Making America 'M Butterfly' Again

January 20, 2019

Earlier this year, I had the chance to go and see the one and only M Butterfly on Broadway. (Read about it here!) 

No longer the audience of 1988, you could argue that the once-explosive reveal of Song’s gender no longer holds the same significance in our more genderfluid society today – so it’s promising to see how David Henry Hwang has rewritten M. Butterfly to better suit our current context.

It got me thinking, though – if that part of our world has changed since the original M Butterfly, then what other aspects still apply today? 

Life Cycle of a Butterfly
Is M Butterfly Still Relevant Today?

In M Butterfly, Hwang brought to light the disturbing parallels between male chauvinism and Western attitudes towards the East – and indeed, nearly all non-Western societies. In a world where China is a global powerhouse, and society is multifaceted and multicultural, it’s easy to assume that we’ve moved past the patronising attitude that Gallimard – who represents the Western world – held towards both Asian people and Asian countries as a whole, treating them as inferior, weak and submissive.

Alas, it's not that simple. Unfortunately, that dynamic hasn’t dissipated over time, instead taking on a different form – a caterpillar breaking out of the chrysalis, if you will. Trump’s foreign policy is a tangible embodiment of the quote from M Butterfly: 

| Orientals will always submit to a greater force.

When Rene Gallimard tells supervisor Toulon this, he characterises the Asian people as lacking self-determination, instead being submissive and willing to be dominated by a greater force – the West. By creating this dichotomy of supposedly inherent domination and inferiority, which historically has been present in the dynamic between men and women, he frames the question of international relations with the East in gendered terms. This hegemony stems from his delusions superimposed over the reality of his relationship with the 'Perfect Woman': opera singer and Chinese spy Song Liling. Gallimard is mediocre in every way, with an uninspiring life and career, but as soon as the opportunity arises, he self-inserts himself into the role of wretched American sailor Pinkerton in the opera Madama Butterfly. He believes, as a white man, it is his right to possess and exploit his beautiful and mysterious lover – Song Liling, Butterfly. The dominance he asserts over Song throughout M Butterfly to affirm his own masculinity parallels his approach to international relations in the Vietnam War.

This sentiment finds a near-perfect reflection in Trump’s aggressive foreign policy approach, which assumes he can simply beat Eastern and second and third-world countries into submission through aggression and coercion – be it through trade sanctions, embargoes or military action. It reflects a set of dangerous assumptions that frankly, I believe can only lead to a society where we all live with a sense of dystopian fear of those in power.

It’s the trade sanctions as soon as someone steps outside of what Trump himself deems ‘acceptable’. The blatant Islamophobia. The plans to build a wall to keep out 'Mexican criminals'. The racist assumption that China can only become more powerful than the West if they don’t ‘play fair’.

Trump believes that the most effective way of dealing with supposed 'enemies' is applying what is considered to be traditionally masculine force until they submit – and so, more than 30 years on from when the play was first conceived, we still see international relations being played by the gender handbook.

It’s just as Song says: 

| The West thinks of itself as masculine — big guns, big industry, big money – so the East is feminine – weak, delicate poor.

These qualities – describing America, France and the rest of the Western world – may have been Hwang’s words from over 30 years ago, but is it really any different from today? These attributes of strength, economic prowess and military might – did they not form the entire basis of Trump's presidential campaign? America continues to be such a performatively masculine culture, and Trump sits in the centre of it all.

From Butterfly to Fire-Breathing Caterpillar
China's Changing Role in the Eyes of America

We have two stereotypes for the Asian woman: the 'Lotus Blossom' – also known as the 'Butterfly', the 'Geisha Girl', or the 'China Doll' – and the 'Dragon Lady', with both stemming from different roles played by actress Anna May Wong, the first Asian film star of the 1920s.

Song takes on the role of the Butterfly, drawing intertextually from Puccini's opera Madama Butterfly. A fragile, delicate thing, existing in the wild for an ephemeral moment before being pinned to a cushion under a glass pane to be shown off. The Lotus Blossom – pure, unblemished and virginal – which of course means to the dominant male that they’re ripe for the taking. It's a symbol of meekness and submissiveness – the eponymous Butterfly of opera Madama Butterfly, Cio-Cio-San, was the embodiment of these qualities: demure, and willing to suffer almost any punishment doled out at the hands of Pinkerton. This romanticised stereotype serves to discredit Asian cultures by portraying them as submissive and existing solely for exploitation and objectification.

On the other hand, the Dragon Lady is portrayed as being strong, but domineering and untrustworthy, relying on deceit to overpower the male hero. She's alluring and exotic, of course, but at the end of the day, she doesn't play fair.

Sound familiar? Well, Trump certainly seems to think so.

The concept of global warming was created by and for the Chinese in order to make U.S. manufacturing non-competitive.

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 6, 2012

Complete absurdity of this statement aside – no matter what identity non-Western nations take on, they will always be looked down upon by the West. Hwang talks about this neocolonialist notion in his afterword to M Butterfly: 

| Good natives "serve the Whites"... while "bad natives rebel".

China, in its attempts to secure a more stable role in our world's economy and politics, has ultimately ended up in a very similar position of disrespect from America, evolving from the Butterfly to the Dragon Lady – never quite escaping the cycle. 

Unfurling Our Wings
How can we escape from the cycle?

If Trump were to sit down with a copy of M Butterfly, all he would come away with is that – 

China has caused great damage to the United States and the rest of the World!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 6, 2020

We can do one better, though. First of all, we need to make an effort to welcome and support those of Asian, Muslim, Latinx and other cultural heritages within our very own country. They represent the diverse cultures of the world, but above all, they're Americans too. It wouldn't hurt to vote out the policymakers and leaders who spew this hateful rhetoric in the first place, too.

Word count: 1090

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RISHITA SARKAR is an avid reader, student activist, and harmonica player. She is currently pursuing a double degree in Literary Studies and Political Science at ABC University.