flying_pigs
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Why does everyone love Eponine?Ok, this is a bit of a weird question, but why does everyone love Eponine? What does she have that the other characters don't? I was thinking about this while looking at the members on here who have an Eponine is their username, there are quite a lot, she what makes you like Eponine more than the others, what is her appeal?
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Megan the Phantom Girlie
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Mostly because she's a lovelorn adolescent. So is Cosette, mind you, but that makes Eponine "odd girl" out, meaning a lot of young girls think they can relate to her on that account. However, most of these girls are the Cosettes of the world to begin with- they are educated, well-fed, and have loving parents who don't possibly whore them out. This is why the "Eppiebopper" is often considered one of the lower life forms in the Les Miserables fandom.
I was an Eppiebopper for about three days four years ago. Then I decided I liked Fantine more- just because I feel like she's more interesting- and that was the end of that phase.
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Orestes Fasting
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I think Eponine is really interesting, just, er, not because of her feelings for Marius. Unrequited love is such a common theme that if it were all she had going for her, I wouldn't like her one bit. But I think it's really neat that she somehow acquired a moral backbone considering the environment she was raised in, and her sacrifices for Marius mean more in the book because they're hard-won--for every time she sticks her neck out to protect him, there's another instance of her going into a jealous snit and doing something really damaging. I like her instability, dag nammit. And on another level I admire her toughness. She may not be pretty, she may not be quite right in the head, she may have done really stupid things where Marius was concerned, but man, it'd take balls to stand up to Patron-Minette, or take a bullet for someone else, or really just to survive in a life that disastrous. I feel sorry for her, but I also respect her.
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Bex
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bascially because alot of people are introduced to les mis through the song 'on my own' as it was realised as a singel and made it into the charts and everything...and also because when alot of the new generation of 'les missers' (SP) got hooked on les mis they were lovelorn horny teenagers and can realte to her dessperation in regards to her love of marius so then they become bonded to the character. plus alot of people in singing lessons (esp girls) learn 'on my own' as it's on a graded sylbus in most music schools. see....simple...
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Fantine
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I once adored Eponine when I was about 10 years old, in a time when I knew nothing about the musical but had only seen the TAC. Let me tell you why.
+ I thought Lea Salonga was beautiful
+ I thought Lea had the most amazing voice
+ I thought Eponine's songs were beautiful.
And that's about it. I also loved Fantine because of her beautiful hair.
Please take notice that I didn't know anything about the story at that point, that I'm Dutch and hardly understood the lyrics or what was being sung at all and that my parents usually only watched IDAD, OMO and some of the other major songs because they liked those the best.
So I had little to base my opinion on.
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Aimee
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| Fantine wrote: | I once adored Eponine when I was about 10 years old, in a time when I knew nothing about the musical but had only seen the TAC. Let me tell you why.
+ I thought Lea Salonga was beautiful
+ I thought Lea had the most amazing voice
+ I thought Eponine's songs were beautiful.
And that's about it. I also loved Fantine because of her beautiful hair.
Please take notice that I didn't know anything about the story at that point, that I was Dutch and hardly understood the lyrics or what was being sung at all and that my parents usually only watched IDAD, OMO and some of the other major songs because they liked those the best.
So I had little to base my opinion on. |
Are you still Dutch?
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Fantine
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| Aimee wrote: | | Fantine wrote: | I once adored Eponine when I was about 10 years old, in a time when I knew nothing about the musical but had only seen the TAC. Let me tell you why.
+ I thought Lea Salonga was beautiful
+ I thought Lea had the most amazing voice
+ I thought Eponine's songs were beautiful.
And that's about it. I also loved Fantine because of her beautiful hair.
Please take notice that I didn't know anything about the story at that point, that I was Dutch and hardly understood the lyrics or what was being sung at all and that my parents usually only watched IDAD, OMO and some of the other major songs because they liked those the best.
So I had little to base my opinion on. |
Are you still Dutch?
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*Sigh*
That proves enough doesn't it? 
I'll go change it.
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javertsw
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I think Eponine's a very appealing character. Especially as an actress.
