For some reason I can’t stop asking why didn’t the Phantom kill Raoul in the musical sometime prior to Final Lair?
This has always perplexed me. In the book, it’s very clear that, because Raoul is leaving on a North Pole expedition, Erik sees no need to trouble himself with killing him. Erik sees Raoul not as a rival but more of a bother, so why would he put unnecessary effort into getting rid of him, when the boy seems perfectly capable of doing so by being lost at the North Pole? Fairly simple.
In the musical, though, Raoul is not leaving on any expedition, and Erik has every opportunity to get rid of him. It would’ve been easy to stage an accident. The obvious answer is “well, it would upset Christine” but as we well know, Erik’s not the best at understanding the basic fact that Christine isn’t a huge fan of murder (see Buquet’s death and Piangi’s extended nap). So I don’t think he would be taking Christine’s emotions into account at all, as he seems incapable of seeing her as a full person until Final Lair.
Now the second obvious answer is “cause it would be a big bummer and break the plot” but we’re talking about story alone so that doesn’t count!
So, why doesn’t Erik kill Raoul prior to Final Lair in the musical? My theories/ideas:
Idea 1: Raoul is a patron of the opera house and therefore helps pay Erik’s salary. Don’t bite the hand that feeds, right? (Possible contributing factor, but not likely)
Idea 2: Erik sees Raoul as a rival and wants Christine to genuinely choose. Erik wants to be chosen rather than forcing her hand. (Most likely)
Idea 3: Erik knows the death of the Vicomte de Chagny, even as an accident, would harm the Opera House’s reputation and/or draw attention away from Christine’s stardom. Especially if it occurred sometime after the chandelier fell, which was already a major accident. (Possible contributing factor, likely)
…Idea 4: Erik has tried. Many times. Raoul keeps evading him like Bugs Bunny.
Let me know what possibilities I missed cause this is getting to me. Yes I’m going too in depth but that’s my specialty!
related to idea 2, I also think there’s a part of Erik that enjoys having a romantic rival, not just to make Christine choose but because it validates his own affections towards Christine if he’s making someone else jealous- and Raoul represents a lesser more artificial affection in contrast with Erik’s “devotion”
The first time I watched Knives Out, I was in nursing school & wondered what I’d think about it when I was a nurse. Now I’m five years into my nursing career, plus with plenty of time in the home health speciality like Marta, and watched the movie again a few nights ago. My overall feelings about the nursing are actually about the same: I could quibble about details but overall the vibe feels right. She feels emotionally authentic. She feels like a nurse. She should have maybe done a respiratory assessment. But also that old man was absolutely so hyped to concoct a mystery. Absolutely jazzed to slit his own throat. Not a good partner in his own care. Patient who definitely wouldn’t use the call light appropriately.
And god can you imagine dealing with his family
You know that hospitalist note starts with something painfully diplomatic that just screams you will be walking into a war zone. “Harlan is an energetic and pleasant 85 year old gentleman with very engaged family support network actively involved in care”
“If Latin America had not been pillaged by the U.S. capital since its independence, millions of desperate workers would not now be coming here in such numbers to reclaim a share of that wealth; and if the United States is today the world’s richest nation, it is in part because of the sweat and blood of the copper workers of Chile, the tin miners of Bolivia, the fruit pickers of Guatemala and Honduras, the cane cutters of Cuba, the oil workers of Venezuela and Mexico, the pharmaceutical workers of Puerto Rico, the ranch hands of Costa Rica and Argentina, the West Indians who died building the Panama Canal, and the Panamanians who maintained it.”
— Juan Gonzalez, Harvest of Empire: A History of Latinos in America (via katelouisepowell)
Literally every single Neuroscience guy I listen to on audiobooks and podcasts: Multitasking is a lie. You are not more efficient. You’re just rapidly switching between tasks and doing all of them slower but your brain is tricking itself into thinking it’s more efficient because you get a little dopamine reward when you activate the ‘change task’ neurons. And you’re burning up way more glucose in the process, leaving you more tired with less done. STOP MULTITASKING. JUST DO ONE THING. PLEASE IT’S ONLY WORSENING YOUR ATTENTION SPAN. WE’RE BEGGING YOU, PLEA–
My ADHD: Don’t listen to them, babydoll. You are sooooooo efficient and attractive. Whoop. You got an email. Whoop you got a text. Whoop you got a blog ask. WOW look at all the tabs open on this window. Do you even remember what they’re all for? Better look through them and close the ones you’re not using because you’re soooo sexy and efficient. Whoop, email again.
“very guilty and problematic client” holy copaganda batman
let’s start parsing who does and doesn’t deserve representation and assign moral weight to agreeing to protect their rights I don’t see how this could possibly go wrong
The purpose of a defence attorney is to make sure the police have done their job. The prosecution says “they did the thing” and the defence says “well can you prove it?” and if they can’t, the defendant goes free because the prosecution fucked up.
All they have to do is their job. As long as they don’t fuck up doing ther job, the guilty will go to prison. The reason the guilty go free so often is because the police are constantly fucking up and not doing their damn job.
It’s very telling that these people can’t really conceive of a situation where they might be wrongfully arrested for something and labeled “very problematic and guilty” and may, in fact, need exactly the kind of legal representation that they’re side-eyeing. Even in the realm of thought experiments there are the categorically “"problematic”“ and they can’t even imagine a world where they could ever be lumped in with them, even wrongfully, because surely people would OBVIOUSLY know they’re innocent, surely this only happens to Others
