we are producing this for only a specific group."

Available at: https://www.tebyan.net/news/458977/%D8%A8%DB%8C%D9%86%D9%88%D8%A7%DB%8C%D8%A7%D9%86-%D8%AA%D8%A7-%D8%AF%D9%82%DB%8C%D9%82%D9%87-%DB%B2%DB%B5-%D8%AC%D8%B0%D8%A7%D8%A8-%D8%A7%D8%B3%D8%AA

To watch the tele-theatre (I don't think all of the episodes are uploaded, but I haven't watched it yet so I don't know in confidence):

YouTube

بینوایان

“All Armenians know the name Victor Hugo thanks to Les Misérables— a delectable book that every last one of our peasants and the humblest of our village schoolteachers have read and reread and that has become like a second gospel for our people.”

- Arshag Chobanian (1902)

[The first Armenian translation of Les Misérables created a] "Hugolatria that bordered on mania," taking hold of many Armenian readers and writers and leading them to treat Hugo like a kind of oracle."

- Not the original person who said the quote, but I got it from the Manoukian's 2022 paper

javert at the barricade or whagever i didn’t watch les mis

original under the cut 🙏

BB IT’S ME I’M BACK ᕕ( ᐛ )ᕗ

Juan Luna’s Tampuhan, except it’s Enjolras and Grantaire

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I’m back on my Filipino Les Amis bullshit. Tampuhan, in English, means “sulking”, and I think it fits Enjolras and Grantaire perfectly.

on tragic heroes and the people who'd follow them anywhere.

tumblr textpost// Anne Carson, An Oresteia// Madeline Miller, The Song of Achilles// Victor Hugo, Les Miserables// William Shakespeare, Hamlet// Anne Carson, An Oresteia

Doodles specific to chapter 4 of my fic Drink to Forget. Lawyer Enjolras, the collar, lol. Grantaire with his uneven hair.

Just enjoying trying to draw Enj and Grantaire again. Hope you like.

I saw les mis again 🥲

An all too short TV commercial with rare footage of the first Canadian cast of Les Mis, 1989.