M Butterfly

            M Butterfly was an extremely interesting, and attention grabbing movie, which contained many unexpected, twists and turns throughout. The movie is based on the play, which was written by David Henry Hwang. A very entertaining aspect of the story was its ability to incorporate the issues of gender, ethnicity, politics, and the history of Arts into a single storyline flawlessly. The story is about a Frenchman, civil servant in French embassy, who falls in love with a Chinese opera diva, whom is actually a man working for the Chinese government. As the two seem to fall in love, Madama Butterfly is using Gallimard, Frenchman, in order to find out information regarding the French and their military decisions. The Chinese man, Song Liling, also uses the assumed roles of females in the Chinese culture perfectly in order to lure Gallimard in love with him, which is quite shocking.

            Gallimard is also told about an opera, by Song, in which a western man steals the heart of an oriental woman, before leaving her, which usually results in suicide. Gallimard becomes entrenched in the idea that this diva will be his butterfly, and pursues Song passionately. Gallimard is imprisoned for his treason to his country, while finding out his lover is a man. The movie ends with Gallimard impersonating the butterfly himself, and committing suicide because he has lost his soul mate. The association of Chinese culture, and women’s role is this culture is personified eloquently providing Gallimard with a sense of power over this supposed oriental woman. When Gallimard realizes that the person he has loved, and spent so much time thinking about is a man, is one of the most astonishing twists I have ever experienced in literature/film. His reaction to the news is quite expected, yet I am surprised at his ability to remain calm and resist violence. M Butterfly is a profound story in the sense that it is able to group together so many big topics, and put it together very nicely.