Rating: 
Summary: Calling Puccini's Bluff...
Review: Hwang's M. Butterfly is a splendid tale of conflicting differences between man and woman, East and West, love and lust. Based on a true story, M. Butterfly invokes commonly held sterotypes about both the East and West and calls into question normative constructs of gender and the power dynamic found within. Here, we see Gallimard, the quasi-male, Western representation, fall in love with another man, Song, who dupes Gallimard by dressing and carrying on as a submissive Asian mistress. The reader is taken on a journey of flashbacks and all throughout the play, is forced to walk along Gallimard's consciousness. By the play's unpredictable end, we see what happens when all the roles are reversed--when man becomes woman, East becomes West. Clearly, Hwang intended to play upon an inversion of modern-day stereotypes in this work and does so quite well. From this work, the audience is forced to question the myth of the standard gendered roles and ethnic markers. However, as well written and effective this play is, it does lack some serios character development, particularly for some of its minor characters. The audience does not get to know much about Helga or Rene and some may claim that Song's character is never fully and ripefully presented. He comes across as one dimensional and still confined to the very stereotypes which Hwang obviously wants to reclaim and rewrite. Overall, this is a fine theatrical piece and worthy of in-depth discussion. One bit of caution: do not precede to read this piece as a simple "coming out" story, as it is more substantive and profound. For a budding playwright, Hwang hits the mark with this one!
Rating:
Summary: Knots Landing Meets San Francisco Gay Scene
Review: I had to read M Butterfly for my College Sophomore-level English class last semester. I admit: I cheated. I rented the movie version of M Butterfly with Jeremy Irons in it. I was shocked when I saw the movie. I had no concept of the plot. An American Man in China, a Diplomat/Spy during the Vietnam war era meets this Chinese Woman and he is smitten by her because he believes in the stereotype that all Chinese women are submissive and docile. She plays into it and they become lovers for a very long period of years. At the end he finds out that his Chinese lover is actually a man, something he claims he never knew. I watched the movie and said "yeah right, look at her, how can you not tell she is a man?" I was intrigued by the plot after the movie, so I read the play and I was completely engrossed. The play is so much more better than the movie. The play has a lot more characters and gives more depth. I felt sorry for the movie version of Gallimard because it seemed like he was duped, but in the play we find Gallimard to be quite sexist, cold, and down right mean. The play M Butterfly is a fine play. It blends homosexuality, male dominance, female submission, gender roles, racial roles all into one ball of plot.
Rating: 
Summary: An Incomplete Deconstruction
Review: M. Butterfly is ment to be a deconstruction of the "classic" story of Western-man-meets-Asian-woman imortalized in the Italian opera, Madame Butterfly, and the American musical, Miss Saigon. M. Butterfly is a biting social critique of the inherent racial, cultural, and sexual dynamics at play in the West's story of the East. The play is truly interesting in the way in which it deconstructs the West's imperialistic attitued toward the East and its women. The power in this relationship between an French dilomat and the Chinese opera singer seems to belong, as traditionally is the case, to the Western man. However, it soon becomes clear that the real power in lies in the hands of Song, who is actually a Chinese spy. It is a convoluted story in which all of the traditional roles are confused. And while it does a wonderful job of confusing the simplistic dominant-submissive binary construction along which we traditionally judge West and East, it does little to reverse the similar assumptions we as a society make when evaluating the male-female dicotomy. Throughout the play, while the power shifts back and forth between Eastern and Western characters, the weak character is consistently depicted as feminine while the power resides in whichever character is the most traditionally masculine at any given moment. In this way, Whang does both a service to society in breaking down the West's stereotypes of the East without likewise deconstructing our patriarchal society's imperialistic attitueds towards women.
Rating:
Summary: An Incomplete Deconstruction
Review: M. Butterfly is ment to be a deconstruction of the "classic" story of Western-man-meets-Asian-woman imortalized in the Italian opera, Madame Butterfly, and the American musical, Miss Saigon. M. Butterfly is a biting social critique of the inherent racial, cultural, and sexual dynamics at play in the West's story of the East. The play is truly interesting in the way in which it deconstructs the West's imperialistic attitued toward the East and its women. The power in this relationship between an French dilomat and the Chinese opera singer seems to belong, as traditionally is the case, to the Western man. However, it soon becomes clear that the real power in lies in the hands of Song, who is actually a Chinese spy. It is a convoluted story in which all of the traditional roles are confused. And while it does a wonderful job of confusing the simplistic dominant-submissive binary construction along which we traditionally judge West and East, it does little to reverse the similar assumptions we as a society make when evaluating the male-female dicotomy. Throughout the play, while the power shifts back and forth between Eastern and Western characters, the weak character is consistently depicted as feminine while the power resides in whichever character is the most traditionally masculine at any given moment. In this way, Whang does both a service to society in breaking down the West's stereotypes of the East without likewise deconstructing our patriarchal society's imperialistic attitueds towards women.
