Pjotr Sapegin’s Madama Butterfly Animation Response
In Pjotr Sapegin’s Madama Butterfly animation, there is a woman who meets a sailor and she falls madly in love with him. They sleep together, which was oddly graphic, in a scene that is meant to be romantic. The sailor then leaves and the girl is left with his hat and record player. She then finds out in an oddly portrayed way that she is pregnant and her world is filled with joy again as she waits for her sailor to return. When the sailor does return the girl waits with her child for him to climb the hill up to her again. After waiting all day and night he finally returns in a car. The car ends up filled with his assumed wife and other children and they take the girl's child from her. As they travel off the girl is heartbroken. She thought she had a sailor coming home to her and her child to create a family, but ends up all alone with nothing. She then takes her own life and gets blown away with the breeze. As you see her in what is assumed the afterlife she is at peace and happy once again.
The opera is filled with metaphors, but the few I found interesting were the butterfly that follows the girl, her physical connection from the umbilical cord, and the child birth she has. I sadly did not have enough time to watch the original opera due to the hurricane, so I feel I am missing something with how the animation is done. I do however, for the most part, see the message.
The butterfly that follows the girl, in the beginning, seemed to be a clear sign of her happiness. When the sailor is with her the butterfly is flying arround her or on her head constantly. Once he leaves, the butterfly leaves with the sailor; leaving with her happiness. It isn't until the girl takes her own life and she is on the other side that the butterfly returns. It is a simple metaphor but works well in an opera when its hard to understand what is going on at times.
Another metaphor I noticed was the child attached to the mother by what I have to assume was the umbilical cord. The mother was as equally dependent of the child for life as it was to her. It is not necessarily the metaphor I would use, but the message is definitely clear. The connection between the child and the mother is what inevitably what pushes her off the edge adding more power to the connection between the two.
The last metaphor that really stood out to me was the girl's child birth. It starts with her almost seeming as if she lost her mind carrying a fish bowl around under her shirt. The bowl then cracks and is shot in a way that looks like a child birth. The fish falls out then forms into her child. I understand the connection between her having a fish as a child that is conceived with a sailor, but I really feel I am missing something deeper to it that is probably explained in the full opera.
All in all I thought it was an odd story. I did appreciate how well the animation was done. They did a great job on bringing the characters to life and expressing emotions and ideas through the nonverbal actions of the characters.
The opera is filled with metaphors, but the few I found interesting were the butterfly that follows the girl, her physical connection from the umbilical cord, and the child birth she has. I sadly did not have enough time to watch the original opera due to the hurricane, so I feel I am missing something with how the animation is done. I do however, for the most part, see the message.
The butterfly that follows the girl, in the beginning, seemed to be a clear sign of her happiness. When the sailor is with her the butterfly is flying arround her or on her head constantly. Once he leaves, the butterfly leaves with the sailor; leaving with her happiness. It isn't until the girl takes her own life and she is on the other side that the butterfly returns. It is a simple metaphor but works well in an opera when its hard to understand what is going on at times.
Another metaphor I noticed was the child attached to the mother by what I have to assume was the umbilical cord. The mother was as equally dependent of the child for life as it was to her. It is not necessarily the metaphor I would use, but the message is definitely clear. The connection between the child and the mother is what inevitably what pushes her off the edge adding more power to the connection between the two.
The last metaphor that really stood out to me was the girl's child birth. It starts with her almost seeming as if she lost her mind carrying a fish bowl around under her shirt. The bowl then cracks and is shot in a way that looks like a child birth. The fish falls out then forms into her child. I understand the connection between her having a fish as a child that is conceived with a sailor, but I really feel I am missing something deeper to it that is probably explained in the full opera.
All in all I thought it was an odd story. I did appreciate how well the animation was done. They did a great job on bringing the characters to life and expressing emotions and ideas through the nonverbal actions of the characters.
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