Film Analysis Of The Phantom Of The Opera

Horror is one of the major genres for silent movie produced under Hollywood studio system during 1920s. American filmmakers had gone on exploring the classical Hollywood style, linking technique to clear storytelling because many foreign audiences had been cut off from the Hollywood product during the war (Thompson 58). The Phantom of the Opera (Julian, 1925) exemplifies the classical Hollywood style and represents the class differences characterized by a beautiful woman and an ugly “phantom” in the movie. In this paper, I will particularly analyze one of the famous scenes from the phantom of The Phantom of the Opera (Julian, 1925) – the “unmasking” scene. During the mid-1910s, filmmakers experimented with effects lighting, that is, selective

The ugly “phantom”, who always hides behind the stage of the opera theater, represents the minority people in the society. For those people who experience the social rejection because of their differences, they would seek the way to be as “normal” as possible. The mask in this movie is the social-functioned camouflage for “phantom” to fit in the society and most importantly, to deceive his lover. His romantic relationship with a beautiful young singer, who represents the higher social class people, is not accepted by the social norm. The conflict arises sharply in the “unmasking scene”. Even though both of them are spiritually connected by their voices, when she finds out the truth of him, she suddenly pushes him away. The subtitles of “If you love me, as you say, let me go, I promise to be your slave forever” indicates that their relationship would be always subjected to the class difference in the society. Because of the belief that “A human and a demon will never be together”, the “phantom” scarifies himself and never deserve happiness. The tragedy ending in this movie criticizes the social inequality during 1920s when the minority groups of people are hiding in the “dark side” of the society. The majority, on the other hand, enjoys the privileges and never concerns about other people’s suffering. The Phantom of the Opera (Julian, 1925) tends to educate the audiences to consider this issue instead of simply scaring them. Unlike most of the Hollywood movies have conflicts with the desires of other characters, creating a struggle that is resolved only at the end—which is typically a happy one (Thompson 59), the “phantom” was killed by the majority in the end– which is different from the typical happy ending. The ending of The Phantom of the Opera (Julian, 1925) is more memorable to