M. Butterfly

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M. Butterfly
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David Henry Hwang

• Born in 1957 in Los Angeles to immigrants
• Education
• Stanford (graduated 1979)
• Yale School of Drama (1980-1981)
• Most Notable Works
• FOB (Fresh Off the Boat) (1981 Obie Award)
• M. Butterfly (1988 produced on Broadway won a
  Tony)
• 1000 Airplanes on the Roof (1989)
• M. Butterfly the movie (1993 debut as a
  screenwriter and executive producer)
• Golden Gate (1994 screenplay)
• Golden Child (1996/98 3 Tony nominations)  
• The Monkey King (2001 NBC miniseries)

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Background Madame Butterfly

• Based on a story by John Luther Long, adapted for
  the stage by David Belasco
• Giacomo Pucchini developed the opera version
  first performed in 1904 (Date to compare Admiral
  Perrys treaty signed in 1854)
• Film versions
• 1932 Hollywood
• 1955 Italian/Japanese
• 1996 Italian/English
• Inspired works
• Miss Saigon
• M. Butterfly

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Madame Butterfly Characters

• In Puccinis opera, men are men, women women,
  Japanese Japanese, Americans American, as defined
  by familiar narrative conventions.
• -Dorinne K. Kondo

Characters Lt. Benjamin Franklin
Pinkerton American, masculine, strong,
commanding, cold, lustful, brutish Cho-Cho-san/
Butterfly Japanese, feminine, sacrificing,
beautiful, submissive, humble, honorable, exotic
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Background Time Context

• Keep in mind The main scope of M. Butterfly
  takes place starting in 1960. Gallimard returns
  to Paris in 1968 and probably dies in 1970.
• Second Indochina War, 1954-1975
• 1954 France was forced out of Vietnam
• 1954 Geneva Peace Accords Division and
  reunion
• 1960 Communist Party confirmed its use of
  revolutionary violence
• 1968 Paris peace talks begin
• 1973 Cease-fire signed in Paris

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Themes and Ideas in M. Butterfly
How stereotyping Leads us to make
assumptions about individuals Provides us with
roles/identities Seduces us with ideals
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Main Stereotype The Feminine East vs. The
Masculine West
The East
Feminine, traditional, exotic, submissive
Orientals will always submit to a greater
force Here was a Butterfly with little or no
voice but she had the grace, the delicacy I
believed this girl. I believed her suffering. I
wanted to take her in my arms so
delicate protecting her in my big Western
arms
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Main Stereotype The Feminine East vs. The
Masculine West
The West
Masculine, progressive, cruel, controlling
The whole world over, the white man travels,
setting anchor, wherever he likes. Lifes not
worth living, unless he finds, the finest
maidens, of every land Men always believe
what they want to hear The international rape
mentality is basically her mouth says no but
her eyes say yes
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Linked Stereotype Gender Identity
Womens roles are played by men in the Peking
opera because only a man knows how a woman is
supposed to act. -Song
M. Butterfly shows that gender roles provide
people with an identity based on determining the
other and being the opposite. Butterfly is
Renes perfect woman, so he must be the perfect
man. The actual categories of what we consider
to be male and female exist only in our minds as
ways to identify ourselves. The woman that Song
is referring to in the quote is not an actual
woman but the male perception of one which is
used to assert their own gender.
Im a man who loved a woman created by a man.
Everything else simply falls short. -Gallimard
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Role-playing

• While is is obvious that Gallimard and Song took
  on specific stereotypes, what roles did some of
  the more minor characters take on in M.
  Butterfly?
• Helga
• Marc
• Chin

Helga The pretensegoing on your arm to the
embassy ball, visiting your office and the guards
saying, Good morning, good morning, Madame
Gallimardthe pretensewas very good
indeed. Marc Therere a lotta great babes out
there. Theyre probably lookin at me and
thinking, What a dangerous guy. Chin You
always tell me those kind of things, I felt very
bad. But not now! Because what does the Chairman
say? He tells us Im now the smart one youre
now the nincompoop!
Ambassadors wife
Indulgent white man
Loyal servant of Mao
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Seduction by a Fantasy
At what points in the story was Gallimard most
drawn to Song?

