Orientalism : Representations of Japan in “Western” arts

1. Orientalism:Representations of Japanin “Western” arts Stereotyping and Exoticism: Giacomo Puccini's opera Madama Butterfly ⌘ Harakiri, film by Fritz Lang

2. Japan as a Fictional Location • The Mikado (1885), an extremely popular British comic opera by Arthur Sullivan and W. S .Gilbert . • Exoticism as a cover-up for satire aimed at Britain. • Imaginary location, fictitious Japan.

3. Decorative “exotic” Japan • An English popular light opera The Geisha, a Story of a Tea House (1896); • Among main characters, a British Navy lieutenant and a pretty geisha O Mimosa-San; • A qui-pro-quo melodramatic comedy; three couples in love; happy ending; • The geisha marries a Japanese man she loves, Katana; the British man marries a British girl. • Bottom line: intercultural marriages are undesirable.

4. Madama Butterfly (1904)by Giacomo Puccini • “Western” perspective: The Italian libretto is a compilation of a short story of the same name by an American, John Luther Long; David Belasco’s play Madame Butterfly, the tragedy of Japan; and a novel Madame Chrysanthème bya Frenchman, Pierre Loti. • Partially based on real events.

5. Madama Butterfly Synopsis: Lieutenant Pinkerton of the US Navy comes to Nagasaki and signs a marriage contract with a geisha named Cio-Cio-san. Yet, he plans to marry a proper American woman later. Cio-Cio-san converts to Christianity out of love and gets cursed and disowned by her family. Pinkerton leaves and is away for 3 years. She is patiently waiting for him, raising his son he is unaware of. Pinkerton returns with an American wife and wants to take his son away from the mother. Devastated, Cio-Cio-san commits suicide to preserve her honor through a righteous death.

6. “Orientalist” Stereotypes in Puccini’s Opera Imperialist perspective: • Power distribution: an inferior position of all the locals. • Material dependence of the locals on the Westerners. • “Barbaric” locals (the bonza, Cio-Cio-san’s uncle). • Immoral local laws (a 999-year renewable contract allowing a temporary marriage).

7. “Orientalist” Stereotypes in Puccini’s Opera Cultural stereotypes: • A misunderstanding of what a geisha is. • The proverbial honor-saving suicide by harakiri.

8. “Orientalist” Stereotypes in Puccini’s Opera Stereotyping “Oriental” women: • “Western” clichés about Japanese women. • A stereotypical story of a noble woman disgraced due to poverty. • A patronizing view of the heroine: US Consul Sharpless foresees the tragedy due to her naiveté. Later, he decides she cannot handle the news about Pinkerton’s marriage and does not pass it to her. • Sympathy for the heroine is based on pity rather than empathy.

9. Exoticism Creating Distance The audience did not identify with the “exotic” heroine: “[T]he exotic setting played a major role in the success of Butterfly. The lack of familiarity with Japanese culture served not only as a point of interest but also as a form of insulation from the play's tragic conclusion. The London Times reported, ‘in any other than an exotic setting, the dramatic episode would be intolerably painful.’” (Chadwick Jenkins)

10. Harakiri(1919) by Fritz Lang • Silent black-and-white film; • Almost the same plot as in Puccini’s opera; • American characters replaced with Europeans; • Pointedly aestheticizes an “Oriental” culture through details: the camera lingers on flowers, paper lanterns, gardens, elements of house décor, etc. • Exoticism based on fascination with visual beauty of an “Oriental” culture.

11. Harakiri (1919) by Fritz Lang • Shot in Berlin with Western but “foreign-looking” actors; • Verisimilar set design; • Attempts at ethnographic authenticity; • Costumes from the Hamburg Anthropological Museum. • Strives to recreate Japan for European audience instead of mere “exoticizing” the Orient.