PHANTOM of the OPERA ~ Great Movie! BAD PLOT!

The Phantom's Hidden Plotline

 

I LOVED the Phantom of the Opera movie! Gerard Butler kicked fucking ass! He was a joy to watch and a total pleasure to listen to. I already have this soundtrack. The Phantom should sing like a Manly Man -- not like some one with their balls in a vice. (I will NEVER listen to that whiny tenor’s music again.) 

 

The movie was FANTASTIC! I shall endeavor to watch it as many times as I can scrape up the cash to do so. 

 

But the Plot-line for the 'Phantom of the Opera' - the actual STORY -- is WRONG!!!

Somebody Fucked Up
the Author’s Original Plot!

My 'theory' is that 'The Phantom of the Opera' that we have come to know, from the original magazine published 1910 edition, (it was published as a book a year later,) is Not the story the original author, Leroux, actually intended.

My guess is that the very first publisher made Leroux Change the Story, so as not to offend anyone during the time period when 'The Phantom of the Opera' was first published in France.

Why would a Publisher CHANGE a Manuscript?
 

This Changing of Manuscripts is a COMMON occurrence. Publishers REGULARLY change whole stories -- ripping them apart to suit what they think their reading audience will buy. 

 

Ask any published author.

The 'Phantom of the Opera' was first released, as installments in a magazine, only four years before the start of WWI when tempers were running very hot. Whether or not Leroux's publisher paid his bills depended on the public liking the story enough to buy his magazines. He could not afford to piss off anyone with enough power, or influence, to shut his publishing house down, such as the Military.

Before I go any further...
 

Let me make this crystal clear -- I am not a critic, and this is Not a Critique of the movie, the play, the published book that the movie and the play comes from, or what Leroux's publisher released in those long ago magazine installments. 

 

I am referring to what I 'suspect' was in the original manuscript that Leroux submitted to the publisher.

I am a FICTION AUTHOR following clues in a PLOTLINE using the latest movie/play as a model because THAT is the story most people are familiar with, those are examples that can be followed.

To any fiction author, it’s as plain and livid as an open wound; This Story was Changed before it ever saw print.
 

What gave me this idea?
Traces of the CORRECT PLOT are still there
-- even in the current movie.

 

Let us begin by unraveling:
The CHARACTERS

Basic audience assumption:
Christine and Raoul were young and stupid.
They deserved each other.

Christine may have been young and stupid,
Raoul definitely WASN’T.

Raoul was neither stupid nor Young. Raoul was a lord, and lords were highly educated. 

 

Raoul was also stated as being a Captain fresh from the field. The amount of field experience it takes to reach captain is measured in grueling battle-hardened Years. You did not survive to be a field Captain without brains -- and ruthlessness. 

 

The character of Raoul could not have been younger than his early to mid 30s. 

 

According to the story’s clues, the PHANTOM is actually Younger than Raoul! 

Poor Sweet Not-So-Innocent Christine…

 

The story begins with Christine as an Opera DANCER who later becomes an Opera Diva. 

 

There was a REASON Raoul was pursuing Christine, and it wasn't Love. 

 

During this time period Nobles like Raoul, pursued Opera Dancers to make them their mistresses. Noble men keeping an Opera Dancer or two as mistresses, was not only common, it was Expected, (even in 1910.) 

 

Being someone's Mistress was how the Opera Dancers made a living, by selling all the Gifts from their wealthy Noble Patrons. An Opera Dancer lived in her own little apartment, paid for by her noble patron, and rewarded with jewels and cash.  

 

Opera Dancers BECAME Opera Dancers to Make Money, not from the Opera, but by being good enough to catch a Nobleman that would pay for everything: housing, clothes, jewels... 

 

Opera Dancers were members of the Demimonde - ladies of the Evening.

 

In this day and age, Opera Dancers are referred to as Exotic Dancers -- strippers.

The Diva Issue

 

Divas were professionally trained Artistes and often impoverished, nobility. 

 

Christine was Never presented as being nobility. She was the daughter of a Musician. Her father was a violinist to was paid by a Noble Patron to play for that noble's personal pleasure. A living breathing MP3 Player. 

 

The Diva had damned good reason to be pissed with Christine. An Opera Dancer, a common-born uneducated stripper was trying to take her place?

 

The Phantom

NOT your Common Psycho.

 

PHANTOM was not your ordinary weird guy hiding in the sewers. No ifs, ands, or, buts, about it. There was absolutely, positively, Nothing common-born about the Phantom. Everything about him screamed: NOBILITY! His character, his dress, his obvious Education, never mind being capable of composing music then design whole theatrical productions from sets to costumes? 

