Poll

SecretUmbreon · 04-28-2007, 08:24 AM

Which genre do you think should The Phantom Of The Opera belong to?
Romance
Horror
Classic

Debrasue · 04-28-2007, 09:08 PM

The reality is all three........classic horror & high romance! Actually the horror is overrated......people with physical disfigurements are not "horrific" except in the mind of the beholder! The fear & rejection of someone who is not perfect, not "human" is the real horror! I think that was the tragic point Leroux was trying to get at......Erik would've probably been the pillar of society except for the shallowness of some people's minds. The total lack of compassion & acceptance, of the least basic human companionship, can distort the soul........we pity poor Erik for the desperate creature he has become....a reflection of how desperate we all are not to be abandoned & alone ......how fragile & vulnerable we as humans are. We could have been born like Erik & that frightens us to the point where it's easier to avoid the unfortunate soul instead of embracing , comforting & accepting them. I personally feel , in the end, it was Erik who showed compassion, and the meaning of true love by letting Christine go, the way she showed her love for Raoul by giving him up, in order to save him. If that's not romantic (sappy? lol!)....I don't know what is! I also feel he faked his own death.....again. But that's just my opinion!

Debrasue

mtpspur · 04-29-2007, 12:55 AM

When I first read Phantom way back in the 60s (was when the Hammer movie came out--never got to see he Chaney version until the 80s)) I thought it was a horror novel. 20 years later it's a thriller. Now we think it a classic. Never thought it was a romance. But it is timeless as a first rate example of a good old fashioned page turner.

Debrasue · 04-29-2007, 01:43 AM

I remember that Hammer film, it was cool! I loved all of those older horror films but it's so strange because I never really saw the horror of any of it! Just raving mad mobs hunting down some poor unfortunate being trying to survive. I have always felt sorry for Frankenstein's monster,created for the pure ego of the Dr., & the various lonely, misunderstood (OK..& slightly deranged) Phantoms! But I was never scared or repulsed......except for those alarmist mobs! These stories are so tragic to almost everyone involved.......wouldn't it be nice if once in a while the "monster" got the girl & lived happily ever after? I know........I'm weird..... You could choke on that fluff they call "romance" these days......my idea of romance is a slightly dangerous, misunderstood, "bad" guy (with a good heart) who searches for his true place in the world, and hopes to find love along the way, be he man or monster!

Debrasue

mtpspur · 04-29-2007, 02:56 AM

I too was rooting for the Frankenstein monster. To be honest the first film seems very disjointed to me as if there are bridging scenes that have been cut out (yes I have the seen the unedited one with the little girl and the flowers) but Bride works on every level. Still a chill seeing Karloff rise from the burning rubble but then as he meets the blind hermit and then wants the Bride and realizes he'll never fit in. Sigh.

Debrasue · 04-29-2007, 03:17 PM

Ok.......so......what's the yeardstick (definition) we're supposed to use here...or is it a matter of interpretation? I'm sure 100 years ago, when men were gallant & women swooned (ad-nauseum!), horror lurked around every dark corner & passageway,closet & attic!Horror was pulp & sensational back then. Take "Ivanhoe" for example......the least romantic "romance" I've ever read! But that's just my personal interpretaton.......

BTW...mtpspur......you know we're getting old when.........yesterdays pulp is now a "classic"!! LOL!

Debrasue

Also......Gaston Leroux is listed in the wrong place in the Authors list.

mtpspur · 04-30-2007, 02:45 AM

Ah Ivanhoe--cured me of Walter Scott forever. He spends most of the book on a sick bed and I don't care if she was a Jew Rebecca deserved to the be his true love, Rowena is drop dead BORING. Yeh, yeh--the times they lived in. Wonder how many people remember Roger Moore starred in TV version of Ivanhoe??

I knew I was finally old when Signet books issued a 'Classics' edition of Burroughts Tarzan ofthe Apes. (When I'm being real honest with myself--Phantom is VERY overwritten but Erik transcends all that melodrama. As a kid when first read up to young adulthood I honestly thought Leroux had based his novel on some true event of the period.

