A quote from Paul Feval

In a letter written in 1861 to the Baron de Chapuys-Montlaville, Paul Feval defended popular fiction by saying.

"That insignificant literature sometimes has higher aspiration, but it never declares them, and that is the secret of its power."

The above quote was made available for English speaking readers in Alain Landier's introduction to Black Coat Press's Shadowmen 2: Heroes and Villians of French Comics, edited by Jean-Marc and Randy Lofficier.  Which I read early last year (2013).

I've often thought of that quote of Paul Feval recently when reading Heather Hogan's Pretty Little Liars recaps, or listening to the BrosWatchPLLToo podcast.

It's a show that some people find easy to write off.  But is none the less very awesome.

Since I discovered Paul Feval, and other 19th century Feuilletonists like Ponson and Sue and Dumas, but mostly Feval in 2012, I've seen his fingerprints, his/their indirect influence on all modern Popular Fiction, from the Pulps to Comics, to CW television shows, and of course numerous Hollywood and made for TV movies, and in Anime and Manga too.

But I feel nothing today is more Fevalian then Pretty Little Liars.  That show is pure Rocambolesque.  It takes itself incredibly seriously and not seriously at all at the same time, it's wonderful.  A perfect Melodrama.

Alison is like a teenage Marguerite Sadalous, and Mona is like a female John Devil.

I may or may not be the only Tales of The Shadowmen contributor who's familiar with the show.

I also feel like commenting on how Brian Stableford said in his afterward for The Blackcoats: Heart of Steel that the book is "Unintentionally proto-feminist".  It's a very good and informative afterward and I recommend it.  The only thing I might partly disagree with is the "unintentionally" part, though not entirely.

Feval was a devout Catholic and Royalist, which made him a Conservative in the context of 19th century French politics.  And as such clearly saw traditional gender roles as important.  But at the same time this wasn't the only novel where he (and other 19th century french catholic royalists like Ponson) had surprisingly strong and active female characters.

Feval and Ponson supported the Nobility on traditionalist grounds.  But they also seemed to feel that the Nobles brought their downfall on themselves.  They would not be like a modern Fox News pundits going "How dare you accuse the rich of being greedy and selfish".

And as I read about Echalot and Similor in the Blackcoats saga, I feel compelled to conclude that Feval would be surprisingly supportive of LGBT people.  I don't think he'd object to the internet Slash-Shipping his characters.

Gotham mid season finale reaction

Only two Tweets today

Jared Welch @JaredMithrandir  ·  39m 39 minutes ago

This Assassin kinda reminds me of the one who was sent after Time Drake in War Drims #Gaytham

0 replies 0 retweets 0 favorites

Jared Welch @JaredMithrandir  ·  49m 49 minutes ago

#Gaytham let's #OT3 Bruce, Selina and Ivy

0 replies 0 retweets 1 favorite

 

I misspelled War Drums, dammit

 

I notice they have an interesting contrast between Bruce and Ivy, both lost their parents because of the events of the Pilot.

The show is getting interesting

Gotham, Harvey Dent reaction

I didn't tweet again, sorry.

Harvey Dent did not actually seem to be in the episode enough to justify being the title character.

Oswald continues to be creepy.

Having Barbara jump into bed with Montoya that quickly doesn't make sense to me.  I'm afraid they really don't know what they're doing with this storyline.  I want to root for the Lesbian storyline, but they continue not to inspire much faith in me.

Probably the biggest new is seeing Arkham truly being born.  Gordon is hilarious, he told the Mayor what the problem was.

I have seen all 9 episodes of Sherlock

I enjoyed it, my favorite episode was probably a Scandal in Belgravia.  All the actors do a very good job.

I really like Molly, who I don't think is based on anyone from the original books.

It's interesting how Artistic inspiration goes in circles, House M.D. was clearly based on Holmes a great deal, and it's also clearly influenced the Holmes Adaptations that have been made since.

On the question of how Sherlock survived the fall.  We're kind of supposed to see the third answer shown at the real one, but it's still a little ambiguous.  I found the the 3rd scene shown the most absurd frankly, there is no way that couldn't have had witnesses who weren't in on it.

All 3 theories start with the same wrong assumption I think, that Sherlock surviving means he didn't hit the pavement.  It could be a simply matter of him doing something when he landed to minimize the damage.

Now the big mystery is If and and if so How did Moriarty survived.  Which I find interesting because he killed himself the same way Henri Belcamp did in John Devil.  And while Feval never made a sequel to that I think he was going to if the novel had been more successful at the time.