• When he first visited her home
• When she wrote the letter stating that she had
  given him her shame
• After he was upset by Toulon and wanted a vessel
  to contain his humiliation

Theres a vision of the Orient that I have. Of
slender women in chong sarns and kimonos who die
for the love of unworthy foreign devils. Who are
born and raised to be the perfect woman. Who take
whatever punishment we give them, and bounce
back, strengthened by love, unconditionally. It
is a vision that has become my life.
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Transformation in M. Butterfly
Butterflies are a symbol of metamorphosis What
transformation took place by the end of M.
Butterfly?
Gallimard and Rene have switched roles My name
is Rene Gallimard also known as Madame Butterfly
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Talking points Gallimards other affair
Bold personality What purpose did she serve
in the story?
-She served as a foil to Song -Cheating on Song
appealed to him because of Songs submissive
nature It was Butterflys tears and silence
that excited me every time I visited
Renee. -Catapulted the relationship between Song
and Gallimard to something near love
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Talking points Homosexuality
Was Gallimard gay?
Hwang Since he probably had at least an idea
that he was sleeping with a man, he was gay to an
extent The perception of homosexuality differs
from culture to culture, showing that it too is a
stereotype Labels like gay or straight are
clumsy
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Talking points Discussion Questions
Was Gallimard a sympathetic character? Can males
today relate to him?
Hwang received some criticism from Asian groups
regarding M. Butterfly. Why do you think this
happened?
Do you think that ideas of Orientalism and
femininity are changing? (Be honest cheerleader
example
What would we think of as the perfect woman in
our society? What are conventional male
fantasies? What do they tell us?
How do you personally relate to stereotypes such
as Orientalism? How big of a part do they play in
your life or the lives of those around you?
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Bibliography

• Alenier, Karren L. "M.Butterfly."
  Culturevulture.net. 9 Sept. 2004. 1 Dec. 2004.
  y.htm
• Deeney, John J. "Of Monkeys and Butterflies
  Transformation in M. H. Kingston's Tripmaster
  Monkey and D. H. Hwang's M. Butterfly." MELUS,
  Vol. 18, No. 4, Asian Perspectives. (Winter,
  1993), pp. 21-39.
• "Hwang." Contemporary Theater and Drama in the
  U.S. 1 Dec. 2004. anglistik/kerkhoff/ContempDrama/Hwang.htm
• Hwang, David Henry. "'M. Butterfly' An Interview
  with David Henry Hwang." by John Louis
  DiGaetani. TDR (1988-), Vol. 33, No. 3. (Autumn,
  1989), pp. 141-153.
• Hwang, David Henry. "M.Butterfly." Life Themes
  Major Conflicts in Drama. Ed. Annie McGregor and
  Robert Barton. Mason, Ohio Thompson custom
  Publishing, 2004. pp. 25-48
• Kondo, Dorinne K. "M. Butterfly orientalism,
  gender and a critique of essentialist identity."
  Cultural critique. Fall 1990. pp. 5-29.
• Lazere, Arthur. "Madame Butterfly - Giacomo
  Puccini." Culturevulture.net. 1 Dec. 2004.
  m
• M.Butterfly. Videocassette. Burbank, CA Warner
  Home Video, 1994, c1993.
• Quillen, Carol. "Feminist Theory, Justice, and
  the Lure of the Human." Signs, Vol. 27, No. 1.
  (Autumn, 2001), pp. 87-122.
• Sun, William H., Faye C. Fei. "Masks or Faces
  Re-Visited A Study of Four Theatrical Works
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• "The Wars for Viet Nam." Vassar College. 1 Dec.
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