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In dreams he came…

That voice which calls to me, and speaks my name…

THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA IS THERE…

INSIDE MY MIND!!!

*Phantom of the Opera begins to grind the organ notes in powerful blasts into the ears of all who dare to hear*

(Overture is actually pounding the organ chord progression as I write this)

Disclaimer: Before I delve into this, let it be said for clarity that I have never sat down and watched through Phantom of the Opera in its entirety. I do however LOVE the music and the story!!!

So… This past summer I read The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde and recently here at college I read The Phantom of the Opera (when do I find time for that? Picture a girl not socializing over her meal as she losses herself in her Kindle reading classics). I’ve never read anything out of the horror genre (and let it be said, I am NOT recommending modern horror to anyone. This topic will concern old horror classics only) until this year. However these books have definitely been fascinating and excellent reads (eventually I will get to Frankenstein, but I have multiple parties which have been prodding me to read Dickens for quite some time, so that must wait for a while lest I be set upon toothy cows in the full extent of their toothiness).

So I am curious, if you’ve ever read any horror classics, how have they affected your writing/or what have you analyzed about the horror in these stories?

Prepare for the rant… For me, even though I haven’t watched Andrew Loyd Weber’s musical of PotO, I know enough of the story/music to know that I’m already on the Phantom’s side of the romance… I’m sorry… I just want to smack Christine when she leaves him. That is my humble opinion.

But then I read the book… (which is very different from the musical)

And I wanted for somebody to go ahead and be rid of the Phantom. *Holds back her original words*

In the words of a friend of mine, “The Phantom in the movie sounds really pretty after reading the book.” And it’s true… (go look up the Phantom from the movie [Gerrard Butler] and then find a picture of Erik [more of the fan art that’s out there. He probably won’t be wearing a mask in these pics])

The book is a horror story. But the horror in it is fascinating to me because you feel it on so many levels and from multiple perspectives.

Here’s where I felt the most horror.

The horror of ugliness. Yes, we as humans love beauty, and there’s something about the ugliness of the Phantom that is truly repulsive. Everything about him is just…
Horror for Christine who is being hunted down by this creeper and killer. You feel horror that Raoul is so fickle and won’t believe her.
Horror over the morbid life that the Phantom lives.
Horror for Christine’s choice (in the climax especially)
Lastly, one of the most horrible of all, is when you finally understand the Phantom. At least for me, this was one of the most horrible things.

Or in Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, there is horror over the warped events of the story.

So… The things I’ve gathered is that we can use horror in a tactful way to enhance our stories, because horror does not equate graphic violence. I personally find there’s more horror when the stories deal with things that repulse the human nature.

I think one of the biggest things that we as humans hate is ugliness. Specifically in a person. My theory is that we as humans despise ugliness, but when we see ugliness in human form it is especially repulsive.

Secondly, there are certain things that just give us the shivers, such as having your own nature overcome by (once again) ugliness, not just of body but of soul.

You know… maybe that’s where the element of horror lies: Not in the gore and blood, but in ugliness manifesting itself in human nature/imposing itself upon others.

I’m also reading Les Miserables, and Fantine’s descent into misery… I had to take some time to process the horror I felt in that story. The more I think about it, the more I think that tactful horror that targets deep places of the human soul that prefers to be left alone and causes us to think about these things can be very good in any sort of story.

Let me know what you all think. I want to explore this topic a bit.