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Cultural Passport Portfolio: Cover Statement
I think that my Cultural Passport Portfolio is limited in the sense that it only features two of the many articles and reviews that I wrote during the IDC Arts in New York City course. It would be nice if the Portfolio encompassed more than just two, because I feel like I have developed considerably as a critical writer. All works considered, my Portfolio is like a time capsule for me, where my progress as a writer from early September right up to this statement is documented. But, more importantly than developments as a writer, the Portfolio chronicles my development as a patron of New York arts.
Nonetheless, I think that my two chosen Cultural Passports, I Served the King of England and Break Out, are two excellent examples of how I’ve changed because of this class as a whole. Both were useful in teaching or reinforcing some type of lessons for me. On the simplest level, I Served the King of England was important because it exemplified the importance of giving new things a chance, as this was my first time seeing an independent film. Break Out, on the other hand, allowed me to see a different, laid back and comedic side of New York for my first time. My writing was appropriately jovial as well. Through the varying types of performances we’ve seen in this class, I’ve learned to adapt my writing depending on what it is I’m writing about, such as a play, gallery, concert, one man show, dance presentation, or even an opera.
I’ve noticed that about the only thing that has remained throughout my reviews and responses is a general positive approach to the performances. I don’t know if it’s because I’m a generally optimistic person or if I was lucky enough to see good show after good show, but my reviews followed a trend of satisfactory responses. I think, as an open-minded person, I found it easy and natural to like and enjoy most of the performances. Also, having been on stage many times in high school, I can honestly say that I appreciate what actors and performers go through.
Apart from improvements in writing, this course, and the freedom of choice granted by the Cultural Passport assignment, has been so helpful in increasing my appreciation of the arts. From the successes I’ve enjoyed with my choices to see I Served the King of England and Break Out, I feel much more inclined to continue taking advantage of New York arts and culture on my own, which is the main point of my Portfolio.
Point of View Paper:
Considering David H. Hwang’s M. Butterfly and David Belasco’s Madama Butterfly
It is said that beauty is in the eye of the beholder; that is to say, what is beautiful for one may not be so for another. The play Madama Butterfly by David Belasco and the dramatic play M. Butterfly by David H. Hwang both deal with the topic of Western attraction towards the stereotypically humble and modest Butterflies of the Orient. Having read the dramatic play M. Butterfly after reading the play Madama Butterfly, uncertainties are raised about how one would feel about both works in relation to one another, and effectively deciding whether or not they are “beautiful” in one’s eyes. Although can be admired and greatly enjoyed on a separate scale, co-examining their unique approaches to the Western/Oriental relationship will raise questions as to any original opinion of Madama Butterfly because of what is presented in M. Butterfly.
When I first read Belasco’s play, I found it to have a truly enticing storyline. Each added twist – a wealthy Japanese suitor, a young baby, a new wife, adoption – threw me for a loop and made me just a little bit more eager to find out how the story ends. I was most impressed by Cho-Cho-San’s saint-like bravery and patience with the entire heart wrenching ordeal. The end scene, in which Cho-Cho-San performs the ritualistic hari-kari because she believes that is better to “die with honor when one can no longer live with honor,” shows just how painful finally realizing Pinkerton abandoned her was to her. After reading it, I considered Madama Butterfly to be one of the most beautiful tales of unrequited love ever written. Pinkerton’s selfishness and mistakes did not go unnoticed, but it seemed to me that this was the expected and usual course of a Western/Oriental relationship, as both Mr. Sharpless and Yamadori repeatedly reminded Cho-Cho-San.
But after reading David H. Hwang’s M. Butterfly I realized that as a young Westerner myself, I had not at all shown empathy for the other side of the spectrum – that of Asian people. One paragraph in particular in M. Butterfly resounded deeply for me, and changed everything. The paragraph begins with a sharp accusation from the character Song Liling against Rene Gallimard. As Song said, “It’s one of your favorite fantasies, isn’t it? The submissive Oriental woman and the cruel white man.” This quote could very well be Hwang vicariously expressing his personal opinions against the phenomenon of romanticized Western-Dominant/Oriental-Submissive relationships that were so common during the greater part of his lifetime, the 20th Century. After reading Belasco’s Madama Butterfly, Hwang commented that, “it contained a wealth of sexist and racial clichés, reaffirming my faith [or lack thereof] in Western culture” (Hwang 86). I understood that for Hwang, the famous Madama Butterfly was not beautiful at all, to say the least.
