#poto text

[opera-ghost]

#have you guys watched the silent film recently because if you haven't. you are missing out #i forgot how funny it is like lon chaney's phantom is just a silly little guy #(he is a murderer) #phantom of the opera #poto #poto shitpost #poto text

[ablatheringblatherskite]

So I made some things

And last but not least, this one is for me and my Raoul stans:

I feel so funny

#phantom of the opera #poto #poto musical #poto 25 #the phantom of the opera #raoul de chagny #erik the phantom #christine daae #hadley fraser #ramin karimloo #sierra boggess #my editses #poto memes #asterrisks #favorite asterrisks #text posts #text post #poto shitpost

[misunderstood-m0nster]

Christine/The phantom as text posts

basically they r all super autistic

#eristine #poto #erik x christine #the phantom of the opera #raoul de changy #erik poto #christine daaé #ramin karimloo #sierra boggess #hadley fraser #text posts #musicals

[occasionalsimp]

Some ALW Phantom + Text posts

#phantom of the opera #poto #ramin karimloo #alw phantom #andrew lloyd webber #sierra boggess #christine daae #poto text posts #phantom of the opera musical #poto musical

[bonesandpoemsandflowers]

my bohemian ass woke up at noon on a friday so I'm not firing on all cylinders yet, but there is this important distinction in the novel, The Phantom of the Opera, and the musical The Phantom of the Opera. I understand why a novel length distinction is cut for time and narrative tidiness for a medium that happens on stage, but I think people draw some very unfair, unflattering and incorrect conclusions from the stage that they port into their reading of the novel.

that is: Erik, the phantom of the opera, knows about Christine and Raoul's engagement and he's actually totally cool with Christine's plan. This is not incel behavior. This is not ~toxic masculinity~ or whatever contemporary bullshit you want to spew on the intentionally sympathetic monster in gothic literature. Raoul is supposed to leave on a naval expedition to the north pole. Christine's plan is to be engaged with him until he leaves. "This is a happiness that will hurt no one," she says. I don't have the exact quote for it but later on she relates how Erik knows and approves, at least of this intended to be limited engagement engagement. Why? Because he's the happiest of men with Christine, and he wants Raoul to experience that happiness. He does also expect Raoul to, you know, fucking leave when he's supposed to, but still. Christine and Raoul are romping around the Opera, kissing and crying together, and our ghost dude here is just like: good for them.

What sets him off is not the idea of a romantic rival. He does not, imo, feel "entitled" to Christine's love or whatever batshit nonsense the Erik-as-incel narrative huffs like paint fumes. What sets Erik off is how Christine has lied to him: not about the engagement, but about the degree of visceral disgust she feels for Erik specifically as a result of his deformity. She details, in graphic detail, how she closes her eyes instead of looking upon him, how she tells him that she only averts her eyes because she is in awe of his genius. She tells Raoul how horrible even physical proximity to Erik is, how grotesque his face is, how the horror of an animated corpse proclaiming his love to her is--well, horrible, and horrifying. Erik is on the floor, on his knees, kissing the hem of her dress, and Christine has her eyes closed the whole time.

I also think contemporary audiences can't handle that. They need Christine to be a pure and wholesome Good Girl (regressive bullshit), who is the victim of an evil evil man, and only the victim (also regressive bullshit). But also because she is a female character in the contemporary mind, she is allowed no flaws. She must reject Erik because he is a bad man. It would be ableist otherwise, yes? And the contemporary audience cannot handle lack of physical beauty being the reason. There can be no nuance to Christine's reactions. She is Good. Erik is Bad. That's all there is to it. The audience member is so sure that they themselves are above moral reproach, too. That's what is at stake here, also.

Never mind that Christine herself, repeatedly, notes that Erik is right when he says that if she thought he was handsome, she would stay. Never mind that when Raoul asks her if she would still love him if Erik were handsome, Christine declines to reply.

To be clear: this is not a Christine bashing post. I think her complexity here is fascinating. I hate a flat one note ingénue and that's not what she IS, and it pains me that fic authors write her that way, as if it's superior. No! Here she's human and she's magnificent! She's conflicted! Erik is alluring but also in ways that are no fault of his own, terrifying.

We gloss over the intended body horror of the novel. I know I do. I forget that he smells like rot and death, that he's cold and clammy to the touch, that he moans like a ghoul, that is supposed to have a gaping nose hole and eyes you can only see in the dark.

I don't think Christine is wrong to lie. But it's easy to understand, if you let yourself, how betrayed the monster might feel when he finds out about all this concealed disgust.

So, two points here

The rage upon being unmasked isn't just because he's unmasked and she broke a rule or whatever. It's the death of his whole gambit and his last hope, and Erik is, canonically, very smart. He knows this. He knows his face IS the issue. He knows it is THE issue. He reads Christine correctly in that the Angel of Music bit is ultimately forgivable in her eyes, and she likes that he brought down her favorite horse, she absolutely is there for their shared spiritual musical raptures. I want people to understand this: ERIK IS RIGHT about his own situation, a LOT of the time. He comes to some bad conclusions after, but in terms of understanding what's happening around him, he's accurate.

And so the rage and despair post Apollo's Lyre isn't "oh no, she loves Raoul," or even "how dare she, that SLUT," as some people make it out to be. It's the realization that he's been a monster to her this whole time. All this time he thought that she saw him as a man, and she has not. All the presumably good memories he has of her and her two weeks she lived with him are now revealed as lies. She's been enduring this whole time, not acclimating. She feels horror. She feels, again, disgust. She's shuddered at the touch of his hand in hers and put on a brave face and he's believed her up until this point, and he's having his physical inadequacies and his uncharacteristic naiveté described in excruciating detail to his romantic rival. He probably feels real fuckin stupid, on top of all else. He's been duped. He also feels disgusting and unlovable, because Christine has just repeatedly described him as disgusting and unlovable.

