M. Butterfly : a Poststructuralist Approach

1) Image Society Q & A

2) as metatheatre & as parody

3) role play: 1) power relations; 2) identity construction; 3) fiction and history

4) Orientalism and the other discourses in the play; MB as a self-deconstructing play

Image Society: Q & A1. Why are we surrounded or bombarded by

images? How is this related to postmodernism, poststructuralism and postmodernity?

2. What are the consequences of the domination of images?

3. Do you agree with my interpretation of The Living Mall?

4. Do you think that a pastiche like Moulin Rouge is a-historical or merely “spectacular? How about “Losing My Religion”?

M. Butterfly as metatheatre

“"Metatheatre" is a convenient name for the quality or force in a play which challenges theatre's claim to be simply realistic -- to be nothing but a mirror in which we view the actions and sufferings of characters like ourselves, suspending our disbelief in their reality. ” (source) (more definition of metafiction)

metatheatre

Marks those frames and boundaries that conventional dramatic realism would hide.

we are forced to acknowledge the estranging frame, or break the frame of the "fourth wall" of conventional theatre, reaching out to assault the audience or to draw it into the realm of the play

Thus calls attention to the strangeness, artificiality, illusoriness, or arbitrariness of theatre and also the life we live in (source)

M. Butterfly metatheatrical elements?

Direct address to the audience:pp. 4; 7; 9

Stage direction –

1) mixing of the Chinese and western elements

p. 1; elements of Chinese opera Sc 9; the ending

2) Multiple space; multiple text/power relations e.g. 57

3) costume change: pp. 14 role-play

Characters as (writers and) performers

Pinkerton -- Gallimard, Marc – Sharpless

Chin – Suzuki; Song – Cio-Cio Sang;

M. Butterfly metatheatrical elements?

Purposes of the ‘meta’ aspects: Life as performances of different roles

(subject position provided by discourses) which are defined in terms of each other.

-- Madame Butterfly performed and adapted to his version of the story. The problem is that he is not the only “author.”

-- conflicting versions of “history” --in the play and in history.

Critique of Butterfly a stereotype of “Oriental woman”

M. Butterfly: a critical parody of Orientalism (definition)

examples of Westerner view of the Chinese:

Helga – pp. 18 “old”; MB; martial art;

Gallimard’s gaining power p. 36 –38; his inside knowledge 45;

parody of Madame Butterfly?

MB included (e.g. 5-8; 13; 42 ) and then criticized p. 10 or revised (p. 66; p. 84; )

more subtle criticism: Juxtaposition of “Love Duet” and girlie magazine pp. 11-; Song by the window 25; p. 41

Roles & DifferenceWhy do the characters take roles which are

opposite to each other?

-- “Vive la différence!” p. 4; “bad” defined in relation to “good”; man defined in relation to “woman.”

Why does Song takes the role after criticizing it?

-- discrepancies between rhetoric and “realities” 59;

-- a matter of role-play.

-- “very few of us would pass up the opportunity to be Pinkerton.” (42)

Binary Opposites:G/Marc vs. Women

1) Womanizer: Marc: pp. 8-9; 24-25; pp. 32-33

2) Western women—strong or not lovable: Helga, Isabelle p. 32-33, Renee 54-;

3) Oriental “woman”: submissive & pleasing; the “Other” to help define the self.

Man Sexy, desirable woman

Wimp

Sexy, desirable woman

Wimp (G) Oriental Woman

Binaries Relativized (1) 1) Mutual definition of roles. Madame Butterfly

While G is gaining power, he needs encouragement.

Man (M) Girlie magazine

Wimp (G)

Sexy, desirable woman

Wimp (G) Oriental Woman

Man (Pinkerton) Practical woman (Suzuki)

Man

conscientious Sharpless)

Oriental Woman

Madame Chrysanthemum

Binaries Relativized (2) Switching Roles G’s power vs. Song’s power

1) Song: anti-Orientalism;

Gallimard: attracted (like and dislike MB),

sees Song as “sour grape” p. 19

2) Song: “Western”; distanced from her culture.

Gallimard: aware of imperialism; distanced from his values;

3) Song: “But sometimes . . . “ (p. 22)

G: feel able to “flirt” power relations

4) Song: “Do you forgive me?” p. 26

Role PlayG vs. Song (2)

5) G’s thirst intensified p. 27; Song’s role as Oriental woman: 1) Anna

May Wong; inferiority complex pp. 27-28; as a Chinese girl 31; 6) G’s eight-week torture of Song and his

ascension to power pp. 31 – (Toulon as “God”)

7) Intrusion of comrade Chin 47 8) Discussion of infertility p. 50

Power Relativized & Subverted

Man (M) Sexy, desirable woman (Renee)

Wimp

Sexy, desirable woman

Wimp (G) Oriental Woman

1. While Song is re-gaining his power: he continues and exaggerates the role of Oriental woman. (p. 51; 65 - 66)

2. G: When G wants to gain more power (p. 54 ) --not from Renee but from Song-- he actually loses it.(56)

Power Plays; the play of signifiers

No one has absolute power. Power has to be confirmed by those subordinate to it, or by chances in reality.

e.g. Toulon’s test of Gallimard. P. 57Gallimard goes back to Song after

being denied by Renee and Toulon in turns.

