Saturday, January 19, 2008

Hello, my name is Kim

I am a Phantom of the Operaholic. I am watching it again. Right now. Quinn went to play discgolf and I jumped at the opportunity. It's actually a little embarrasing because I'm now hiding from Quinn how much I watch the movie. I need a hit of Phantom. I've seen it five times this week, including today.

Here's a picture of Gerard Butler as the phantom.


Yesterday I was trying to figure out why I loved the movie so much. Of course, it's just the right amount of creepy for me (I love a dose of creepy). The phantom is just so pathetic and lonely and Gerard Butler plays him so perfectly. His tears seem real and his sorrow so great that I just want to see it again and again. I love to see his love for Christine (thwarted and insane though it may be) and to see her torn between her terror and admiration of him. This may sound silly, but it seems so REAL.

So I guess I'll keep singing the songs all day and watch it every other day until I hate it.

One of my favorite parts... Christine takes off his mask and he totally freaks about her seeing his disfigurement. He pushes her aside and hides his face, not wanting her to see it. Then he says (well, he sings but it's the monologue I'm talking about):

'Stranger than you dreamt it?
Can you even dare to look
or bear to think of me;
this loathsome gargoyle who
burns in Hell, but secretly
yearns for Heaven
secretly... secretly.....
Christine....
Fear can turn to love;
you learn to see,
to find the man
behind the monster.
This repulsive carcass
who seems a beast but
secretly dreams of beauty
secretly... secretly...
Oh, Christine.'
Tears come to my eyes everytime I watch. It's beautiful and brilliant. I'm not done being obsessed. I'll let you know.

20 comments:

quinn said...

i did go play disc golf. it was cold and wet. when i left home everything was normal. when i came home "phantom" was on again...AGAIN!?! really? i don't normally (ever) watch movies over and over again. i just don't. kim always has. i remember being at her house down in orlando, one of my first trips down. anyway, it was a while ago. they had just bought the movie True Lies. i think that movie was on at least 5 times during the week we were there. kim glued to it. i can only take so much of arnold. i think i read two books that week. point is...i'm sick of phantom. its on right now. it just gets paused while we go out or when kim gets up to do this or that. if i hear "angel of beauty" one more time i'm going to be sick. very very sick. another thing, i understand musicals and all that, but do they have to sing everthing? why? why not just talk? just a little bit anyway. say what you want to say. stop singing everything.

Laura said...

Y'all are crackin' me up.

But Kim, you wrote this post so beautifully, from your description of the Phantom's love for Christine to her battle over her conflicting feelings of him. Truly makes me want to see the movie.

Laura said...

Y'all are crackin' me up.

But Kim, you wrote this post so beautifully, from your description of the Phantom's love for Christine to her battle over her conflicting feelings of him. Truly makes me want to see the movie.

Missy said...

This is what we LOVE about Kim!

Quinn, I had the same True Lies experience.
Stacy is the same way...he can just sit down and watch movies over and over like that.

Kim and Stacy=alike
Missy and Quinn=alike
This is why God puts opposites together!

Oh and I never have seen Phantom and I would like too!

Kim said...

Oh, I have an idea. Monday, let's have a "Let's watch Phantom of the Opera" day. What a great way to remember Martin Luther King, Jr. What do you say?

heather said...

Unit Study? Phantom of the Opera? Pop quiz? I think it could happen.

Abbey said...

I think you should get Quinn a phantom mask. Maybe that would help you not watch the movie so much. He could wear it around the house, and you could sing everything to him.

Anonymous said...

Quinn could wear a cape, too! He probably has always secretly (secretly) wanted to wear a cape and now's his chance! Quinn, you could do that sweeping motion with the right side of the cape, duck your head under and secretly (secretly) disappear from a room. (I'm deliberately repeating the word secretly (secretly) so that you will know I'm really singing this message to you and repeating certain lyrics for emphasis and musicality.)

The girls and I were watching that movie in a quiet theater and just when the Phantom was singing, "Music of the..." here he took a long pause before the word, "night." With perfect timing during that pause my stomach growled...not a soft growl...a long, loud, big cat kind of growl. SO EMBARRASSING! It didn't help that the girls spent the rest of the movie giggling.

Brenda said...

Are you kidding - 5 times for "True Lies" - there was no way that I could sit and watch that movie "5" times with "mixed" company...now maybe... it was "Deceived" with Goldie Hawn - that I could and would watch over and over. Just ask Nick...great
'90s movie -
Mom

I want to see snow pictures!

By the way it is blue skies and mid 70s - love winter in Florida. Although tomorrow high is 58 - blue skies - still love winter in Florida!!

Brenda said...

Oh by the way - has anyone out there borrowed my copy of "My Big Fat Greek Wedding"?

Kim said...

I have my OWN copy of My Big Fat Greek Wedding. At least, I think it's my own. I think it was a gift. Maybe I should say "gift". I think I've actually loaned it out to someone.
Hmmm...

Brenda said...

Not to me - I have or had my own copy - love the snow pictures - but I want more....

Marsha said...

Okay, I've set out our copy of POTO. Maybe Mike will get the hint that's what I want to watch this evening...let's see, mask, mask, what do I have around here for a mask? How 'bout a collander! Mike could hold it over his face. And our cozy fleece blanket could be his cape. Ohhh, welcome to "Fantasy of the Opera" Night at the Harwoods!

Anonymous said...

Capes / Masks - what next...cape crusader tool belts?

TMI

Linda said...

Love that you're loving Phantom. We do too, especially Dick!

Jennifer said...

I love this movie and story and the actual show. James and I saw it on Broadway 6 years ago and I've seen it twice in Atlanta at the Fox Theater. Live, it is just unbelievable. You HAVE to go see it somewhere. I think you love it because not only is it a precious, sad love story, the characters are believably portrayed, and it focuses on obsession, which maybe, you can kinda relate to just a little. I'm just sayin'....:-)

JBL said...

I was trapped on a bus for hours while surrounded by people who were watching (and singing) that movie. UGGH!! No phantom! No more!

MattD said...

I'll say it again..I feel more and more sympathy for Quinn everyday...poor guy. That's why I send Heather to the bedroom! She's like that. I can't watch a movie over and over again...I got it the first time. Maybe after a year or so if it's good....and ESPECIALLY not if its the Phantom of the Opera...blaaahh..I'd be asleep in 5 minutes..

Kim said...

It's beautiful and I watched it again today.
CANNOT get enough of the phantom.

MattD said...

I'm gonna come over and had the DVD...no more Phantom. We need to have an intervention.