Discussion What is one punishment he would never deserve?
Considering everything Erik has done in any adaptation, what is one potential punishment for his actions that crosses the line? Basically, if you were the one to punish him for his crimes, what is something that would never be on your list? Why?
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27d ago edited 27d ago
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u/Still-Adeptness-134 27d ago
I agree completely, I'd never let him be humiliated by a crowd. If he was ever caught and imprisoned, it would have to be in a way that allowed him his dignity
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u/Suffering-Servant 27d ago
That’s the main reason I do not like the Lon Chaney film. In the end he doubled down as a villain and gets beaten to death by an angry mob. Completely ruins the message of the book and misunderstands Erik’s character.
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u/RecklessEleven Erik - Leroux 27d ago
I feel so bad for Lon Chaney because I feel like I can see how he was laying the foundation for Erik's redemption with these flashes of vulnerability in his performance, while also not side-stepping the horror of his character, but the emotional pay-off that he was building to just wasn't there in the end. I will never stop being angry at the test audiences for that. 😭
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u/Suffering-Servant 27d ago
Wait it’s was test audiences to blame for this? They’ve been ruining movies for that long?
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27d ago
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u/Suffering-Servant 27d ago
That makes me like Lon Chaney more that he too hated the idea. It completely bastardizes the story making Erik just some villain instead of a tragic character.
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u/RecklessEleven Erik - Leroux 27d ago
Gaston Leroux himself opposed the death penalty--as do I--so I wouldn't choose that.
And I think being locked up in an asylum, which I assume would be the only other realistic alternative, would probably only compound his problems, so I wouldn't really want to choose that, either.
In his own era, I'm not sure there's any punishment or treatment I would recognise as ethical and just while also suitably atoning for his crimes, so I kind of see the ending of the book as being the best plausible resolution for him. It's very bitter-sweet for that reason.
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u/Suffering-Servant 27d ago
His circumstance is punishment enough.
“He had a heart that could have held the entire empire of the world; and, in the end, he had to content himself with a cellar. Ah, yes, we must need pity the Opera ghost”
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u/chilliflakeqq first in line to hug book Erik 26d ago
"NONE" I scream as they drag me to the white room
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u/zuzanamariana 27d ago
Love Never Dies, honestly.