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Phantom of the Opera
The Phantom of the Opera is a book by French author Gaston Leroux which no one other than Phantom fans has ever read.
The Book
In 1910 Gaston Leroux, a portly French journalist, published a book about a deformed murderous genius, who lived under the Paris Opera House, fell in love with stalked a young soprano named Christine Daaé, and died tragically from a broken heart.
The Movies
Universal Studios made a film of the book in 1925, starring silent star Lon Chaney. The Cheney version became the standard bearer for years as the definative version of the story, removing the romatic crap and playing up the Phantom as being a psychotic murderer, killing for the lulz. The scene where the Phantom was unmasked also was a source of much lulz, causing pussies and women to vomit and pass out upon being seen.
The film was remade in 1942 with Claude Raines, at which point it was decided that having the Phantom being born ugly was deemed implausible and it was changed to have him be a ripped off composer who had acid tossed onto his face. Fans reacted positively to this, since no one born ugly could possibly be competant enough to do what the Phantom does.
Various other studios remade the film, taking elements of the basic story and playing up the horror angle of the story. Film versions of The Phantom of the Opera range from Phantoms who are father figures, psychotic slashers, sympathetic chaps with a witty tongue, and barely deformed men who cannot sing. Most notably KISS, who in 1978 starred in the very lulzy (mostly cheesy) Kiss Meets the Phantom of the Park
Joel Schumacher directed the 2004 movie based on Andrew Lloyd Webber's shit musical, reinvisioned with a young and sexy cast and the guy from 300 as a pussy-whipped Phantom who's face is barely disfigured and who's main mode of killing people was to sing emo songs that induced suicide.
Alleged Hidden Plot in Andrew Lloyd Webber's The Phantom of the Opera
Recently, a group of delusional and sexually frustrated women (known collectively as "The Unravellers") from the now defunct WB movie boards revealed that there was actually a second storyline hidden within the film version of The Phantom of the Opera. This plot was apparently uncovered through months of in depth "analysis", which consisted of countless viewings of the movie on DVD, incessant pausing, zooming, lusting over leading actor Gerard Butler, and interpreting various continuity errors as significant "clues". The Unravellers conclude that the "Phantom of the Opera" was actually a demonic spirit that possessed an innocent man named Angel, who was actually the long-lost brother of the Vicomte Raoul de Chagny, rightful heir to the de Chagny title and fortune, the King of Music, and Christine's one true love with whom she wanted to make sweet, sweet music of the night if it weren't for that whole pesky possession thing. Fortunately, the Unravellers tell us that Christine's kiss, which had previously been interpreted by fans the world over as an act of sacrifice to save Raoul, actually exorcises the Phantom spirit and they go off to have lots and lots of sex. Unravellers are notorious for their extreme mental imbalance and can be dangerous when provoked, but can be observed from a safe distance in their unnatural habitat over at http://www.phantomgerry.net.
The supporters of this supposed "hidden plot" have devoted endless hours to repeated viewings of the movie and the obsessive screencapping of each scene in order to "prove" their "belief" that Christine dumped the noble Raoul in favor of her undeniably sexy stalker, "Gerik," and spent the rest of her life having wild, passionate sex with him and, occasionally, making music. Failing to prove that, some will fall back on the claim that Christine did indeed marry the Vicomete, but spent the remainder of her days lusting for Gerik's hot body and generally pining until she went mad and was coldly tossed into an insane asylum while Raoul canoodled with her buxom friend, Meg Giry.
The supporters of these theories claim these are just their "opinions," yet flagrantly disrespect any opinion which differs from or challenges theirs, no matter how politely these differing opinions are expressed. Those who don't embrace the belief that "The Phantom of The Opera" is either a life-altering passion play rich with symbols or a syrupy, sexy romance with a shiny Disney ending are answered with a variety of insults, personal attacks, and even snide religious remarks. Even the so-called moderators of this board (who don't hesitate to announce their "power" to member with signatures that boldly declare BECAUSE I'M A MOD) engage in insulting members who don't agree with the Hidden Plot and related theories.
They took over a popular, active fan forum which was home to a varied membership able to respect each other's differing opinions, even in the most heated debated such as the endless "stage vs. film" question. Once they obtained moderator positions, they actively insulted and alienated all who disagreed, eventually driving away the intelligent, rational fans who had been the foundation of this on-line community from its founding. The board has become a disgrace to the movie and the actor it purports to "appreciate" and to the "phandom" in general.
The Musicals
The first musical of The Phantom of the Opera was produced in 1974 by Ken Hill, who made the mistake of asking Sarah Brightman to be in it some years later. Her then husband, the frog-like Andrew Lloyd Webber (we don't need to stinkin' Lords), said "Jolly good show old fellow, why don't I produce it on the West End and turn it into a mega hit?" Then he read the original novel and thought "Hold on there my boy, why don't I write my own musical, playing up the gothic melodrama and romance so I can make millions of pounds (whoever previously wrote dollars is a fucking 'tard cos da bastard is Eeeenglish) from fangirls, instead?" So he did.
The Fandom
Typical to Phantom phandom is the inability to spell any word which begins with an F without spelling it with a PH instead. Phantom phans phantasize about phucking their phavorite Phantoms, and write voluminous phanfic phull of mystic yearnings. Like all fandoms, they infest the internets with their web pages, discussion forums, and LJ communities, where they share their love for ugly guys in masks who sing. Before the arrival of the internets, Phantom phans published a variety of fanzines and newsletters using the now defunct technologies of paper and snail mail.
The fevor of Phantom fans extends to legally changing their names, and erecting virtual churches to the Phantom. They do not think it is funny that his name in the book is Erik.
Phantom fans are prone to depression, self-injury, being goth, and singing or they are pretty geeky and use the books and working to get away from people, like Erik. Occassionally a fan will extend their insanity to stalking Phantom actors.
Since the release of the 2004 movie the phandom has been inundated with 16 year old fangirls, who complain about the elitism of phans who have read the original novel. The phandom is split: saying that the movie is better than the stage show, or Gerard Butler is a superbly trained singer, will earn flames from one lot of phans; saying someone isn't a real phan if they haven't read the book, or fans of the movie are tone-deaf and insane, will earn flames from the other. This makes fertile ground for trolls.
They also like to point out how much better Michael Crawford and Sarah Brightman are, and how they're apparently the REAL *twitches fingers* Phantom and Christine. Do an innocent search of youtube and a specific actor and you're bound to find massive amounts of "he sucks!" "____ kicks his ass!" In reality, they all need to shut the fuck up and enjoy the fucking story.
The movie inspired the first large surge of obese, sexually repressed (supposedly) female fans of the actor who played the Phantom, Gerard Butler. They call themselves Tarts as they know little more than gluttony besides the actor. Tell them that he's gay, and their heads will explode.
Things that upset Phans
- Spelling the Phantom's name Eric
- Criticizing Andrew Lloyd Webber
- Criticizing Gerard Butler or Emmy Rossum, especially if you are a trained singer
- Pointing out that Erik is a murderer and has his own torture chamber
- Calling Christine a slut
- Insisting that you are the one and only reincarnation of Christine
- Telling them that real fans read the original novels
LJ Communities
Tons and bunches, including:
Fanfic:
Rest of the Web
The oldest Phantom phan site is phantomoftheopera.com, who purchased their domain name before Andrew Lloyd Webber thought of it, leaving him with thephantomoftheopera.com for consolation.