The Most Whitewashed Character In Literary History

Lindsay Ellis: everything inevitably leads back to Transformers or Phantom of the Opera

Listening to Abi's old voice after the recent appearance of the Arsonist is very jarring

I can understand not wanting to portray a stereotype character, but my solution would be to remove the stereotypes rather than the character. Especially since, like you said, he's not overly stereotyped in the source material.

It is quite funny listening to this video regarding Persia and the Ottoman empire on how they were 'pseudo-colonized' and how it was done because 'they needed jesus'. The reason it is funny is when you actually realize that the Ottoman empire was expanding into Europe essentially because 'they needed Muhammed'. Hell, Hagia Sophia which is the 'Grand Mosque' in Istanbul wasn't built as a Mosque, it was a Church before the area fell to the Ottoman empire and was converted into a mosque. You also had the muslim invasion of Spain. Just found it funny because when the tables were turned on the Ottoman empire they were suddenly victims. The reality is that it just happened in a slightly more recent timeperiod than the Spanish reconquista, so it is 'bad'.

I've only seen one good daroga adaptation... And it's in an obscure frankenstein x poto mashup webcomic in which frankenstein's monster becomes the phantom. Its just funny that the thing you'd think would be the most absurd and far from the original material actually references it hard and includes the character. Like come on, it's not that hard. But it seems the only way of him making an appearance is by fan works and relatively small artists, even now.

Is this an excuse to share the comic I like but no one knows about? Yes. I am sorry. No actually I'm not. It's called Fantomestein, by Beka Duke/thedrawingduke. Its a fun comic, especially if you read the books. (also if anyone reads this and has recommendations or knows another work with the Persian to comment on, I'd appreciate it :))

Man, YT without Lindsay’s insights is still boring

Is that Abi Thorne as the phantom? I am in love

Love this Chanel, makes my work day go so fast.

I do love phantom of the opera ❤

As someone who has read The Sheik more than once, I....would not call it a romantic comedy 😬
It's a fine addition to the 'Mindbreak' tag

While rewatching this, I started to wonder if a documentary-style adaptation of The Phantom of the Opera would work, considering the book's original style of narrative.

Erik being outraged about "legalized rape" is hilarious, seeing as France didn't outlaw marital rape until 2006. 😂

Cultural appropriation is a matter of perspective. Does someone have to be of a different descent than those who originally made those things for it to be cultural appropriation? Or does one merely have to be disrespectful in the use of those things and ideas. And what about derivatives of said things? Is it cultural appropriation when a dress that is inspired by the patterning on traditional middle eastern garb is worn by a white european? What about food? Are the many versions of barbecue found in America forms of cultural appropriation if not made by those who's ancestors endured the bonds of slavery?

A lot of people arent upset by the idea that some things are off limits; Rather, its that where the lines are drawn are often arbitrary and amorphous, and often do the people of the culture that is being appropriated not even agree on where the line is.

The harems I hate are fictional not real

The fact the Persion got so easily erased or, as in Kay's version, slandered is so mind-boggling even just on an entertainement point of view. Like, it's something that no version ever managed to capture how the original novel, in his retelling of these "extraordinary" events managed to even result as histerically funny:
The Phantom appears at the dinner the old managers have with the new ones and other people, and doesn't do anything but sit among the guests ominously for the whole evening!
Also he sometimes scares the ballet rats, just for funsies!
There's a Persian ex-sleuth who routinely talks with the mass murderer who lives underground beneath the Opera House, gets almost drowned in an attempt to reaching his house by his mad scuba-murdering antics and gets called a boobie by said man!
There's a wholeass secret black-op agent in the corridors beneath the theater that no one knows anything about and, no we got stuff to do, we're not gonna mention him anymore!

Honestly the day we get a decent adaptation of his novel is the day Leroux rests in peace.

Why does that "oooooh, I see," at the end sound exactly like The Hitcher telling us how he got his giant thumb?

"Nadir Khan"? That's not even a Persian name though. How hard would it have been to have found a real Persian name? Even 'Reza,' cliched though that choice would have been, would've still been better.

Does Lindsey Ellis realise that the Ottoman Empire itself was a major colonising slave power? Lord Byron went over there to help free the Greeks from its grasp.

The Webtoon Ghost on the Roof does have a non-whitewashed Persian! He is mostly a ✨mysterious✨ person who usually interacts with the phantom at this point, but he is there. Also the way singing is illustrated is just beautiful

Eric being the absolute most enlightened defender of women in Phantom despite literally kidnapping, drugging, and coercing a teenager into marriage is one of the funniest possible things.

Man I can understand having a Frasier poster in your opera basement since I actually kinda like that show but season one? Man, what are you doing, that's like liking Grammar now or failing to recognize David Hyde Peirce as the clearly superior performer in every respect that he was and always has been

Like, geez

It's almost like the kidnapping murderer is supposed to be bad or something

In going so hard on the “HEEEELLLL” I feel like we’ve missed out in the beauty that is the “this is the choice! This is the point of no retuUuUUuUuuURn”

I'm morbidly curious about Susan Kay's Phantom book, so I ordered a copy today.

Being a persian phantom fan is a hell of a ride. But we’ve got ramin karimloo in our court, so there’s that

There's an online webcomic called Ghost on the Roof that sticks pretty close to the novel, and the Daroga is in it and he's pretty great. The whole comic is in my opinion one of the best adaptations of the novel.

The Fraiser poster in Erik's lair is sending me

He sounds like Stampy

Back here because Orientalism was mentioned in my lecture on the Ottoman Empire... This video is relevant, I swear

Sigh. I have that badly animated adaptation of the Phantom of the Opera on VHS somewhere. The Persian was my favourite character in that movie and still is. That man had his shit together like a boss!

...wait, "Nadir Khan"? Nadir = "the lowest point" and Khan = leader. Nadir Khan = the worst leader?

where's minecraft steve?!

nearby every promotional material of minecraft shows steve with a much lighter skin tone than he has in the game

My high school econ teacher had us watch "Not Without My Daughter". The performance of noted Persian actor Alfred Molina was deeply educational. 😅😅

The last minute-ish of the vid, listening to your guest-voice actors break into laughter reading the melodramatic dialogue, set to the scenes of various Phantom's dance-offs, that perhaps unintentionally ero-esque hug-on-ice, and generalized wangsting was...
.
Is there a word for something that's so bad it's good and then bad again? Those scenes... the narrator's laughter, I laughed along with, but at the same time, the cringe was strong with those clips and I feel strangely unsettled and confused now. o__O

I've never cared about PotO enough to see it, despite watching multiple vlogs and reading ThinkPieces centered around it. But thanks to this vid (which idk how I missed it, earlier), I'm seriously considering reading the original novel (well, a translation of it). Sounds like the many more-or-less fumbling attempts at reinterpretations and fandom fanon has been doing the reputation of the source material a real disservice, and the original work may be much higher quality than I thought.

♥️♥️♥️

I clicked the video hoping i would get a Phantom of the Opera roast but i find a American who defended my ancestors

Masked man who sings who's kind of an incel and plots to blow up the place he lives in. The Riddler is the new Phantom

Excuse me.... ma'am..... PHANTOM ON ICE!?

Not a Phantom fan, nor do I know much about orientalism, but I thoroughly enjoyed your commentary nonetheless. Very articulate. Thanks.

he's bad for OTHER REASONS *beneath a moonless night starts playing"