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The Phantom of the Opera: Difference between revisions
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* [[Aluminum Christmas Trees]]: The lake (see [[Truth in Television]]).
* [[Antagonist Title]]: [[Protagonist Title Fallacy|But then again...]]
* [[Aren't You Going to Ravish Me?]]: Except not [[Played for Laughs]], and Christine doesn't feel insulted that she escapes this [[Fate Worse Than Death]].
* [[Artifact Title]]: For English translations that refer to Erik as "the Opera ghost" or "the ghost" in the text instead of "phantom."
* [[Backstory]]: The Persian tells the Phantom's backstory to Raoul (and to the [[Narrator]] later).
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* [[Blackmail]]: The Phantom demands 240,000 francs a year and exclusive use of First Tier Box 5 or else he'll drop chandeliers on people. One has to wonder what he does with all that money, although [[Batman|one possibility springs to mind.]]
** The Batman reference is perfectly appropriate because the answer is:
** [[Where Does He Get All Those Wonderful Toys?]]: Erik being a [[Mad Artist]] / [[Mad Scientist]] / [[Evil Genius]] can make a lot of [[Homemade Inventions]], but still needs the money to buy supplies (the mirrors of his [[Robotic Torture Device]] came to mind). Given the Opera is administrated by two [[Pointy
* [[Building of Adventure]]: The Paris Opera.
* [[Career Killers]]: According to the Persian, [[Backstory|Erik did this as part of his work for the Sha-in-Sha]]:
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* [[Elaborate Underground Base]]
* [[Entitled to Have You]]: Erik sees Christine's love for Raoul as betrayal.
* [[Evil Cannot Comprehend Good]]: [[An Aesop|The whole point of the novel]] is that Erik never believed that Christine could love him and so [[Woobie, Destroyer of Worlds|he was ready to destroy all the Opera]], [[The Power of Love|but when she really accepts to be with him if he spares Raoul]] and kiss him, Erik is so moved that he let her go.
* [[Evil Laugh]]: Which leads Christine and the Persian to suspect poor Erik is (going) insane.
* [[Exact
* [[Falling Chandelier of Doom]]: Probably not the [[Trope Maker]], but definitely the [[Trope Codifier]] and still one of the most famous examples of the breed. Based on a real-life accident when one of the counterweights of the Opera House's grand chandelier fell into the auditorium and killed a woman.
* [[Fate Worse Than Death]]: Christine tries to kill herself before the Phantom can force her to "marry" him in the climax.
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*** For all his talk about the happily married life they're going to have, Erik seems to be dead-set on a double-suicide with his new wife, once they've been married; he explains in the end that he only began seeing her as his ''living'' wife once she kissed him out of pity, and this prompted him to let her go. It has to be remembered that Erik is extremely unhinged and has a morbid obsession with death which doesn't let him go even when he's trying to become "normal".
* [[Faux Affably Evil]]: In the same conversation Erik explains how he pulled the [[Practical Joke]] on Carlotta with his [[Ventriloquism]] he casually uses it to prank Raoul and the Daroga in the [[Torture Cellar]].
* [[Fix Fic]] / [[Self
* [[Foregone Conclusion]]: Anyone who reads the prologue knows that the Persian survives to tell his story to the narrator, Christine and Raoul disappear, and Erik and Philippe both die.
* [[From Nobody to Nightmare]]: After his getaway from home, Erik [[Come to Gawk|was exhibited as “the living corpse” in fairs across all Europe]], then learn to be a [[Stage Magician|magician]] and artist from the [[Roma|Gypsies]]. He was a great singer, [[Ventriloquism|ventriloquist]] and displayed [[Sticky Fingers|legerdemain]]. The Shah-in-Shah, hearing about him, send the Daroga to bring him… then: He become an [[Above Good and Evil]] [[Evil Genius]] [[Torture Technician]] who also was a [[Career Killers]].
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* [[Hilarious in Hindsight]]: The [[Narrator]] refers to Christine's first abduction (the one where she disappeared for two weeks) as "not the infamous abduction" which everyone has heard of. In context, this refers to how famous her second abduction became in the news in-universe, but the story is so famous now through [[Popcultural Osmosis]] that this clarification seems to be [[Leaning On the Fourth Wall]].
* [[Hypnotize the Princess]]: The Phantom's voice has a seemingly mesmeric effect on Christine.
