Phantom Phans

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Henry Bemis

just a fragment of what man has deeded to himself
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Before Edward Cullen sparklingly roamed the earth thumbing his nose at conventions of stability in romance and relationships, there was the Phantom of the Opera doing much the same thing, only with a higher body count. Unlike Edward Cullen, though, the Phantom has the patina of literary respectability, a pretension that arguably makes the Phantom fandom even more insufferable than Twilight's.

(Of course, if you put Gerard Butler on the screen, all literary whatever just floats out of the room on a river of drool...)

This thread is dedicated to discussing anyone who thinks that shacking up with a crazy murderer is a happy ending; that thinks being the underdog excuses anything and everything; and just generally takes Missing the Point to unseen levels.

***

Here's a nice little entry to kick things off:

Etienne de Mendes hits a lot of lolcow marks. Gaudy website? Self-published? Gives good reviews to her own books? Trolls the Internet looking for mentions of herself? Averse to criticism? (Link to said criticism here)
 
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Oh gosh. This was pretty much how I began my time on the internet as a tween. It was a more innocent and obsessive time. Though it's a story I still hold close to my heart, over the years, I've grown up and developed more interests, and I would like to assume most phans have done the same. I'd like to post a brief rundown of things, though.
During my time in the online phantom world ('05-'07ish) there were a few factions you had to be conscious of:
  • Movie!Phans: Fans who held the 2004 movie with Gerard Butler over any other version. Hot Phantom is Best Phantom. Sworn enemies of the Stage!Phans and Book!Phans. Generally tweenage girls.
  • Stage!Phans: Fans who held the Andrew Lloyd Webber stage version over any other version. Michael Crawford's (most commonly, but insert any professional stage actor.) interpretation of the character was the definitive form. Sworn enemies of the Movie!Phans. Usually older than Movie!Phans, and generally the next stage in evolution from Movie!Phan.
  • Book!Phans: Fans who held the original novel by Gaston Leroux over any other versions. These were the elitists. The purists. The ones who bemoaned all other versions for a lack of loyalty to the source material. The ones who scoured through the original French and/or annotated editions like biblical scholars. They know their shit, probably have certain editions memorized from cover to cover, and to this day continue to study Phantom of the Opera as if it were a subsection of a French Lit major. Generally looked down on everyone, but often capable of enjoying other versions.
@Henry Bemis also alluded to it, but the shipping got a bit out of hand. If you ever got involved in the world of phanfiction (phanphiction?) you were thrown into another series of factions. I should note that things could get very heated between these people.
  • E/C: Erik (The Phantom)/Christine: Easily the majority of phanfiction. Desperately trying to find ways to get Christine to stay with the Phantom, even if it meant putting them in ludicrous Alternative Universe situations where neither character represented their original forms in any version. Erik was 90% more likely to be a) ridiculously studly or at least have some physically redeeming quality (there were a lot of organ jokes), b) completely pussified, but more than likely c) both. Christine's (admittedly kind of bland) personality was usually replaced with that of a self insert or Mary Sue. Basically, a puppet.
  • E/OC: Erik/Original Character: Self insert shipping with the Phantom. At least you can praise this kind of phanfic for not hiding behind the Christine character.The Phantom hardly resembled himself and the OC was very likely a Mary Sue.
  • R/C: Raoul (the rich guy who wasn't the Phantom)/Christine- Phanfiction generally written as a rebuttal to the other two, and typically not as common as either. I barely remember anything about this type as the other two garnered so much more attention. Seriously, if Raoul, the gallant nobleman of the original story ever appeared in the other two types of fanfiction it was either as a) a flaming metrosexual, b) a drunk, c) a wifebeater, d) some of the above, or e) all of the above.
However, even among the level of online insanity brought on from what was mostly hormonal girls, there were those we ridiculed above others. These are people who ended up believing or writing as if the Phantom was their headmate. That's right. Before Tumblr sheepkin multi-consciousness systems, and bronies who photoshopped themselves taking Fluttershy to prom, there were phans who believed the Phantom had chosen them to be his Angel of Phanfiction/Community Theater/Plumbing/Whatever They Chose To Do.

