lauriab

[lauriab]

"are you okay" girl i am on ao3 looking for fanfiction from my comfort ship when i was 12 what do you think

[lauriab]

(crawls on all fours with blood drenched on me) I have to do arts and crafts

[lauriab]

still the funniest line in literature history To Me

[lauriab]

“We are told, ladies and gentlemen, that this is the very chandelier that figures in the famous disaster”

Exactly how many giant broken chandeliers do you have lying around. Where does the doubt arise.

[lauriab]

I'm romanticizing Erik too much🥀💔

[lauriab]

3/7

Why so silent, good Messieurs?

Did you think that I had left you for good?

Tbh one of the most difficult illustrations for this project (esp for my laptop which kept turning itself off while i was trying to finish this artpiece lol)

[lauriab]

Angel of music, hide no longer / Secret and strange Angel…

The Phantom of the Opera

[lauriab]

hi, a lot of you need a perspective reset

the average human lifespan globally is 70+ years

taking the threshold of adulthood as 18, you are likely to spend at least 52 years as a fully grown adult

at the age of 30 you have lived less than one quarter of your adult life (12/52 years)

'middle age' is typically considered to be between 45-65

it is extremely common to switch careers, start new relationships, emigrate, go to college for the first or second time, or make other life-changing decisions in middle age

it's wild that I even have to spell it out, but older adults (60+) still have social lives and hobbies and interests.

you can still date when you get old. you can still fuck. you can still learn new skills, be fashionable, be competitive. you can still gossip, you can still travel, you can still read. you can still transition. you can still come out.

young doesn't mean peaked. you're inexperienced in your 20s! you're still learning and practicing! you're developing social skills and muscle memory that will last decades!

there are a million things to do in the world, and they don't vanish overnight because an imaginary number gets too big

[lauriab]

SHES MAD AS HELL❗️‼️

[lauriab]

Phantom of the Opera Headcanons (P2)

Erik:

He used to bite a lot as a kid.

Also lied a lot as a kid. Whatever the Victorian equivalent of "my dad works at Nintendo" is.

He has a massive ego despite being wildly insecure.

He lied about not eating for months on end while composing.

He names objects around the house. Speaking of them as if they're people(sometimes treating them like people more than actual humans).

He's got a really weird relationship with his pipe organ. Definitely the type of guy to make way too many innuendos about it.

He likes to push the limits of the organ. Using different stops of the pipe organ to make a one-man orchestra. For instance, he'd use the softer flue for compositions meant for Christine's voice. (I don't know much about organs, but I'd like to. Sorry if there are any inaccuracies.)

excellent cook! I think I said this already...

Holds deep grudges. If you say some rude comment to him 10-20 years ago, you best believe he'll repeat it over your grave.

Adept linguist. The type of man to make up his own language.

Depending on where he was at the time, Don Juan was written in a different language. The lyrics are almost impossible to read if you don't know 100s of languages.

He was bullying Christine when he first met her; she was just a bit too starry-eyed to notice.

Leans ridiculously far down to be eye level with Christine.

Christine:

Has a kind of... distant look in her eyes.

Will believe anything. Really hard time catching sarcasm.

While she is sweet-tempered, she won't put up with rudeness.

Kids and animals LOVE her.

Has zero friends. Nobody holds any grudges towards her; it's just kind of hard to be friends with the angel girl.

Terrible cook.

Would be a terrible driver if she had one in modern day.

Zero sense of space. Sometimes puts her face really close up and makes people shrink away.

Says stuff that weirds even Erik out.

Doesn't realize people think she's weird. Sometimes a little judgy.

She and Raoul act like best friends. They bully each other a lot.

TERRIFIED of the dark.

Ate lots of things as a child. Just anything. Bugs, coins, weird kid stuff. Miracle she never died.

Also, a bit of a wanderer as a child. Used to kind of get lost, then show up at random times.

She and her dad match each other's energy.

Extremely sassy.

Sympathizes with random objects. Would feel bad for tattered toys or old shirts.

Doesn't keep much, but she hoards everything she has.

Raoul thinks he's protecting her, whereas she's protecting him. Especially when they were younger, and Raoul was shy.

Seems forgetful, but she genuinely remembers small but important details.

[lauriab]

Fr we need someone who understands phantom at the head of these projects. I especially hate how adaptations always seem terrified of broaching topics and themes that were essential to the original storyline. You need the symbolism of Erik as Christine’s repressed desires and Raoul as purity and society’s expectations for the story to work (it would appear modern society still isn’t ready to discuss female sexuality—). Without the symbolism it’s just weird!!!