* [[I Have You Now, My Pretty]]: Given that the Phantom [[Above the Influence|is not interested in sex]], he pulls a [[And Now You Must Marry Me]].
* [[I Just Want to Be Normal]]: The Phantom's motivation -- the guy doesn't actually ''like'' living underground.
* [[In the Blood]]: Christine is following in her father's footsteps with her career in music.
* [[
** Raoul: After Christine murmurs: “Poor Erik!”
{{quote| ''At first, he thought he must be mistaken. To begin with, he was persuaded that, if any one was to be pitied, it was he, Raoul. It would have been quite natural if she had said,'' "Poor Raoul," ''after what had happened between them. But, shaking her head, she repeated:'' "Poor Erik!" ''What had this Erik to do with Christine's sighs and why was she pitying Erik when Raoul was so unhappy?''}}
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** Mme. Giry:
{{quote| ''"Mme. Giry. You know me well enough, sir; I'm the mother of little Giry, little Meg, what!"'' <br />
This was said in so rough and solemn a tone that, for a moment, M. Richard was impressed. He looked at Mme. Giry, in her faded shawl, her worn shoes, her old taffeta dress and dingy bonnet. It was quite evident from the manager's attitude, that he either did not know or could not remember having met Mme. Giry, nor even little Giry, nor even "little Meg!" [[Small Name, Big Ego|But Mme. Giry's pride was so great that the celebrated box-keeper imagined that everybody knew her]] }}
** Moncharmin: Excerpt from the (exceptionally long) ''"Memories of a Manager"'':
{{quote| ''"A grievous accident spoiled the little party which MM. Debienne and Poligny gave to celebrate their retirement. I was in the manager's office, when Mercier, the acting-manager, suddenly came darting in. He seemed half mad and told me that the body of a scene-shifter had been found hanging in the third cellar under the stage, between a farm-house and a scene from the Roi de Lahore. I shouted: "'' 'Come and cut him down!'}}
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* [[Matchlight Danger Revelation]]: Escaping the [[Death Trap]] to find a room full of gunpowder... this is just not your day, Raoul.
* [[Melodrama]]
* [[The Moral Substitute]]: Erik is [[Don Giovanni]] done right: While Don Giovanni (and all versions of the Don Juan legend) is [[The Casanova]] who [[Bastard Boyfriend|never cared if he hurts the women he claims to love]] [[Enforced Trope|and is sent to hell at the finale of the opera only to please the]] [[Moral Guardians]] who insist that [[Don Giovanni]] must be punished so the audience [[Do Not Do This Cool Thing|would not do this cool thing]], Erik (who is [[Don Giovanni]]'s [[Fan Boy]]) also plays [[Bastard Boyfriend]] to Christine while claiming to love her, but after breaking Christine’s spirit and successfully blackmailing her into being her wife, let her go with Raoul ''by his own will'' after Christine gives Erik his first [[True
* [[Murder the Hypotenuse]]: The Phantom almost does this to Raoul at the end.
* [[No Celebrities Were Harmed]]: Many of the characters in the original novel, including some of the main cast are thinly veiled versions of real people who lived in Paris around the time Leroux wrote the story, and few references to real events are also made. A few scholarly fans have even suggested that apart from the parts which involve the Phantom, the book was essentially a true story, although this is almost certainly heavy exaggeration.
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* [[Parental Substitute]]: Mama Valerius for Christine. Count Philippe is also 20 years older than his brother Raoul and has raised him since their father died when the latter was 12.
* [[Plucky Girl]]: Christine is a Swedish peasant girl trying to make her way in the world and a name for herself with her singing, not to mention all the physical, mental, and emotional torture she has to endure, mostly on her own unless she's trying to protect her boyfriend as well.
* [[Psychopathic Manchild]]: The Persian and Erik himself lampshade Erik's attitude as childish, and despite his multiple talents, he is [[Above the Influence|not interested in sex]] but to [[The Four Loves|have a beautiful wife]] and [[I Just Want to Be Normal|a life like any other guy]]. It’s only [[And Then What?|when he actually triumphs that he realizes how impractical those dreams are]].
* [[Pointy
* [[The Power of Love]]
* [[Practical Joke]]: [[Agent Scully|Opera managers Richard and Moncharmin]] believe that all and every of the strange happenings at the Opera are this. [[Justified Trope]]: they are two [[Pointy
* [[The Prima Donna]]: Carlotta.