 

PHANTOM was clearly a lost, or hiding Nobleman.

 

As a lost noble, Phantom would have had Staff to maintain him, and that fancy cave. 

 

Nobles of the late 1800's and early 1900's couldn't do diddly-squat for themselves Someone had to cook for the Phantom, clean his cave, go shopping for food, (and lots of candles,) sew, and tailor that fabulous wardrobe of his...etc. 

 

There are traces of a fanatically loyal staff in the original book, but they are gone by the time you get to the big production plays. 

The REAL VILLAIN of the Piece – Raoul

Raoul was Not Young, and definitely Not Stupid. Nor was he in love. 

 

Raoul's pursuit of Christine began with her first leading performance, and was very deliberate.

THINK: A 30-year-old handsome and experienced Noble Lord chasing after a 17-year-old gorgeous celebrity. Where's the Stupidity?

The Villainy was right there in front of everybody: Nobles Did Not MARRY women of the Demimonde. They gave them houses, clothes, jewels, and showered them with money, they even had kids with them. They did not Marry them. 

Nobles had their Family Honor and Reputations to protect. Noble Parents did not allow their Noble children to marry Strippers: Opera Dancers, no matter how pretty they were. (How would you feel if your son announced that he was marrying an acclaimed Stripper -- or a Porn Star?)

The fact that Christine thought she might have a chance at marrying Raoul just shows how Stupid her character had become. 

 

The Diva, who was likely an impoverished noblewoman, had a better chance of getting approval to marry from Raoul's parents than Christine ever did.

Phantom, however, was free to chase after Christine because while he was noble, he was also dead to his Noble Family. It didn't matter who he married. His family's honor was being protected by someone else.

The Warped Plot

 

There's a rift in the plot about halfway through, when Christine visits her father's grave. This is when discrepancies begin to appear, and the plot goes awry.

It is at this point that the story no longer portrays the characters as they were presented in the opening chapters: 

• Raoul becomes heroic. 
• Phantom becomes a murdering psycho.
• Christine becomes TSTL (too stupid to live.)

However, there are Still traces of the correct plot within the unfolding events themselves.

1) Christine visits her father's grave

 

This Scene should have underlined the fact that Christine was a commoner, and a member of the Demimonde (a stripper,) verses what Raoul was -- a Noble. 

 

This should have snapped her out of her dream world and made her see Raoul for what he actually was: a man pursuing a pretty girl to sleep with, and the Phantom as what he was: someone who actually cared.

Phantom had watched over her and guarded her since childhood. He had seen that she had something of a noble's education: she could read and write, and Phantom even taught her at least one of the noble arts, MUSIC. 

How could Phantom possibly have ended up being Christine's childhood guardian? All kinds of ways. 

 

Christine's father and the Phantom were both musicians; they may even have been associate composers. However, it was more likely that Christine's dad was originally part of the Phantom's personal staff. Nobles of that day cared for their employees as Family, so of course he would watch over his employee's child as well.

After realizing the truth of what Raoul was asking of her: prostitution, Christine should have come to the realization that it was the Phantom that actually Cared for her. Phantom had any number of opportunities to seduce her, but it was clear that he'd never used any of them.

2) Raoul's Purpose in the Graveyard

Raoul had been openly and blatantly STALKING Christine since her first performance. When Raoul showed up in the graveyard, it was quite obvious that he had followed Christine expecting to find her alone, and unprotected.  

 

The duel scene should have been Phantom defending Christine against a rapist.

In the scene that Should Have Happened, once Raoul incapacitated Christine's only defender, Raoul would have taken immediate advantage of Christine's brand-new guilt towards the Phantom (he was about to die for her,) to pressure Christine into submitting and becoming his mistress. 

"I'll kill him right here, right now, if you don't come with me!"

This is also when the Phantom would have been unmasked and had his scarred face  revealed for the first time -- by Raoul. Raoul would have been trying to force the point home: that Raoul was the better choice because he was Prettier.

Prettier???

 

Physical Appearance was a HUGE issue back in the 1800's when this story was written. Ugliness was considered God's Punishment. If you were ugly, you must be Evil.

3) The Phantom’s Sword Wound 

 

The Duel that Should Have Happened:

 

Raoul was a skilled and practiced swordsman, a battle-hardened field captain. There is no way in Hell that the bookish and reclusive Phantom had enough training with a Sword to beat an experienced Soldier in a sword fight.

