I feel like I’m late to the party on this one….am I? Has anyone else read Phantom of the Opera recently? Did you like it? 

I thought it was good. Sad but good but also, about halfway through I realized, it was an awful lot like Moulin Rouge. 

Think about it.

There’s singing, greedy theater managers, a rich dude, and a broke dude, both obsessed over the same damn woman. 

Let’s start with Phantom of the Opera.

There’s Erik, the phantom, whose own mother didn’t love him. He’s the archetype for every villain ever written. He grew up isolated, unloved, hidden behind a mask and as such, resorted to the darker side of life. As bad guys go, he’s pretty straight forward. All he wanted was to be loved, then proceeded to go about it in pretty unpopular ways, like kidnapping, killing people, threats, intimidation, not to mention embezzlement. 

The “good” guy, Raoul, in the meantime, couldn’t have been more annoying if he tried. He was sick with longing for our damsel-in-distress, Christine, which is sweet, right? I mean, we could all only dream of a love that deep. But the dude wasted no time in making an abrupt about-face the second he realized he couldn’t get what he wanted from her, never mind that the poor girl was tormented constantly by the phantom or that she’d been taken against her will, not once but twice. All that matters is poor, rejected Raoul’s feelings as he launches into a mental diatribe about what a “courtesan” she is for not returning his feelings. 

(*side note: a courtesan is another word for whore.)

If we jump over to Moulin Rouge, we’ll find not a phantom but a rich-as-hell duke who’s also not above killing people to get what he wants. (Bear in mind that the duke doesn’t have a name in the movie. He’s simply known as The Duke). Our bohemian protagonist, Christian, is head over heels for Satine and believes with every fiber of his being that his love is purer than any amount of money or comfort that the duke could give her. Even fully well knowing from day one that she was a courtesan, Christian still manages to act surprised, affronted and cruel when he also doesn’t get what he wants from her, going as far as throwing a handful of money at Satine and calling her a whore in front of a packed house.

*sigh* 

(*another side note: even back then, men stamped their feet like four-year-olds and fell back on playground tactics when they were denied).

So in a world where tropes have been reimagined over and over again, is Phantom of the Opera a trope?

Well, if it is, then it’s the first of its kind. 

Well done, Phantom.

You’re a tough act to follow.