EAN: 9780452272590

M BUTTERFLY - DAVID H HWANG KARTONIERT (TB)

M. Butterfly  a play by Henry David Hwang  cleverly manipulates stereotypes about race  gender
and sexuality from the Puccini's Opera  Mme Butterfly. In Mme Butterfly  an American serviceman
buys a Vietnamese wife for a price equivocal to pocket change. She is the epitome of the doting
submissive Asian stereotype. The American boasts that  like a Butterfly  the woman is so tame
that she'll eat from his hand. During his stint in her country  she bears a baby boy. Yet  soon
afterwards  the man is sent back to the United States  leaving the heartbroken wife waiting for
his return. Finally  when she realizes that he is lost forever  she commits suicide so that at
least her son will have a better life. In a heart wrenching scene  the small boy is retrieved
by the American's new wife. Her unfailing love and her sacrifice are glorified. Yet  Hwang
challenges this submission by playing upon this first M. abbreviation  using the french
Monsieur instead of the opera's Madame. In Hwang's play  Song  an assertive Chinese opera
singer  asks the American  and the reader  to reconsider his favorite fantasy  that of the
submissive Oriental woman and the cruel white man. She asks him  and her reader  to reconsider
-Consider it this way: what would you say if a blonde homecoming queen fell in love with a
short Japanese businessman? ... However  presumably  Song becomes the American serviceman's
Butterfly. Hong illustrates how his confidence  which was weak beforehand  grows because the
newfound feelings of superiority that the relationship provides. Yet  as the play progresses 
Hwang adds several surprise twists that border on the bizarre to dispel these misconceptions
about race aand gender.

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