Debrasue · 04-30-2007, 07:28 PM

When it comes to Ivanhoe, it was Sir Brian Bois Guilbert who took my breath away.........Most of the story was slow & tedious, until Rebecca is relating the details of the siege to Wilfred, who is wounded but wants to join the fray! The gallant & heroic Black Knight duking it out with the proud & brave Sir Brian.....& then Sir Brian saves Rebecca from the fire in the castle, just to have her condemned to be burned at the stake, because of his firey uncontrollable, lust for her! (le sigh!) Now, I ask you, what the heck is wrong with Rebecca?!!! Wilfred is soooo wimpy, boring & naive (compared to the dark & towering lovelorn Sir Brian!) The same goes for Christine's desire for Raoul.......safe, secure, predictable...the opposite of Erik... .....intelligent,clever,impulsive,..... & calculating.....the right side of danger! The Phantom drove the story with his obsessive passion & dark desire.......he was the tragic hero who only wanted to be a normal man......how could you not have compassion (& love, if your a chick) for him! What kind of abuse & hatred had he been subjected to as a child? Could there ever be hope for him or was he destined for tragedy? Could the love of a woman turn his insane desires, & help him realize his true place & purpose in the world? I believe this story is a true romance that forces you to question what is in your own heart ....could you love & accept the meaning of true beauty.....the beauty that lives in the soul.....not just on the flesh........and the ending, though tragic, was noble & profound! Nope...It's not The Phantom from the Black Lagoon........& The Phantom of the Soap Opera just doesn't sound right!

mtpspur · 05-01-2007, 04:01 AM

You have a point about Bois Guilbert. I also remember feeling cheated by his death at the end. Always had this suspicion that he would have hammered Ivanhoe into the ground. The villians do seem to be the more interesting.

Debrasue · 05-01-2007, 06:54 PM

Just curious.....but is there a practical reason for this poll?

Debrasue

Debrasue · 05-03-2007, 07:06 PM

Is the Forum going to categorize books, or stories, by genres? That would be cool......

Debrasue

Debrasue · 05-11-2007, 09:34 PM

I just read this story again...for the gebillionth time.....nothings changed...it's still a love story...love depicted in all of it's forms....but mostly the love Erik had for Christine....pity Erik? HA!!! T'is Christine's loss...The loss of what he could have accomplished...what he could have become....his compassion & intellect... his talent and his music that he was so willing to offer the world...that's the pity of it...and our loss...(I know....he is a fictional character...but maybe there are real *Eriks* out there...abandoned, neglected, hiding, waiting & hoping for their opportunity to shine.......)

Fen · 06-14-2007, 05:11 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Debrasue

. Take "Ivanhoe" for example......the least romantic "romance" I've ever read! But that's just my personal interpretaton.......

I don't think its meant to be a romantic romance.Great book though and I agree with mtspur about Rowena and Rebecca I mean Ivanhoe didn't deserve her but why on earth couldn't he just see her like Brian did? Make the poor girl happy just for once. The story between Brian and Rebecca was just amazing it made the book one of the best I have ever read that and the old saxon woman recounting her terrible tale in the siege.

Anyhoo back to the vote

Its a love story its all about love, Erik and Raoul for Christina and Raoul's elder brother love for him.

Debrasue · 06-14-2007, 10:17 PM

This is sooo weird Fen!!! I was thinking about the old saxon woman just the other day (trying to remember her name)...but then got distracted by her wonderful part in the Ivanhoe story! She is a very interesting character! As for Erik and Leroux...still my favorite book...if it weren't a love story...I wouldn't love it so much...and I have a tendency to rewrite the ending(in my mind!), if it's too tragic....so I always give Erik something better to look forward to... LOL! But that's just me...nothing to do with literature.....

Reccura · 06-15-2007, 01:10 AM

I watched The Phantom of the Opera, and it's very nice. the acting is excellent.

