Academic Work (Sammie)

What Scholars Have to say about M. Butterfly...

MANIPULATIONS OF RACIAL AND SEXUAL STEREOTYPES:

• “Though M. Butterfly has been examined as a deconstructionist work which disassembles stereotypes, it actually affirms their construction...Stereotypes provide structure, orientation, and an ultimate "truth" safe from the clutches of a more chaotic reality" (Hoffman 53-54).
• Although Song lets Gallimard have power as a white dominant man by playing into the weak, oriental female stereotype, but Song is the actual manipulator. In the end, Gallimard become his own perfect woman, because he is the one who is actually manipulated in the end.
• “Sex that is supposed to be the White man’s weapon to dominate the Oriental woman becomes an Oriental man’s weapon to maneuver the White man for his less powerful country” (Wen 48).

2017 Broadway Revival

POWER OF CLOTHING

• "Song's dressed body lures/seduces Gallimard into his calculated scheme, whereas his undressed body triggers the collapse of Gallimard's fantasy and underlines the underlying subversion" (Lin).
• "The undressed body of Song deprives Gallimard of the ability to interpret the vestimentary codes and throws him into a spasmodic state in search of his butterfly. Likewise, Song is influenced by his own undressed body for he becomes 'just a man' without dress. In other words, the shift from the dressed to the undressed problematizes the paradigmatic nature in the butterfly discourse and challenges the faulty perception" (Lin).

Works Cited

Hoffman '98, Hope (1997) "Stereotypes as Reinforced Structure in M. Butterfly," Undergraduate  Review: Vol. 10: Iss. 1, Article 9. Available at: http://digitalcommons.iwu.edu/rev/vol10/iss1/9

Lin, Emile Cheng-Hsien. "The fashioned victims: Addressing the un/dressed body in Hwang's M. Butterfly." Clothing Cultures, vol. 2, no. 3, 2015, p. 297+. Academic OneFile, http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A483829845/AONE?u=cofc_main&sid=AONE&xid=b2745142. Accessed 4 Apr. 2019.

Wen, Songfeng. “The Subversion of the Oriental Stereotype in M. Butterfly .” Zhengzhou University of Light Industry, Zhengzhou, China , Canadian Center of Science and Education, 2013, pp. 44–48.