M butterfly blog

            The play “M Butterfly”, by David Henry Hwang, says a great deal about the ideology of the east and west.  As the Judge questions M. Song about his relations with M. Gallimard, Song exposes the rape mentality of the West, “The West thinks of itself as masculine—big guns, big money—so the east is feminine—weak, delicate, poor...but good at art, and full of inscrutable wisdom—the feminine mystique.” (Act 3, scene 1, pg. 83)  This quote sums up what the play is about.  M. Gallimard never thinks of himself as a very masculine man.  Even when he is presented with the opportunity to take advantage of girls at his friend’s pool, he is shy and self-conscious.  However, once he arrives in China his inhibitions seem to slowly but surely melt away. The more time Gallimard spends in China the more his western masculinity manifests itself.  He describes the feeling of power he feels when he makes Song wait on him while he works, and when he has an extra-extramarital affair with a French student. 

            Gallimard’s western masculinity complex also affects his physical relationship with Song.  Song describes his and Gallimard’s physical relationship, stating, “I did all the work.  He just laid back.”  This quote reveals how, in time, Gallimard transformed from a relatively weak man to the dominant partner in his relationship.  Gallimard, in his mind, is living how a western man should live; he works hard and comes home to a loving “wife” who does everything for him.  In his mind he is finally utilizing the big guns and big money that coming from the west gives him.  In a seemingly more feminine society Gallimard is able to unleash the inner man and find a suitable, submissive chinese woman.  

PR theme analysis 2

Globalization Commentary:

Throughout the novel Cayce and the other characters are able to travel the world with no problem.  Cayce flies to japan in order to find a watermarked number hidden in the footage.  While in reality the flight would take a great deal of time compared to other events that occur, no time is spent describing the flight.  This could be the author hinting that in the modern age, travel across countries and continents is much less interesting than seeing “Asian Sluts” or getting your hair cut at an ethnic salon.  While in the past just the idea travel to other countries was something very few people could do, these days there is so much contact between the corners of the world that travel is the least of what happens between countries.

Depictions of Nations (japan)

The depiction of Japan was not anything out of the ordinary.  The scenery was much like it is in movies or other forms of media.  However, the depiction of the Japanese people was a bit odd.  In particular, the man Taki was the first impression of the Japanese people in the novel.  As one of the only named Japanese characters, the impression I got of japan from this novel was shady at best.  Taki is described as having “big dark semicircles of anxiety sweat under the arms…his lips…tend to spray slightly when he speaks.  If he were any more agonized to be here, he’d probably just curl up and die.” (149)  This description implies an overweight, middle aged dork of sorts.  While Gibson is not necessarily saying this is how all Japanese people are, it is the only lengthy description of any Japanese person in the book.

While most of the Japanese scenery was much of the same, the description of Roppongi depicted a part of japan some readers may not be familiar with.  Cayce describes it as “a border town of sorts, epicenter of the Bubble’s cross-cultural sex trade.” (146)  While I do not think Gibson meant anything by that statement, that small description automatically places Roppongi in with other equally shady* places.  By simply mentioning a “cross cultural sex trade” the readers mind automatically shifts from the nice, cultural japan where Cayce gets her hair cut to a seedier underworld.