Un Bel Di

After doing the artist influence presentation, I thought a lot about how varied my influences are and how it was hard for me to pinpoint specific artists that influence me. One thing I did see a repetition of though, was in a specific character.

I found that I have kept being attracted to things around the story of Madama Butterfly, originally exposed to me through Puccini's opera of the same name, though before that it was apparently based on some true stories. Last year I also saw David Cronenberg's film adaptation of M. Butterfly, which was an adaptation of the opera into a play with gender roles switched around. I think in terms of Butterfly, though, my biggest influence lies in Pjotr Sapegin's Aria, which had an interesting interpretation of the character being much more childlike. I enjoy the interpretations of the story, but what I really feel affected by are the interpretations of the character of Madama Butterfly. What I found interesting about Sapegin's Aria was that it focuses on the moment of her loss, where her hope she has been holding onto for years has been crushed. He parallels this with the aria Cio-Cio san sings, which is not about her sadness, but about her insistence that Pinkerton will return to her "un bel di" (one fine day). It is hopelessly tragic.

Butterfly, to my knowledge, has always been interpreted keeping the tragic ending, with the demise of Cio-Cio san (or whoever has fulfilled her role). How I would want to interpret that would be not in the literal demise of a character, but in the loss of some naivete that had led the character into that predicament. Cio-Cio san is so shamelessly robbed of her innocence, and this is made so obvious to the audience, which makes it all the more tragic when she reaches her final realization.

I want Fia to experience the loss of some innocence as a child, and to learn from it and grow. While she loses a part of her childhood, she gains knowledge that helps her begin a maturity and adulthood. I find those transitions to be bittersweet, but overall, positive. Things I have been thinking about have been around emotions like dissapointment, or regret, but only just enough so that Fia can take action to make amends for what has happened. However, I feel like it can't be a situation which can just be 'fixed'- there has to be some sort of permanent loss involved.

A possible scenario, as an example, is that Fia learns something out of anger, or frustration, or realizing a destruction that has come out of her being careless or ignorant.

she cultivates a relationship with nature so that might be an important thing to consider, especially because she lives off the land- so this can also represent a respect for nature.