Phanwank is a livejournal community where terrible phanfiction and crazed phantasies get sporked. Though the traffic's definitely gone down over the years, going through the archives should reveal quite a bit of insanity that the fandom has seen.
  • Honeyphan: It took a little looking since everything Phanwank linked to regarding this person was dead, but here is a dedicated phan who took the entire 2004 movie as a code meaning that The Phantom and Christine ended up together forever. She rehosted her entire theory here. It gets just a little TimeCube is nothing compared to this convoluted, but terrible photo manips are worth a thousand words.
  • Lady Rosesong: Just bad phanfiction. I remember "Tapestry of Deceit" being a hot mess.
  • Blueflamewolf: Phanfiction authoress/Christine reincarnate? Here's a sporking of one of her revamped works.
  • Your Dead Rose: Another crazed authoress who believes that an emotionally damaged, violent stalker will make the bad things go away. Related sporking.
  • Sean. :heart-full:
 
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I've enjoyed the Phantom story, in its various forms, for a while, but I've never been super-involved with the Phantom fandom. @Golly brought up Phanwank, which was my first real exposure to the stupider sections of the fandom. I'll admit I haven't heard of Etienne de Mendes, which is surprising consideringbthe amount of content she's (?) put out. The content of the books isn't too surprising though; phans have been writing stuff about the Phantom for ages. Somehow, very few of them manage to capture how twisted the Phantom is, just ignpring that in favour of the romance. (I'll admit a lot of adaptations play up the romance more than the book, but these take that even further.) I'll definitely keep an eye on this thread, sounds like there'll be some funny stuff.
 
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I remember, years back when the fandom (phantom?) was more relevant, reading a comment section with some disillusioned tweens going on about how Raoul didn't REALLY love Christine because he dared to suggest that the whole Phantom fiasco was a very vivid dream of Christine's. And that somehow proved the Phantom DID love her, despite being creepy, stalkerish, and abusive and making her fear for her life. But that's twue wuv, right? *eyeroll*

Also can we talk about the actual sequel to the musical that Andrew Lloyd Webber composed a score for and everything (it was on Broadway IIRC) that was based off a horrible piece of published fanfiction? I feel like that counts somehow.
 
I remember, years back when the fandom (phantom?) was more relevant, reading a comment section with some disillusioned tweens going on about how Raoul didn't REALLY love Christine because he dared to suggest that the whole Phantom fiasco was a very vivid dream of Christine's. And that somehow proved the Phantom DID love her, despite being creepy, stalkerish, and abusive and making her fear for her life. But that's twue wuv, right? *eyeroll*

Also can we talk about the actual sequel to the musical that Andrew Lloyd Webber composed a score for and everything (it was on Broadway IIRC) that was based off a horrible piece of published fanfiction? I feel like that counts somehow.

Yeah, it's actually shocking how much Love Never Dies reads like bad fanfiction, right down to abusive Raoul, and the Phantom being...well, still being a dick, but in a way that completely negated the end of the original musical, and was always portrayed as being in the right. Always. I know the Australian production was filmed and sold as a DVD, and I guess that reflects the more 'current' version, since ALW tweaked it a lot from the original cast recording. It's still a hot mess. (It is pretty though, I'll give it that. But that's thanks to set and costume designers.)

The sad thing is, there are a couple bits of music from that show I like...but they're all instrumental pieces. Also, the whole "Love Never Dies" song was apparently plagiarized from another ALW song called "The Heart Is Slow to Learn" -- same melody, different lyrics. I don't know if this is common in the music industry or not, or if ALW was just desperate, but either way, it speaks volumes about the quality.
 
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My personal favorite resource for this brand of hilarity is a website called The Phantom Project, which chronicles one woman's quest to review every (commercially available) version of the Phantom story. Recently, she's been caught in a flood of material released in the wake of the 2004 film musical, so a lot of what's been described above is played out relentlessly. I specifically cited de Mendes because they take the "Erik as unsuccessfully executed anti-hero" and "Christine made the wrong choice and must be chastised for it" tropes to disgusting extremes.

As for Love Never Dies, take comfort in that it could've been worse, as a skimming of its unofficial source material, The Phantom on Manhattan by Fred Forsyth, would reveal. Whereas a lot of Phantom sequels only symbolically castrate Raoul, that book goes full-hog, shall we say. Also, Phantom rapes Christine.
 
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i've been wanting to get into phantom for a while, and actually have no clue where to start. my best friend doesnt want me watching the 2004 movie at all. but after seeing these luls i think that my mind's switched off to it.
 
i've been wanting to get into phantom for a while, and actually have no clue where to start. my best friend doesnt want me watching the 2004 movie at all. but after seeing these luls i think that my mind's switched off to it.
The 2004 film is okay in a guilty pleasure sort of way, as well as a prime example on how a supporting cast can hold up a movie when the leads fail. Very pretty to watch, which considering this is a Phantom movie, may not be the best thing. Also interesting from an academic standpoint, as it's the progenitor of a lot of contemporary misgivings about the story (namely, that the Phantom is physically sexually attractive.)