In order to understand possible motives that Hwang may have had in writing M. Butterfly, one should take into consideration his background history. From the foreword in the Dramatists Play Service copy of M. Butterfly, I learned that Hwang was born in 1957 in California to first generation Chinese-Americans. He grew up in California and today lives in Los Angeles. By all counts, I would say that Hwang grew up as an American through and through. Then, in 1986, the unbelievable scandal involving an imprisoned French diplomat and his Chinese lover was publicized. It turned out to be a Chinese male spy who paraded around as a woman for twenty years with the French diplomat in order to obtain valuable information from him. With this, the wheels were put in motion for one of Hwang’s great works, M. Butterfly.
Although I do not think there is any reason to believe Hwang’s motives were actually anti-Western, M. Butterfly is not without its faults. There are moments in M. Butterfly that outright humiliate the Western character, Rene Gallimard. Indeed, the two main white characters, Rene and his friend Marc, represent only two stereotypical manifestations of Westerners. Rene is the weak man who falls short of success all his life, and Marc is made out to be the promiscuous playboy with no morals. In an ultimate “slap to the Westerner’s face,” Rene realizes too late that he was duped into being the Oriental butterfly, a role reversal that was planned by Song since the beginning. (The “M” in M. Butterfly does not stand for “Madama,” but rather for “Monsieur.”) The following excerpt from M. Butterfly (a continuation from the earlier mentioned quote) gives further insight into the mindset of Hwang, as expressed via the character Song:
Song: Consider it this way: what would you say if a blonde homecoming queen fell in love with a short Japanese businessman? He treats her cruelly, then goes home for three years, during which time she prays to his picture and turns down marriage from a young Kennedy. Then, when she learns he has remarried, she kills herself. Now, I believe you would consider this girl to be a deranged idiot, correct? But because it’s an Oriental who kills herself for a Westerner – ah! – you find it beautiful. (Silence)
This paragraph brings up the possibility that perhaps Belasco’s Madama Butterfly is actually an erroneous representation of what true love is. Hwang argues that the typical Western/Oriental relationship is a humiliating scam for the Asian party. For him, Madama Butterfly is based entirely on this principle and there is nothing beautiful about the story.
As I’ve already said, I admire and greatly enjoy Belasco’s Madama Butterfly and Hwang’s M. Butterfly as two separate works. But since the two are inarguably interlinked, each offering opposing views on the same topic, it is impossible to shield oneself behind that statement for long. When comparing the two works of art, it would seem that Madama Butterfly, the story of suicide in the name of true love, is the more romanticized one. M. Butterfly, the story of a grotesque relationship between a delusional man and an opportunistic antagonist, would be the more twisted one. However, there are facts that support the opposite argument for both works. In Madama Butterfly, Cho-Cho-San’s hari-kari is in itself a twisted act. And in M. Butterfly, Rene’s love for a stereotypical idealized “Oriental butterfly,” is as strong as, if not stronger than, Cho-Cho-San’s romantic love for Pinkerton – it certainly fooled him for 20 years.
Either way, both works are based on events that actually happened in real life at some point, which is to say that life is equally as romantic and twisted. After all, as Pablo Picasso said, “We all know that Art is not truth. Art is a lie that makes us realize the truth…” In my opinion, Madama Butterfly is beautiful, as is M. Butterfly. Hwang’s postmodern take on the Western/Oriental relationship serves to bring forward the other side of the story, inverting what was commonly accepted as the norm. I think they work together in a paradoxical sort of harmony, ultimately brining out the best and worst in one another.
Cultural Passport Portfolio: Reflective Essay
For me, this past semester’s hardest class in terms of work wasn’t Calculus II or English 2150; it was actually the IDC Arts in New York City seminar. I guess that isn’t really so surprising, considering that in many ways, the class was an assortment of lots and lots cultural ‘field trips’ and reviews, most of which were (understandably) time consuming. The Cultural Passport Journey was one of the more time consuming assignments, since we had to pick out an event on our own which involves some research that we would otherwise expect a teacher to do. To utilize my Macaulay Cultural Passport, I went to three very different but equally good events.
I basically picked events based on their convenience at the time. First, I went to the Metropolitan Museum of Art, which was a pleasant experience that I hadn’t done since freshman year of high school. In late October, I went to see an independent film called I Served the King of England. It was my first time at an indie-film, and luckily, it was a great first time. The last Cultural Passport event I went to was Break Out, which was a really exhilarating and funny show to end the class with. Having listed the three, it looks like I accidentally worked my way up the chart of New York City art, from simplest to most exclusive. Even though I went based on at-the-moment convenience, I’m glad to add that no matter how random the three are, all proved to leave me with a feeling of enjoyment and satisfaction. Also, all three served as agents of discovery, and have allowed me to be much more welcoming of similar shows or experiences in the future.