View Poll Results: Which genre do you think The Phantom of the Opera should belong to?
Horror	5	31.25%
Love	8	50.00%
Classic	9	56.25%
Multiple Choice Poll. Voters: 16. You may not vote on this poll

04-28-2007, 08:24 AM	#1
SecretUmbreon Registered User Join Date: Apr 2007 Location: Garden City Posts: 23	Poll Which genre do you think should The Phantom Of The Opera belong to? Romance Horror Classic

04-28-2007, 09:08 PM	#2
Debrasue Registered User Join Date: Mar 2007 Posts: 201	The reality is all three........classic horror & high romance! Actually the horror is overrated......people with physical disfigurements are not "horrific" except in the mind of the beholder! The fear & rejection of someone who is not perfect, not "human" is the real horror! I think that was the tragic point Leroux was trying to get at......Erik would've probably been the pillar of society except for the shallowness of some people's minds. The total lack of compassion & acceptance, of the least basic human companionship, can distort the soul........we pity poor Erik for the desperate creature he has become....a reflection of how desperate we all are not to be abandoned & alone ......how fragile & vulnerable we as humans are. We could have been born like Erik & that frightens us to the point where it's easier to avoid the unfortunate soul instead of embracing , comforting & accepting them. I personally feel , in the end, it was Erik who showed compassion, and the meaning of true love by letting Christine go, the way she showed her love for Raoul by giving him up, in order to save him. If that's not romantic (sappy? lol!)....I don't know what is! I also feel he faked his own death.....again. But that's just my opinion! Debrasue Last edited by Debrasue; 04-29-2007 at 01:26 AM.

04-29-2007, 01:43 AM	#4
Debrasue Registered User Join Date: Mar 2007 Posts: 201	I remember that Hammer film, it was cool! I loved all of those older horror films but it's so strange because I never really saw the horror of any of it! Just raving mad mobs hunting down some poor unfortunate being trying to survive. I have always felt sorry for Frankenstein's monster,created for the pure ego of the Dr., & the various lonely, misunderstood (OK..& slightly deranged) Phantoms! But I was never scared or repulsed......except for those alarmist mobs! These stories are so tragic to almost everyone involved.......wouldn't it be nice if once in a while the "monster" got the girl & lived happily ever after? I know........I'm weird..... You could choke on that fluff they call "romance" these days......my idea of romance is a slightly dangerous, misunderstood, "bad" guy (with a good heart) who searches for his true place in the world, and hopes to find love along the way, be he man or monster! Debrasue Last edited by Debrasue; 04-29-2007 at 02:06 AM.

04-29-2007, 03:17 PM	#6
Debrasue Registered User Join Date: Mar 2007 Posts: 201	Ok.......so......what's the yeardstick (definition) we're supposed to use here...or is it a matter of interpretation? I'm sure 100 years ago, when men were gallant & women swooned (ad-nauseum!), horror lurked around every dark corner & passageway,closet & attic!Horror was pulp & sensational back then. Take "Ivanhoe" for example......the least romantic "romance" I've ever read! But that's just my personal interpretaton....... BTW...mtpspur......you know we're getting old when.........yesterdays pulp is now a "classic"!! LOL! Debrasue Also......Gaston Leroux is listed in the wrong place in the Authors list. Last edited by Debrasue; 04-29-2007 at 03:24 PM.

04-29-2007, 12:55 AM	#3
mtpspur Watcher by Night Join Date: Mar 2006 Location: Fairborn OH, USA Posts: 673 Blog Entries: 317	When I first read Phantom way back in the 60s (was when the Hammer movie came out--never got to see he Chaney version until the 80s)) I thought it was a horror novel. 20 years later it's a thriller. Now we think it a classic. Never thought it was a romance. But it is timeless as a first rate example of a good old fashioned page turner.

04-29-2007, 02:56 AM	#5
mtpspur Watcher by Night Join Date: Mar 2006 Location: Fairborn OH, USA Posts: 673 Blog Entries: 317	I too was rooting for the Frankenstein monster. To be honest the first film seems very disjointed to me as if there are bridging scenes that have been cut out (yes I have the seen the unedited one with the little girl and the flowers) but Bride works on every level. Still a chill seeing Karloff rise from the burning rubble but then as he meets the blind hermit and then wants the Bride and realizes he'll never fit in. Sigh.

04-30-2007, 02:45 AM	#7
mtpspur Watcher by Night Join Date: Mar 2006 Location: Fairborn OH, USA Posts: 673 Blog Entries: 317	Ah Ivanhoe--cured me of Walter Scott forever. He spends most of the book on a sick bed and I don't care if she was a Jew Rebecca deserved to the be his true love, Rowena is drop dead BORING. Yeh, yeh--the times they lived in. Wonder how many people remember Roger Moore starred in TV version of Ivanhoe?? I knew I was finally old when Signet books issued a 'Classics' edition of Burroughts Tarzan ofthe Apes. (When I'm being real honest with myself--Phantom is VERY overwritten but Erik transcends all that melodrama. As a kid when first read up to young adulthood I honestly thought Leroux had based his novel on some true event of the period.

