Madame Butterfly

    When Madame Butterfly is done in puppets and dolls can it still evoke the same emotional responses as the original opera? Yes, it can, but the viewer must be able to accept a few absurdities as part of the story. The puppet doll used for the Cio Cio San character seems to be made of sewn cloth and some kind of putty with, as we see later, an erector set quality skeleton. This, to me, makes her seem more fragile than the sturdy Ken doll body of Pinkerton. It may have been the intention to make her seem more fragile but more likely it was just so that there would be a place to put the fish tank that would be her womb and also to allow her to dismantle herself at the end in suicidal despair.
     The fish tank womb carries a swimming fish that turns into a baby very quickly once the mother takes it from the tank and holds it in her arms. It's interesting that at first it doesn't have an umbilical cord but one appears shortly after it's born. Perhaps the mother created it in order to hold on to the baby, or was it the other way around? Either way, they stay attached by this cord and Cio Cio San's ethereal nature is shown by her flying in the breeze seemingly kept from floating away only by the cord attached to the child.
    Then Pinkerton returns and Cio Cio San stands on the hill looking down at the big ship waiting for him to return to her, but instead he stays on the ship and she can hear the music of festivities going on. In the morning, a car appears from the ship and comes up to the top of the hill. Pinkerton has returned, but not to get her or to stay with her. He has a wife with him and a bunch of multi-colored kids. It appears that he has been going around to all of the ports that he left lovers at and him and his Barbie doll wife have been collecting up all of his children. Barbie is a blonde with a sturdy body like Ken's. She seems fine with her husband having children all over the world. I think this Pinkerton is extremely wealthy and the kids will be raised by nanny's.
    Interesting that Madame Butterfly's baby doesn't seem concerned about being taken away from it's mother while she is devastated the moment the cord is yanked apart. The Pinkerton's wave happily as they drive away.
    I love how Madame Butterfly tears herself apart in her grief. Her face goes first. Her hands are up at her eyes as if she is crying and then you see that she is ripping her face open. She proceeds to tear her body apart and then uses a tool to disconnect the erector set skeleton parts. Finally, the pieces are strewn about and slowly swirl around together, reforming into a butterfly, which flies off to land on the head of another geisha puppet doll. Does this mean the cycle is starting all over again? Or is this actually Madame Butterfly in her reincarnation making a new beginning?
   The technology in making this video is what makes it unique. The story is basically the same but is made different by the use of these dolls and the fish tank with the fish baby. It opens up all kinds of ideas.



To watch this Madame Butterfly video go here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E387c5RAhK4

Art211

I'm thinking this class is going to reconnect me with my creativity. It's been a little dampened lately due to some depressing changes and losses in my life. I need something to draw me out of the sadness hanging over me and make me express myself. Too many changes and too much loss over the last few years has left me feeling a little lost but I'm trying to get over that feeling. Learning new things seems to help.
I like technology. I'm always surprised when I come across people who say they don't. How can anyone not be interested in all the cool things we can do now and anticipate all the new things yet to come? I think some people are just scared of trying to learn new things.
Our first class was a good mix of learning a little history and seeing some cool things that have been done in interactive video. I'm expecting this class will keep me interested and probably be one of those classes that I hate to see end at the end of the semester. I hope it will help me find new directions for creating art.