Madame Butterfly

Quite recently, I had the pleasure of watching an animated short based on Puccini's popular opera, Madame Butterfly.

It should be noted that opera sometimes draws inspiration from current events, recent or not. At the time the opera and the novel it's based on were written, imperialism was at its peak, and both Japan and the US were quickly becoming major players on the world stage. The former had modernized its military and was looking to become an empire, while America had acquired Puerto Rico and the Philippines following the Spanish-American War. As if on cue, Puccini probably heard about these events and threw in his two cents on the subject, creating a dramatic but tragic tale about two different cultures coming together.

(Warning! Spoilers ahead!)

Set in Nagasaki at the turn of the last century, the story focuses on a geisha named Cio-Cio San (her name literally means "butterfly" in Japanese), who marries an American naval lieutenant named Pinkerton. Things get complicated, however, when Pinkerton leaves shortly after the ceremony and Butterfly becomes the mother of his child. About three years later, he returns with a new American wife and a kid from every continent (sound familiar?), and wants to adopt Butterfly's as his own. And so, with the only other light in her life gone, Butterfly walks off into another room and kills herself (or in this case, disassembles herself).

And that was the short in a nutshell. The story is mostly the same, but after reading the plot of the actual opera, I must confess, it's somewhat different. In the original, she gives birth to a son, not a daughter. Before offing herself, she even wishes him a heartfelt goodbye and blindfolds the boy to avoid scarring him for life. My other main complaint is the Pinkerton character. In the opera, he's a little more sympathetic, realizing the error of his ways and trying to stop Butterfly from killing herself at the last minute. In the short, however, the smiling douche (pardon) just yanks the kid away without hesitation and leaves Butterfly to her fate. Maybe the lack of sympathy has something to do with the stop-motion style (which kind of reminded me of Wallace & Gromit), but maybe that's what they intended. As I've said before, it's a very tragic tale. Perhaps the message is that love knows no boundaries, and the consequences that come with both transcending those boundaries or just being shortsighted about them.

Differences aside, I still enjoyed the adaptation. If the actual opera comes to town, I'd highly recommend Puccini's masterpiece of love and loss.