Also you can’t make Erik pure evil because then you lose any depth the story has and you can’t just make him hot for the sake of marketability for the same reason. How is a hundred year old book capable of showing the harm of societal oppression better than more recent versions. The message about disabilities has somehow gotten weaker overtime.

As for Raoul, as someone who generally doesn’t like him I think the main reason for my distain is how in most adaptations he is very flawed yet presented as perfect. Original Raoul was also possessive and immature in his own way! And that’s totally fine but the story needs to acknowledge these flaws of else it feels annoying instead of intentional.

Otherwise I totally agree that developing Christine’s time in the lair further would be amazing. Great way to get to know her and Erik better and to explore their dynamic (which we sometimes see very little of).

I won’t even get started on the complete erasure of the Persian’s character cause I would never stop. It’s utterly ridiculous that the original had more diverse characters than current versions.

Oh one last thing— if I see one more adaptation trying to pull of the oedipus complex or aging down Christine I might actually lose it.

If I were in charge of a Phantom of the Opera adaptation

This is going to be a lot of bullet points. And long. Be warned.

Pitch:

Any angle at which a phantom could be adapted has already been done. It's become a trope to do Phantom of the Opera, but ___ happens. That stands to be most of the adaptations' downfall. They don't see the real meat of the story proper and instead choose to use its bones to make a less interesting take. Phantom deserves a rework that elevates the established material. Taking the "beats" and changing them to a pacing that suits a modern audience.

Since the mystery of "the phantom" is already a well-known(the phantom being a man rather than a ghost), taking its lesser-known mystery stands to fit better -- the unreliability. Gaston Leroux sits nicely in the gothic journalistic genre. Each character has their own story to tell about the phantom, yet the truth is stranger than fiction. Often, what is stated about the Phantom says more about the speaker than Erik himself.

Side rant:

I would generally rid the story of its padding. Instead, exploring further scenes that were just left to exposition. Off the top of my head, the masquerade and Christine's time in the lair would be one of those moments.

What would you like to see further explored? Be it characters, backstories, or particular moments.

Casting:

Raoul:

The top example in my mind is young Daniel Bruhl and Ewan McGregor.

They must have the range to pull off "crazed" and "boy next door." The actor's charm would go a long way in making his character stomachable. Which I know is a problem. Half the people who read the book walk away hating his character. It doesn't do much to support the drama to have him be completely unlikable.

Christine:

Her voice should sit at a higher pitch. I don't want there to be a forced or breathy quality, just someone you could believe is a soprano.

The actor's range would be the second hardest to find in the cast. Someone who can pull grief-stricken, dreamy-eyed, and sassy all at once.

Visual appearance doesn't matter much to me. So long as she doesn't look too modern.

Erik:

The pitch of his voice doesn't matter. So long as it sounds beautiful. Not the deep or thirst trap beautiful -- genuinely silky. If you catch my drift.

Build doesn't matter, so long as he's tall. Preferably very thin. But I wouldn't want to put the actors in harm's way just for accuracy's sake.

The hardest range in the cast to hit. He must be able to pull off crazed, desperate, domineering, and clever, all while being pitiable. That's an ability few men possess.

Ability to wear SFX makeup. No allergies.

The Persian

His voice is deep in my mind, but I can be easily swayed.

The only member of the cast whose nationality matters. For obvious reasons.

Must have the range to pull off a firm yet empathetic presence. I want those watching to see that, despite his anger, he only wants Erik to do better.

I could go on, but I'm sure this is the only members of the cast any of you care about.

Visuals:

The budget can only go so far. It's choosing between good visuals, realistic visuals, and time. If I were to choose what I want most, it would be good visuals. I'm sorry. We'd probably be sapping up all the budget on Erik's SFX LOL.

My main goal would be interesting directorial takes. But, sometimes, especially with long-running things like TV shows, you have to give up artistic intent for time.

[lauriab]

The Anne Shirley Opening dropped and Naoko Yamada has delivered yet another masterpiece.

Love everything about it, be it the song or the animation itself. It captures her personality so well, as well as the nature of the show. Just the way they captured her body language is perfect.

Some really strong openings this anime spring season, but this is a top contender.

[lauriab]

Oh Christine!

[lauriab]

The angel in the mirror

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phantom of the opera

[lauriab]

i lied. put your clothes back on. we are going to talk about the 2024 film lisa frankenstein directed by zelda williams and written by diablo cody

[lauriab]

eva and reeve’s version of poto changed my life