In Defense of Raoul || Part one || AVM Blog Party

I'm linking up with The Very Musical Blog Party.

(You can find the rules here.)

And this one is technically Day Three's challenge: Chose a Character to Defend/Discuss.


I'm going to defend Raoul, and discuss the Phantom, because I break rules.

And here I go!

People are always saying that Raoul was boring and wimpy and controlling. They say that the            

Phantom was just misunderstood and sad, and Christine should have chosen him over Raoul.            

WRONG! Raoul was cool!

Let's take a look at it, shall we?

Phantom VS. Raoul*

*Using the musical as reference, and not the movie. And excluding Love Never Dies, because Love Never Dies is not canon, and it sucked. (Also, I don't refer to the Phantom as Erik, because in the musical, we never find out his name, mkay?)

The Phantom and Raoul are polar opposites.

The Phantom was controlling, manipulative, and guys... he murdered people. Lots of people! #warningsign

Raoul, by contrast, was steady and encouraging, and just all 'round, nicer.


Christine is in her early twenties in the musical. Raoul can't be that much older than her, because they were best friends as kids. The Phantom is like thirty-five.Warning bells right there, ladies and gentlemen..

Okay, so Christine's dad told her that when died, he would send the Angel of Music to her.  He passed away when Christine was about ten years old, and Madame Giry took her in at the Opera House. This is when the Phantom first encountered her, and became obsessed with her voice.

By creepily lurking in her walls, he found out about about this "angel of music", and thought "Aha! Idea!" and decided to become Christine's angel. Talk about about sneaking up on someone when they're vulnerable! She was so young, and she'd just lost her father, and he used her emotional state to his advantage. (I don't think he meant to, it just happened. BUT STILL.)

Sure, he taught her to sing, but he did it from the inside of a wall, and she never even saw him until after she sang Think of Me, and he takes her  to his underground lair. (By the way, the entrance to his underground lair is behind the mirror in her dressing room. Uh oh! Stranger danger, stranger danger!)

It never really says in the musical how long the Phantom and Christine knew each other, I'm guessing it was a while, since he got her to trust him. He hid in the opera house, he was the Opera Ghost. He spied on her, he basically brainwashed her into believing that he was the angel of music that her father had promised to send her when he got to heaven. That sounds like the healthy foundation on which good relationships are formed! Not.

There you go. That is the Phantom and Christine's backstory.


Raoul and Christine were childhood friends, they met before her father died, and from the lyrics of Little Lotte, they were really close. He obviously knew her well enough, that he was able to use the nickname Little Lotte.  He apparently liked her way back then too, because he ran into the cold, cold water to rescue the scarf that her dad got her. (Rawr, Mr. Vicomte sir, such bravery.)


Adorable!

When they were reunited after Christine's fist solo performance, it's plain to see that the spark that was between them when they were kids was still there. They reminisce about having picnics in the attic, and telling each other stories, and he makes her happy.

Then Raoul wants to take her for dinner, and the only reason Christine says no is because she is afraid that the "Angel of Music" would get angry.

And that is their backstory. It seems a lot healthier, doesn't it? Doesn't it!? (Everybody say it with me now: YEAAAAH.)


Right, so let's compare and contrast the Phantom and Raoul. (Mwuahaha, I love doing that.)


The Phantom is creepy! Besides the fact that he totally stalks Christine, he's just overall kind of insane. He's sympathetically insane but he's still soooooo bonkers. I mean like worthy-to-be-locked-up-in-an-asylum-for-years bonkers.

I'm sure he did love Christine. I won't argue that. But the kind of love he had for her seemed to be more the kind you'd have for property. He acted like he owned her, and he wanted her to serve him. (Probably because he never learned or understood what love was... which is really depressing, when you think about it....) But still, the way he talks to Christine is alarming.

You have come here, for one purpose, and one alone:

Since the moment I first heard you sing, 

I have needed you with me. 

To serve me, 

to sing, for my music.... 

                        (Music of the Night)

He scared her. The first clue to this was when Raoul wants to take her out for dinner.

Raoul: And now, we go to supper.

Christine: No, Raoul, the Angel of Music is very strict.

