Music and the Fictive Dream

“The Phantom of the Opera” movie was released in 2004 in the USA, was directed by Joel Schumacher, and the music was composed by Andrew Lloyd Webber. This movie is classified as a drama film/thriller and is 2h 23m long (The Phantom of the Opera). It stars Gerald Butler as the Phantom and Emmy Rossum as Christine. The Phantom hides away in this Paris opera house and teaches Christine how to sing. Cristine is under the assumption that the voice singing to her is an angel that was sent by her deceased father but in reality, it’s a man with a facial deformity that hides beneath the opera house. The phantom falls deeply in love with Christine, but she falls in love with a man from her past, Raoul, who is played by Patrick Wilson. The Phantom gets enraged that she’s fallen for another man so he takes her away and keeps her in his dungeon and Raoul ends up saving her from the Phantom’s captivity.

The original movie was released in 1925. It’s always interesting to watch the two movies and to observe the incredible advancements of technology and how the story line changes. I’ve never seen the 1925 film, but I think it would be a lot of fun to watch.

The piece of work I’ve chosen to discuss is Angel of Music from the 2004 film. This song is a duet between the Phantom and Christine. As she is getting ready to go to bed, she begins to hear the Phantom singing to her. She calls him the “Angel of Music” because he is the one who taught her to sing beautifully. He lets her believe that he is, in fact, the angel of music just to manipulate Christine into coming to him. Raoul hears the male voice coming from Christine’s room and interrupts. Later on in the film, the Phantom tries to lure her once again by saying that he is the “Angel of Music” and Raoul interrupts, once again, and calls him the “Angel of Darkness” and to leave Christine alone.

This song represents how young people can be naive and they will give people the benefit of the doubt unless they prove otherwise. It can also represent how people deceive others to get what they want. This adds drama to the piece of work because the audience gets more involved wanting the girl to be protected and they feel the suspense as she begins to go toward his voice, and then the audience finds relief when Raoul saves Christine from being abducted.

Throughout the movie, I have always been baffled with Christine’s saprano vocal range. She can hit such high notes beautifully and effortlessly. Listening to her sing is such a joy. Emmy Rossum actually won the “Best Performance by a Younger Actor” Saturn Award, “Best Young Actress” Critics Choice Award, “Breakthrough Performance by an Actress” NBR award, and many other awards, all because of this movie when she was only 18 years old. Now that’s amazing.

Peter Travers from Rolling Stone complimented the movie by saying, “Fearing date-movie hell, most guys will panic at the idea of a Gothic love story set in an 1870 Paris opera house where beast hits on beauty with a nonstop assault of Andrew Lloyd Webber music. Snap out of it. Phantom, still running on Broadway after sixteen years, is a rapturous spectacle. And the movie, directed full throttle by Joel Schumacher, goes the show one better.” I have never seen the broadway shows, but I definitely agree that “The Phantom of the Opera” is an excellent movie. A must-see!

Thank you all for your time. I hope if you haven’t seen the movie yet, you will now be more motivated to do so. Sorry if I spoiled some juicy parts for you.

Okay, bye for now!

The Phantom of the Opera (2004 film). (2017, April 04). Retrieved April 06, 2017, from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Phantom_of_the_Opera_(2004_film)

Travers, P. (2004, December 15). Phantom of the Opera. Retrieved April 06, 2017, from http://www.rollingstone.com/movies/reviews/phantom-of-the-opera-20041215