Essay on M. Butterfly - 1681 Words

At the end of the play M. Butterfly, a jailed French diplomat turned spy named Gallimard says, There is a vision of the Orient that I have (Hwang 3.3.7). In that moment he is implying that there are still beautiful women, as he thought his Butterfly was. This is suggestive of the colonial appeal. Colonization is made possible by one society characterizing another in a way that makes it seem like a good idea. The characterization of these cultures, such as the Orient or Africa, is carried out through literature, works of art, and drama. Certainly, plays, poems, books, and stories are only a few of the ways used to convince the masses of a modern nation of the justification to colonize.†¦show more content†¦What stands out in postcolonial drama is the overt way that the idea is delivered to the audience. In A Tempest, Caliban says, Call me X (Cesaire 1.2.55). This is because his previous name was a slave name, and, like many others decided during the civil rights movement, a different name was more appropriate. Its hard not to see a connection between Caliban and Malcolm X, or any other of the black radicals who took the role of revolutionary. When he says this the audience is pulled out of the play allowing them to see the modern connection of the performance. This effect is repeated throughout the play. The same can be seen in M. Butterfly when Song explains the colonial ramifications of Madame Butterfly, and asks Gallimard, â€Å"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†. (Hwang 1.6.42-48) This scene not only lays out the goal of Hwangs play ,it also exposes strong beliefs against colonization, Hwang and Cesaire both clearly favor theShow MoreRelatedOrientalism in M. Butterfly1278 Words   |  6 Pagespsychological inclination towards Asian woman that has been expressed by a portion of the male population. This stereotype is a part of orientalism that continues to be discussed amongst today’s society; it is deemed odd or labeled as a fetish. M. Butterfly a Tony Award playwright written by David Henry Hwang consists of ideas related to orientalism through the layers developed in gender identity, global politics and art forms. The play begins in the present 1988 with Rene Gallimard sitting inRead MoreAnalysis of M. Butterfly by David Hwaung965 Words   |  4 PagesButterfly M. Butterfly by David Hwang is a play based on the true story of a French diplomat, Bernard Boursicot, who fell in love with and passed intelligence to a male Chinese spy Boursicot believed to be a woman. Hwang’s play is a response to the Western play which turns the subject matter on its head as Cecilia Hsueh Chen Liu points out in â€Å"Writing Back to the Empire: From M. Butterfly to Madame Butterfly†. Our hero, M. Gallimard, sees the performance of the famous play â€Å"Madame Butterfly† byRead MoreRacism, Sexism, and Sexuality Shown Through M. Butterfly by David Henry Hwang1782 Words   |  8 Pagescomparing them to a woman, or just simply calling their race feminine. The show M. Butterfly by David Henry Hwang is able to express different issues regarding the theory of Orientalism by hiding it amongst several conversations between characters. The play can be seen as highly political because of topics it chooses to discuss despite the fact that the lead ch aracter is a diplomat. Though somewhat unrelated; M. Butterfly can even have a certain Brecht-esque quality to it. Because it contains severalRead MoreStereotypes in M. Butterfly Essay1558 Words   |  7 PagesThe issue of cultural stereotypes and misconceptions thematically runs throughout David Henry Hwang’s play M. Butterfly. The play is inspired by a 1986 newspaper story about a former French diplomat and a Chinese opera singer, who turns out to be a spy and a man. Hwang used the newspaper story and deconstructed it into Madame Butterfly to help breakdown the stereotypes that are present between the East and the West. Hwang’s play overall breaks down the sexist and racist clichà ©s that the East-WestRead MoreM. Butterfly by David Henry Hwang1701 Words   |  7 PagesM. Butterfly, a play written by a man named David Henry Hwang in 1988, is a story of a French diplomat named Rene Gallimard and a Chinese Opera star named Song Liling and the deception that occurs be tween them that destroys their relationship as well as Gallimard’s life. The play takes off when Gallimard meets Song Liling for the first time after her opera performance and grows extremely fond of her. Song, on the other hand, sees him as easy prey for a twisted spy operation attempting to seduce himRead More M. Butterfly, Written by David Henry Hwang Essay800 Words   |  4 Pagesfor the fourth play selection, M. Butterfly, written by David Henry Hwang, is a wise selection as a part of the season for the Illinois Wesleyan Theatre Program. David Henry Hwang, a Chinese-American play writer, concerns the role of Asian in the world today, and hence, with his unique perspectives, he attempts to reveal and criticize the prejudice of Asian, especially the Chinese in United State. Unlike the other preceding chosen comedies and musical, M. Butterfly is rather a tragedy, which canRead MoreM. Butterfly, By David Hwang893 Words   |  4 PagesDavid Hwang’s play, M. Butterfly , the story covers the superior attitude that Western white men hold toward Eastern oriental women which is shown through Rene Gallimard’s experiences. Throughout the story, Gallimard constantly brings up his favorite