#monsterrrr how should i feel … | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

schwaybatmoved · 2 years

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[ID: a tumblr reply from user @lonely-eldritch-monsterrrr that reads "Hey Would you be able to tell me what makes love never dies your number one? (smiley face)" end ID]

*for context, this is a reply to my top ten musicals post!*

yes, of course! (warning: there's a lot of talk of abuse!)

tl;dr: it's a story that i hold close to me because of 1) comfort, 2) i love tragedies and 3) i tend to empathize greatly with the multiple stories of abuse in the show 4) i love the music!

here's my longer-winded analysis:

i'm going to start this off by saying that i myself am a survivor of stalking and sexual + emotional abuse. so a lot of the analysis here is going to be looking through that lens! i'm also going to say that i've been a lifelong phantom of the opera fan (one of my earliest memories is the ending of the movie making me cry) so it's not like i don't know phantom well. i bought the dvd for love never dies (abbreviated from here on as lnd) back when i was nine years old! so it's been close to my heart for almost ten years now :)

now i know you're asking what good i see in it, but i should say that it is a very bad sequel. like, a very bad sequel. if i had to pick bad sequels, this would be number one. i've watched it enough times to say that i like to think of it as more of a... spinoff? au? something barely related to the source material. now let's get into this!

i tend to see lnd as a story about abuse. i don’t victim blame anyone, but i do see a lot of the story as about the cycle of abuse never ending. even if madame giry and the phantom (erik) were mistreated in the past, it doesn’t give them an excuse to mistreat everyone in their lives. raoul is.... no i don’t have any explanation for him. he’s actually out of character and idk why he had to do that. but anyways i really do just see it as a compelling tragedy about how this horrible relationship and group of people came to this horrible end.

meg. oh meg, oh meg. i love meg. i think that the way madame giry pushed her is needlessly cruel, and i think that madame giry and erik are directly responsible for meg’s breakdown. the fact that she was pushed this far and the fact that it all ends with christine is just such a cruel storyline that i found very deep and interesting.

it is truly very sad that neither of them, nor gustave, could escape their fates. however, it makes for a very good good tragedy. in regards to the gustave situation, i think a lot about whether or not gustave is the phantom’s son, or if it was just christine’s fear that made her agree with the phantom rather than argue.

there is something so captivating about tragedies in general. the fact that this is just a Messed Up Thing That Happened is so... interesting to me. like the whole thing is just so understandable to me as a victim of similar situations that this tragedy actually... gives me comfort? it’s a little demented. i understand fully why people don’t like it, especially other victims, but it’s just a personal thing for me.

and the music. oh my god. the music is just spectacular. and i’m a circus fan so the costuming has me amazed as well. one of the most appealing aspects to me in poto and lnd is the extravagant music, costumes, and set. so this is just breathtaking

this is really jumbled and long winded but i just feel so deeply for meg and christine and gustave. i think that, from a phantom of the opera fan’s standpoint, it’s not a very good musical. and from a general theater fan’s standpoint, it’s not super fantastic either. i really don’t reccommend it to anyone ever. but due to my personal connection and feelings about it, it made it to be my favorite musical :) thank you for asking! idk if you wanted such a long reply lol

#speaks #sorry this is late! i've been rather busy #abuse #ask to tag #stalking mention

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