History YMMV / MadameButterfly

* 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 Italian verismo style 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.

** Highlights of the score include Butterfly's entrance "Ancora un passo or via", the love duet "Viene la sera", Butterfly's main and most famous aria "Un bel di vedremo", and the "Humming Chorus", which is so tender and evocative that it inspired another great song - "[[Theatre/LesMiserables Bring Him Home.]]"

* AwesomeMusic: This opera is suffused with beautiful melodies, music that carries the story along with an elegance that is rare even in opera. "Un Bel Di," Butterfly's rapturous aria about her husband's return, has become a musical classic all on its own, and the "Humming Chorus" is so tender and evocative that it inspired another great song - "[[Theatre/LesMiserables Bring Him Home.]]"

* AwesomeMusic: This opera is suffused with beautiful melodies. "Un Bel Di," Butterfly's rapturous aria about her husband's return, has become a staple of the soprano classics, and the "Humming Chorus" is so tender and evocative that it inspired another great song - "[[Theatre/LesMiserables Bring Him Home.]]"

** Did Butterfly ask for Pinkerton to come to get his son in fifteen minutes 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?

* DeathByAdaptation: In the original short story that ''Madame Butterfly'' is based on, Butterfly survives. [[spoiler: Her maid's attempt [[InterruptedSuicide to avert her suicide by pushing her son into the room]] ''works,'' and Butterfly, her maid, and her son flee before Pinkerton returns.]] It was Belasco who introduced the tragic ending.

* 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.

* AdaptationDisplacement: ''Madame Butterfly'' started its existence as a short story by John Luther Long, inspired by stories his sister had written to him about life in Japan. 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.

* AdaptationDisplacement: ''Madame Butterfly'' started its existence as a short story by John Luther Long, inspired by stories his sister had written to him about life in Japan. 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.

* DawsonCasting: Butterfly is 15 years old, but usually the actresses are much older, as it can take years of training to reach the notes expected in opera.

* 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 you can see, it backfires ''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, 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 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.

* 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.

* 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.

* 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 you can see, it backfires ''massively'' on both her ''and'' her child, and even if she's NOT responsible for Pinkerton's action she is responsible ''for her own''.

* WhatAnIdiot: People who are less receptive to Butterfly's woobieness (and even some who ''are'') believe that, while Pinkerton '''is''' a massive ass, Butterfly also commited severe mistakes. She ''was'' given either warnings, help offers and/or advice by people like Suzuki, Gorou (who even told her he could get her a new engagement) and even Sharpless '''but spurned it all to wait for Pinkerton's return''', still blindly believing that he would come back to her. And it did NOT end well.

* WhatAnIdiot: People who are less receptive to Butterfly's woobieness (and even some who ''are'') believe that, while Pinkerton '''is''' a massive ass, Butterfly also commited severe mistakes. She ''was'' given either help offers and/or advice by Suzuki, Gorou and even Sharpless ''but spurned it all to wait for Pinkerton's return'', still blindly believing that he would return. And it did NOT end well.

** (Please note that after the Tokugawa policy of "Closed Country" was established and until Perry did his stint of gunboat diplomacy, Nagasaki was [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dejima the only port in Japan]] that the Dutch could set their feet on, and they were the only Europeans allowed in the country. There is a lot more historical background to Nagasaki than the atomic bomb)

* 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.

* 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 ''Nagasaki''.

* HarsherInHindsight: Since 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 ''Nagasaki''.