My possibly hot take take is that if Del Toro adapts the Phantom of the Opera like I think it'll be a fun watch and obviously he knows how to make a moving picture look good, etc,etc but like I also think he's gonna woobify the Phantom of the Opera and I justtt think I'm ready to see what a female director/ writer would do with the material. Let's see what the ladies will do huh. Like I need my girl Christine Daae done right in all her nuancessss plzzzz.
LIKE OKOKOKOK obligatory disclaimer I feel like any time you say these things on tumblr dot com people think of these things in their extremes. Either you woobify the basement dweller or you must HATE HIM AND THINK HE'S THIS IRREDEEMABLE VILLAIN AND ANYONE WHO SYMPATHIZES IS AN ABUSE APOLOGIST blah blah blahhh nahhh not how I feel. It's somewhere more in the middle, the ending where Christine shows him compassion and it fundamentally changes him is a pretty good ending, and I think her ultimately leaving is also a requirement, not only because we have to see Erik's selfless act of letting her go, but ALSO because even though I think he's capable of changing and being loved I just think there's been enough done to Christine like she shouldn't be obligated to be the one to give that to him. GIRL LEAVE!! Everyone move on!!! NO LOVE NEVER DIES CANON IN MY HOUSE! (unless it's for comedy purposes)
Anyways I almost typed out in the initial post "It'll be a fun watch like the ALW musical is" but HONESTLY the musical has such a fascinating take on the book a lot of this is due to the fact that the medium of theater leads to lots of room for interpretation and huge amounts of people and productions contributing to it, like I think it gets this unfair reputation as a show that romanticizes the Christine/ Erik dynamic but I dunno if it goes THAT far, like I think there's more layers to it than that. I kind of feel like it's the 2004 movie that gives the show that reputation, I think the movie REALLY simplifies the musical and it was the most easily accessible way to the watch the musical for years so the reputation has stuck. I also think ALW's treatment of the piece in the more recent years (movie's handling included) that helps with that reputation. (THE LND OF IT ALL!!) Like their little behind the scenes documentary for the movie has Joel Schumacher emphasizing how he sees it as a piece about a young sexual awakening and yeah I don't think he's wrong to get that from the show, it absolutely is part of the show, but I think there's maybe something deeper to accompany that. Like I think there is something sexual going on there for sure, and I can't act like it's PURE horror and disgust, but also..........the horror should be there too. Like they gotta go hand in hand. One of things that has made me SUPER PHANTOM PILLED IN THE BIG YEAR 2026 WHEN I'VE HAD THE MOVIE IN MY HOUSE SINCE CHILDHOOD is just that I didn't realize all this time that the stage show had a couple more scenes and I think Christine's characterization (ESPECIALLY with Sierra Boggess' portrayal in the 25th anniversary) is SO rich! It gave me such a new appreciation for the character and added lots of nuance to the show that I didn't know was there! So there absolutely is something there in that musical script for good actors to chew on, and many of the theater actors who have made their way through the show HAVE ADDED SOOO much to it. So no I don't think it's fair to call it a show that makes the story into a simple romance. There's a full arc for Christine, she's trying to make sense of her grief- something that's already hard to do- only made harder because she's being manipulated by the Phantom, there's a dark allure for her in this relationship but also the deeper she comes into Erik's orbit the scarier things get and yes I think a scene like Past the Point of No Return when done right is driving home the dubious consent of the whole situation. I think you lose a lot of that in the movie, Christine's interior arc is a little more unclear in that one and I don't think it does an effective job at driving home the fear of the situation for her, because they seem more interested in prioritizing the sexiness of it. (again it's fine and an aspect of it, but it needs a lil something else to balance it out) Just compare 25th anniversary PONR with the 2004 movie scene. There isn't nearly as much power play being shown in the scene imo.
So yeah I like the musical as you can probably tell by how my blog's been looking for half the year lol, and even though I don't think it romanticizes the relationship as badly as some critics would say I do think it still has aspects that I wouldn't mind shedding a new light on. Like the ending is still implying Christine should choose someone romantically. Phantom or Raoul. Even though this is a Raoul sympathizer space I do think he's got his own problems (problems that I LOVE to see as an adult who likes a lil complexity in my fiction mmmm tasty) (and I do think again if you're like me and only went off the movie for years PLEASE give a version of the stage show a watch a good Raoul will give him some juicy flaws I WON'T GET INTO THAT TODAY THIS IS ALREADY SO UNFOCUSED AH) He means well but in the end of the day he fails in a lot of ways to understand Christine as a full person who should be listened to. I really like how book Christine expresses this want to never get married. I'd love to see an adaptation put emphasis on this. One where maybe she doesn't necessarily choose anyone, and something that wants to dig even deeper into just how vulnerable she is to the Phantom's manipulation and how yes that would drive anyone mad. When Emilie Kouatchou said this is about CHRISTINE it should be called the Christine of the Opera SHE WAS SO RIGHT!!
Ookokokokko let's try to focus and wrap this up and make a thesis statement here....
I think the musical, yes even the movie adaptation have their purpose. Del Toro has made many statements in the past about why these monstrous romances have appeal to him it's about seeing the humanity in what we deem as monstrous. This is a comfort to so many people, and yes it's even a lil sexy and ~dark~. He's clearly not alone in this, these things wouldn't be popular if it wasn't speaking to people, and yeah I do think a character like Erik needs to be shown sympathy even when he does terrible things. But it has now been done, many times over. I'm the rare tumblr user who actually think retellings are rad and should change and change over the years, even when I don't personally like them I just like to see what they do, what this says about where we are in mainstream society and the tropes we accustomed to. ( my academic paper earlier this year was literally about the way theatre goes about this in a way that tickles my brain. I THINK ABOUT THIS A LOT) (don't look for it. I'm a bad writer.) I WOULD BE VERY INTERESTED in seeing a different take on the material. We're living in a time where incel communities have such a huge voice due to the internet and we know there is this large sentiment that because they have been hurt by narrow society expectations they feel their reward for their suffering is a beautiful woman's love. There are lots of stories that explore this in interesting ways, there's a place for this, but I can't help but also want to see an exploration of how it feels to be the target of this obsession. The horror of being a woman stuck in this scenario, the way it absolutely does take such a bad toll on someone, the way it puts the woman in this very unfair position to swallow down their complicated needs to benefit what the suffering man needs. I think a story like the Phantom of the Opera has already dipped into these topics and the material has room to think about these things on an even deeper level. Why NOT go there?
