I’ve never gone to any opera before, but I’ve heard a lot of interesting things about them. Like how they’re filled with the elite, pretentious and well dressed, elderly folks. I’ve also heard that opera is dying out and losing its big name because it fails to target the younger and non-upper class audiences. I went to the Metropolitan Opera House a few days ago for the first time to see Carmen with all of these stereotypes already in my head, just to find that such generalized perceptions of the opera are actually quite deceiving.

Carmen was essentially all about some beautiful and hard-to-get woman (obviously named Carmen), who manipulates men to get what she wants. One second she declares her love for someone, the next she gets bored and moves on. Frankly, Carmen was successfully able to piss me off, along with the other men that she was driving crazy. She was extremely demanding, making Don Jose fall head over heels for her and then asking him to run away with her and forget all of his responsibilities as a loyal soldier. And when she finally got what she wanted, she had the nerve to tell him to go back home because her love for him was fading.

Even though I felt bad for Don Jose, he too was no better than Carmen. One minute he was declaring his love for Micaela and how he was going to marry her, and the next minute, he falls in love with Carmen! (Men…and they say women are the complicated ones.)

I have to admit, during the first 20 minutes of the opera, I was falling asleep because nothing really drastic had yet transpired. But then when Carmen and Micaela were introduced, I was immediately drawn to their characters. Carmen has a lot of pizazz and feistiness to her. All the men were craving her, but she ignored them and did her thing. I think that Carmen symbolized female power, and therefore, this opera would truly appeal to many feminists. Conversely, Micaela was Carmen’s foil. It seemed as if she was desperate for Don Jose’s love, which was obviously unrequited. She had a beautiful voice, so strong and harmonious (I think I liked her more than Carmen).

The ending, in my opinion, didn’t come as a shocker because Carmen’s death was previously foretold when she and her friends were reading their fortunes. The death was very Shakespearean if you ask me, a mix of Othello and Romeo and Juliet. Hence, this opera would also appeal to a fan of Shakespearean literature.

Admittedly, I do have to concur with the stereotype that the rich people view the opera more because the sad truth of the mater is that opera tickets are very expensive. But I don’t feel like the opera, however, is only meant for the elderly and educated. An opera is more like a movie, except instead of talking as the main form of dialogue, people sing. And everyone watches movies, so why should the audience for an opera be any different? Additionally, operas aren’t only for people who speak a certain foreign language, but for everyone because usually opera houses provide English subtitles. Would I go to see Carmen again? Probably not; but would I go to see another opera again? Most definitely!