M Butterfly: a story of victimization
Questions:
Do you see Rene Gallimard as:
1. a victim
2. an acomplise
3. an escape artist?
Do you read the story of Gallimard's downfall, as presented by Hwang's text, as one of:
1. victimization
2. cultural coding
3. futile reflexivity?
OR?
posted by belag @ Sunday, November 18, 2007
9 Comments:
good, keep it up...
Rene Gallimard is mostly a victim of his own 'reality' and a partial victim of Song Liling.
Gallimard refuses to accept the reality of Song's gender, and he gets carried away by the fantasy of the "Perfect Woman". The clues are given to him, but Rene doesn't want to see them or do anything about them. He trusts Song, and the ideal s/he representsand doesn't question her 'modesty'.
He is after all a victim of Song as well, however he allows her/him to do it, questioning nothing. Song uses Gallimard's weak point of the submissive Oriental woman that Gallimard wishes to have. However, Song is the one that 'wears the pants' in the relationship. In the end it is so overwhelming that he becomes his own illusion of Madame Butterfly.
Gallimard fails, because he fails to see the bigger picture than the one he has for himself (the western man who is more powerful than a submissive oriental woman). He only sees that, and refuses to see/notice the real reality. He says himself: "Tonight, I've finally learned to tell fantasy from reality. And, knowing the diference, I choose fantasy."
Rene Gallimard IS a victim. He is chosen to be the one Song preys on for information. However, unlike most "victims" you do not really feel sorry for him. His own blindness to what was right in front of him causes his downfall. However, his death is not caused by this victimization, it is caused by his own denial of the truth. He thought he had everything, and it was all taken away from him. He could not accept this reality, so he killed himself.
I see Rene Gallimard as an accomplice. Even though Song manipulates him, presenting himself to Gallimard as a woman, Gallimard tries to exercise on her his western masculinity. Also, after so many years of living with Song, he kind of guesses that she/he is a man. But he doesn't want to accept that. That's why he is not a victim but he is more of an accomplice.
Gallimard's downfall is a cultural coding. If Gallimard knew the Chinese opera tradition, he would know that men are the ones who preform in the opera. In that way he wouldn't have fallen in love with Song Liling. His love towards Song is one of the main reasons for his downfall.
In my opinion Rene Gallimard is a victim only in the eyes of the people who surround him (his embassy friends, the French people) but also as an escape artist who promotes and dies with the idea of the perfect woman.
Hence, I read the text as a cultural coding where Gallimard unveils and sticks to his own oriental ideology representing the 'rape mentality' of the West toward the East
4. A hedonist. Why? Because his life is all about seeking pleasure. His pleasure comes in the form of cultural imperialism. Being Pinkerton.
2. I would really love to be able to claim that I read the story of Gallimard's downfall as one of CULTURAL CODING. Unfortunately, I don't know what that means.
Emil... PUNCTUATION
stavaj tocki
Rene Gallimard is definitelly a victim. The whole story is a form of victimization, concentrated towards Gallimard only. However Song Lilling is not the only one responsible for Gallimard's downfall. Gallimard's blindness toward the fact that Song is a woman, and also toward the fact that only men play in Chinese theatre are the two main contributors of his inevitable downfall. In the end he seems like a victim however mostly because of his own doing. Ending up a victim as a consequence of one's actions doesnt deny the fact of one being a victim.
sorry mistake i meant "man" when i said "Song is a woman"
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