M. Butterfly Challenges Cultural and Sexual Misconceptions
In the afterward to his play, M. Butterfly, David Henry Hwang explains, “For the myths of the East, the myths of the West, the myths of men, and the myths of women–these have so saturated our consciousness that truthful contact between nations and lovers can only be the result of heroic effort. Those who prefer to bypass the work involved will remain in a world of surfaces, misperceptions running rampant.” He explains that such misperception led to Rene Gallimard learning nothing of his lover for over twenty years, not even that his “butterfly” was in fact a man and not a woman.
Twenty years after Hwang made these observations, I find myself frustrated for it appears that as a country we still prefer to bypass the work necessary to move beyond surfaces and misconceptions. This is what I attempted to address in my earlier post today concerning Senator Hillary Clinton.
In 1988 Hwang argued that various elements of our culture (catalogues, tv ads, etc.) tended to reject women (he was speaking of Asian women) for what they have become– independent, assertive, self-possessed–in favor of a more reactionary model-the pre-feminist, domesticated geisha girl.” For the modern eqivalent of the geisha you might want to take a look at some current rap videos whose messages tend to be that women are objects to be possessed and used.
Our culuture tends to send mixed messages. We value equality and the puritan work ethic and believe that anyone, regardleess of race, ethnicity, or gender, can succeed in America if they work hard. But when they achieve the success of someone like Senator Hillary Clinton , they are often reduced to what they wear instead of what they have accomplished. Many in our culture even ask if Barack Obama is “Black” enough. Isn’t it time we moved beyond surfaces and stereotype?
See Clinton & Obama address these issues:
Apparently we haven’t moved beyond surface and stereotype. It appears many Americans have fallen in love with the fantasy of ourselves as “heroes” and “liberators”. According to a recent Newsweek poll, 41 percent of Americans still believe Saddam Hussein’s regime was somehow involved in the terrorist attack of 9/11, even though there appears to be no evidence to support such a connection.
Why is that? Media creates artifice. Our citizens receive their information in 30 second sound bites and no one thinks and no one questions.
Hwang’s work, however, did search for answers regarding such cultural artifice. Through a deconstruction of Puccini’s Madame Butterfly, Hwang’s work is one that questions notions of race, sex, and imperialism and leaves this reader searching wondering why, twenty years later, like Rene Gallimard, our country still finds itself in love with stereotype.
Leave a Reply