Wonderful Interpretation - Blog Posts

Unpopular (?) (actually idk the popularity level) opinion:

I greatly prefer the POTO productions that replace Christine’s second kiss with a hug.

Cause what really does the Phantom in isn’t that a beautiful girl is willing to kiss him, it’s that no one has ever recognized that he’s a person and has the same needs, aspirations, desires, etc, as everyone else. It gets across that he’s unaccustomed to and amazed by ANY affection, not just romantic.

I don’t really see this interpretation much anywhere but I think the fact she’s doing this for Raoul’s sake is actually part of his change of heart. First of all, I’m certain by that point he was convinced that Christine was going to say no and save herself instead, but she doesn’t. She’s not only willing to sacrifice herself to save Raoul, an incredible act of love and selflessness, but she recognizes the horrors the Phantom had to experience to become so cruel and chooses to give herself up for his sake too. Instead of simply agreeing to stay with him with as much coldness as she can muster.

He has every reason to believe the only reason empathy exists is because there are people who just haven’t learned they must be selfish to survive. But Christine still did what she did after clearly losing her innocence. Even though she’s grown to understand the cruelty of the world and is now capable of true malice, greed, and hate, she chooses not to use them despite having every right to. She’s no longer naive, and she is still kind. That’s something the Phantom didn’t think was possible until now.