That said, you can't go wrong starting with the musical itself.
 
i've been wanting to get into phantom for a while, and actually have no clue where to start. my best friend doesnt want me watching the 2004 movie at all. but after seeing these luls i think that my mind's switched off to it.

I would totally suggest to see it performed live, but they retired it a few years ago. So here's the next best thing: the filmed version of the stage musical. It was done in 2012 I think.
 
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The fandom is apparently less divided nowadays from what I've seen, but there are still shiptards and mary sues galore.

Do deviantart crossovers with cartoon characters count as on-topic? I'm tempted to post mine (I'm a huge sperg) but I know there are tons more out there.
 
The fandom is apparently less divided nowadays from what I've seen, but there are still shiptards and mary sues galore.

Do deviantart crossovers with cartoon characters count as on-topic? I'm tempted to post mine (I'm a huge sperg) but I know there are tons more out there.
I say go for it if it's wonky enough!
I found this while looking for a picture of Sarah Brightman as Christine. I posted it in Deviant Art Horrors, but I'd like to breathe some new life into it here. Basil/Mousetine OTP.
a5d52af295be4a5e4872d7bdcd04e62f-d37ks7m.png

This person's main focus seems to be inserting Belle into every animated Disney movie imaginable, though.
 
I'm surprised that no one goes for the Lon Cheney version. That had the more interestingly tragic origin for the Phantom.
 
I say go for it if it's wonky enough!
I found this while looking for a picture of Sarah Brightman as Christine. I posted it in Deviant Art Horrors, but I'd like to breathe some new life into it here. Basil/Mousetine OTP.
a5d52af295be4a5e4872d7bdcd04e62f-d37ks7m.png
This person's main focus seems to be inserting Belle into every animated Disney movie imaginable, though.

I don't know why, but Mousetine's face is really...disturbing. I assume they were going for the wide-eyed Sarah Brightman look, but it just doesn't work.

I would totally suggest to see it performed live, but they retired it a few years ago. So here's the next best thing: the filmed version of the stage musical. It was done in 2012 I think.

Did they retire it? I could've swore it was still running. Or, if not that, then they finally allowed amateur productions to be staged legally. But yeah. the 25th (?) anniversary recording is pretty good...with Sierra Boggess and Ramin Karimloo as Christine and the Phantom, I can't help but think this was also partially publicity for Love Never Dies (since they were Christine/the Phantom in the original cast), but it's not bad.

@Wilhelm I'd recommend the stage show as a good starter myself, especially since that's where a lot of people know the Phantom from, and it's basically a good way to understand the characters and basic story. But if you're more into the horror/psychological aspect of it all, I'd recommend the original book -- I know Project Gutenberg has a copy of one of the early translations (which isn't the best, apparently, but it's workable.) Just a fair bit of warning, the book is...pretty different from the stage show in some aspects. Also the book can be a bit clunky at points, but I don't know if that's just the translation or Leroux's writing style. Could be a bit of both.
 
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I don't know why, but Mousetine's face is really...disturbing. I assume they were going for the wide-eyed Sarah Brightman look, but it just doesn't work.
There are too many things wrong with that picture. Mousetine looks like an old lady to me for some reason and doesn't have any hair under that hat, making it look like she has a mouse skullet. Also, she'd have dropped that magnifying glass ages ago. Basil just looks like a perv.

Did they retire it? I could've swore it was still running. Or, if not that, then they finally allowed amateur productions to be staged legally. But yeah. the 25th (?) anniversary recording is pretty good...with Sierra Boggess and Ramin Karimloo as Christine and the Phantom, I can't help but think this was also partially publicity for Love Never Dies (since they were Christine/the Phantom in the original cast), but it's not bad.
It's still running, but I think they've "updated" it a little. I heard something about them changing up the costumes and sets. Also, they are allowing amateur shows. My local high school is putting it on. ...I have no clue how they think that's going to work out. They might have some half decent students in mind for Christine and Phantom, but I think they're seriously underestimating how vocally demanding the roles of Carlotta and Piangi can be.
 
actually, fun fact, one of my parents' dates before i was born was to a phantom of the opera play. and one of my favorite characters from pop'n music has had some VISIBLE influence from the phantom. i kinda owe my existence to it, and i havent even been exposed to any of it. kinda weirdly sad but hey. i'll have a fun time taking y'alls advice
 
I'm surprised that no one goes for the Lon Cheney version. That had the more interestingly tragic origin for the Phantom.
That's actually the first Phantom related anything I saw! Lon Chaney is fuckin awesome and my childhood.

