ABSTRACT

This article analyses Ladj Ly’s Les Misérables as a depiction of a generational conflict in a contemporary banlieue. The film stresses that age-related mistreatment is an abuse of power in parity with ethnic discrimination and social exclusion. When local authority figures are prepared to sacrifice a boy to secure their power game, the young banlieusards retaliate with violence. The uprising is visualised as an act of revenge owing to this intergenerational injustice. Several narrative and cinematic strategies are used to represent the children’s powerlessness. The film is told from the perspective of a policeman, but highlights the boys’ difficult position. By linking Les Misérables to Victor Hugo’s novel, Ly underlines that the children’s uprising must be seen as the struggle of an age class, fighting for full citizenship and democratic rights. The futility of revenge is balanced by the alliance between the violent rebel and a budding visual activist, suggesting that the young generation of today can use cameras as a new weapon against intergenerational injustice. The article further approaches Les Misérables as an example of Nicholas Mirzoeff’s idea of countervisuality. It ultimately argues that Ly claims the children’s ‘right to look’ and to demand a better society.

摘要

本文分析了 Ladj Ly 的《悲惨世界》，将其描述为当代郊区的代际冲突。影片强调与年龄有关的虐待是与种族歧视和社会排斥同等的权力滥用。当地方当局人物准备牺牲一个男孩来确保他们的权力游戏时，年轻的镇长们以暴力报复。由于这种代际不公，起义被视为一种报复行为。几种叙事和电影策略被用来表现孩子们的无能为力。影片以一名警察的视角讲述，却凸显了男孩们的困境。通过链接《悲惨世界》对于维克多雨果的小说，Ly 强调儿童起义必须被视为一个年龄段的斗争，为完全的公民权和民主权利而战。暴力反抗者与崭露头角的视觉活动家之间的联盟平衡了报复的徒劳，这表明当今的年轻一代可以使用相机作为对抗代际不公的新武器。这篇文章进一步将《悲惨世界》作为尼古拉斯·米尔佐夫 (Nicholas Mirzoeff) 的反视觉思想的一个例子。它最终争辩说，Ly 声称孩子们有“看的权利”并要求一个更好的社会。