Raoul:  Well I shan't keep you up late! You must change, 

and I must get my hat. Two minutes-- Little Lotte.

And after he leaves to get his hat, she says to herself: Things have changed, Raoul.

It's not that she didn't want to go to dinner with him, it's that she was afraid to make this so called "Angel of Music" have a spazz attack.



It's only after the Phantom feels threatened by Raoul that he shows himself to Christine. He pretty much pulls her down into his lair, and you can tell that she's a bit nervous to go down alone with him. She's kind of pulling back the whole journey, but he's like "No no no, come! I have candy! And music!"

Sing once again with me, our strange duet.

My power over you, grows stronger yet. 

And though you turn from me to glance behind. 

The Phantom of the Opera is there, inside your mind.

                                           (Title Song.)

 
Mmm. "my power over you grows stronger yet," and "the Phantom of the Opera is there inside your mind," seem like maybe she's not going into his lair with her full faculties about her. Hypnotism!

And then he's like "Oh rad, I have the best idea. I'll show her the life sized doll I made to look just like her. She'll love that. And oh yeah, I'll put the doll in a wedding dress, that will really make Christine's night."

He had the doll in a wedding dress. Guys. GUYS. Weird, guys!

Okay so then after she faints, she wakes up, still in his lair, and she's confused and hazy on the details of how she got down there, because whenever she and the Phantom are alone, he kind of puts her in a trance. All she remembers is that there was a boat, and a man, and the man was wearing a mask.

She sees the Phantom across the room, and in a moment of curiosity, takes off his mask.

*cue thunder and screaming and earthquakes* (not really, but close)

He flips out on her, and curses her to hell, because she saw his face and that's not okay with him.

You little prying pandora!

You little demon! Is this what you wanted to see?

Curse you! You little lying Delilah! You little viper!

Now you cannot ever be free!

                                                       (I Remember There Was Mist/Stranger Than You Dreamt it)

Then he gets really quiet and starts singing to her about what it's like to be him.

Fear can turn to love, you'll learn to see, 

to find the man behind the monster.

It is so sad how messed up he is.  

The Phantom calms down when she hands him back his mask and returns Christine to the theater.... like he switches from Evil!Phantom to Calm!Phantom, like some sort of undrugged Jekyll and Hyde.


Meanwhile, Raoul can't find Christine, and he's worried that something happened to her, because she ditched him and clean forgot about their dinner date, and he heard a man's voice in her dressing room. On top of that he gets this weird note from someone he doesn't know.

Do not fear for Miss Daae, 

the Angel of Music has her under his wing.

Make no attempt to see her again. 

                                                                                               (Notes)

Needless to say he's not happy about that. And then Madame Giry brings another message from Opera Ghost, which is addressed to pretty much everyone in charge.

Christine Daae has returned to you, and I am anxious her career should progress. 

In the new production of "Il Muto," you will therefore cast Carlotta as the pageboy. 

And put Miss Daae in the role of Countess.

                                                                                                      (Notes.)

Raoul think this note is arrogant and frightening since this so-called Opera Ghost is ordering Christine to sing the lead, and he's threatening disastrous consequences if she doesn't.

Raoul was new at the Opera House, so I don't think he realized how serious the Phantom was, he just thought he was a crazy person, who had a fixation on Christine. So to keep Christine out of harm's way, and to stand up to  this Opera Ghost, he decides to keep Christine in the chorus.

Christine spoke of an Angel.

Is this her Angel of Music? Angel or madman?

Orders, warnings, lunatic demands!

Surely, for her sake, I must see these demands are rejected.

                                                       (Prima Donna)

 

Everything Raoul does is to protect Christine.

The managers of the Opera Populaire decide to leave Carlotta as the lead, making the Phantom do nasty things: Carlotta's voice going all wonky, and Buquet getting hung. (The Phantom literally killed Buquet because he had been talking about his face. He's like, "No, my face, you can't talk about it. Keep it secret... keep it safe.)

After Buquet's body falls onto the stage, the first thing Raoul does is find Christine to get her safe.

Raoul: Christine, come with me--

Christine: No, to the roof! We'll be safe there.

