how m butterfly uses the art of illusion to foster stereotypes among its main characters

Butterfly, where Gallimard was blinded by his Western male fantasies about the submissive nature and tendencies of Asian women.Stratton Pg1 Most people probably like to think of themselv

Throughout human history, societies have divided members into varying groups based on

stereotypes using simplified images to bring special meaning to traits held in common by members of each group These stereotypes are usually learned behavior and are spoon-fed to families and communities as they are passed down from one generation to the next However, each individual must make the personal choice whether or not to incorporate these impressions into their own belief system

Stereotypes are more often negative than positive and are not always based on fact, but rather on perceptions and illusions Illusions, on the other hand, are a form of deception, seen as something objectively existing in such a way as to cause misinterpretation of its actual nature As a result, illusions can generate a sense of mystery, excitement, and anticipation for the people who harbor them

Unlike stereotypes, illusions are created or interpreted by the limits of our own imagination, and

we choose whether or not to become swayed by our fantasies Stereotyping can in some cases create illusions, as is the case in M Butterfly, where Gallimard was blinded by his Western male fantasies about the submissive nature and tendencies of Asian women.(Stratton Pg1)

Most people probably like to think of themselves as being impartial, unaffected by the

conventionalized ideas that make up many of the stereotypes they see around

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them However, stereotypical thinking plays a very powerful role in our perceptions and dealings with people of other cultures even more so, perhaps, than we care to admit Maybe stereotypes are so persistent because they prove useful, providing shortcuts to our thinking in areas where we are unsure of ourselves, or skeptical about how we should think concerning a given situation Stereotypes occasionally creep into our lives in unexpected ways, and are even perpetuated in our literature, paintings, films, music and other art forms We see examples of this in movies and television programming, which throughout the years have influenced our perceptions about Asians

in both positive and negative ways.(Major Pg 3)

Hollywood has a long history of portraying Asian women as exotic, and they also are often portrayed as erotic, sensual and overly sexual Examples of these stereotypes can be seen in movies like Sayonara, Walk Like a Dragon, Flower Drum Song, and The World of Suzy Wong

In each case, oriental women are depicted as assuming a sexual allure and are viewed as both mysterious and subservient These images portrayed by the media moguls in Hollywood have no doubt helped endorse already existing stereotypes in mainstream society

The combination of quiet submission and overt sexuality as portrayed in M Butterfly is further evidence of this characterization (Hicks pg 2) In this play, Gallimard feeds his fantasy of being with an Asian woman with artful guile, his illusion inspired by Asian stereotypes When asked if

he had ever seen his girlfriend naked, he

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answers: "I thought she was very modest I thought it was a Chinese custom." Had Gallimard been attracted to a woman from a Western culture, this self-deception would have been much harder to achieve, and to believe Although it is customary in China to bow and blush, Gallimard fell in love not with the person, but with the fantasy, the stereotype (Rich 1)

It seems hard to imagine that those that have read or seen the play particularly the French, who stereotypically view themselves as somewhat expert in affairs of the heart would believe that Gallimard could have had a intimate relationship with someone for twenty years and not have known that the object of his desires was, in fact, a man In reality, he pretended not to know because he did not want to impinge upon his desire to have a Madame Butterfly of his very own It has been suggested that Gallimard was indeed blinded by his Western fantasies the fantasy of the oriental women as a submissive servant (Ebert 2)

The level of satisfaction we achieve for out sexual desires is often controlled by the images we create in our minds While a person's sexual behavior can be influenced by many

factors including things like genetics, parental upbringing and religious beliefs how we end up acting out sexually also can be influenced by the mental images that shape our imaginations These images are sometimes influenced by stereotypes that cannot easily be changed, and that can have dangerous consequences When Gallimard entered into his whirlwind illusion, for example,

his self-deception not only allowed him to engage in a fantasy relationship but also permitted him

to be

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undone by a spy (Moy) In this case, this illusion, this false perception of reality, was self

destructive since it led to Gallimard's eventual downfall.(Davis 6)

The way Gallimard slipped into ruination by crossing the line of healthy fantasy into a world of false conceptions got me thinking about the way we allow illusions to influence our daily lives It

is one thing to hope that something can happen, or to wish for something we desire to occur It's

an entirely different circumstance to be convinced that something will happen simply by believing

in it It's clear that illusions can lead to destructive behavior, as illustrated by the case of Gallimard

in M Butterfly When our perception of reality is altered to such a state where we are seeing only what we want to see, instead of what is actually occurring, we begin to enter into a very dangerous area When we begin to act on these illusions, however, we only add to the problem In the play

M Butterfly there were times when Gallimard was totally absorbed in his own false beliefs For example, when Song produced a child that he claimed was his, Gallimard never questioned it Living in this sort of fantasy world cost Gallimard his marriage, his career and eventually his life The most devastating moment must have occurred when he finally realized just how far he had allowed himself to go, and that he had no way of transforming twenty years of his life into some form of reality.(Moy 1)

Sometimes the term "she's pulling a Butterfly" is used among Asian woman to describe a

submissive behavior of sorts (Stratton) I can only hope that in today's modern world, women of Asian descent are frowning upon this form stereotyping And that today, Asian women have advanced to the point of being deeply disturbed by these stereotypes

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From a feminist perspective, M Butterfly can be seen as being conceived as a form of revenge One can only imagine that ever since its inspiration, Madame Butterfly, was first staged, feminist have been awaiting an opportunity to affect revenge, and M Butterfly fits the bill To begin with, Gallimard, as the dominating Western male figure, seeks to control a submissive oriental woman This fact is borne out by his insistence that she admit to being his "butterfly" The set up is quite similar to the original play, right up to the surrendering of Song's character What subsequently follows, however, is a complete turning of the tables To make matters even worse, the object of his downfall is a man posing as a woman As a result of his stereotypical delusions, he loses control not only of his "butterfly" but also over his entire life, resulting in the act of suicide When we look at relations between men and women from the East and from the West, we see that Asians are often portrayed as being either enraptured or suspicious of their Western counterparts This is an underlining theme in the play, and it affects not only Gallimard personally but his political party as well (Davis 6)

When we observe people as groups and form stereotypes, we are creating illusion in their simplest form Such behavior can be destructive for both the observer and those being surveyed This is clearly witnessed in the play M Butterfly Gallimard is drawn to a stereotype shaped by his own illusions The illusion quickly becomes a twenty-year fantasy that consumes him to the point of self-destruction And as a result, he paid the ultimate price (Davis 6)

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Works Cited

Stratton, Jerry "FireBlade, Book Review: M Butterfly"

(http://www.hoboes.com/html/FireBlade/Books/butterfly.shtml)

Hicks, Chris "Desert News Movie Review"

(http://deseretnews.com/movies/view/1,1257,1109,00.html)

Rich, Frank "Reviews"

(http://www.tuvy.com/resokurce/books/m/m butterfly.htm)

Elbert, Robert "Chicago Sun-Times"

Moy, James S "Classroom Issues and Strategies"

(http://www.georgetown,edu/faculty/bassr/health/syllabuild/iguide/hwang.html)

Davis, Rocio "Just a Man: Subverting Stereotypes in David Henry Hwang's M Butterfly"(Vol 6,

No 2)

(http://www.bedfordstmartins.com/litlinks/drama/hwang.htm)

Major, John S."Asia Through a Glass Darkly:Stereotypes of Asians in Western Literature (Vol V

No 3)

http://www.askasia.org/frclasrm/readings/r000015.htm