Rating:
Summary: M. Butterfly
Review: M. Butterfly takes place in the mind of Rene Gallimard. While the play begins with him in a French prison, we are taken far away from this prison into the depths of his mind. His fantasies of Song Liling are both reality and illusionary. He will ultimately face the most shocking truth about the "woman" he thought he loved for twenty years. M. Butterfly takes a bold move in rearranging common roles set by our society, whether speaking for the present or from fifty years ago. This play dives deep into the pool of stereotypes and makes every turn imaginable. While the Eastern/Western dichotomy is presented with stereotypes of both sides, roles are soon reversed which gives the dichotomy a whole new meaning. Gallimard, initially portrayed as the Western dominant male, and Song, initially portrayed as the compliant Asian woman, will both eventually reverse their sexual roles although their enthnic identities remain in tact. Gallimard evolves from the controller to the controlled, while Song proves his power and control as his masculinity is revealed. All of this role and sexual confusion causes us to re-examine the stereotypes. Are they socially constructed or are they inherent in the person? You must read and decide for yourself!
Rating: 
Summary: Turning the Familiar Inside Out
Review: M. Butterfly takes the well-known, traditional opera Madame Butterfly, and turns it upside down. It turns inside out the stereotype of Asian American women Americans almost take as fact. The common perceptions of male vs. female, East vs. West, powerful vs. powerless, homosexual vs. heterosexual are all overturned in this short play. Just when the reader thinks he or she knows what is going on, Hwang turns everything over once again. An astoundingly well written play... Be prepared for a surprise!
Rating:
Summary: Social Misconceptions
Review: M. Butterfly, a play by Henry David Hwang, cleverly manipulates stereotypes about race, gender, and sexuality from the Puccini's Opera, Mme Butterfly. In Mme Butterfly, an American serviceman buys a Vietnamese wife for a price equivocal to pocket change. She is the epitome of the doting, submissive Asian stereotype. The American boasts that, like a Butterfly, the woman is so tame that she'll eat from his hand. During his stint in her country, she bears a baby boy. Yet, soon afterwards, the man is sent back to the United States, leaving the heartbroken wife waiting for his return. Finally, when she realizes that he is lost forever, she commits suicide so that at least her son will have a better life. In a heart wrenching scene, the small boy is retrieved by the American's new wife. Her unfailing love and her sacrifice are glorified. Yet, Hwang challenges this submission by playing upon this first M. abbreviation, using the french Monsieur instead of the opera's Madame. In Hwang's play, Song, an assertive Chinese opera singer, asks the American, and the reader, to reconsider his "favorite fantasy, " that of "the submissive Oriental woman and the cruel white man." She asks him, and her reader, to reconsider -"Consider it this way: what would you say if a blonde homecoming queen fell in love with a short Japanese businessman? ....................... " (17) However, presumably, Song becomes the American serviceman's Butterfly. Hong illustrates how his confidence, which was weak beforehand, grows because the newfound feelings of superiority that the relationship provides. Yet, as the play progresses, Hwang adds several surprise twists that border on the bizarre to dispel these misconceptions about race aand gender.
