Great essay! Raoul has become my new favorite character. It just up and blindsided me, and I don't quite know how to deal with it (except for writing fic, of course ^_^). I'm quite fond of RxC too and don't understand why more people aren't into it. Excluding the phantom story, this pairing has all the markings of the quintessential Cinderella Story: classic romance.

And if Raoul's a fop then so is Erik. All that cape-swooshing and aesthetic white masks? Boy likes to make elaborate fashion statements :P

Thanks for the deviantART link. Hilarious! And that was so me at age 14, the first time I saw it on broadway. *facepalm*

Vive le Vicomte! Poor guy gets bashed way too often :(