1920 Opera: Madama Butterfly

The Mise en scene of Madama Butterfly is crucial to your understanding of the Opera. The overall set design of the Opera is very minimal. There are very few props or sets included on stage. The lighting plays a very important role in this Opera. The lighting adds to the emotion and understanding of the story. Colors light up the entire background based on what is happening in the scene. I think the most noticeable way lighting was used occurred during the death scene. Everything was dark other than a spotlight that was on our main character. Costuming was used in a very similar way that the lighting was used. The costumes were very basic and plain. There were some colorful costumes during specific parts of the Opera. I think the most important use of costuming occurred after the wedding. Madama Butterfly was initially in a more colorful outfit, but when it came time for her to spend the night with her new husband she was wearing all white which signified her purity.

Watching this Opera I discovered that not all Operas about love have a happy ending. I think this piece was very important to the chronology of Opera because it shows that Opera has the ability to convey deeper messages and address harder topics. I’m not sure how audiences reacted when this Opera was initially presented. I personally was very surprised at the direction the story went in. I thought Madame Butterfly was going to be reunited with her love and there was going to be a happy ending. This was not at all the case, so I had a more negative reaction to the story due to it not being what I expected. The Opera was overall very good, so I hope it received positive reactions when it was originally presented. Technology is used in a very unique way in this Opera. There were some instances where the spotlight did some cool effects where it was slanted and moved around. There was also a huge video screen in the background where things were projected. I felt like this added to the overall emotion of the Opera.

I think this piece could easily be turned into a video game. There are several video games on the market that are designed to depict real life. This Opera is definitely something that could happen in real life. Video Games like The Sims follow characters that you create as they go to work, date, get married, have kids, and die. These are events that occurred throughout the opera. I think that the opera could reasonably be turned into a video game.  Madame Butterfly was an opera that I really enjoyed and as a result I would be willing to watch more Operas in the future.