Rating:
Summary: Deliciously irreverent & subversive
Review: Since some broad-minded fellow in the bible first referred to a woman as the "weaker vessel", and most likely before that, women have been fighting the stigma of the physically and mentally weak being, only capable of caring for herself to a certain extent. Even in this day and time, with self-proclaimed sensitive males coming out of the woodwork, quiet as kept, this is still the ideal. Passivity is thought of as a female trait, and an admirable one-though it has also become popular to herald the new dawn of strong, intelligent women. Only don't be too strong or intelligent. A heady mixture of non-threatening intelligence and feminine strength is probably best. Hwang's M. BUTTERFLY skewers these concepts, attacking traditional Western views of Asian women, whom, perhaps even more than their sisters elsewhere, have the "weaker vessel", the delicate "lotus blossom" tattooed on their backsides. The character Gallimard is pulled into M. Butterfly's trap because he is enthralled with the modern western education and values she has, which he considers to be in conflict with her "Oriental" soul. It's exactly this piquant combination of an innocence and sexual prowess, which he considers culturally entrenched, that has him so in love with her. Asian girls in these types of stories are always slight, shy and beautiful, but no matter, they will eventually give in to the White Alpha Male, no matter WHAT he looks like. They are also loyal until the death, serving the White Alpha Male until their code of honor calls for suicide or some such nonsense, freeing White Alpha Male to marry a white woman, as the story wants us to believe he ought to have done in the first place. This thought is so entrenched in society, that we don't think twice when Puccini's Butterfly falls for some pencil pushing bureaucrat, renouncing offers from rich, handsome young men of her own country, and her demise at the end is celebrated. But Hwang WANTS us to start thinking, start realizing what our preconceptions about others say about US. Does anyone think that the real life Butterfly that this play is based on was as beautiful as her enamored bureaucrat thought? Or did he simply see what he wanted to see? MADAME BUTTERFLY IS A MAN! Gallimard has, and perhaps not consciously, mentally objectified Asian women so much that he is able to project his fantasies and delusions of what an Asian woman should be ON A MAN! Butterfly even STRIPS in front of him, and he sees nothing amiss. The reason the ruse works is, as Butterfly says "only a man knows how woman is supposed to act". Butterfly keys into Gallimard's own preconceptions of Asian female behavior, and uses them against him. Generally, smirking retellings of old stories where a dubious gilding of modern sociological mores is splashed over everything give me a pain. But this time it works, and HOW it works. Pick up M. BUTTERFLY today.
Rating:
Summary: A great production
Review: This audiobook presentation of M Butterfly will give listeners a first class seat to hear one of literature's great stories. M butterfly is much more then a love story; rather it is a multi-themed tale which addresses many issues. West vs East, Fantasy vs reality sexuality, true love and the human condition. John Lithgow and B. D. Wong are great in the leading roles, especially Wong what a transformation! Buy this production and enjoy this mind's eye treat. L.A theatre works did an excellent job in putting it all together and I will not hesitate to buy more of their audio products. Thank goodness Amazon carries a large selection! Highly recommended
Rating:
Summary: Gender, Love, Betray !
Review: This is a pretty interesting play..but I strongly recommend that you should read it first..and if you want you can watch the film..(J.Irons is pretty good). David H.Hwang combines the gender confusion with themes from G. Puccini's opera "Madame Butterfly" which is briefly about an American man having a relationship with a Chinese woman. Hwang blends this with the facts in which he inspired by a 1986 newspaper story, where a French diplomat who was is trial for espionage had a relationship with a woman which turned out to be a man. This play is a gender complicated drama about clash between Western & Eastern cultures. Moreover, this may also be considered as a love story, which I think is a very sad one. Hwang creates stereotypes, and he makes these stereotypes vice versa. By changing the roles, Rene who is supposed to represent West & Song, East no longer represent those.Song becomes the masculine which is masked by the feminine disguise represents West & Rene who becomes submissive in the play represents East. In this play many of you may find Rene stupid and perverted but he is not. They were in love for a long time. Rene knew that Song was a man, but he is definitely not gay. Rene is in love with the idea that such a perfect woman exists. In reality, there is no perfect woman according to his standards. He is in love with a perfect fantasy. " it is true that only a man knows how a woman is supposed to act." By the word woman I am referring to the ideal woman of which every man dreams and Song fulfills this role so well that Rene does not want to discover that Song is a man, because he has a perfect relationship,and why should he ruin it ? He has the woman of is life, why lose it ? On the other, Song is a spy, an actress! and gay. He uses theater and wears woman dresses( In that time women were excluded from performing in a theater because of culturally constructed constaints.) Beyond this acting, under that disguise, Song gets what he wants. He gets a relationship in which he would never get if he was not an actor. There is so much to say about this play.. I think it is a great love story..I really felt sorry for Rene.. Having found his perfect woman, confronting with the reality, he realizes that his dream will never go on. I wont tell the end..but it made me cry..its a pathetic ending..
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