A Favorite Tale of Mine...

The Phantom of the Opera

I personally love this film…okay, most of the films I should say, as there are quite a few of them out there. But what makes film makers, play writes and authors keep coming back to this particular story? Is it the original novel, which was considered a failure when written and isn’t that well thought of as a classic (at least from what I have heard)? Is it the tale of a tragic love triangle between a viscount, a singer/ballerina, and a man who views himself as a monster (everyone else does too)? Or is it the characters themselves that make this story? The deformed man hiding underneath the Palais Garnier…what is so charming about him?

One thing I find interesting about this story, is how themes and characters change from author to author (or film maker or play writer). One thing I have noticed, is the steady increase of the romanticizing of the story. The novel by Leroux was supposed to be a horror story, and while it did have romantic elements, it was still as horror story. And it seems the further away we get from Leroux, the more the story becomes focused on the relationship between Erik and Christine. Another example is Erik becomes less and less deformed in each newer version. However, it still ends almost the same way each time, (Spoiler) Erik doesn’t get the girl…ever.

Random thought of the blog, I now see something in this film that almost ruined it for me…It is actually rather similar to Twilight…(…to the person who pointed it out…you know who you are…I would lock your door at night if I were you, hehehe).

Random thought #2 never, ever, ever, watch Love Never Dies. Character wise, everyone does a 180 in personality. For me it seems highly unrealistic that, seriously, everyone would change that drastically.