play, M. Butterfly, where an oriental woman, Butterfly, gives up and loses everything including her life for the white man she loves, Pinkerton, and despite Butterfly’s efforts, Pinkerton ends up marrying another woman causing Butterfly to commit suicideRead More Feminism in M. Butterfly Essay2722 Words   |  11 PagesFeminism in M. Butterfly In the 1989 drama M. Butterfly, the masterwork of contemporary American playwright David Henry Hwang, the topic of sexual politics underlies all other themes, and creates a tension between the genders that pervades throughout the text; moreover, Hwang subverts traditional thematic aspects of sexual politics by questioning the most fundamental unit of sex by considering the very nature of gender and what defines a male or a female. These elements unite and develop aRead MoreM. Butterfly : Gender Roles And Power Essay1237 Words   |  5 Pages The play M Butterfly highlights gender roles and power in a subtler way than in the film, M. Butterfly. The movie changes the timeline and thus the role of â€Å"Butterfly† has more depth because we see more of her interacting with Gallimard. Gallimard and Song undergo a role reversal navigating through the realities and fantasies of each other that are never part of the same one. Gallimard assumes the cultural stereotypes of this inferior culture and expects Song to fulfill this role while still alsoRead MoreRacism, Sexism, and Sexuality in M. Butterfly1149 Words   |  5 Pagesseveral points that have already been previously stated. The stereotypes mentioned in M. Butterfly are direct representations of the stereotypes mentioned in the theory. Though M. Butterfly is a major piece that has been directly known for its examples, other shows are known for such examples as well. â€Å"The highly profitable reincarnation of different version of the Butterfly story, from David B elasco’s Madame Butterfly to Alain Boublil and Claude-Michel Schonberg’s Miss Saigon (1989), might well embody

Stereotypes And Prejudice Their Automatic And Controlled...

Article 1 – Stereotypes and Prejudice: Their Automatic and Controlled Components Devine (1989) argues that stereotypes are inevitable on the basis that stereotypes and prejudice coexist and that stereotyping occurs automatically. Devine attempts to prove this hypothesis in three experiments. Devine reasons that â€Å"as long as stereotypes exist, prejudice will follow.† This hypothesis is rooted in a correlation. Prejudice and stereotypes are related, however there is no clear evidence of causality; Knowledge of a stereotype does not mean an individual agrees with it. The first experiment conducted by Devine and colleagues conducted a well thought out experiment in terms of their technique. In all three studies the authors’ randomly assigned the participants to the experiments increasing the ability to generalize this sample to a larger population. In addition, the participants were asked to freely respond to the question, providing a more accurate knowledge of s tereotypes because no cues were provided to influence the subjects’ knowledge. The anonymity of the participants also allows subjects to freely provide information without being judged resulting in an easier access to their private thoughts. Alternatively, in all three studies the authors recruited a number of white participants. This may produce bias in their results as stereotypes and prejudice towards blacks have historical roots in their culture. In the first study, the list of traits do not completely captureShow MoreRelatedEssay on Is Stereotyping Inevitable?1740 Words   |  7 PagesPrejudice, discrimination, and stereotyping are important topics at the cause of debating within social psychology. A stereotype is a generalization about a group of people, in which certain traits cling to all members, regardless of actual individual variation (Akert, Aronson, Wilson, 2010). As humans, people assign objects and individuals into categories to organize the environment. Individuals do this for not only organization, but also survival. Is stereotyping inevitable? That is theRead MoreStereotypes, Public Compliance, And Negative State Relief906 Words   |  4 Pagesexemplary depiction of contemporary society entangled in the cyclic, and often chaotic, entails of modern prejudice – a lingering by-product of big-city living. In an attempt to flesh out the complexity and breadth of modern prejudice as a consequence of fear and urban-living (urban-overload hypothesis); I will propose and elaborate connections to three social-psychological concepts: stereotypes, public compliance, and negative-state relief hypothesis as some of its perpetuating agents. AdditionallyRead MoreStereotyping And Its Effects On Our Social Lives1766 Words   |  8 Pagesthat we need to interact with, and people use stereotypes to interpret their surroundings. However, when people use stereotyping against groups of people who may be different from them, it can create neg ative prejudices. Many social psychologists have studied prejudices and what types of psychological tools that can be used to bypass prejudices. Stereotyping is a cognitive process of several prejudiced attitudes aims at a specific group or people. Prejudice is an inevitable consequence of a categorizingRead MoreThe Lingering Effects of Stereotyping831 Words   |  3 PagesThe Lingering Effects of Stereotyping The Lingering Effects of Stereotyping The three stereotypes upon which the paper will focus are: women are untrustworthy; all