But the majority of her time was devoted to understanding the historical periods of each version. She then supplemented her analysis with research written about the original novel or its adaptations.
Phantom of the opera movie versions tv#
Haynes read or viewed and analyzed the original novel, three movie versions, the stage musical, and a TV mini-series, all from different periods of the 20th century. “I dropped the category of the criminal because there wasn’t enough change across the 20th century to be able to make a compelling argument for that, and I really wanted to go deeper with the disability studies and the feminist work.” “I knew I could go a lot deeper into the research I had previously done there were lots of things I wanted to change,” she said. Haynes set her research aside when she came to Richmond, but she was inspired to pick it up again after taking English and film studies courses that built her skills in visual and literary analysis. “Two of the main characters are Christine, who is a woman, and the Phantom, who is a criminal, and a representation of a disabled person because he has facial disfigurement, and I thought that if I looked at those historical trends, it would help explain some of the differences.” “I wanted to look at how attitudes toward women, people with disabilities, and criminals have changed over time and if that would explain some of the changes between the versions,” she said. “I realized that the adaptations could have almost completely different plots and be totally different stories, and I wanted to know why that was.”įor two years in high school, Haynes researched her theory that looking at different versions of Phantom of the Opera through a historical and social lens might explain some of the changes between the versions. “I watched the 1925 silent movie version with Lon Chaney, which was considered to be the first American horror film, and then other films, and discovered how different each interpretation of the original story was,” Haynes said. Phantom of the Opera is based on a novel by Gaston Leroux and there have been many film adaptations of it over the years, in addition to the musical. She wasn’t content to simply listen to the cast album, however she wanted to learn more, and began researching the production’s source material. Like many musical theater fans, the first time Olivia Haynes, ’18, saw Phantom of the Opera, she fell in love with the musical’s story.