Assignment #4 Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Assignment #4 - Essay Example M butterfly’s criticisms range from arguments or debates over illustration of sexualities and ethnicity, orientalism politics, theatre and performance theories, and lastly the masquerade concept. As such, this essay will explore and analyze the production of M. Butterfly and how it represents Asia through the story, scenic design, costume design, movement, sound, and lights. Three synchronized actors perform a splendid kabuki style dance during the opening scene of the play m butterfly. Their enticing precise movements are elaborately done. Also, their Asian themed masks, makeup and robes are all evident. Just as Asians are stereotyped to be feminine, the actors have a delicate characteristic in their movements. The western nations have a long standing stereotype that depicts Asians as exhibiting a feminine personality unlike their western counterparts who are seen as being more masculine. Additionally, the play depicts the notion of the submissive Asian woman. M Butterfly presents a fictionalized story of a French diplomat who was in a relationship with an Asian, specifically Chinese singer for more than twenty years without actually knowing that his beautiful obedient and submissive lover was actually a male. Gallimard views himself as being clumsy when it comes to love. However, he considers himself to be blessed since he has a devoted beautiful and exotic woman (Liling Song). Hwang employs the term oriental in the play to refer to how the Asians are deemed to be exotic by the west. Unknown to him, Liling is a Chinese spy whose intent was to manipulate Gallimard by extracting information from him concerning the Vietnam War. Hwang in an interview quipped that he was basically interested in the different ways he would create and showcase total theatre. He insisted that he preferred theatre which uses different mediums at his disposal to create keep the audience glued to the play (Hwang et al, 1989). To do this, he incorporated