* [[The Rival]]: Carlotta for Christine.
* [[Retired Monster]]: Erik, after his [[From Nobody to Nightmare]] phase, survives the assassination attempts from his employers because [[He Knows Too Much]]. ''Then, tired of his adventurous, formidable and monstrous life, he longed to be some one [[I Just Want to Be Normal|"like everybody else."]] And he became a contractor, like any ordinary contractor, building ordinary houses with ordinary bricks. He tendered for part of the foundations in the Opera. His estimate was accepted.''
* [[Robotic Torture Device]]: The aptly named ''"torture chamber"'' is completely automated: when the victim falls in the room, it activates and gives him the illusion of a tropical forrest. When the victim cannot endure more, [[Driven to Suicide|there is also a rope to hang himself]]. The Phantom uses it as a defense against curious people. The first victim of the book was already dead when the Phantom found him.
* [[Save the Villain]]: The Persian did this in the past and now frequently laments "[[My God, What Have I Done?]]"
* [[Scarpia Ultimatum]]: The Phantom threatens to blow up the Opera, killing everyone inside, if Christine doesn't "marry" him.
* [[Scooby Doo Hoax]]: Erik is pretending to be a ghost haunting the opera house.
* [[Scrapbook Story]]: We hear the story from the [[Narrator]] based on his research (which contain several [[Flash Back|flashbacks]] narrated by Christine to Raoul and by Madame Giry to the new managers), memories of one of the new Opera managers Moncharmin, and the Persian.
* [[Screw the Rules, I Have Connections]]: Deconstructed in the original book showing the consequences of a society that embraces this principle: Richard and Moncharmin know how to play politics better than to manage, and Carlotta knows is easier being [[The Prima Donna]] that to sing better. This means that everyone is a [[Pointy
* [[Screw This, I'm Outta Here]]: The departure of Opera co-managers Poligny and Debienne at the very start of the book -- once a Phantom starts skulking their Opera and delivering [[Blackmail]] demands, they waste no time passing the buck and getting out of the Opera business as fast as they can.
** Also Raoul de Chagny and Christine Daae (with Mama Valerious) flee from Paris to "the northern railway station of the world." Even when Raoul is victim of the [[Malicious Slander|Malicious Slandering]] that accuses him of his brother’s death, they never look back.
* [[She Is All Grown Up]]: Before their reunion at the Paris Opera, Raoul and Christine were childhood friends and last met on the verge of adolescence and strange new feelings that they couldn't understand.
* [[Shoot the Builder]]: After Erik built his palace in Mazendaran, the Shah-in-Shah tried to do this to Erik. It didn't work.
* [[Shoot the Messenger]]: The standard method of solving any problem by [[Pointy
* [[Single Target Sexuality]]: The Phantom for Christine, oh so much.
{{quote| '''The Phantom:''' You alone can make my song take flight, and help me make the Music of the Night.}}
* [[Small Name, Big Ego]]: [[In Universe]]: [[Pointy
* [[Stalker With a Crush]]: Erik to a T.
* [[Stalking Is Love]]
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** On the other hand, the [[Narrator]] never justifies Erik atrocities before he even become The Phantom, Erik is showed as a [[Psychopathic Manchild]] [[Evil Cannot Comprehend Good|truly surprised he let Christine and Raoul go]]. At the epilogue, the narrator [[Hypocrite|claims to pity Erik,]] [[Beauty Equals Goodness|but never attacks the shallow societies that persecuted him. He justifies the act it because Erik is ''really'' ugly]]. Instead of giving Erik a grave (or even the common grave) [[Moral Event Horizon|the last line was a plea for Erik to become a]] [[Dead Guy On Display]] on the archives of the National Academy of Music
* [[Tender Tears]]
* [[There Are No Good Executives]]: This is the reason Erik could maintain his reign of terror: In Parisian society, [[Screw the Rules, I Have Connections|it’s not what you do, it’s who you know]]. Therefore the executives at the Opera and the police are not only corrupt, but [[Pointy
* [[Third Person Person]]: Erik does this when he is particularly upset or angry. So, a lot.
* [[Those Two Guys]]: Opera managers Richard and Moncharmin.
