Fans calling Raoul 'entitled'
Jul. 10th, 2020 07:47 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
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vicomte_de_chagnyIn the book Raoul is certainly not a pompous, wealthy figure (or for that matter in the musical). I think what fans tend to forget is that from Raoul's point of view, title, wealth, possessions etc. are nothing special; he has always had them, and they have never made him particularly happy. He isn't some footballer who measures his worth by the fact that he once earned a hundred pounds a week and is now paid twenty thousand a week, and waves this achievement in girls' faces. Raoul was *born* into an ancient family, yet the happiest time in his childhood -- and quite possibly his whole life -- was when he was chattering to Breton peasants in the company of Christine. Being a Vicomte has never been of any benefit to him, and in fact, far from his being able to use it to sway her, it initially causes her to pretend she doesn't even recognise him (because she knows there can be no future in a relationship between them).
Raoul's approach to courting Christine is not 'look at me and how privileged I am'; it's 'are you making fun of me or is this for real?' He sees her as a sophisticated woman of the world and himself as an inexperienced dupe; in the book Christine very much has the upper hand in their relationship. So I just don't see any rationale in fan-fiction for writing him as a swanky rich boy trying to impress her; most of the novel is written from Raoul's point of view, for heaven's sake, so it's blatantly, inescapably obvious that no such thing ever occurs to him -- any attempt to do it is simply writing him out of character.
(But then most of "the typical Raoul characterization" bears almost no relation to canon anyway!)
Christine, I think, is more swayed by practicalities than Raoul, and this is where the so-called "being entitled" comes in; Raoul has never been poor and has thus never had to worry about where the next meal is coming from, and Christine has. So Raoul is more idealistic about the idea of marrying Christine and potentially being disinherited by his family, ostracised by everyone he knows and losing his naval career -- he really believes that love is the most important thing in the world and that if they love each other they will be happy whatever happens. Christine knows what it's like to have no money, and she knows that Raoul has no idea. And she would worry about the strain that might place on their relationship...
We see Raoul's life in the course of the novel; compared to the version imagined by most of the movie-based fandom, it's actually very ordinary and pretty bourgeois. He grabs a timetable and takes a cab to the station (and misses the train); he buys himself a ridiculous pierrot costume for the ball, and feels like an idiot; his brother reads the newspaper over breakfast, and occasionally they go out to a restaurant for dinner instead of eating at home. It's much the same life that Carlotta leads (who has hot chocolate in bed while her maid brings her the post, and receives visits from guests during the day), probably with fewer jewels and dresses involved ;-p
What separates Raoul from Christine in the novel is not so much rank and wealth (since his brother is the one with both; Raoul's inheritance is in Philippe's hands, and he holds only a junior title) as family pride. The de Chagny family are of ancient ancestry -- they trace their lineage back four hundred years. They are aristocrats in a post-Napoleonic, post-revolutionary world where blue blood represents above all snob value among other snobs; a title gives you a recognised position in society with a capital S, but it doesn't give you political power, tax exemption, 'droit de seigneur', automatic military privilege, absolute rule over your serfs or any of the things that Charles Dicken's evil Marquis St-Evrémonde represents. Aristocracy is a currency that holds value among those others who play the same game; it doesn't (as we see from Raoul's experiences throughout the novel) necessarily count for any practical value outside that narrow circle.
Raoul's approach to courting Christine is not 'look at me and how privileged I am'; it's 'are you making fun of me or is this for real?' He sees her as a sophisticated woman of the world and himself as an inexperienced dupe; in the book Christine very much has the upper hand in their relationship. So I just don't see any rationale in fan-fiction for writing him as a swanky rich boy trying to impress her; most of the novel is written from Raoul's point of view, for heaven's sake, so it's blatantly, inescapably obvious that no such thing ever occurs to him -- any attempt to do it is simply writing him out of character.
(But then most of "the typical Raoul characterization" bears almost no relation to canon anyway!)
Christine, I think, is more swayed by practicalities than Raoul, and this is where the so-called "being entitled" comes in; Raoul has never been poor and has thus never had to worry about where the next meal is coming from, and Christine has. So Raoul is more idealistic about the idea of marrying Christine and potentially being disinherited by his family, ostracised by everyone he knows and losing his naval career -- he really believes that love is the most important thing in the world and that if they love each other they will be happy whatever happens. Christine knows what it's like to have no money, and she knows that Raoul has no idea. And she would worry about the strain that might place on their relationship...
We see Raoul's life in the course of the novel; compared to the version imagined by most of the movie-based fandom, it's actually very ordinary and pretty bourgeois. He grabs a timetable and takes a cab to the station (and misses the train); he buys himself a ridiculous pierrot costume for the ball, and feels like an idiot; his brother reads the newspaper over breakfast, and occasionally they go out to a restaurant for dinner instead of eating at home. It's much the same life that Carlotta leads (who has hot chocolate in bed while her maid brings her the post, and receives visits from guests during the day), probably with fewer jewels and dresses involved ;-p
What separates Raoul from Christine in the novel is not so much rank and wealth (since his brother is the one with both; Raoul's inheritance is in Philippe's hands, and he holds only a junior title) as family pride. The de Chagny family are of ancient ancestry -- they trace their lineage back four hundred years. They are aristocrats in a post-Napoleonic, post-revolutionary world where blue blood represents above all snob value among other snobs; a title gives you a recognised position in society with a capital S, but it doesn't give you political power, tax exemption, 'droit de seigneur', automatic military privilege, absolute rule over your serfs or any of the things that Charles Dicken's evil Marquis St-Evrémonde represents. Aristocracy is a currency that holds value among those others who play the same game; it doesn't (as we see from Raoul's experiences throughout the novel) necessarily count for any practical value outside that narrow circle.
