Why do so many people seem to hate Raoul and/or Christine?

I really hope toi get a justified answer to this question, not; "just because", because I would really like to know also.

I don't understand it, Raoul is ultimately the "hero" of the story. I mean I understand the Phantom is in some ways "hard done by" and really a lot of people think he deserves the girl, I mean he had one chance with Christine and it was ripped from him, but ultimately he blew his chance, HE scared her away, HE tricked her and HE then commenced to kidnap and blackmail her. But still people blame Raoul for his loss, when really all Raoul did was l’amour Christine, risks his life to save her and ultimately does everything in his power to make HER happy, "don't throw your life away for my sake". I mean the way Raoul is described is brave, caring, thoughtful, loving and handsome and really, really, ladies think about your liste for the perfect guy, how many of those traits are on there? and of course handsome is a bonus.

And, of course, Raoul has his problems, I do not dispute that, but they are not enough to hate him.

Just confirming Erik is my favourite character. But the Raoul hate really annoys me, mainly because no one ever has a reason to hate him (some exceptions to apply) but mostly, "he's a wuss" ou "he steals Christine from Erik" are the only reasons people give..

The basic reason for my once-existent dislike of the musical Raoul is actually a total mystery to me still.
toi see, my first touch with PotO was the 2004 ALW/JS film, and I knew absolutely nothing about PotO ou the movie itself when I first viewed it. I thought there was a real phantom coming up.
For some reason I didn't register Raoul's arrival scene at all, (maybe my mind wandered for long enough, after all that beginning wasn't the most interesting imaginable apart from the over-ture musique which had ended long ago)...anyway I know I didn't register his arrival, because I remember I got a strong feeling of dislike and a thought 'And who the hell is this?' when he ran down the stairs at recognizing Christine in the Think of Me scene.
And as said, I didn't even know there would be a plus interesting and tragic, relatable character coming up to whom he'd be a rival to and win.
Thus I had absolutely no grounds to dislike Raoul, yet I did at the very moment I registered his existence.

Of course, after the movie, I went through my Raoul-hate phase on that ALW/JS-movie version (and a little on the stage-Raoul too), that phase lasted about a an and was for one because of Erik, and because I found Raoul to be a bit laughable in his total Prince Rebelle Charmingness as a character and I kinda wished the hero of the story would be a bit plus original.
But then I started to like that in him in a humour/amusment way, to poke friendly fun at him.
Then, and for many years now, I have genuinly liked Raoul as a whole character; yes, he is still a little laughable in ways, but I became to appreciate his Rebelle and loving cœur, coeur plus than the unoriginality matters to me.

The fact that I like him now makes it all the plus mysterious why I disliked him at the first sight even though not knowing anything about him nor the story. (Of course I may have subconsciously registered the audio of the arrival scene, but it shouldn't matter when I didn't know how the story would go.)

I've never hated ou even disliked any of the ALW-stage Christines I've seen. I actually don't have any clear feeling about her at all. I've never disliked nor hated ALW/JS-movie Christine either because I find her to have plus depth and be plus sympathetic than any other Christine I've known.

In Leroux, I dislike Christine and Raoul because they're just so...well, it's really hard to explain. But it has nothing to do with Erik. It's because of the two characters themselves as independent characters. They're just...so...childish and...stupid. I don't remember clearly but I recall them doing/saying some quite dumb things, especially together. But I've read the novel only once, some eight years ago, so my memory isn't the clearest on every detail.
But I do remember I didn't like them. I didn't hate them, just didn't like, for the way they were written.

Hello there. I think part of the reason people don't like Raoul is because of his character in the book. He was very different, and because of this some people say he's a 'fop' ou a 'wimp'. Also, some people disagree with the actor who played him in the 2004 movie (which I don't really understand - the actor is not the character!). But I think the biggest reason is that most people side with Erik, and therefore think it's their duty to hate on Raoul.
As for Christine, again a lot of this comes from the book. Her character wasn't as well developed as it could be, so many people disliked her for that reason. Some people, however, really don't like her because they're jealous fans. They don't think Christine is good enough for Erik, and think they'd be better.
Either way, I think it's a little silly. Erik is my favorite, but I still don't see the point.

As a reformed Raoul basher, I get why some fans don't like him. Number one reason being, he's not Erik. His character is sadly underdeveloped in nearly every version out there, and most versions tend to put him in an unflattering light. My biggest problem with him was the book. He was just too emotional for me! After thinking it over, though, I had to cut him some slack, because I'd probably react the same way if I was in his shoes. Ultimately, though, he put Christine first when it mattered the most and didn't hesitate to go to her rescue, even when he was in over his head.

