Through reading the Phantom of the Opera, one connection that very prominently stood out to me was one of Cohen’s theses. It is his Thesis 4: The Monster Dwells at the Gates of Difference. The reason that this stuck out to me is because the Phantom has a physical facial deformity. As I mentioned in one of my previous blog posts, any person with a physical or mental disability or deformity was looked at as a monster and not a human being during the time in which this was written. People who did not fit the “stereotype” of what society expected you to look like were often shunned and there was a sort of taboo surrounding just talking about it. I feel that this is how the Phantom felt with society against him. While he didn’t help his case through his actions, he had probable cause to act the way he did because of the way society treated him. This goes back to Cohen’s thesis because I believe it strongly depicts the gates of difference in society between those who fit the social norms and those who do not.

A discussion question that I have about The Phantom of the Opera is “Do you believe the Phantom is a spirit or a physical being?”

In Chapter 7, the Phantom sends a letter to the managers making requests, and when they do the opposite of what he asks, the chandelier comes crashing down and Carlotta croaks like a frog in the middle of her performance. Up to this point, we have not physically seen the Phantom and there is much speculation about who he (or what) it is. The letter is signed from the Opera Ghost. Especially in today’s day in age, there is much speculation over whether or not ghosts are real, or a figure of our imagination. In the time period that this book was written, spirits had a taboo surrounding it and therefore was very controversial about who or what the phantom could be.

“No sooner had they entered the box than they came out and called the attendant. When she enquired what the matter was, they replied: ‘Look inside the box: can you see anyone in there? Anyone at all?’ ‘No one,’ said the woman. ‘Well,’ they declared, ‘when we went in we heard a voice saying that the box was already occupied.’” (p. 46)

I chose this quote to write about because it stood out to me as a significant piece of this story in terms of a plot development. In the beginning of the book, we see the Phantom making himself known to the cast and crew members. However, this is the first interaction in which we see the Phantom interacting with opera-goers. I chose this quote because I feel that it foreshadows future events and sets the tone and predicts what the reader can expect to see later on in the book as well.  

While reading Cohen’s Monster Theory, Thesis II really stood out to me. In this thesis, Cohen talks about how the monster never dies. They will either show up a different outfit, have a different sexuality, or appear in some other way shape or form. This stood out to me because it is something that I can relate to in almost every horror movie in the history of horror movies. No matter what the “monster” goes through, they will always come back. They can get beat up terribly and be essentially dead, but they continue to come back. If you connect these thoughts to the real world, the monster or person would be dead and the would be no coming back. Yet in movies, the monster can get pushed off a roof and still get right back up like nothing happened. One movie in particular that comes to mind is Home Alone. Although the antagonists are human beings they could still be a “monster” to Kevin who is trying to fight them off. They will get hit in the head by medal rods, or burned on the hand and step on nails, but they keep going after Kevin as if nothing happened. I feel that this connects to Cohen’s theory that monsters never die and they continue to come back. Often times because if they did die, there would be no plot or story in a movie or book. 

When I read the article “Twilight as a Cultural Force” I was really surprised by the amount of cultural awareness and thought that went into Twilight as a movie. It really got me thinking “How many other books or movies have had similar situations about portraying a culture?” I am very interested in finding out this because I had not known this occurred or even was a topic of discussion for filming Twilight.

Throughout the story of Twilight, I often found myself going back to the topic of good v. evil. I felt that this strongly connected to the reading of Monsters by Bedford. In this reading, it specifically talks about the how connection of monsters is extremely personal, indicating that each “monster” is determined good or evil based on the person in which it is relating to. In the reading, it says that “One monster may be particularly loathsome or frightening to one person, but it may hardly strike a chord in another.” (p. 5) This connects to the book because throughout the entire piece, because as a reader you ultimately have to decide if Edward is good or evil. From one point of view, he is a vampire who so desperately wants Bella’s blood and has to resist that urge every time she is around. However, from another point of view, Edward is trying so incredibly hard to resist that urge because he does not want to be a monster to Bella.

Stephanie Meyers creates a story that delivers the content and information to create that internal conflict among the reader to determine if Edward is good or evil. As a reader for me, I found myself constantly going back and forth on this throughout the entire story because yes, he is a vampire, but he also cares about Bella so much that he does everything in his will to resist the urge to drink her blood and harm her. Ultimately, this goes back to Bedford’s reading on how it is up to the individual to determine if a monster is good or bad (evil) and it is their own personal beliefs that are unique to them that creates a monster. 

“But Jacob let go of my hand and yelped, suddenly shaking, falling to the dim forest floor. He twitched on the ground as I watched in horror. ‘Jacob!’ I screamed. But he was gone. In his place was a large red-brown wolf with black eyes. The wolf faced away from me, pointing toward the shore, hair on the back of his shoulders bristling, low growls issuing between his exposed fangs.” (Pages 130-131)

I chose to write about this quote because although this quote is describing a dream Bella is having, I strongly believe that it accurately describes what our society stereotypes as a “monster.” As we discussed in class on Monday, there are many different forms and characteristics that make up a monster. Many of which, are particular to the individual who foresees that object or thing as a monster. We all have our own fears and what constitutes a monster in our eyes, might not in another person’s eyes. In this case, this beast of a wolf that was Jacob in a monster to her because she saw him change from human to wolf, and not only did his physical characteristics change, but as did his demeanor. That can be most frightening of all with monsters is the actions they take towards us. As I mentioned in the beginning, this is only a dream Bella is having in chapter 7, however I found this quote powerful and strongly supporting our conversations in class on Monday. 

This is an example post, originally published as part of Blogging University. Enroll in one of our ten programs, and start your blog right.

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