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the other day i was witness to a bunch of ppl hating on phantom of the opera for being problematic/romanticizing an abusive relationship and i just. i. like...
do people not realize the entire point of the story is that she leaves the phantom and gets with raoul. like. she literally tells the phantom to his face that she doesn't love him and will never be with him. she rejects him. she was only attached to him under the false pretense that he was a spirit sent by her dead father to comfort her and tutor her in music.
most of their so-called romantic scenes were when she still thought he was a spirit sent by her father. if she had romantic/sexual desires for him (which i'm not opposed to) then imo (thru the lens of psychoanalytical criticism) her feelings were a result of her psychologically sublimating the loss of her father + the loneliness of the opera house lifestyle into this forbidden sexual fantasy which blends the lines between the sexual and the spiritual. but ppl aren't ready for that.
anyway, then she realizes she was being manipulated and had a traumatic grief response and leaves him and leaves the opera behind to have a happy life with her childhood best friend who loved her for her regardless of whether or not she sang. like. hello?
ppl just hate it because of the fans who romanticize erik/christine and gave it that reputation + the love never dies sequel which basically retcons the original story and has no basis on the musicals canon or the story in the original novel... but popular opinion doesn't change canon and neither does retconning... so why should either of those things matter... stop conflating fandom opinions with narrative truths...
Me sending paragraphs to @edgyparrot about that sad guy.
i did this for a uh certain group of friends but i think it's brilliant