At the same time, Raoul would have known better than to kill Christine's beloved guardian right before her eyes, but he was not about to let Christine's one defender live. By the time the duel stopped, Raoul would have made very sure to deliver a mortal wound.

Note: A small twisting stab with a narrow blade in the armpits or in the junctures of the legs will pierce a major artery, causing massive amounts of blood-loss and DEATH in a very short period of time. Because such a wound is Small, clothing would hide the wound, if not the blood. It wouldn't look fatal. 

When Raoul forced Christine to submit to him, at the price of her guardian's life, Raoul would have been convinced that the Phantom was already dying.

4) That chandelier would still have fallen.

If the duel scene played out as it logically Should Have, Phantom wouldn't be a murdering psycho – he'd be PISSED OFF!
 

Directly after the duel in the graveyard, Phantom was absent from the opera house for several months. The opera staff makes a point of complaining about it. It is Not Explained. In fact, this unexplained absence is in every version of this story! Even in the most recent movies. 

However! If Phantom was recovering from a near-fatal wound, he would have a perfectly justified reason Why he disappeared for so long. That this absence is Still in the Story, is evidence that the duel scene was Changed. 

Once he regained his strength, Phantom would have been furious with Raoul, and in a panic to save Christine. Only now, he knew that there was no way he could beat Raoul in a sword fight. 

 

The only way to beat Raoul was to get him with a sneak-attack.

The falling Chandelier. 

5) Raoul – the Real Psycho

Unfortunately, as a Field Captain, Raoul would have been too much of a battle-seasoned survivor to not see something That Large coming at him.  

 

Once Raoul got out of the way of the falling lighting fixture, the Captain would have gone out of his way to hunt down the young, and idealistic, Phantom to make he sure was well and truly dead. 

 

Why? Because as long as the Phantom lived, Christine had someone else to go to.

 

Being a man's mistress had One Advantage over being his wife.  

 

A wife was legally owned by her husband, he could have her arrested and brought back. 

 

A mistress was legally outside any man's reach. If she left, her patron or lover couldn't have her dragged back to him. Not legally. 

As a woman who had very likely been forcibly de-flowered shortly after her guardian was nearly killed right in front of her, Christine would have had No Reason to stay with Raoul. 

6) In the final Battle between Raoul and Phantom
-- Who Captured Who? Really?

In the story that Should Have Happened, Raoul was the better fighter, and the Phantom was STILL recovering from his last fight with Raoul. Logic points to the fact that the Phantom would have been captured and threatened with death, rather than the other way around, as the current plot has it.

Raoul would have been the one to force Christine into choosing between them -- with the intent to kill her if she chose the Phantom over him.

7) Christine’s Actual Love Dilemma

The Real pressure on Christine should have been:

• Go with the man who had very likely forcibly de-flowered her, and accept her role as a Prostitute.

 - or - 

• Die with the one man who proved time and again, that he cared for her.

The original Author's obvious Ending? 

•  Christine left with Raoul to save the Phantom; breaking everyone’s heart, including her own. True Love as Sacrifice.

What the hell Happened
- to the REAL Love Story???

In 1910, with WWI looming, when this book was first penned, it was UNTHINKABLE that a handsome military man, and a lord would be represented as anything other than heroic while a man who was disfigured (cursed by God) could possibly be anything other than villainous.

The story HAD to be changed, for the sake of public proprieties. (Keep in mind, DRACULA, published in 1897 --only 13 years earlier-- caused a major uproar among the British nobility because the Vampire was a Noble.)

So Raoul got white-washed into a hero, Phantom got black-washed into a common basement-dwelling psycho, and Christine lobotomized into a TSTL (too stupid to live) idiot, when she should have been a woman who sacrificed her honor and her life to save the man she loved.

CONCLUSION:

Sometimes a deeper --and better-- story is present within a published work. 

 

There are enough clues in 'The Phantom of the Opera' to construct an entirely different story. 

What could have been a “love story” about sacrifice is currently a mere “descent into madness” story.

 

To my eyes, this story was clearly Edited before it ever saw release. Edited with only a few cosmetic adjustments made to accommodate for those changes.  

 

Anyone who writes fiction professionally can see this. 

 

What am I trying to Say?

Somebody PLEASE do this story RIGHT, damn It! 

Because if I have to do it, I will write  'The Phantom of the Opera' as the true EROTIC HORROR it obviously should have been.

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Documentation:
http://www.phantomoftheopera.info/history2.htm

Morgan Hawke
www.darkerotica.net
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