Butterfly as the weakest becomes an empty sign of power (like the purloined letter whose content is not important.)

Identity Construction Roles = Clothes = Identity?1) Costume change on the stage: 9, 14, 86-872) Renee: We fight wars because we wear

clothes. P. 55 We assume different positions of power.

2) Kimono + yahoo 593) Gallimard not undressing Song. 60-- Is there truth underneath clothes? Or is

clothing a part of identity?-- Does Gallimard turns to “really” love Song at

the end of Scene 6. What’s the “something new, something unnatural, . . . Something very close to love”?

Competing Versions of Fiction1) G as an author p. 4; 2) Song: ironic overtones: pp. 30; 41; 51;

633) Song’s intrusion: pp. 47(scene 4); 63

(Scene 7),67, 78-794) Final switching of roles: -- “theatre of China” 85-- stripping to take another role “ a

man, and not just a man.” your fantasy “Butterfly? Butterfly?”

History and Fiction: Official history

1) The story—set in 1960-1970 in Beijin; 1966 - (1968)-- 1986 in Paris; Why? Connecting sexual politics to (Inter-)national politics time of war and

revolutionsTraces of public history in M. Butterfly: -- the play of power between Toulon and

Gallimard (Toulon being the “God”?—transcendental signifier)

-- e.g. changes of power of Comrade Chin Scene 10 –11 (Chairman Mao)

History and Fiction: Official history

Historical Background the subversion of several authorities

-- Cultural revolution -- 1966-1976; fixed roles

-- Vietnam War :History: 1860 – French colonization started,

followed by Japan during WWII;

After WWII ~ 1955: France fought hard to regain their former territories without success.

1954-- the country divided into North and South

History and Fiction : Official history 1955 -- the U.S.’s involvement1961-- support forces arriving since then, Nov. 1963-- President Diem overthrown and

executed. 1965 -- US intense bombing started, 1969 -- US’s withdrawal started, 1973 –total withdrawal May 1975 -- the fall of Saigon. France: May 68: France's month of revolution -- a

week of clashes there between extreme right wing groups and students campaigning against the Vietnam War. (More strikes and demonstration followed)

History and Fiction (2): historical figuresHistory of Bernard Bouriscot and Shi Peipu –

differences from M. Butterfly (source: 20/20)-- Six months after their friendship, Shi Peipu said he

was not the man he appeared to be, but was a woman in disguise as a man.

-- BB no previous sexual experience; -- BB: stayed in China twice: left China in 1966,

went back four years later to search for Shi and their son.

-- because he was obsessed with being able to continue to see Peipu, Bernard began smuggling secret documents out of the French embassy and bringing them to the two Communist Party officials. (in China)

History and Fiction

History of Bernard Bouriscot and Shi Peipu –differences from M. Butterfly

-- called back to France. He had affairs with women, but he also realized he was sexually attracted to men.

-- 1982, Shi visited Paris with his son.

-- 1986 caught because of their spy acts.

History and Fiction (4): B’s version

BERNARD BOURSICOT: And instead of beating him, I told, “But I want to see.” And he told, “Oh, it does not matter, no problem.” And he took his pants down and he told me, “You can see.” And a week after, I wanted to die, because I was thinking, “Okay, now I am not only a prisoner, not only a spy, but a foolish person.”

B: . . . there is the theory that you were homosexual all those years ago, but couldn't face it, and so you allowed yourself to be deceived. How do you answer that?

BERNARD BOURSICOT: It is possible, but it's not the sole explanation.

History and Fiction (5): P’s versopm

BARBARA WALTERS: Just a friend? SHI PEIPU: (through interpreter) Of course. BARBARA WALTERS: Nothing more? SHI PEIPU: (through interpreter) Yes, but there is no

use talking about it. It's over. It's over. BARBARA WALTERS: How did you meet Monsieur

Boursicot? SHI PEIPU: (through interpreter) I have forgotten, and

besides, I don't speak about him anymore. BARBARA WALTERS: Did you ever tell Monsieur

Boursicot that you were a woman? SHI PEIPU: (through interpreter) He said that? I don't

think so. I'm not crazy like that.

Orientalism

"Orientalism is a Western style for dominating, reconstructing and having authority over the Orient" (E. Said Orienatalism Introduction 3). It is supported by a large group of discourses ranging from travelogue, letters to academic studies. Its constructions of ‘the Orient’ are usually stereotypical.

Anna May Wong

Anna May Wong and Douglas Fairbanks Sr.;from The Thief of Bagdad (United Artists, 1924).

References

“THE STRANGEST LOVE STORY OF ALL - THE REAL M BUTTERFLY.” Program script. ABC’s 20/20, segment #02. Anchor: Barbara Walters. Date: Aug 12, 1994.

Assignments for next week

1. Finish M. Butterfly if you have not.

2. . Lecture 2: Theory & Examples: anti-foundationalism & metafiction (to the section before Icicle Thief)

3. Lecture 3: Theory & Examples:2. F. Jameson