People accidentally survive shooting themselves through the Mouth like that quite often.  Anything you can do by accident someone as smart as Moriarty could probably do on purpose.

I found the show's take on Charles Augustus Miverlton (Magnussen) interesting.  He's a total control freak and literally marks his territory.

The reveal of how his "Files" actually work reminded my of The Colonel's Treasure a little bit.  It's Psychological rather then Supernatural, but the premise is the same, it kind of doesn't actually exist.  He is the Treasure.

Gotham episode 8 reaction

Both a young Tommy Elliot and Sionis, this is great. 

There are reasons why introducing The Black Mask and Hush together is quite interesting.

Now for Tweets
Jared Welch retweeted

StarryMag @StarryMag  ·  1h 1 hour ago

A mask hides the face but frees the soul. A mask speaks the truth. - Mr. Sionis #gotham #Gaytham @Gotham

0 replies 2 retweets 4 favorites

Jared Welch retweeted

Gotham Podcast @GothamPodcast  ·  1h 1 hour ago

LonelyBarbara13: sorry I almost killed you, future husband, I was nervous. #Gotham #Gaytham

0 replies 1 retweet 3 favorites

Jared Welch retweeted

Gotham Podcast @GothamPodcast  ·  1h 1 hour ago

TOMMY! Future parent murderer right there! #Gotham #Gaytham #TeenHush

0 replies 3 retweets 4 favorites

Jared Welch retweeted

Gotham Podcast @GothamPodcast  ·  1h 1 hour ago

BLACK MASK IT IS! HELLS YES! #Gotham #Gaytham

0 replies 4 retweets 11 favorites

Jared Welch @JaredMithrandir  ·  1h 1 hour ago

#Gaytham Elliot and Sionis, this is great. #FutureVillian @GothamPodcast

0 replies 2 retweets 2 favorites

 

Selina is back, but no Montoya

 

Next week we get Harvey Dent

 

I'm still not sure what Nygma's deal is

Carmine The Roman Falcone

Carmine Falcone is an interesting character in the history of Batman villains.  The story he was first created for, Year One, he's theoretically the Big Bad but really a back ground character mostly, Leob and Flass are the more direct antagonists just as Gordon is the real protagonist.

The Long Halloween fleshes him out some, drawing on Godfather imagery, but he's still not much of a Supervillian there, the story is ultimately about his demise.

In Batman Begins Nolan based him on very modern depictions of crime bosses, his name being Italian didn't influence how he was written much at all.

Gotham marks the first time I know of in which we really see the character at a time that isn't just as his empire is about to fall to the advent of the freaks.  Yet the dialogue of the show constantly acted like he was about to fall anyway, everyone thinks he's become old and soft and weak.

At the end of Viper I like many others I'm sure thought of The Godfather seeing him in that hat feeding pigeons.  It was an interesting contrast as Maroni has a more Goodfellas/Casino vibe.

As of the end of Penguin's Umbrella we realize that indeed this Falcone is not an old push over yet.  He and Oswald are going to be quite formidable.

And of course I now find myself thinking of Paul Feval's Colonel Bozzo-Corona from The Blackcoats.

I find it very unlikely that's intentional, that the writers of this show are familiar with the Novels published by BlackCoatPress.

Part of it is because of The Godfather imagery, The Colonel is compared to Vito Corleone often, but I've always found that a very superficial comparison, The Colonel is much more Evil then either Vito or Michael.  And his level of respectability in society is well beyond what Vito has in Part I, more like what Michael's trying o achieve with the Imobolari deal in Part III.

Gotham's status as a Prequel where we know Gordon will fail which we've talked about before.  Now I'm realizing how that's similar to everything Stableford said about Feval's decision to make Prequel novels with Salem Street and The Invisible Woman, where continuity demanded none of the Habit Noirs we know from the prior Novels will be brought down.

And now I'm really loving that, this Falcone will be like The Colonel.  People will keep trying to bring him down but they never will.  And Oswald I'm thinking could be his Lecoq.

Gotham Penguin's Umbrella reaction

I didn't live Tweet at all yesterday.  I don't have a Mobile so I can't really do it like most people do, I generally just do it during commercials.  I can only do it at all if it's a show I watch with the rest of my family.

This episode was awesome Seventh episode twist.

Now that Gordon and Montoya are on the same side that triangle should become much more bearable.

Zass being a hitman for Falcone is something they borrowed form Begins.

Oswald is proving to be a magnificent little bastard.  This should be fun.