“Nolite Te Bastardes Carburondorum, bitches.”

i really like fallout because, unlike a lot of media that uses retrofuturism as just a cool aesthetic, fallout’s obsession with 1950s americana actually means something. it’s not just chrome fins and googie diners, it’s weaponized optimism. it’s that sickly-sweet propaganda sheen slathered over nuclear terror, where smiling mascots tell you to duck and cover while the government quietly preps for the end of the world. it’s about a country that believed so hard in its own greatness it signed its death warrant in cursive.

When Phantom is portrayed as a “love story” I always feel like it’s a completely inadequate, misleading statement. The final kiss is not about Christine’s romantic love for the Phantom; he has broken away from the human race and adopted the role of a ghost, or a monster, and her light and warmth and compassion remind him of the burden of humanity. The kiss makes him accept responsibility for the horrific things that he has done; it makes him accept that he is a member of the human race. There is love, of course, but the Phantom does not love Christine until she forces him to acknowledge his humanity- and in forcing him to acknowledge that, she holds him accountable for his actions. He is no longer the troublesome ghost or deformed monster; he is a man who has done terrible things that he will never be able to reverse, but despite it all, Christine finds the strength and compassion to extend an act of kindness to him- to give him something that he was denied his entire life; love in any form. I believe that Christine cares for him, and wants him to be saved from the monster that he has turned himself into to protect himself. I do not believe that she loves him romantically; I simply think that she recognizes what needs to be done for him to accept his role as a person. He had to experience warmth and love and compassion to be saved, not necessarily of a romantic nature, but- as the lyrics state for us- something to show him that he is not alone.

This is so perfect.

Personally I like that Guillermo Del Toro takes the Beauty and The Beast premise that tries to assert the “women exist to tame and benefit men” patriarchal narrative and changes it into two misunderstood people finding companionship with one another after being ostracized by the cruelty of men.