The best adaption IMO is Susan Kay's novel "Phantom" which is probably one of the best works of modern fiction I've ever read and in some ways is better than Leroux's novel. It's incredibly well researched and well written. It's also highly regarded in the fandom and influences/inspires a lot of the artists.
The other would be the miniseries from the 90's with Charles Dance as the Phantom, because it's fantastic. No one ever talks about it, I'm not sure why though.

I've also stumbled upon a 50 Shades of Grey rendition of Phantom called "Unmasqued" which was somehow published. It was pretty much a bad fanfic from someone who had only seen the 2004 movie and skimmed the original book...and damn it was something else. I can't believe I made it through the entire thing; it haunts me, like a trainwreck I couldn't tear myself away from. http://www.colettegale.com/unmasqued/ The way the author tries to present it as the only TRUE and HONEST version of the story that doesn't demonize poor Erik is hilarious.

Anyway here are some nice+interesting things I've found:

the_duelist_of_the_opera_by_cutelittledizzymae_d4x_by_teacupballerina-d8ao84o.png

phantom_pegasus_needs_snuggles_by_vitapiscana_d4v2_by_teacupballerina-d8ao84z.png


you__alone_by_shadight_by_teacupballerina-d8ao9qw.jpg

af0b93ead98f2e9f08faa953478fc7df_by_teacupballerina-d8ao86c.jpg

cow_faces_the_phantom_by_dudiho_by_teacupballerina-d8ao863.jpg

These are some of mine...
this_loathsome_gargoyle_by_teacupballerina-d7r0pa0.png

no_use_resisting_by_teacupballerina-d82n5vw.png

Let's be real though I have so much of this ween shit it has its own folder

potoorig3.jpg

Aw c'mon! Look at 'im! If you just put your hand over dem teeth, he'd rival Gerry Butler! (^)_^)

Rival? He beats Gerard any day! :heart-full:
 
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That's actually the first Phantom related anything I saw! Lon Chaney is fuckin awesome and my childhood.

The best adaption IMO is Susan Kay's novel "Phantom" which is probably one of the best works of modern fiction I've ever read and in some ways is better than Leroux's novel. It's incredibly well researched and well written. It's also highly regarded in the fandom and influences/inspires a lot of the artists.
The other would be the miniseries from the 90's with Charles Dance as the Phantom, because it's fantastic. No one ever talks about it, I'm not sure why though.
Those are two of my favorites too! I've only read through Kay's novel once, but only because of how intense an experience it had been for me at the time. I'd love to reread it sometime, though.

I really like the Dance miniseries to the point where how I've watched Game of Thrones has been effected. I also love the musical that it was based off of as well the Takarazuka Revue adaptation. Fun fact: The guy playing Erik in the original cast ended up as the voice of Gaston in Disney's Beauty and the Beast.

My other favorite Phantom musical is by Tom Alonso. It's actually very close to Leroux in story, save for the fact that Erik has this crazy lush head of hair. Even though the original cast recording is not for commercial release, Mr. Alonso is super receptive to fans/interested parties and is known to send both the recording and sheet music to people at their request.


phantom_pegasus_needs_snuggles_by_vitapiscana_d4v2_by_teacupballerina-d8ao84z.png


you__alone_by_shadight_by_teacupballerina-d8ao9qw.jpg
Why isn't Shadow the Phantom again?

These are some of mine...
this_loathsome_gargoyle_by_teacupballerina-d7r0pa0.png

no_use_resisting_by_teacupballerina-d82n5vw.png

Let's be real though I have so much of this ween shit it has its own folder
Lol, maybe the crossover is a biiit of a stretch (tbh I don't know a ton about Cartoon Network shows after the 90s), but I think when all is said and done, the art isn't so bad at all, especially when you consider the caliber of things can end up on Deviantart. That said, I'm grateful that the bulk of my phantom sperging was kept offline. I do have one thing on fanfiction.net, though...Like two chapters of a half-baked parody of the fandom I tried to write when I was 14...
 
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I say go for it if it's wonky enough!
I found this while looking for a picture of Sarah Brightman as Christine. I posted it in Deviant Art Horrors, but I'd like to breathe some new life into it here. Basil/Mousetine OTP.
a5d52af295be4a5e4872d7bdcd04e62f-d37ks7m.png

This person's main focus seems to be inserting Belle into every animated Disney movie imaginable, though.
I can't think of her name, but she looks like the old woman from Murder, She Wrote.
 
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