It is, of course, wildly incorrect to then decide to blow up an opera house about it.

But it's not entitled incel behavior and that's such a boring and contemporary narrative to shove a beautiful example of gothic literature into. Intellectually lazy and artistically myopic. I think most of us, if we're honest with ourselves, can think of a time we thought somebody liked us--maybe romantically or sexually but also maybe not, maybe just as a friend, as a bestie--and we turned out to be very wrong, because the person was just being polite or avoiding awkwardness or whatever. That is: they lied, in a very understandable and justifiable and socially expected way. And how did that feel, dear reader? Not great, right?

The point of the phantom of the opera is that it's a bunch of normal human experiences turned up to the max, dialed into a sublime hum that goes so hard it turns inhuman and terrible. It's that what makes a monster, what makes a man line, which is only interesting to walk if it's identifiably very human in parts. So Erik isn't just romantically rejected: he is rejected in just about EVERY way possible, besides his divinity of music. And this is supposed to the story of his entire life, over and over again, just most vividly and poignantly illustrated by his failure with Christine, when he most desperately wants to be just like everybody else.

And I think it's a shame to lose that very basic narrative and thematic point, but also a shame to lose the nuance of: Erik wants to share his happiness with Raoul. He loves Christine so, so much that he seems to find Raoul's lovesick desire very relatable. Of course, who wouldn't allow his fellow man a glimpse of heaven? And I just chose my words carefully there, if not the rest of the post. In his approval of Christine and Raoul's playful engagement, Erik is briefly engaging on a man-to-man level. He feels human about it. And when he feels human and accepted as human, instead of a walking horror show, he's immediately kind of gracious.

It's when he finds out that he's been a monster and not a man this whole time, in the eyes of his beloved and his rival, that he seems to go: I'll show you what a monster is.

#long post #poto #poto meta #gaston leroux #no proofreading we die like men #my personal belief is that you are absolutely allowed to tell a bunch of socially comfortable lies to get the hell out of dodge #when I'm like “so Christine lied” my intended undercurrent is AND GOOD FOR HER. GOOD JOB. #but also #my personal belief is also that he (erik) (the phantom) (whatever) is still very fuckable despite literally everything #text

[lesmiserabelles]

jon robyns as the phantom and holly-anne hull as christine daaé / west end live 2023

#poto #phantom of the opera #phantom #phantomedit #jon robyns #holly anne hull #christine daaé #christine daae #west end live #musicals #musicaledit #musicalgifs #theatreedit #theateredit #muscialtheateredit #musicaltheatreedit #carmella's edits #descriptions in alt text

[erik-christine]

#poto #erik #phantom of the opera #poto shitpost #phantom #some choices were made #first time I saw that text post this was all I thought #he did it for YOU christine GOD 🙄 so ungrateful #and raouls face 🤧 #raoul de chagny #e/c #*

[nyxinterstellar]

my first poto shitpost! (well, not exactly a shitpost but still)

inspired by @/textsfromthefifthbasement, and here's the text's source btw

#texts from last night #source: texts from last night #the phantom of the opera #phantom of the opera #erik the phantom #erik phantom #erik poto #christine daaé #christine x erik #erik x christine #eristine #royal albert hall #🎥

[annabelle--cane]

I'm bypassing the love triangle entirely, this is my christine ship

#poto #marina marvels at life #id in alt text

[les-gnossiennes-fantomatiques]

#the phantom of the opera #texts #christine daae #poto #erik

[opera-ghost]

#i literally just kidnapped her to keep her safe #i'm microwaving her boyfriend because he looked a little chilly #the marriage is for like . a green card thing or whatever #phantom of the opera #poto #poto shitpost #poto text

[witch-among-stars]

I just need the Phantom of the Opera to love me. Am I asking too much?

#i can make music of the night all night #I don't even mind Eric's obsession with chandeliers #I just want him 😔 #poto #the phantom of the opera #phantom of the opera #text post

[imstillhere-butallislostart]

Oh wait I have more phantom art to post bc I forgot to post this sketch

#ignore the thing on the corner it's to cover up a different sketch #traditional art #phantom of the opera #poto #Christine daae #img desc in alt text

[textsfromthefifthbasement]

(608): it’s like his penis is God’s way of saying “sorry about his face”

#texts from last night #love never dies #lnd #lnd australia #poto shitpost #christine daae #erik #the phantom #beneath a moonless sky

[royal-color]

I’ve always loved stories like Beauty and the Beast, Phantom of the Opera and Hunchback of Notre Dame. I’m drawn to them though not because I see myself as the beautiful damsel everyone loves but because I see my soul in the Beast, the Phantom, the Hunchback. I see myself and hope one day someone will see past my darkness and love my monsters.

-Royal

#text #poem #poetry #quote #quotes #rambling #love #monster #monsters #monsters in love #royalspeaks #royal speaks #royal talks #royaltalks #purple #aesthetic #poto #phantom of the opera #the hunchback of notre dame #thond #hond #beauty and the beast #batb #guillermo del toro #the shape of water #sow #tsow

[lesmiserabelles]

in sleep he sang to me, in dreams he came

lucy st louis as christine daaé / platinum party at the palace

#lucy st louis #killian donnelly #phantom of the opera #poto #phantom #phantomedit #the phantom of the opera #christine daaé #christine daae #musicals #musicaledit #musicaltheateredit #musicaltheatreedit #theateredit #theatreedit #musicalgifs #carmella's edits #descriptions in alt text #i see new footage of lucy and i'm like 'is anybody else going to gif that?' then do not wait for the answer