White Americans are rich; and the elderly population is useless. The first stereotype is that women cannot be trusted. Often arguments to support this stereotype come from media representation in television, film, and otherwise. Women are often represented as liars who have intercourse outside of marriage or a relationship. Women areRead MoreRacial Bias By White Police Officers Essay1228 Words   |  5 Pagespsychologists have studied the cause and effect of biases, specifically by white police officers towards minorities. Implicit bias, specifically racial bias, describes a psychological process in which a person’s unconscious racial belief (stereotypes) and attitudes (prejudices) affect his or her behaviors, perceptions, and judgments in ways that they are largely unaware of and typically, unable to control (Graham). Research centers for the study of racial bias have developed experimental studies to helpRead More Stereotypes Essay2627 Words   |  11 Pages To adequately investigate the question as to whether stereotypes are the psychological lubricant on intergroup behaviour, several areas need to be considered. In the context of this essay the concept of stereotypes needs to be defined. Although Lippmann (1922) is credited with first using the term stereotype in this context it is perhaps Brown (1995) who offers the most applicable definition when he wrote that quot;to stereotype someone is to attribute to that person some characteristics whichRead MoreThe Mind-Body Relation1833 Words   |  7 Pagesmystic and the metaphysical explanation of mankind took into consideration an inexplicable resident or entity that governed not only the body but also the mind. The mind was not associated with the physical brain. The mind was a system believed to be controlled by an entity called the soul. Looking at this chain of thought, it has to be noted that Aristotle, an ancient Greek philosopher, argued that the soul is incorporeal, being intangib le and spiritual; the mind was the intellect, meaning it had knowledgeRead MoreCulture Bias in the Media1778 Words   |  8 Pageschanges, if needed, can occur; and (2) there is a need to determine if the portrayals of minorities on television exacerbate racial stereotypes (Mastro, 2000). Devine (1989) contended that the negative perceptions and stereotypes of racial minorities are widely held and culturally embedded intentionally and inadvertently within the American public. Continuing with stereotypes on television does nothing to help the situation. Minimal representation, in conjunction with possible stereotyping, would accentuateRead MorePsychology : What Motivates People Do What They Do1847 Words   |  8 Pagesextrinsic motivation, including a combination of both at the same time. (Devine and Plant 2002) A study psychological study on motivational response to prejudice demonstrated that people who showed to be highly internally motivated didn’t want to believe they were prejudice, while externally influence people did not want to be perceived as prejudice. Those who demonstrated external motivation compromised their own personal beliefs because they thought others were placing judgments and assumptions fromRead MoreSSD2 Module 1 Notes31223 Words   |  125 Pagesintroduced and allowed for the uniformity of language across large distances. A leap in technology occurred when the Gutenberg printing-press was invented in the 15th century. The third stage is characterized by the transfer of information through controlled waves and electronic signals. Webster s dictionary definition of communicate is to make known; disclose, to manifest, to transmit to others, to express oneself effectively. It defines communication as the act or process of communication; transmission;

Effects of Emotion Regulation on Risk Aversion Free Essays

This paper is on â€Å"Emotion Regulation and Decision Making Under Risk and Uncertainty† by Mircea Miclea, Andrei C. Miu, Renata M. Heilman, Liviu G. We will write a custom essay sample on Effects of Emotion Regulation on Risk Aversion or any similar topic only for you Order Now Crisan from Babes-Bolyai University, in Cluj-Napoca, Romania and Daniel Houser from George Mason University in Virginia, USA. The study was published in the American Psychological Association, 2010, Vol. 10, No. 2. It deals with emotion regulation (ER) tactics such as cognitive reappraisal and expression suppression and their effects on risk aversion and decision making. Reappraisal involves reformulating the meaning of the situation. Suppression involves inhibiting the responses and behaviours associated with emotions, such as facial expressions, vocal tonality or body language. The researchers hypothesized that participants using reappraisal would portray lower risk aversion (increased risk taking) than subjects using suppression. They induced negative emotions of fear and disgust on their participants through short movie clips and then rated how they did on tests that measure risk-taking based on the ER tactic that they were previously instructed to use. (Heilman, Crisan, Houser, Miclea Miu, 2010, p. 58). Our textbook defines an experiment as a scientific method of research in which several factors called independent variables are modified to determine their effects on the dependant variable. This enables researchers to find cause and effect between different variables because they will observe if changes in one variable causes changes in the other (Baron, Byrne, Branscombe, Fritzley, 2010, p. 19). For the pu rposes of this paper, focus will be on study 1 which looked at the effects of negative emotions such as fear or disgust. The sample was of sixty participants (56 women; mean age 21. 