History YMMV / MadameButterfly

* ValuesDissonance: While the opera was really progressive for the time, it's hard to get over the fact that a fifteen year old marrying an older marine and having his baby was portrayed as completely normal.

* ValuesDissonance: While the novel was really progressive for the time, it's hard to get over the fact that a fifteen year old marrying an older marine and having his baby was portrayed as completely normal.

** This opera is suffused with sumptuous, powerful music that carries the story along with an elegance that is rare even in opera. A great bonus is that Puccini, anxious for authenticity in the music, delved deep into traditional Japanese melodies, peppering them throughout the otherwise very Italian music and many times incorporating them directly into the musical line. It paid off and the result is not only music that "sounds" Eastern, but a lot of music that is genuinely Japanese.

** Did Butterfly ask for Pinkerton to come to get his son in half an hour simply so she'd have the chance to see him one more time before she killed herself? [[ThanatosGambit Or did she do it as a way to punish him for dashing all her hopes and ruining her life, letting him be confronted with her bleeding corpse]]? The ominous leitmotif of death, played by the full orchestra as Pinkerton runs in and sees Butterfly's corpse, suggests the latter: he will be forever traumatized by the sight, knowing he was the reason of it.

* WhatAnIdiot:
** People who are less receptive to Butterfly's woobieness (and even some who ''are'') believe that while Pinkerton '''is''' a massive ass, Butterfly shouldn't be left off the hook. She ''is'' given warnings, help offers and/or useful advice by Suzuki, Gorou and even Sharpless... ''but she refuses all of this and chooses to wait for Pinkerton's return'', still blindly believing that he'd come back to her. As the viewer can see, all of these backfire ''massively'' on both her ''and'' her child, and even if she's NOT responsible for Pinkerton's actions she is responsible ''for her own''.
** Pinkerton is just as stupid -- more, in fact, because at least Butterfly's seemingly stupid choices can at least be partly chalked up to the fact that she was ''fifteen'' when she married Pinkerton. Pinkerton however, has no such excuse, being a fully adult man and having much more power over the situation. Ever since the start, he's warned by Sharpless that this Japanese girl has taken the vow he takes for granted ''very'' seriously, and the consul spends the whole first act telling him not to be a jackass ''and'' take Butterfly's feelings in consideration. He refuses to take Sharpless seriously and insists that he won't give her the time of the day after the first month, then takes off to America and acts almost as if Butterfly didn't exist. ''Of course'' she turns out to be THE Japanese woman who would take his "promise" seriously.

** Pinkerton is just as stupid, if not more. Ever since the start, he's warned by Sharpless that this Japanese girl has taken the vow he takes for granted ''very'' seriously, and the consul spends the whole first act telling him not to be a jackass ''and'' take Butterfly's feelings in consideration. He refuses to take Sharpless seriously and insists that he won't give her the time of the day after the first month, then takes off to America and acts almost as if Butterfly didn't exist. ''Of course'' she turns out to be THE Japanese woman who would take his "promise" seriously.

** To make matters worse, the opera itself was banished from the Metropolitan Opera after the United States declared war on Japan in 1941, and it stayed out of the Met repertory for the rest of UsefulNotes/WorldWarII.
* LesYay: Out of context, The Flower Duet can come across as a love song (this gets lampshaded in ''Film/TheHunger'') due to the closeness between Butterfly and Suzuki.

** Pinkerton is just as stupid, if not even more. Ever since the ''start'' he's warned by Sharpless that this Japanese girl has taken the vow he takes for granted ''very'' seriously, and the consul spends the whole first act telling him not to be a jackass ''and'' to take Butterfly's feelings in consideration. He refuses to take Sharpless seriously and insists that he won't give her the time of the day after the first month, then takes off to America and acts almost as if Butterfly didn't exist. ''Of course'' she turns out to be THE Japanese woman who would take his "promise" seriously.

** To make matters worse, the opera itself was banished from the Metropolitan Opera after the United States declared war on Japan in 1941, and it remained out of the Met repertory for the remainder of UsefulNotes/WorldWarII.

* UnbuiltTrope: One of the quintessential examples of MightyWhiteyAndMellowYellow. Except it acts as a deconstruction as Pinkerton is criticised for ruining Butterfly's life. It also averts the disadvantaged aspect of the trope, as Butterfly is well off enough to afford servants and has only run out of money by the time the relationship is over.

--'''Sharpless''' (with indignation): Fifteen years?!
--'''Pinkerton''' (nonchalantly): Fifteen years.

** There’s also some additional ValuesDissonance to this. Butterfly was also slotted into the Western literary position of the Tragic Female, who is traditionally either helpless (Ophelia) or twisted (Lady Macbeth) as opposed to the Comedic Female (spunky like [[Theatre/AsYouLikeIt Rosalind]]) or Epic Female (strong and noble like Eowyn.

* ValuesDissonance: People can go on and on on how this novel was really progressive for this time...but they really can’t excuse the fact that a fifteen year old dating an older marine and having his baby was portrayed as completely normal.

** Another thing that must be remembered is that Butterfly is only ''fifteen'' at the start of the opera. She can hardly be expected to be an imposing, strong woman by that time in her life.
** Besides all this, Butterfly was merely being slotted into the Western literary position of the Tragic Female, who is traditionally either helpless (Ophelia) or twisted (Lady Macbeth) as opposed to the Comedic Female (spunky like [[Theatre/AsYouLikeIt Rosalind]]) or Epic Female (strong and noble like [[Literature/TheLordOfTheRings Eowyn]]).

** ValuesDissonance: People can go on and on on how this novel was really progressive for this time...but they really can’t excuse the fact that a fifteen year old dating an older marine and having his baby was portrayed as completely normal.

