Yeah, it never really made sense to me. I've actually seen a film version of the opera from 1995 and while I'll give it credit for casting Asian actors for the Japanese characters (opera usually has a colourblind casting kind of rule), it's still quite Orientalist in nature. The music, on the other hand, is beautiful to listen to.
Also, Madame Butterfly was the inspiration for the musical Miss Saigon, which is just a terribly Orientalist musical. Like, Miss Saigon is even more unrealistic, and they all but demonize Asian men in order to glorify the romance between Kim the Vietnamese bargirl and Chris the G.I.. At least Puccini never demonized Japanese men in his opera.
I don't know about the novel, since I've never read it.
As for the name, 'Cho' is actually the Japanese word for 'butterfly'. But still, I have to agree, it doesn't really sound like an actual name.
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momijizukamori
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Date: 2017-04-24 03:06 pm (UTC)Also, Madame Butterfly was the inspiration for the musical Miss Saigon, which is just a terribly Orientalist musical. Like, Miss Saigon is even more unrealistic, and they all but demonize Asian men in order to glorify the romance between Kim the Vietnamese bargirl and Chris the G.I.. At least Puccini never demonized Japanese men in his opera.
I don't know about the novel, since I've never read it.
As for the name, 'Cho' is actually the Japanese word for 'butterfly'. But still, I have to agree, it doesn't really sound like an actual name.
Thanks for the comment! :D