Re:Adapted

4. Phantom of the Paradise and Pop Culture Bleed

Re:Adapted

Show Notes

In 1974, Brian de Palma hadn't yet made Carrie, Scarface, or the Untouchables. But he did make a version of Phantom of the Opera that merged fiction and current events alike into something a lot of people didn't quite know what to do with. So I'm going to get pretentious and talk about zeitgeist, post-modernism, and pastiche. Warning: Today's film (and to a lesser degree, the episode) contains elements of violence, sexual abuse, suicide, drugs, and other 70s excesses. I don't go into detail but they're mentioned. Reach out to me at my website, https://www.readaptedpodcast.com or at readaptedpodcast on gmail/instagram/facebook/tiktok or readaptedpod on twitter. Or join my Patreon at https://www.patreon.com/ReAdapted.

More from Re:Adapted

Feb 27, 2025

The grand finale! In which I wrap things up and wax rhapsodic over what all these adaptations may or may not mean, what it means to me, and what's happening next!

Nov 14, 2024

After the worldwide popularity of Andrew Lloyd Webber's musical, a film version was inevitable. But the sequel? That's another story entirely. Today we'll get into what the casting of Gerard Butler and the collaboration of Joel Schumacher meant for the movie, and how Lloyd Webber entered into a Freudian battle with his past self to create "Love Never Dies."

Sep 13, 2024

In the 1980s and 90s, horror was big money, so perhaps it was inevitable that multiple adaptations would crop up to take advantage of the trend. But the Dwight Little and Dario Argento Phantoms, played by Robert Englund and Julian Sands respectively, took the character in two new, and very different, directions. Today we'll explore the horror versions of our beloved Phantom, as sex and death become the focus.

Jun 6, 2024

Despite the fact the Lloyd Webber musical's popularity would dominate Phantom fandom for the rest of time, other strains of the story were still percolating. Today we're looking at two directions the story was taken in on opposite sides of the world: into family melodrama by Arthur Kopit and Maury Yeston, and into a romantic revolutionary tale in China by Ma-Xu Weibang in Song at Midnight.

May 23, 2024

The Lloyd Webber musical was so big, we needed two episodes to cover it! Here we dissect a few reasons why it affected people so deeply, and look at some of the consequences of that popularity: more works based on the story, an active fandom rising with the coming of the internet, and what I see as a complete shift in our relationship with the title character.

See all episodes →