45 years) from the Babes-Bolyai University campus. They were randomly distributed in 6 groups based on the emotion experienced (either fear or disgust) and the ER strategy employed (cognitive reappraisal, expressive suppression, or control/no ER instructions). The independent variables in this experiment were the ER strategy induced and the emotion experienced by the subjects. The emotion was measured using PANAS-X (posttest). The participants then completed the Emotion Regulation Questionnaire (ERQ) to confirm that they employed the instructed ER strategy. The dependant variable was the risk taking behaviour of the subjects, measured with BART and IGT tests. Results showed that reappraisers, but not suppressors, showed significantly decreased fear and disgust. Findings reveal that cognitive reappraisal increases risk taking by reducing the experience of negative emotions, while expressive suppression does not because it is ineffective in reducing negative emotions (Heilman et al. , 2010, p. 258-61). The textbook deals with the topic of emotion and cognitive regulation by addressing the topics of thought suppression, affect and cognition and emotion regulation. First, thought suppression is the effort we take to prevent certain thoughts from entering our consciousness. It is involved in two steps: the first is an automatic process which detects unwanted thoughts, and the second is a conscious process by which we decide to not think about the unpleasant thoughts and concentrate on something else. When we are too tired, the conscious process cannot operate and the unwanted thoughts become stronger. We engage in though suppression to control our feelings and behaviour (Baron et al. , 2010, p. 47-48). Second, the textbook looks at the influence of affect on cognition. Research indicates that our mood influences the way we see the world and our interactions with it. The textbook states that information of affective nature is processed differently than standard information, and as such it is almost impossible to ignore it once it has been introduced into a situation. People in a good mood are encouraged in heuristic thinking, and more likely to accept facts. Baron et al. , 2010, p. 50-53). Lastly, the textbook defines emotion regulation as a cognitive mechanism by which we use our thoughts to regulate and control our feelings. A study by Tykocinski lists two ER techniques: counterfactual thinking, when people adjust their thoughts about negative events to make them seem unavoidable and less distressing, which reduces negative affect, and giving in to temptation, which involves doin g things that are potentially bad for us but pleasant in order to improve our mood (Baron et al. 2010, p. 54-55). Some similarities can be traced between the experiment and the textbook. They both agree that our mood has an influence on our cognition. In particular, the textbook tells us that people in a good mood engage in heuristic thinking, that is employing mental shortcuts, and that they are more likely to accept fewer arguments as demonstrated in the study by Ruder and Bless (2003). The experiment by Heilman et al. (2010) shows us that the ER technique one uses can decrease our risk aversion. The textbook does discuss forms of ER techniques that are similar as the one present in Heilman’s study. Thought suppression, as discussed in the textbook, has a few similarities with expressive suppression, in that they both attempt to inhibit something. Cognitive reappraisal is very similar to Tykocinski’s counterfactual thinking. In terms of the research done for the experiment and the textbook, no similarities could be found. This translates in the different names given to the emotion regulation techniques (i. e. reappraisal vs. counterfactual thinking) in between the two. The study certainly has a lot more detailed information on the topic of emotion regulation than the textbook. The latter approaches the topic in a more general way, not surprisingly so since it is a college level manual. A critical look at the journal article reveals that, overall; they did a good job, however there are a few things that are not good. The independent and dependant variables were chosen properly and they took great care to measure the effects using a variety of tests and statistical analyses. They made sure that fear and disgust was felt and that ER strategies were employed. However, further specification on the way they instructed their participants over which ER strategy to use would be welcome. The study does not list any further information on that topic, other than the participants were given the Emotion Regulation Questionnaire at the end to determine if they followed the assigned instructions. The conclusions seem to follow the results in a coherent and logical fashion. The main problem with this study is their sampling. First of all, it is not very large, and second, it is not representative, as it consists almost exclusively of young women (56) from the campus. This does not allow for generalization. Further experiments with a larger, more representative sample would shed more light on the exact effects of emotion regulation on decision making under risk. How to cite Effects of Emotion Regulation on Risk Aversion, Essay examples