Theatre and Gender
Understanding a Play Through Perception of Gender & Ethnicity
Take a painting for instance, you and another individual may be looking at the same painting, but you will both have different interpretations of the painting based on what you know or understand about your life. This is exactly how it may be when looking at a play. In this case, by means of ethnicity and gender. Our perceptions of ethnicity or gender may vary based on where we live, or our cultural backgrounds. For this reason, our different perceptions of ethnicity and gender may affect our understanding of a play. In plays such as M. Butterfly, Thead Hell, and Songs of the Dragons Flying to Heaven, ethnicity and gender relates to our understanding of the play as in order to understand the play and plot we must understand the societal and gender rules of each culture.
The plot of the play M. Butterfly by David Henry Hwang, involves a French Diplomat Gallimard who falls in love with a beautiful jingju performer Song Liling. Gallimard later discovers that the beautiful jingju performer that he has fallen in love with is actually a woman. It is important to understand how the foreigners in the play view the Chinese in this play as there is a lot of cultural and ethnic stereotyping. Gallimard believes that his people are superior and that the chinese are not strong and intelligent enough to overthrow his people. His narrow-minded belief leads to his own destruction. Our understanding of gender comes into play once Gallimard realizes that Song is a woman. Gallimard is deceived by this beautiful lady that he falls in love with, and is so overcome by her beauty that he allows himself to be deceived to his own downfall. From the play, we understand that there is inequality in the gender roles at this time period and men were far more superior to woman which is why Gallimard feels as though he is secure in his “manliness” and it is his false sense of security that destroys him. There is
Take a painting for instance, you and another individual may be looking at the same painting, but you will both have different interpretations of the painting based on what you know or understand about your life. This is exactly how it may be when looking at a play. In this case, by means of ethnicity and gender. Our perceptions of ethnicity or gender may vary based on where we live, or our cultural backgrounds. For this reason, our different perceptions of ethnicity and gender may affect our understanding of a play. In plays such as M. Butterfly, Thead Hell, and Songs of the Dragons Flying to Heaven, ethnicity and gender relates to our understanding of the play as in order to understand the play and plot we must understand the societal and gender rules of each culture.
The plot of the play M. Butterfly by David Henry Hwang, involves a French Diplomat Gallimard who falls in love with a beautiful jingju performer Song Liling. Gallimard later discovers that the beautiful jingju performer that he has fallen in love with is actually a woman. It is important to understand how the foreigners in the play view the Chinese in this play as there is a lot of cultural and ethnic stereotyping. Gallimard believes that his people are superior and that the chinese are not strong and intelligent enough to overthrow his people. His narrow-minded belief leads to his own destruction. Our understanding of gender comes into play once Gallimard realizes that Song is a woman. Gallimard is deceived by this beautiful lady that he falls in love with, and is so overcome by her beauty that he allows himself to be deceived to his own downfall. From the play, we understand that there is inequality in the gender roles at this time period and men were far more superior to woman which is why Gallimard feels as though he is secure in his “manliness” and it is his false sense of security that destroys him. There is
Cited: "The Changing Roles of Women in Japanese Society." The Changing Roles of Women in Japanese Society. N.p., n.d. Web. 01 May 2013. "Gender Roles in Contemporary Asian-American Literature." Yahoo! Contributor Network. N.p., n.d. Web. 01 May 2013. "Theater." Songs of the Dragons Flying to Heaven. N.p., 01 May 2013. Web. 01 May 2013. Theatre 101 Final Exam Lucia Khau Date: May 1st 2013 Section 001 TA: Ma Yan