The Phantom of the Opera - Movie Analysis

In the movie The Phantom of the Opera, a man is damaged psychological problems that are caused by numerous actions of himself and the world around him. His behaviors may be explained through psychoanalytic, behavioral, cognitive, humanistic, and sociocultural perspectives.

Through the psychoanalytic perspective we can see how the Phantom’s childhood has influenced his behavior. The movie displayed the Phantom as a young boy in a traveling circus. He was abused and used to frighten and entertain people in a cage. He was called “The Devil’s Child” and was mocked by children and adults. The movie also depicted that the Phantom was physically beaten as a child. All of these actions may have an influence on his negative behavior. When the phantom killed the gypsy as a child he ran away and lived in the cellar of the basement. Since that moment he knew nothing of the outside world which may have caused him to not go through many of the stages of life that people should go through. He feared losing Christine and did not want to be alone. He made threats to make her stay with him so that he may be loved and wanted. He also desires Christine and says, “Anywhere you go, let me go too. Christine, that’s all I ask of you.” He also says, “This lonesome gargoyle who burns in hell but secretly yearns for heaven,” and “this repulsive carcass that seems a beast but yet secretly dreams of beauty.” These quotes from the movie explain that the phantom desires a different life and wishes he was loved and beautiful. The psychoanalytic perspective tells us that these things may cause the Phantom to be extremely aggressive and dysfunctional.

The behavioral perspective shows us how reinforcement and punishment affected the Phantom’s behavior. The Phantom wore a mask to disguise his face because of the way people reacted to it. When he wore the mask it gave him positive reinforcement to continue to hide his face. Growing up, he was punished and abused for the way he looks and was forced into a traveling circus which caused him to be angry and full of vengeance towards the world.

The Phantom’s perceptions influenced his behaviors through the cognitive perspective. He felt that the world did not care about him exclaiming, “The world shows no compassion for me!” Which he felt gave him the right to kill. He often thought irrationally by killing to get his way and believing and saying that the opera house belonged to him. An example of his irrational