“Phantom of the Opera” Essay

“The Phantom of the Opera” (the movie, in this essay) is about more than just a phantom in an opera causing problems. It’s about the world inside an opera house and its real master (the Phantom). Also, it is about a love triangle and the struggles of love between the Phantom, Christine and Raoul. The lighting, color and music point to the Phantom as he controls the stage and the characters on it. Through these basic elements and the characters Andrew Schumacher (the director) shows the theme. The theme is about love being a struggle to find truth.

First of all, the characters create tension between themselves thus creating the struggle. The Phantom and Raoul both love Christine, but for different reasons. The Phantom loves her for her voice; Raoul loves her for her whole being. Christine has the difficult task of trying to figure out who she loves when everything around her leaves her spinning. The Phantom is “The Angle of Music” her father promised, but Raoul is her sweetheart. She is the most indecisive of the three and is easily swayed, but comes out strong in the end. She and Raoul take the Phantom down from being untouchable and genius to human and insane. He becomes the “Angel of Hell.” The struggle to find the truth about love ends, but the truth lives strong until the last scene.

The characters alone do not represent struggle. They simply act it out. The colors in the scenery hint at and heighten the emotions being conveyed. Throughout the movie black, white, red and grey represent the struggles. Black and white used together usually represents contrast. For example, the fight scene in the graveyard is black and white to show the contrast in the classic evil vs. good battle, yet the sky is grey to show the confusion going through the characters’ minds. Also, some scenes (of the past) are shot in black and white to show the old mysteries and struggles now seen as solved. Red, rather than being a contrasting, is a color of love, danger and blood. The lair of the Phantom is filled with reds, as he is passionate (about music) and dangerous. The stage in the opera house is red because it is a danger zone where the Phantom kills and appears to make his points known. The roses the Phantom leaves around for mainly Christine to find are red because he shows he loves her wherever she goes, but has a black ribbon to show warning. The whites, blacks and reds show the intensity of the emotion giving power to the struggle.

Although the colors and characters scream out the meaning in the theme to the viewers, there are still symbols. They give more meaning to the character’s actions and the theme and provide foreshadowing for upcoming scenes. For example, when the Phantom was about to make an appearance or was around, a red rose with a black ribbon appeared. Christine saw this rose several times as the Phantom wanted her to know he was there. On the other hand, mirrors were present to show truth. Through the mirror, Christine saw the secretive Phantom. She, then, led him to a mirror in his lair to show him who he was. He was able to see as he was seen. He could see how the mask really did hide him and keep him away from people well. Also, Christine looked into a mirror to give herself a reality check when she was presented with the veil.

All of these elements intensify the theme’s meaning. The characters struggle inside to find the truth about love and every action’s meaning gets power from the colors and symbols presented. The colors visually give power. They intensify the scenery so a black wall is the blackest black and the white is the purest white. The emotions shine through the colors. The symbols create more meaning by giving the objects in each scene a true meaning for being present. There is no prop that is simply a prop. Each thing represents an idea in the movie. Every element expresses the struggle to find love and the truth in it.