M Butterflyyy

Gender, nationality, and race/ethnicity are only a few of the many themes in David Henry Hwang’s M Butterfly. Rene Gallimard is in a relationship with a Chinese actress, Song. It is thought “The West thinks of itself as masculine—big guns, big industry, big money--so the East is feminine--weak, delicate, poor...but good at art, and full of inscrutable wisdom--the feminine mystique" (Act 3, Scene 1, p.83). However, in this case, Song seems to be submissive to Rene, but in reality she is controlling Rene and giving him the feeling that he is the one with the power in the relationship, while Song manipulates Rene in order to receive information about the west that she can then give back to China. Having Rene “fall” for Song is an easy task because of the ignorance of both the western and eastern cultures. Whether you are from the east or west, there are prejudices that are set on females, males, races, etc. By the end of the novel, after Rene is in love with Song, she is revealed to be a male that dresses up as a female to deceive Rene. This shows that there are common points between western and eastern culture. Universally, it is thought that females are weaker and submissive. In a scene, Rene tries to undress Song, yet she stops him saying that she is a “modest Chinese girl” (40). This instance of weakness and passiveness adds to the prejudice that Rene has already. Song is also a male, so he can use this to his advantage as well. Song knows how females act around men, so he can mimic their actions and seemingly pass off as a female. Song uses this prejudice and knowledge of females to capture Rene’s heart. With this as evidence, M Butterfly displays the ignorance of the western culture that is supposedly the strong side of the world and highlights the deception but also the strength of the eastern culture in getting what they need.

Evidence

Internet and the prospects of online social networks

The Internet plays a crucial part in the progression of the main character, Cayce Pollard, in Pattern Recognition by William Gibson. The use of email throughout the novel is a big piece of evidence. This book was written in 2003, when text messaging was not as popular in use as it is today. With this in mind, Cayce and those around her use email as the main vehicle of communication. An easier way to communicate might be to talk through the telephone, but in most cases Cayce has only talked to her friends through the forum F:F:F and it might be awkward for her to talk to them through the phone as she has mentioned before.

Emails can also be a dangerous form or communication. In some cases outside parties can hack into your email and see who and what you have been writing and all privacy is given up. In other cases, however, email can be used to communicate with those who are difficult to locate. There are mysterious pieces of film that are being uploaded to the Internet and have become the center of attention across the globe. Cayce has been given the job of finding this mysterious maker. After many trips to different countries across the globe, she finds her first real clue as to the true identity of the maker, an email. This email becomes her only form of communication with the maker until she can locate her. In this instance, the use of email is positive.

The F:F:F forum can be called a form of a social network. This forum can be used by anyone who makes a username. The purpose of this forum is to talk and discuss the mysterious video clips that are uploaded to the Internet. This is also where Cayce meets her friends and also an enemy. The concept of a social network seems fun and entertaining, but in reality, it can be scary. Anyone can become a member by filling out a form online. Some people might be stalkers or serial killers with the façade of a nice teenage boy or girl. In social networks, one can never be too cautious or careful of the people they meet online. Through personal experience, there have been cases where random people have friend requested close friends of mine. In all of the cases they ignored them, but it shows that there may be weird and unusual people trying to watch your every single movement through a site such as Facebook.