Poll

[SecretUmbreon]

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

[Debrasue]

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!

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[mtpspur]

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]

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!

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[mtpspur]

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]

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!

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

[mtpspur]

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]

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]

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]

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

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

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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]

. 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]

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]

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

[Debrasue]

Hello Reccura!!! The Andrew Lloyd Webber & Joel Schumacher version??? My most favorite movie in the whole universe....that's where I got my avatar from!!! The other versions were OK...but Gerard Butler put the heart & soul into The Phantom and made him human....no other Phantom was able to capture that and become him...IMHO...but everyone knows I'm Obssessed!!!

[Fen]

I enjoyed the Lloyd Webber one too, mainly because of the music and the sets but if I remember correctly didn't it change the book quite a bit?

[Debrasue]

Hi Fen! Gaston Leroux's story was the 'inspiration' for Andrew Lloyd Webber's Adaptation...it was never intended to be a retelling of the original story. In fact Leroux got inspiration from other sources for his story...John Merrick(The Elephant Man) was a popular celebrity in those days...and the rumor of a man who lived in the caves under the Opera House...Victor Hugo's Hunchback, and the love triangle premise is very old...Svengali & Trilby, Pygmalien, and still popular... My Fair Lady...the master falling in love with his creation...Basically ALW took the basic elements of Leroux's story and set it to his own music...and The Phantom of the Opera became a stage musical....and even the movie version is slightly different than the stage version...but they were never intended to be the same either! So I guess all Art gets inspiration from something that came before...I've personally rewritten the ending in my own mind to suit me...I just can't bear to think of anyone so desperately alone and tragic...in either versions....so ...maybe someday I'll write my own adaptation...with a happier ending....I love both... Leroux book ....and the movie... my favorite movie... plus I also love Gerard Butler's portrayal of The Phantom (ALW never referred to him as 'Erik')...he portrayed him more of a victim of abuse and tragic circumstances... and less of a horror figure...in a lot of ways he was more like Leroux's Phantom than any of the other portrayals(although I could have done without the yellow eyes and other gratuitous horror)...Both adaptations are unique in what they are...just different versions of an old story....but as literature goes...ALW's version is a screenplay...and not a book, so there really is no comparing the two as far as that goes....IMHO of Course! Ha, ha, ha...I just saw this was supposed to be a quick reply! LOL! Sorry! And It's sort of funny...no one compares ALW's Les Miserables (Victor Hugo, author) or Jesus Christ Superstar, or Evita, to actual events or story lines...only his POTO movie....maybe it touches a 'nerve' somehow.....

[Fen]

Lol don't worry about it being a quick reply

Thanks for the details, and I agree about Gerard Butler's performance though I think he had to play it that way, his phantom was much to handsome to pull off the "shunned because of looks" card. Even my brother commented on it ;)

[Debrasue]

If you notice during the movie...we never actually see Gerry's whole face!...But he uses a lot of body language, facial expressions, voice expressions, and of course singing...so there really is so much more to him than just the handsome face! His talent for portraying The Phantom as a man who has lived his whole life alone... is amazing....but like Christine says...''the true distortion is in his soul"...and until he could find a way to cope with that....he would always be as ugly and unlovable as he saw himself!

Also....'Gaston' is the first name....'Leroux' is the last name...just in case someone wants to put him in the right alphabetical order....I know where to find him...but someone who is new to the board might not notice right away.... yeah...sometimes I like to dot the 'T's & cross the 'I's...I'm weird that way I guess.....LOL!!!

[Phangirl7]

I think it should be all 3. It's a classic because....because it just is.
It's romance because of the relationships between Christine, Erik, and Raoul.
It's Horror because there's scary parts that still freak me out even after reading it 8 times!
P.G.7.

[RDraconis]

Horror and Classic. It's freaking ancient and still around and being made into movies- that's classic.

I think it's more mystery at first and horror at the end. I disagree that it's romance at all. There are really sweet bits between Raoul and Christine, though.