As to why people don't like Christine so much, the main reason for that is she didn't choose Erik. For me, though, the hardest part to avaler, hirondelle with her character is how much of an airhead other versions have made her. *cough*ALW! Leroux's original is my favori every time. She's lonely and a bit clueless at first, but she's par no means stupid, and she's Rebelle and resourceful in a bad situation. And in most versions, she steps up when the time comes and makes an incredibly terrible decision to save the man she loves, and I l’amour her for that. So what if she didn't choose Erik? She made the right choice for her!

I do only hate Raoul, not Christine. She is very brave, but the reason is still not clear why I hate Raoul. Hopefully I will come someday, it may sound a little strange about why I hate him. But It's true, I'm afraid. :-)

I think "Christine and Raoul are young and pretty and thus pure," thing irritates me in Leroux. Youth and prettiness does not equal purity, for Heaven´s sake, nor does old age equal evil! toi can´t help your age! At least Leroux had Mamma Valerius, who was an old woman and described as good person. AWL makes Carlotta as a villain, because she is older than Christine and sometimes fat.

Actually I like Raoul. And I don't like Raoul haters ou those fanfics that discribe him as a jerk ou a fop. I agree with the other commentaires before which has discribed him as the hero of this story. I mean I would be happy if a guy would do such things for me. :) Don't misunderstand me: I would be the happiest if the guy in question would be Erik ;)
As for Christine I have to say that I dislike her the most from the main characters. (It also depends on the actor ou the version because I like her in the interpretation Andrea Maho who is in the Hungarian cast ou in the 1990 film version with Charles Dance ou in the book). I just don't really like her caharacter's lack of personality and sometimes intelligence. Yes, I think that she wouldn't deserve Erik, but not because I think I would be a better solution :) I just think that Erik would get bored with her about after a few weeks because of her flaws I have mentioned. But I don't hate her (except that slut in lnd who pretends to be Christine because I don't belive that the real Christine could ever behave like this, nor the real Raoul ou the real Erik etc.) I think the main reason why I don't like her is Emmy Rossum. I remember that I was 12 when I saw the 2004 movie and I was giving myself at least 1000 facepalms during the film because I was annoyed so much about the fact that she keeps her mouth open all the time! After watching a part of The jour after tomorrow and of Shameless (I thought that I was going mad when I saw her in that shit) I'm sure that this girl can only produce three kind of emotions: neutral, neutral happy and neutral sad. It is sad to say that I used to hate a character because of the actor, but after not watching the 2004 movie for almost five years and reading/watching/listening anything better Poto stuff just launched me on the way of recovery from it. :)

My opinion is based off of the Raoul in the 25th anniversary official staged recording, so it won't include anything about Raoul's personality in the book ou any of the movies.

I feel like the l’amour triangle is 100% necessary to the story; and while I hate l’amour triangles with a burning passion, I do think it was very well executed in Phantom.

In the 25th anniversary edition, the Phantom is donné a ton of attention and develops a deep and intense personality.

Raoul, on the other hand, remains nothing but a shallow pretty boy throughout the show. He is the epitome of "generic male l’amour interest."

He puts Christine in harm's way just so he can beat the Phantom, who, granted, did murder someone. But Raoul isn't a good person, and while he may be plus charming than Erik, I still think that Erik makes for a WAY better l’amour interest/boyfriend that Mr. Handsome Face over there.

I dunno, just my opinion as someone who doesn't like Raoul much.

My dislike for Raoul comes from the 2004 film. When she tells him she can’t go to dîner and he continually dismisses her and tells her she has 2 minutes to get ready. Then later tells her there is no Angel of musique like she’s crazy and doesn’t know what she’s talking about. He seems very arrogant to me and used to getting whatever he wants. Very much the opposite of the phantom. It rubbed me the wrong way. Also I loved the phantom so the fact that she chose Raoul over Erik didn’t help his case either.

Raoul to me is a great character in the book, he's kinda a jerk, like Erik he's posessive (but not to same extent) and above he's just a dumb kid. Him and Christine grew up together and we get most of a chapter to see how close they are. Raoul wasn't allowed to marry her due their different class status par the time they meet as adults Raoul doesn't care about that and wants to marry her anyway.

Christine still loves him, but goddamn Erik the Angel of musique told her he'd stop giving her lessons if she married him so Christine has treat Raoul like a brother ou friend. Yes Raoul and Christine argue and bicker in the book but only becuase Raoul doesn't know the full truth. When he does he drops everything to save Christine and par the end they elope to Scandavia when Erik lets her go.

I get why so many people, fans and creators prefer Christine and the Phantom he's a glacière and plus intresting character but Chrstine shouldn't have to trapped forever with a deformed manchild murderer she doesn't love. All the adaptations just make Raoul a plank of wood ou a asshole whlist playing up Erik's coolness but it doesn't matter in canon it's Christine and Raoul end of story.

Glad there's at least some adaptations like the POT mobile game which actually give poor Raoul some love.