** Nowadays, the play gets criticism for codifying the stereotype of Asian women as fragile and nothing without their Western men, but in its time it was meant to ''condemn'' the cruelty of the West towards the East via making Butterfly a victim of Pinkerton's thoughtlessness and {{jerkass}}ery.

** Nowadays, the play gets criticism for codifying the stereotype of Asian women as fragile and nothing without their Western men, but in its time it was meant to ''condemn'' the cruelty of the West towards the East via making Butterfly a victim of Pinkerton's thoughtlessness and {{jerk ass}}ery.

* AdaptationDisplacement: ''Madame Butterfly'' started its existence as a short story by John Luther Long, inspired both by stories his sister had written to him about life in Japan and Pierre Loti's semi-autobiographical novel ''Madame Chrysanthème''. It was then adapted into a play by David Belasco. Both of these were quite successful in their day, but today the opera is one of the most famous examples of the genre and has totally overshadowed its predecessors.
* AlternativeCharacterInterpretation: Pretty much any production with have its own take on how sorry Pinkerton really is, particularly his MyGodWhatHaveIDone moment. Sometimes he's genuinely remorseful, others he's [[{{Wangst}} complaining about]] [[ItsAllAboutMe the pain and guilt he and only he feels]], and some have anything in between. A lot of it depends on the translation being used.

** Since Kate has only several lines, her character's portrayal largely depends on the production. It ranges from her being perfectly indifferent to Butterfly's suffering and only asking for forgiveness and saying "Poor thing" for the sake of empty politeness – to her completely breaking down and going into hysterics. Her line about Butterfly giving her the child can be interpreted as either "Well, I ''will'' get the child, though, right?" or "Now the poor woman will lose her son as well!". Or something in-between, too.
* SugarWiki/AwesomeMusic: This opera is suffused with sumptuous, powerful music that carries the story along with an elegance that is rare even in opera. A great bonus is that Puccini, anxious for authenticity in the music, delved deep into traditional Japanese melodies, peppering them throughout the otherwise very Italian music and many times incorporating them directly into the musical line. It paid off and the result is not only music that "sounds" Eastern, but a lot of music that is genuinely Japanese.

* FairForItsDay: Nowadays, the play gets criticism for codifying the stereotype of Asian women as fragile and nothing without their Western men, but in its time it was meant to ''condemn'' the cruelty of the West towards the East via making Butterfly a victim of Pinkerton's thoughtlessness and {{jerk ass}}ery.

* WhatAnIdiot: People who are less receptive to Butterfly's woobieness (and even some who ''are'') believe that while Pinkerton '''is''' a massive ass, Butterfly shouldn't be left off the hook. She ''is'' given warnings, help offers and/or useful advice by Suzuki, Gorou and even Sharpless... ''but she refuses all of this and chooses to wait for Pinkerton's return'', still blindly believing that he'd come back to her. As the viewer can see, all of these backfire ''massively'' on both her ''and'' her child, and even if she's NOT responsible for Pinkerton's actions she is responsible ''for her own''.

* HarsherInHindsight: Puccini wrote the opera in part to criticize America and the West's treatment of Japan, no doubt having things like [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Perry_Expedition Admiral Perry's forcible opening of Japan to trade]] in mind. But the theme resounds much more strongly to modern ears when you consider the opera is set in ''[[AtomicBombingsOfHiroshimaAndNagasaki Nagasaki]]''.

* AwesomeMusic: This opera is suffused with sumptuous, powerful music that carries the story along with an elegance that is rare even in opera. A great bonus is that Puccini, anxious for authenticity in the music, delved deep into traditional Japanese melodies, peppering them throughout the otherwise very Italian music and many times incorporating them directly into the musical line. It paid off and the result is not only music that "sounds" Eastern, but a lot of music that is genuinely Japanese.

** Did Butterfly ask for Pinkerton to come to get his son in half an hour simply so she'd have the chance to see him one more time before she killed herself? [[ThanatosGambit Or did she do it as a way to punish him for dashing all her hopes and ruining her life, letting him be confronted with her bleeding corpse]]?

** Did Butterfly ask for Pinkerton to come to get his son in half an hour simply so she'd have the chance to see him one more time before she killed herself? Or did she do it as a way to punish him for dashing all her hopes and ruining her life, letting him be confronted with her bleeding corpse?

** Pinkerton is just as stupid, if not even more. Ever since the ''start'' he's warned by the GenreSavvy Sharpless that this Japanese girl has taken the vow he takes for granted ''very'' seriously, and the consul spends the whole first act telling him not to be a jackass ''and'' to take Butterfly's feelings in consideration. He refuses to take Sharpless seriously and insists that he won't give her the time of the day after the first month, then takes off to America and acts almost as if Butterfly didn't exist. ''Of course'' she turns out to be THE Japanese woman who would take his "promise" seriously.

** Besides all this, Butterfly was merely being slotted into the Western literary position of the Tragic Female, who is traditionally either helpless (Ophelia) or twisted (Lady Macbeth) as opposed to the Comedic Female (spunky like [[AsYouLikeIt Rosalind]]) or Epic Female (strong and noble like [[TheLordOfTheRings Eowyn]]).

** Highlights of the score include Butterfly's breathtakingly ethereal entrance [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dRsK2R1zzQk "Ancora un passo or via"]], the love duet [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wIC__27ycwg "Viene la sera"]], Butterfly's main and most famous aria [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c-r2vu4t9-g "Un bel di vedremo"]], and the [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0f1k14GQmNE "Humming Chorus"]], which is so tender and touching that it inspired another great song - "[[Theatre/LesMiserables Bring Him Home.]]"