Daily Zey

The lovers of gothic mysteries, opera and one infamous masked opera ghost – grab your coffee’s and sit down with me for a 21st century intervention session for Christine.

Warning! << This post contains spoilers for both the book and the film adaptations of Phantom of the Opera>>

Let’s start with stating the obvious: the book and the 2004 movie has quite the contrast when it comes to the theme and characters. The book has the depth, Erik is truly fearsome and disturbed and Christine is mostly consumed by her fear towards the Phantom. Internal conflicts, Opera House’s dark theme – almost like a haunted labyrinth and mystery is captivating and makes you want to hide in a corner, watch it all burn. The movie on the other hand, has the commonly made simplifications like love triangles, broody, emotionally scarred male lead and (fairy) god mother.

There is a great documentary on female archetypes in old Turkish movies named “Innocent, Insolent, Enticing” (Masum-Küstah-Fettan) that talks about these stereotypical personas and situations in movies. The movie adaptations of Phantom of the Opera give a similar vibe. In the movies suddenly, the scary manipulative mastermind becomes Chad with mommy issues while naive and frightened female lead Christine is somewhere between Elena Gilbert and Bella Swan.

I am not saying these to put dirt on the adaptations, to be honest I fell in love with it when I first watched it. I was in a polyphonic choir as Soprano II back then, days went by me practicing how to sing Think of Me and my neighbours might have think of me suffering because of it. The musical vibes, romance, the visual effects (in post-GoT world they might not seem much, but back then it was mind blowing) and everything else was just right. The issue is, as I got older and wanted to feel the same joy watching it, I started realizing it lacked the depth that was in the books. Still, I continued watching, but each time I found myself saying, “What is going on Christine’s mind?”

You have been raised by the ballet teacher and also are a dancer in the opera she works at. Your best friend is her daughter. Meanwhile you are being haunted – yes, not visited like her father told it to be but haunted- by an angel of music. He is teaching you how to sing and eliminates your competition, your guardian puts you on spot to sing and bam! You are now the lead singer of the Opera House. To be honest, it gives a mix of grooming and sponsor vibes from the phantom’s side. But Christine is still afraid – from what? (I am talking about the movie only) He guides, protects, then brings flowers. Then there is Raoul. He has enough resources to own the whole opera house but fails to find his first love? Then once he sees her in the spotlight, then he is interested? Can it be- can it be Christine? Bravo! Then somehow Raoul is the knight in shining armor, freeing Christine from phantom.

It is the Edward-Jacob dilemma all over again, but this time the girl choses the healthier option. In the book, it makes total sense, because I cannot stress it enough, Phantom is seriously disturbed. But in the movies, he is almost like a pranking kid, running around the Opera House playing Batman. Then all of a sudden mid-movie he is villainized to fit to the storyline. Then Christine’s choices seem truly awkward, because you can also sense the pull she feels towards phantom throughout the movie, and her ending up with Raoul feels like settling down.

Harry Potter, the Lord of the Rings, Game of Thrones… We have many other examples when books just do it with more depth. It doesn’t necessarily mean the movies are bad, only that sometimes they fail to provide the full picture. I think Phantom of the Opera is one of those creations where the movie gives you the soft side of the story, and if you are a bit into horror like me, you might love the books even more. I say it’s worth a shot.

With love,