Psychotic Depressive Disorder in POTO

[igenlode]

The Phantom of the Opera: A Case Study of Severe Major Depressive Disorder with Psychotic Features - no, not the Phantom, but Christine! In this medical study, the Phantom is presented as a hallucinatory response to the stress of Christine's bereavement and her feelings for Raoul, which 'ground her' and combat her suicidal ideation -- "The candle flame which earlier represented her father's hold on Christine now becomes a means of breaking that pathological bond. Her ability to make her father's soul take flight allows Christine to give herself to Raoul" ;-D

Comments

[betweensunandmoon]

This basically confirms my own interpretation that the Phantom in both the book and the musical symbolizes Christine's grief for her dead father, and her leaving with Raoul in the end means letting go and moving on. :D

[igenlode]

I'm afraid my reaction was that it's as much obviously nonsense as the concept of the Hidden Plot in the movie -- they even admit openly that you have to change the order of events and to ignore real-life clinical definitions in order to produce this interpretation. It's not a serious suggestion about the events of the musical, just a way of engaging medical students by tapping into popular culture (see the list of other stories used in the course, and how those are being interpreted).

I mean, it's a bit tough on the staff and management of the Opera House to learn that the death and destruction of the last few months was all supposedly carried out by a figment of a depressed chorus girl's imagination ;-p
I don't think there's any doubt that the events both of the book and of the musical are being presented as really having happened; Leroux in particular makes a speciality of plots that feature supposedly supernatural happenings with a prosaic explanation, and the Phantom's activities affect even those who refuse to believe in him.

It just amused me to see a straight-faced piece of highly improbable analysis that for once took it for granted that Christine's relationship with Raoul was real, and to be encouraged, and that her entire relationship with the Phantom was an unhealthy delusion :-p

[betweensunandmoon]

I know Erik is a real person and not a supernatural figure in the story itself; I'm just analyzing his role the way a literature student might be required to, were Phantom the sort of book that gets read in literature classes. :P

[igenlode]

See, this is why (as a reader, never mind as an author) I dislike literary analyses -- they involve making claims that are obviously not any part of the story's intention.

In this case, I'd deconstruct the story somewhere along the lines of 'Idea: man is pretending to be Opera Ghost. Why? In love with one of the opera singers, but can't let her know he's real. Why? Idea: he is hideously ugly and dare not let her see his face. But what happens if/when he tries to take this relationship further? Idea: he tries a mask. How will she react to learning he is real? What happens when she inevitably tries to learn what is beneath the mask? Trilby/Cyrano de Bergerac. We need a detective figure to misdirect feed information to the audience. Maybe he's in love with the young woman himself, which is his motivation. Someone she knows from childhood? Use background of Christina Nilsson, singing at fair etc. Detective is jealous of this mysterious figure in the background, jumps to wrong conclusions. Big reveal: the ghost is a real man. Hmm, what do we do next? Some kind of action finale needed... maybe the Ghost carries her off. Rescue/chase sequence. How do we get the backstory worked in? Maybe a new character, someone who knows all about the Ghost but isn't telling. We could have him do a witness statement or something at the end, which will make it more like a real investigation. Cliffhanger ending... how do we get out of this one? Maybe the Ghost just reforms and lets everyone go. No, that's boring. He wins but discovers he cares more for her happiness than his own -- that makes for a better moral. Then we can have him die of a broken heart, which tidies things off neatly. Oops, what am I going to do with the singer herself? Oh, she can just elope offscreen, we don't need her any more. And I still need to squeeze in the rest of that backstory somewhere... let's just stick it in the end as an explanatory chapter. Right, that should pay a few bills...'

[betweensunandmoon]

Sorry, force of habit.