Anyway, my two favorite events of the three are I Served the King of England and Break Out. I really like the former because it worked out to be an amazing first time experience (and those are great because it acts as positive reinforcer and leaves a person more likely to do the thing again). Even though the film was in Czech, it was subtitled in English. And the plot was interesting enough to make the language barrier a small twist rather than an annoyance. I Served the King of England tells the story of a man called Jan Dite, who is short in stature but always big on dreams, with the ambition to make millions. It was funny seeing Jan climb up the ladder from pub waiter to brothel waiter to a fancy restaurant waiter, always getting closer to becoming a part of the Millionaire’s club. From this experience, I discovered the beauty of Indie films, which is often overlooked. Their humble charm offsets the pull of big budget blockbusters, and I’m excited for my second Indie.
As for Break Out, the show served to reiterate unto me the benefits of taking the time out to find a show in the City and to go and see it. The show itself was great. I personally love seeing break dancing, so that, with humor added to the mix, made for one heck of a show for me. Another great think about seeing Break Out was how perfectly it rounded off the semester for me (not counting Danny Hoch’s Taking Over). After a semester of plays, operas, and galleries that often required analytical understanding, Break Out was a nice break. It too is a favorite Cultural Passport experience of mine because through it I discovered that Manhattan shows aren’t all stereotypically “hoity-toity” and the like. Shows in Manhattan offer fun for a variety of preferences, which I learned from the Cultural Passports and the other plays and performances that we went to.
In retrospect, the Cultural Passport Journey that we undertook was one of the most underrated assignments of the Art in New York City course. Before this year, I never went to a Broadway or off-Broadway show, or any NYC performance, or any water tour. But, after going to three very different shows for the Cultural Passport and countless more for the rest of the class assignments, I think I finally have a decent taste of New York’s culture. Much like the variety in my Cultural Passports, New York’s culture is also ever changing. I was lucky to have seen what I had a chance to see, but there’s still so much to see and so much that I didn’t get to see. Then again, I now know firsthand what’s out there. I think that’s really the best part of this course and the Cultural Passports… for some of us, myself included, it opened the doors into NYC like 6-train never will.
Creative View: Break Out
[BREAK-] Frozen in Time
[DANC-] Fluidity in Moves
[ING.] Combine the Parts
I Served the King of England
Right after our IDC class last Wednesday, Mariya and I hightailed it over to the Quad Cinema theater because she was worried that there would be a really long line for the independent film we were going to see, entitled I Served the King of England.
There was no line. In fact, there was only a handful other patrons in Auditorium 2 where the film was set to play. I wasn’t so much disappointed as I was disheartened. This was my first Indie film and, at this point, I was certain that we picked a crappy one to watch. Either way, we laughed a lot at our rushing and how “packed” the place was. I said to Mariya, “Watch it not even be in English.” The movie started, and sure enough, subtitles appear under Czech speaking actors.
Within minutes, however, we were pretty much captivated by the film; we did little apart from nudging one another to make a whispered comment about what we just saw. The film was told by flashback. It was the story of a man called Jan Dite, who is short in stature but always big on dreams, with the ambition to make millions. Later on in the movie, he hopes to marry a pure-blooded Aryan woman and foolishly go against his Czechoslovakian heritage, as well.
The lead actors, Ivan Barnev (young Jan) and Oldrich Kaiser (old Jan), are amazing. I most liked Barnev’s representation of the young Jan, because he really exemplifies pure ambition. It is funny to see him climb up the ladder from pub waiter to brothel waiter to a fancy restaurant waiter. He would always leave a job when it became evident that the time was right. In one scene, a German officer tips Jan – who was the nearest waiter to him – literally thousands of bills, just because. One big step closer to becoming a millionaire, Jan simply drops the tea cup he was holding, and walks out without a word. All the while, young Jan proves himself to be quite the ladies man as well. In juxtaposition, the old Jan, broke and fresh out of jail, looks back with both a sense of fulfillment and wonder, if things had been different.
I was really and truly impressed with the movie. It jumped around between being very humorous, raunchy, downright disgusting, a bit saddening, and even deeply profound. I would definitely recommend I Served the King of England to a friend. Speaking as one Yan to another Jan, I would gladly go see this film again!
Creative View: I Served the King of England
Oh No, Where Have We Gone?
The Theater Is Empty,
The Day, She Is Undone!
Oh No, English They Do Not Speak!
The Film Is Doomed For Failure,
And My Cultural Passport Doomed Weak.
But Wait, The Little Man Is Funny,
And His Ambition, Pure And Sound.
Perhaps The Film Is Yet Worth My Money?
A Dollar Here, A Dollar There,
Young Jan Is On His Way; I Do Not Doubt,
Soon He Will Be A Millionaire!
It Is Over, Little Jan No More.
But That Is Quite All Right,
Because This Movie I Do Adore!
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