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* [[Torture Technician]]: The Persian reveals that Erik worked as one of these for the Shah-in-Shah in Mazenderan. It helps to explain a lot of things.
* [[Tragic Monster]]: The Phantom
* [[True
* [[Truth in Television]]: Because it was built on swampy ground, there really is a lake beneath the Palais Garnier. (And it has fish in it!)
* [[Ugly Guy, Hot Wife]]: What would have been, had Erik carried through with his ultimate plan.
* [[Ventriloquism]]: The Persian declares that Erik is the best ventriloquist in the whole world. He must be, because he uses this skill to do a lot of [[Practical Joke|Practical Jokes]], including convincing Opera Singer Carlotta (an all the Opera’s audience) [[Funny Moments (Sugar Wiki)|that she croaked like a toad]].
* [[Villainous Breakdown]]: Christine notices that Erik gets more unhinged and frightening as the plot progresses.
* [[Well, Excuse Me, Princess!]]: Christine never lets Raoul push her around and has no problem telling him to mind his own business.
* [[What Kept You?]]: Raoul's and the Persian's rescue mission ends with Christine forced to save ''them'' from the Phantom's [[Death Trap]].
* [[What the Hell, Hero?]]: Christine and her guardian both chew out Raoul for too quickly assuming the rights of a husband or lover with his interest and meddling in Christine's private affairs. He knows they're right, but [[Love Makes You Crazy]].
* [[Where Are They Now? Epilogue]]: Leroux reveals what happened to a few minor characters in the prologue; Meg, for example, eventually marries a baron.
* [[Wicked Cultured]]: ''Guess''.
* [[Woobie, Destroyer of Worlds]]: Leroux's original Erik -- he murders at least three people over the course of the plot and is definitely not the sanest person on the block, but Leroux expresses pity for him in the epilogue.
** Arguably, he's this the entire time due simply to his appearance; at the time, [[Beauty Equals Goodness]] was commonly enough believed to be [[Truth in Television]]. Imagine what people who believe ''that'' are going to think of somebody like Erik--no matter '''what''' he does...
----
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* [[AcCENT Upon the Wrong SylLABle]]: In Lloyd Webber's musical adaptation, there seems to be no consensus as to whether the female lead's name is pronounced "[[Christine]]" or "[[Christine]]".
* [[Acting for Two]]: In the silent film, they must have really liked Joseph Buquet's [[Large Ham|hamming]] [[One
* [[Adaptational Attractiveness]]: Gerard Butler's Phantom in the film version is rather less ugly than his stage counterparts, to the point that film critic Richard Roeper quipped "He's the Fashionably-Scarred Stud of the Opera."
** [http://unlimitedmusic.se/IMG/peterjoback.jpg Peter Jöback] who plays the part on West End between March and September of 2012 originally auditioned to play the Phantom on Broadway but was rejected because he was considered too good looking for the part. He was offered the part of Raoul instead, turned it down and was then contacted by Andrew Lloyd Webber who asked him to come play the role in London.
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* [[Dramatic Irony]]: In the 1943 version starring [[Claude Rains]], when Erique Claudin tries to have his work published, one of the publishers tells him that he never received it. Little did either of them know, was that the company was showing Erique's work to renowned music critic [[Franz Liszt]] to get his testimonial for its publication. When Erique hears his music being played to Liszt in the other room, he assumes that the company stole his music and [[Freak Out|strangles the publisher to death]]. The publisher's wife then grabs a tray of etching acid and... [[It Was His Sled|well, you know the rest]].
* [[Dramatic Necklace Removal]]: "Your chains are still mine..."
* [[Dramatic Unmask]]: The silent film in particular has one of the best examples of this trope. According to the [[
** [[Robert Bloch]] wrote about having seen this movie as a child. He didn't follow the plot much, and didn't get why the Phantom was wearing a mask. Then came the dramatic unmasking scene, and he slept the next ten years with lights on.
* [[Dying Moment of Awesome]]: In the silent film, surrounded by pretty much ''every adult male in Paris'', the Phantom holds up his fist with what appears to be a grenade. After they have all retreated, he opens his empty fist and lets out one last [[Evil Laugh]] before they mob him and beat him to death.
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[[Category:One Hundred Scariest Movie Moments]]
[[Category:Universal Horror]]
[[Category:The Phantom Of The Opera]][[Category:Pages with comment tags]]
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