The Controversial Madame Butterfly

            Madame Butterfly is a unique film that incorporates the issues of gender, ethnicity, politics, and arts within it. Originally, the story of Madame Butterfly began as an opera and depicts the tragic demise of a young Japanese girl who takes her own life after her American husband abandons her. Ultimately, this story demonstrates the conventional belief of Western and male superiority. As the Chinese protagonist within the film explains, if the tale of Madame Butterfly was applied to a Caucasian female and an Oriental man, Westerns would no longer perceive it as a beautiful love story; rather, they would think that the entire situation is ridiculous, which demonstrates the conventional Western belief of superiority above all other ethnicities. However, the makers of the film chose to challenge the typical stereotypes for both gender and ethnicity by portraying a Chinese "woman" as the dominant partner within the relationship between an Oriental and a Caucasian, who eventually commits suicide after losing his love.

             Although it might appear that the European male is in control of the relationship, the Oriental "female" is actually manipulating their entire affair so that she can acquire top-secret information about America's operations in China. As a result, the French protagonist's love for the Chinese opera singer blinds him from seeing the truth - that he is simply a pawn within the political struggles of China and America, which seeks dominance over the eastern nations.

            In addition, the film touches upon the Chinese people's recognition of all arts and the history of arts within China. For instance, despite the Chinese people's immense hatred towards the Japanese, they are still willing to perform pieces that include Japanese people; this demonstrates how the Chinese appreciate all forms of art, despite the country they belong to or describe. However, the film also shows how there was a period of time when artists were persecuted because the government did not believe that they were actually contributing to the advancement of their nation. As a result, artists were forced into manual labor and barred from their original creative occupations.

            Overall, the film does a good job with incorporating the political dilemmas between the East and the West within a controversial, tragic love story.