Thursday, September 5, 2013

Madama Butterfly


In this video, I felt a strange, unsettling air in the very first second. Something didn't feel right. The ambiance, song, stiff movements, saturated colors all were very foreboding.. And for good reason.

As the animation comes to an end, we are forced to see the joy of Madame Butterfly, her hope for the American Sailor, and the child growing up. However, instead of the happy, joyous reversal we are built up to have, we see the man taking away the child to be with him and his wife. It is saddening and disturbing to see the child torn away from their umbilical cord into the mother, symbolizing that the father did more than just take her child. He took away a part of her. Something so close and dear to her that it became a part of her. It brought her joy, and he ripped it out as his to take.

Soon after, Madame Butterfly breaks the fourth wall. Aware of her doll-like nature, she runs out of the set and begins to destroy herself. She removes her outer flesh and skin, bearing her metal frame, in her humility, totally exposed. She takes herself apart, completing the self-destruction incited by her lover. Then, reduced to a heap of metal and a screw, she unplugs the light next to her, to waste away in silence and solace.

I was disturbed at the imagery, and mortality bore its ugly nature.

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