04-30-2007, 07:28 PM	#8
Debrasue Registered User Join Date: Mar 2007 Posts: 201	When it comes to Ivanhoe, it was Sir Brian Bois Guilbert who took my breath away.........Most of the story was slow & tedious, until Rebecca is relating the details of the siege to Wilfred, who is wounded but wants to join the fray! The gallant & heroic Black Knight duking it out with the proud & brave Sir Brian.....& then Sir Brian saves Rebecca from the fire in the castle, just to have her condemned to be burned at the stake, because of his firey uncontrollable, lust for her! (le sigh!) Now, I ask you, what the heck is wrong with Rebecca?!!! Wilfred is soooo wimpy, boring & naive (compared to the dark & towering lovelorn Sir Brian!) The same goes for Christine's desire for Raoul.......safe, secure, predictable...the opposite of Erik... .....intelligent,clever,impulsive,..... & calculating.....the right side of danger! The Phantom drove the story with his obsessive passion & dark desire.......he was the tragic hero who only wanted to be a normal man......how could you not have compassion (& love, if your a chick) for him! What kind of abuse & hatred had he been subjected to as a child? Could there ever be hope for him or was he destined for tragedy? Could the love of a woman turn his insane desires, & help him realize his true place & purpose in the world? I believe this story is a true romance that forces you to question what is in your own heart ....could you love & accept the meaning of true beauty.....the beauty that lives in the soul.....not just on the flesh........and the ending, though tragic, was noble & profound! Nope...It's not The Phantom from the Black Lagoon........& The Phantom of the Soap Opera just doesn't sound right! Last edited by Debrasue; 04-30-2007 at 07:39 PM.

05-01-2007, 04:01 AM	#9
mtpspur Watcher by Night Join Date: Mar 2006 Location: Fairborn OH, USA Posts: 673 Blog Entries: 317	You have a point about Bois Guilbert. I also remember feeling cheated by his death at the end. Always had this suspicion that he would have hammered Ivanhoe into the ground. The villians do seem to be the more interesting.

05-01-2007, 06:54 PM	#10
Debrasue Registered User Join Date: Mar 2007 Posts: 201	Just curious.....but is there a practical reason for this poll? Debrasue

05-03-2007, 07:06 PM	#11
Debrasue Registered User Join Date: Mar 2007 Posts: 201	Is the Forum going to categorize books, or stories, by genres? That would be cool...... Debrasue

05-11-2007, 09:34 PM	#12
Debrasue Registered User Join Date: Mar 2007 Posts: 201	I just read this story again...for the gebillionth time.....nothings changed...it's still a love story...love depicted in all of it's forms....but mostly the love Erik had for Christine....pity Erik? HA!!! T'is Christine's loss...The loss of what he could have accomplished...what he could have become....his compassion & intellect... his talent and his music that he was so willing to offer the world...that's the pity of it...and our loss...(I know....he is a fictional character...but maybe there are real Eriks out there...abandoned, neglected, hiding, waiting & hoping for their opportunity to shine.......) Last edited by Debrasue; 05-11-2007 at 09:38 PM.

06-14-2007, 10:17 PM	#14
Debrasue Registered User Join Date: Mar 2007 Posts: 201	This is sooo weird Fen!!! I was thinking about the old saxon woman just the other day (trying to remember her name)...but then got distracted by her wonderful part in the Ivanhoe story! She is a very interesting character! As for Erik and Leroux...still my favorite book...if it weren't a love story...I wouldn't love it so much...and I have a tendency to rewrite the ending(in my mind!), if it's too tragic....so I always give Erik something better to look forward to... LOL! But that's just me...nothing to do with literature.....

06-15-2007, 01:10 AM	#15
Reccura Third Sister Join Date: Jan 2007 Location: September Street Posts: 482 Blog Entries: 1	I watched The Phantom of the Opera, and it's very nice. the acting is excellent. __________________ "What date is it today?" "September six." she replied, pursing her lips. "It's six yesterday," I said. "And it still is six today."

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