a little bit awkward

Although I will never stop telling people to watch the Royal Albert Hall version of Phantom before the movie (or if they’ve only seen the movie) bc it really is a phenomenal production, Raoul’s actor just does not hit the role quite right for me. He plays it very confidently. Whereas Raoul is traditionally extremely babygirl, extremely tender.

& I believe that distinction is important because Raoul & Christine are childhood best friends recently reunited & he generally spends the majority of the show out-of-his-mind terrified for Christine and eventually asks her to endanger herself to catch & defeat her tormentor. A tender Raoul asks her to do this because he believes it’s the only option, and also because he believes in her strength and that she has the power to set the trap that saves herself. Because he’s known her since they were young and he knows how brave she can be even as everyone else thinks she’s mad and powerless. & Because he worships her quite frankly.

but an overly confident Raoul seems dismissive and naively bold, asking her to do something dangerous simply because he’s so confident it will work out. He’s not AFRAID FOR HER!! he just thinks he’s right! It takes so much away from their love!!!

Few romantic exchanges in fiction make me quite as insane as the singular line from the original production’s “All I Ask of You” when Christine says “say you love me” and Raoul replies, “you know I do.”

She’s begging Raoul to take her away and save her from the Phantom and requesting a variety of grand gestures from him until finally it boils down to her only wanting to know he loves her and he delivers the line like breathing. Like he can’t believe she even has to ask but he’s still glad for another opportunity to say so.

Also the repeated “let me” line from him. He’s asking for her permission to love her in return. I’m sick.

That’s Raoul!!!!!!!

Anyway I have to stop typing about this before I become feverish. Listen to them.

#YEAH YES YEAH#a bad raoul can spoil the whole show for me#there certainly IS a valid read of his dialogue that's like... dismissive and shitty and Refusing To Listen to christine#and I KEEP! SEEING PRODUCTIONS THAT DO THAT! AND I HATE THEM!!!#he HAS to be tender he HAS to love her sincerely and gently and on her own terms as a cointerpoint to the phantom's entitled domineering#or else WHAT IS THE FUCKING POINT OF HIM#as an adult I can recognize why so many people hate the movie but this might be the big reason I'm still so soft on it lol#raoul my sweet boy raoul... 🥺 via @blujayonthewing

YOU GET IT!! Raoul’s and love character exist as the Phantom’s foil. "he HAS to love her sincerely and gently and on her own terms" EXACTLY EXACTLY! A lot of people interpret Raoul's insistence that there is no Phantom as a dismissal of Christine's torment. That's often the fault of the production. Raoul doesn't doubt for a MOMENT that a very real figure is grooming and baiting Christine. But Christine believes that figure is a literal angel sent by her dead father, and therefore infallible. She's terrified to doubt the Phantom's command 1. Because it would mean doubting her father's love and 2. He's killing people for disobeying him.

She's obeying the Phantom not just for her own sake, but to protect everyone else in the opera house. Because she's brave!!! She would rather be damned than doom anyone else. She also tells Raoul he can't save her because an angel/phantom can't be defeated.

Raoul tells her there is no Phantom, because the figure is just a man. He's not gaslighting her. He's telling her there's hope. That the Phantom is just some fucked up dude that they're going to stop together. But doing so is going to ask a lot of Christine.

If Raoul's actor doesn't play Raoul on his knees, caressing her hands and bequeathing this of her, begging her to play this active role in saving herself and everyone else while acknowledging how much he’s asking of her, his entire character falls flat, lost.

A Raoul who plays the role as "I know best, Christine. Stop being scared. He's just some guy," ruins Raoul! Because now he's just another man telling Christine what's best for her while putting her in harm's way! TRAGEDY!!!!

That... would legitimately change the entire way I've always looked at Raoul, in the best way. All the versions I've seen, he's come across as dismissive and condescending. "Yes, yes, I know you're scared, but I know best." Which is why I've always had a hard time getting behind his and Christine's relationship. (Not that I thought she should end with the The Phantom either. I've always been vaguely either "She doesn't need either of them." or "Have you considered lesbianism? Meg seems very nice and supportive.")

But this... this would change the whole vibe for the better and would actually make me like Raoul.

Yes!!! Andrew Lloyd Webber wrote that man in the show's climax with a literal noose around his neck, begging Christine through song to let him die in exchange for her own freedom. The Phantom captures Raoul with the noose and offers to spare his life if Christine leaves with the Phantom, and we get Raoul's lyrics, "For pity's sake, Christine, say no!"

And then begs Christine for HER forgiveness. He would rather die than see her trapped with her tormentor, but he knows Christine is brave and heroic and will sacrifice herself for him, and he hates himself for putting her in that position, so he sings,

"Christine forgive me, please forgive me. I did it all for you...and all for nothing."

He admits his plan failed, and by extension he failed her. All while begging the Phantom for her freedom, "why make her lie to you to save me?!"

And actors and directors are still like, "hmmmm. Play this man as dissmissive, domineering, and self-involved. that's what the people want."

The character they preent doesn't match the words he's saying!!

I'm sick!!!

It is what it is *throws up*

So no one told you life was gonna be this way *Phantom of the Opera overture*

Romeo + Juliet (1996) Directed by Baz Luhrmann

why is trying to make a new friend so embarrassing. hi. me again. asking for your attention once more even though i am literally just some random person to you. it's because i want to be not just a random person to you. please understand

The Ballet Rehearsal on Stage, Edgar Degas 1874

I'm cryinnggggg

This tattoo is very funny when you know that kerning is the fancy term for the space between letters. Very important in text design to get it right.

