The power of music. If you've read some of my blogs, you may know that I like to draw comparisons to various songs with the Star Wars saga, particularly Pink Floyd songs which I find as deep and meaningful as the saga itself.

And as I get thinking more about music, I begin to imagine that it plays a significant role in not only movies or theatre but in our personal lives as well. Maybe you're a rock star, maybe you're a composer, maybe you're in an orchestra, maybe you just love to listen to music. I know I certainly do. And I also know that music can be an interpretation of how we feel, or even the voicing of those feelings themselves.

And why I think of this is due to recently listening to some songs from The Phantom of the Opera soundtrack. What a rich, deep and mesmerizing work that entire show is. I've seen it live twice in Toronto as well as the movie version a few years ago. And I've listened to the CD countless times. But one song stuck out at me the last little while ... The Music of the Night. What a powerful, haunting and beautiful piece this is. And so relatable to Anakin as well.

The Phantom is singing this song to Christine during the scene, serenading her with his passion for song and expressing his feelings for her, which puts her into a trance. The Phantom has very deep seeded feelings of love within his heart, however damaged it is, and knows the best way to express it is as the music of the night. He wants her to love him back and sing together, to know and accept that love is the truth that he feels in his heart:

Close your eyes for your eyes will only tell the truth
and the truth isn't what you want to see
In the dark it is easy to pretend
that the truth is what it ought to be

Softly, deftly, music shall caress you
Hear it, feel it, secretly possess you
Open up your mind, let your fantasies unwind
In this darkness which you know you cannot fight
The darkness of the music of the night

The phantom knows of his darkness, knows of his potential rage, but he also knows how the music can release him. It will take him and Christine to a whole new world where their spirits truly want to be. A world where music is everywhere, and will caress their souls. But it is still dark, still night because the Phantom knows people would turn away from him because of his disfigured face, his disfigured soul. He thinks Christine will turn away once she lays her eyes upon his visage. He has never known love because of this, but wants to feel it terribly. It's a cold, unfeeling life he has led and only wants the love of Christine.

Which makes me think of Anakin. His music is his undying love for those he holds close to him ... his mother, his wife, even his friend Obi-Wan. But he also sings of the music of the night ... a song that takes him away to a special place in his heart and in his mind, a place that he longs to be. He wants a life where those whom he loves are under his care and protection, where no one else can come in. He wants to steal Padme away to the catacombs under the opera house, much as the Phantom did, to sing his song. But he knows he has to turn away from it, at least in the public eye, because of his devotion to the Jedi Order, just as the Phantom has to turn away from it. And what he didn't know was that there was a darkness surrounding him that would write his song:

Floating, falling, sweet intoxication
Touch me, trust me, savour each sensation
Let the dream begin, let your darker side give in
To the power of the music that I write
The power of the music of the night

You alone can make my song take flight
Help me make the music of the night

Anakin only wanted Padme by his side. He only wanted her to help him write their song together. And he was willing to do anything to make that happen ... including giving in to his darker side. He was so intoxicated by love, so enraptured by his powerful feelings, so haunted by the dreams that were writing his song that he became that which he tried desperately to fight. And gave in to the power of the music of the night.

And he became like the Phantom ... both were hidden by masks from the world. Both felt isolated and unable to reach out to anyone except through the power of rage, fear and destruction. Both used their music of the night to fuel their actions. And both would sing their songs in utter silence. Until one person came along to free their soul. For the Phantom, Christine showed him love and kindness in the last act, which prompted him to release both her and Raoule from his clutches. Because of her kiss, the first loving thing he had ever felt, he set her and himself free. And for Anakin he had Luke to unlock the song that he still held in his heart ... the song that was always there and would set him free.

This shows me that both men were human. That both men were deeply scarred, but also deeply governed by their emotions. That both were on a journey to a new world of self-understanding and acceptance. And that both truly wrote the music of the night.