                                                                (Poor Fool, He Makes Me Laugh)

Christine's terrified, and takes Raoul to the roof because that's as far away from the basement-- AKA the Phantom's lair-- as she can get.

And right there on the roof Christine has a meltdown.

"Don't take me back there, he'll kill me!

His eyes will find me there, those eyes that burn...

And if he has to kill a thousand men,

The Phantom of the Opera will kill and kill again!

Who is this man? Who hunts to kill?

I can't escape from him, I never will...

                                (Why Have You Brought Me Here)

Honestly, he probably thought she was a little crazy, I mean, she's going off about the Phantom of the Opera being inside her mind....

And in this labyrinth, where night is blind, 

the Phantom of the Opera is there, inside my mind!
                                              (Why Have You Brought Me Here.)

Raoul calms her down, he's very gentle, he's very kind.

And then he hears the Phantom whisper Christine's name too, and I think that's when he realizes that the Phantom of Opera is real. I don't think he believed that he was a ghost, but he realized that the someone terrorizing the opera house was very real.

But at that moment, he doesn't really care, because Christine is crying, and he wants to make her feel safe.

Every single thing that Raoul says is the opposite of what the phantom says. Okay, so for example, "Music of the Night" is the Phantom's love song, and "All I Ask of You" is Raoul's, right? So think about the difference in what they say to Christine. (I won't do the whole songs, just bits and pieces.)

Music of the Night                                                                    All I Ask of You

Nighttime sharpens, heightens each sensation                                       No more talk of darkness

Darkness stirs, and wakes imagination                                               Forget these wide eyed fears

Turn your face away from the garish light of day                                    Let me be your shelter,  
Turn your thoughts away from cold,                                                                 Let me be you light

     unfeeling light.                                                                                  You're safe, no one will find you

Let your soul take you where you want to be                                         Let me be your freedom

Only then, can you belong to me.                                                        Let daylight dry your tears

                                                                                                          I'm here, with you, beside you

                                                                                                          To guard you, and to guide you.

It doesn't seem weird to anyone else that the Phantom always says things like, 'You belong to me," and "serve me"?

Whenever Christine talks about the Phantom, there's always a part of the song where she says that he scares her, or she's afraid.

Every. Time.

When Christine accepts Raoul's proposal, she's not holding back, she's not even a little bit afraid, she's excited and happy, and you can tell how much she wants to get away from the darkness that is in the Phantom.

All I want is freedom, 

a world with no more night.

And you, always beside me

to hold me, and to hide me.

                         (All I Ask of You.)  

 

Guess who was creepin' on them the whole time they were having a moment? *cue thunder and screaming and earthquakes* Oh yeah, it was the Phantom. I'm not going to say it wasn't sad that he found out that way that she didn't love him. I mean, the way he says I gave you my music, is like he gave her everything and she betrayed him.

She's the one person he opened up to and she basically went "NOPE!" That is so sad. And that, ladies and gentlemen is what makes him human, and relatable, but it's also the turning point for him. I'm pretty sure that denial and betrayal was what sent him into a tail spin.

I gave you my music, made your song take wing....

And now, how you've repaid me: denied me and betrayed me!

He was bound to love you, when he heard you sing...

Christine.... Christine.... 

                        (All I Ask of You Reprise)

That's sad. I mean, that is really sad. But then again, the Phantom doesn't love Christine so much as he loves her voice. "He was bound to love you when he heard you sing." Yeah, her voice is lovely, but Raoul loves her for more than that, whereas the Phantom loves her voice and her music. Christine is more than just vocal chords, mkay?

Our poor abandoned Phantom promptly throws caution to the wind, and goes on a full-on Rage Rampage. 

You will curse the day you did not do

ALL THAT THE PHANTOM ASKED OF YOU!

                                            (All I Ask of You Reprise)

 
He literally throws a tantrum and destroys the giant chandelier that lights up the stage of the opera house. He's a freaking child!

*Thunder and screaming and earthquakes*

INTERMISSION!

*Phantom overture plays*

And that's where I'm going to break, because it seems like a good place to break.
I'll post the second part tonight or tomorrow.

What did you think so far?
Am I winning you over?

Cheers!