This remains one of the most clever applications of ink I have seen.

@systlin I blame you for getting me into spinning, which got me into dyeing, which got me back into crochet. Behold my magnums opus: the solar system shawl!

The planets and asteroid belt grey were dyed by a lovely dyer on Etsy (nikkislipp) but I dyed the sun and the starry background myself. It was fiddly tying so many knots for all the colour changes but it was absolutely worth it.

Includes all the planets + dwarf planets, with four of the dwarf planets being represented just in their respective asteroid belts, and Pluto getting the same treatment as normal planets because I did a project on Pluto in sixth grade and am therefore deeply attached.

@swords-n-spindles

Oh that is SO COOL!

“Madeleine Silarjuangat” This is the last large solar system I made. I created it for a custom order so I personalised it with my client who offered it to his wife for her birthday last year ♥️ This embroidery is called “Madeleine Silarjuangat”, which means “Madeleine’s world” in Inuit. My client lives in Canada, he wanted to name his embroidery after his wife, the Inuit language has a rich history of stars and legends about life above. Thank you again Kirt! I hope to have more opportunities like this to create more unique and custom orders, it is always very interesting and challenging for me to have to work directly for a client. “Madeleine Silarjuangat” Hand embroidery. Unique piece. Custom order. 32 cm diameter. DMC embroidery thread, cannetille, Swarovski crystal beads, 24kt gold-plated beads, stone beads and glass beads on linen. Wooden frame. https://www.etsy.com/fr/shop/OphelieTrichereau I take custom orders. #embroidery #broderie #planets #solarsystem #universe #scienceart #spaceart #embroiderer #theearth #thesun #sun #mars #jupiter #saturn #cosmosartwork #handembroidery #ophelietrichereau #solarsystemembroidery #sunartwork #soleilart #planetembroidery #universeartwork #astronomyart #dmcembroidery #astroembroidery #astronomylovers #spaceembroidery #cosmicart #outerspaceart #galaxyembroidery

[ID: An embroidery hoop of circles forming a solar system, with a large sun, various planets, and some beads to represent stars.]

Truly something how comforting the LOTR movies continue to be after 20 years and eighty million watches.

Also deeply glad that they made this trilogy a) before the era of irony-poisoned grimdark, as I shudder to think what it would be post-GOT, and b) when cinematographers believed in letting us fucking see what was going on in night battle scenes.

I'm obsessed with this actually

Dominic Monaghan and Billy Boyd in Rosencrantz & Guildenstern Are Dead.

This animation without the filter because it fucked with the framerate for some reason (this isn't the intended look otherwise, but bleh)

im sure most of you dont give a flying dick tit about godzilla shit but this model and now animation is the first thing ive made and was kinda proud of in a long time .

WAIT YOU MADE THIS?

idk probably

im worried that the reason you're getting less attention than you deserve is that this looks like it was clipped out of a Movie, and not one of the lower budget ones

2,840,658 polys

i make my rigs myself

dont do this to me

actually kind of ticks me off a little because this is an excellent example of what is probably my favorite editing technique, Match Cutting

Note how the Tom and Jerry footage cuts right on the impact frame, going strait to the impact in the anime footage, and how care is taken to maintain the same direction of the momentum in both, creating a feeling of connection between the sources, even when the quality of video and styles of animation couldn't be more different.

This is a technique that happens all the time in filmmaking, one of my favorite examples is this scene from the Kingdom Hearts 2 opening, which is recapping events from Chain of Memories, cleverly using match cutting to show two important fights that happened at about the same time as each other.

And going back to the original video, not only is it satisfying to look at, but it also (albeit probably unintentionally) illustrates the ways in which western and eastern animation have basically always been in conversation with each other. Classic Tom and Jerry is (at least in my opinion) the pinnacle of slapstick comedy, with it's excellent animation capable of selling punchy and hilarious impacts. Take this shot for example:

A slow build up, as Tom shaves the log down into a bat, followed by a sudden impact on the dog. It works because it starts slow, and hits fast, and that is the basis of all slapstick comedy. And the wonderful thing about slapstick is that unlike other forms of comedy, like puns or observational humor, it requires no translation. Tom and Jerry in particular almost always depicts a David and Goliath struggle, a clever underdog against a large and powerful opponent, which is relatable and understandable to all audiences, and easily localized due to the shorts having little to no dialogue, thus explaining why the series is beloved throughout the world. It's been referenced in manga and anime from Stardust Crusaders to Fruits Basket!

And that brings us back to Anime. Slapstick is a huge part of the humor in tons of series, to the point where it even bleeds into some of it's tropes. Just think of one of the classics, a character finds himself in a compromising situation with one of the girls, and what happens as a result? (for some reason this outdated meme was the best example I could find as an isolated clip im so sorry)

This scene from the same series is practically a slapstick sketch in and of itself:

And of course, that same level of power initially developed for comedy proved itself highly effective for action, and nowadays anime action scenes are well known for their moments of high impact, utilizing the same animation techniques

tl;dr: Without even meaning to, by tying together the western slapstick comedy of the past and the eastern action sequences of the present, this meme edit is a celebration of how far we've come. And that's pretty cool.