Posted by Claire Levey
Content warning: This blog contains depictions of domestic and sexual abuse.
Much of literature is very, very dated.
Tragically, some of its ideas are very, very prevalent.
The sexist ancients don’t leave their opinions in the
past, though. Each influencer is followed by millions of influenced. In the
case of Madame Butterfly, The entire patriarchy is on its knees!
We first see the story of “the submissive Oriental woman and the cruel white man” in the 17th century; then repeatedly from the 1700’s all the way up to today in the 21st century (Seriously?). Pinkerton’s 'exotic' adventure of disloyalty and abandonment is circulated in Western culture like city smog; being absorbed by the impressionable men the sexist story aims to please. If you're here, I'm sure you know the drill: Pinkerton purchases a fifteen-year-old Asian girl then mistreats and abandons her while she longs unrealistically for his return to her after years.
Madame Butterfly ignorantly paints Japanese women as docile, timid,
subservient, and submissive with a fatal obsession of earning the love of a man. The accumulation of misogyny in society after
the release this pivotal piece casts Asian and Western women alike as weak
subjects of men, purposed to make his life pleasurable and raise his children. Pinkerton
treats his wife badly, Pinkerton lusts after young women — so do they. Here, we
see the problem. Because, as “many men want to kick Pinkerton” for leaving
Butterfly, “very few would pass up the opportunity to be Pinkerton” and
have her in the first place.
(To my male audience, the 'men' I attack throughout this post are sexist and oppressive dirtbags, not the male species as a whole.)
As a result of this ancient sexist media, women have
been overpowered, objectified, ignored, essentialised, and ultimately left at
the bottom of the food chain of a perpetual power struggle.
M Butterfly emerges from its chrysalis
Eventually, Madame Butterfly is completely turned on
its head by playwright David Hwang. He denounces deep-rooted sexism in a
pivotal second-wave feminist piece: M Butterfly.
Rene Gallimard is Hwang’s satirical puppet through
which he channels into all the sexism pent up in Western society. Gallimard
shamelessly shapes twenty years of his life into pursuing Pinkerton’s narrative;
from cheating on his wife to forcing his secret lover into the literal role of
Butterfly.
As the self-proclaimed Pinkerton pursues Song, his ‘Perfect Woman’, we watch the amalgamation of male ignorance and entitlement unfold in their first meeting at the opera performance. He sees “a Butterfly with little or no voice--but she had the grace, the delicacy…I believed this girl.” Thick with dramatic irony, Gallimard overlooks that the point of opera as a powerful expression of an actor’s voice to focus on his shy, quiet, fantasy woman. Furthermore, the Frenchman living in China is utterly unaware of its culture at the time. It’s apparent that he undoubtedly believes Song is a woman, and not a dan, as he is so enamoured by this delusional Butterfly fantasy. Upstage, presenting herself to him, was the woman of his dreams he is supposedly entitled to objectify and pursue. And so, these misogynistic misconceptions of femininity are pressed onto Song.
(I use she/her pronouns for Song here in her female-presenting role as her gender is later intentionally misleading to Gallimard.)
She is initially outspoken and confident, portraying traditionally
masculine traits such as speaking over Gallimard in their dialogue and smoking
a cigarette in public. She immediately identifies and confronts his “favourite
fantasy” of the poor, delicate Butterfly desperate for the love of this
unworthy man. Her mockery of Gallimard's core ideals through patronising alliteration sets opposition between the two at its most fundamental. Song’s true characterisation completely juxtaposes her
performance as Butterfly, but Gallimard is already lost to his delusions. He
sees his beautiful lotus blossom and immediately jumps at the opportunity to
fulfil his masculine role as Pinkerton.
His abuse is immediate and long-lasting. Gallimard fancies himself having “caught a butterfly who would writhe on [his] needle,” essentially ghosting her for weeks at a time in order to force her submit to him. Such disturbing imagery in this metaphor clearly displays his wicked intentions to us, as well as his obvious objectification of Song.
Scene 13 of act 1 is a horribly uncomfortable and significant point in their relationship. Gallimard enters Song’s home without notice, heavily pressures her to confess that she is his Butterfly, then forces himself upon her without consent. He is met with resistance at every step; Song begging to retain her dignity and autonomy instead of being reduced to the submissive, weak position of Butterfly. The brutality of Gallimard’s forwardness is fully displayed to the audience as “the ultimate power of man” he entitles himself to, solidifying the relationship between the two as the dominant and the submissive; dictating and manipulating her very identity for the sake of his own pleasure.
Identifying the problem is the first step to solving it
Now, we witness the blossoming of oppression into empowerment as Hwang subverts these harmful feminine stereotypes. Right under his nose, Gallimard is deceived by Song for the twenty years of their relationship. She cunningly plays to his ego and fondness of her to trick him into providing her with classified documents that she hands off to the Chinese government; “I want to know what you know. To be impressed by my man. You’re making decisions which change the shape of the world.” The dramatic irony present in Song so clearly sucking up to the oblivious Gallimard hints to the audience her intelligence and ability to manipulate her oppressor. Her power is further established in the possessive language she uses, indicating that Gallimard is ‘her man’, and she is more than just ‘his woman.’ Ultimately, she causes Gallimard’s imprisonment and death as his fantasy crumbles around him.
Hwang introduces other liberated women in this text such as Renee, a progressive young woman studying Chinese. She is characterised as confident, sexually liberated, and attractive in a revealing dress. She invites Gallimard into her dorm to “fool around” after an embassy party. Renee “wasn’t afraid to be seen completely naked” and is assured of her equal place among others. She openly discusses the taboo of “weenies” and has control over their dialogue by frequently cutting Gallimard off mid-sentence and establishing her own opinions on “the role of the penis in modern society”. Renee’s concluding monologue reveals she understands that men see power in terms of penis size.
The man with the biggest one is clearly superior, so he should rule everyone. But wait, that’s not fair because not all men are born with big weenies. Why should they be subject to another guy who got lucky?
This very train of thought is absolutely absurd, revealed to the audience in the situationally comedic manner of this monologue. As men fight over the power they feel they’re entitled to, they still deny it to women in an act of universal hypocrisy. In fact, this scene connects back to Marc after he’s slept with countless women; “In the morning, you’re ready to talk some philosophy.” Renee has followed Marc’s sleazy tactics practically step by step. The irony of this is that Marc uses them only to objectify and gain sexual pleasure from women. Hwang subverts this to reveal to us that women, too, can sleep with people purely for pleasure.
Change starts with you
Word count: 1096
so true
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