I think the Tom-boy element makes her appealing as well.
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Aimee
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| Fantine wrote: | | Aimee wrote: | | Fantine wrote: | I once adored Eponine when I was about 10 years old, in a time when I knew nothing about the musical but had only seen the TAC. Let me tell you why.
+ I thought Lea Salonga was beautiful
+ I thought Lea had the most amazing voice
+ I thought Eponine's songs were beautiful.
And that's about it. I also loved Fantine because of her beautiful hair.
Please take notice that I didn't know anything about the story at that point, that I was Dutch and hardly understood the lyrics or what was being sung at all and that my parents usually only watched IDAD, OMO and some of the other major songs because they liked those the best.
So I had little to base my opinion on. |
Are you still Dutch?
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*Sigh*
That proves enough doesn't it?
I'll go change it.
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lol xx kiss kiss 
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Superstar83
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For me, the unrequited love is a good part of the appeal - let's face it, who hasn't been in the position where you like someone who either likes someone else or just doesn't like you back? For THAT reason people will feel they can relate to Eponine as a character and thus, will be drawn to her. And that's okay, IMHO.
It's when people think they are just like Eppie even though they are not poor, don't have abusive parents and eat regular meals. Some even want to BE Eponine (not just play her, but want to be like her in real life), horrible life and all, and I just don't understand that way of thinking no matter how old the person is. There's nothing appealing about living in poverty. They bang on about how "omg I AM Eponine" when that couldn't be farther from the truth and are all "Cosette is evil and must die". The Eppieboppers have made it really hard for me to be a fan of Eponine and not be embarrassed to admit it.
And then there's the badfic that's all over fanfiction.net. Yes, we KNOW what she was thinking when she died. For the love of God, try writing a fic about ANYTHING else please.
Personally, I like Eponine just because I find her the most interesting character and because OMO is such a beautiful, well constructed song and all her other parts in the musical are great too. I feel pity towards her because of how awful her life is and that, even though she likes Marius herself, she does the noble thing in helping him with Cosette (I know that in the book she originally leads him to the barricades so they can die together but I'm talking about Musical Eppie). I just find her a really sympathetic character.
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EponineGiry
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I was a bopper in seventh grade in a very big way (that was when the username was born). Then I read the book in eighth grade and thought "Holy crap, this Eponine is so much stronger of a character and smacks the candy ass of the other one." Well, no, I didn't. But I love Eponine now because of the strength she displayed in the novel. And hell, her music is pretty in the show.
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Kragey
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See, I like her because of the novel. She's one of Hugo's most interesting characters. (That's probably the same reason I'm so interested in Montparnasse.)
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Timmy_Wishes he was Quast
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Isn't Javert great!?
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Bex
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Javert? he's an interesting bean i must admit...ith so many layers...and you cant help but like and admire his integrity.
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Eponine_Fantine
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I think that Eponine is my favorite charater for a lot of reasons. Being someone is no stranger to being lonely is a big part of it. I also love all of her music in the show. But I think that the main reason she's my favorite is that the first time I saw Les Mis was at a high school, and my friend and role model (I still look up to her to this day) played Eponine. That made me want to do the show, and follow in her footsteps by playing Eponine as well (which has yet to happen, sadly).
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La Carmagnole
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I've never been an Eppiebooper, but I've always liked her a lot even before hearing OMO and seeing the musical. She's slightly similar to me - I'm also a bit wild (despite being grown-up by a religious, stable family), individualistic, I may say that I'm brave and I am hopelessly shy in love relationships. Every time I see/hear Eponine I think that my life would certainly be like hers if by accident my parents were criminals.
And while talking about reasons of Eponine's popularity, don't forget ALFOR&death scene. Having a moving death scene is one of the easiest ways of making the character popular particularly among the female part of the audience. ALFOR is a greatly done song (used to be my favourite) and Eponine's death scene is one of the greatest things in Les Miz. It's one of these scenes that stay in reader's memory for long and to which the reader returns despite their sadness.
However, I still think that Eponine is still quite an unrealistic character. I doubt if someone so poor would be able to act in a way like her.
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