Madama Butterfly

"Aria" by Pjotr Sapegin

   I love how Pjotr Sapegin created this animation to represent Madama Butterfly, opera by Puccini. The combination of the opera music, the simple yet deep animations and the tragic story clearly created a beautiful, sad and heart-moving production. 

   First of all, I would like to talk briefly about the opera music used. I honesty think that it made the animation so much better. The alternation between simple, smooth music and deep, captivating opera made the change in situation/atmosphere seem more evident and effective. The idea of the opera music(from the original Madama Butterfly)coming from the machine was brilliant. The opera in the scene when she begins to tear herself apart gives it a stronger feeling of tragedy, drama and deepness to it, actually contributing to the power the story has in that part. In general the opera music is beautiful and powerful. I really liked that aspect of the complete animation.

   I LOVED the animation. Period. It was simple, yet completely full of meaning. The simplicity actually made me even more absorbed in it. The animation was filled with symbolic meaning: the fish in a fishbowl symbolizing her daughter in her womb, the fish breaking the fishbowl symbolizing the birth of her daughter, the butterfly on her head symbolizing youth and spiritual purity, the string that connected her to her daughter symbolizing the bond, the link that ties her daughter to her, and the act of her tearing herself(literally) symbolizing her world falling apart and her fall to insanity and madness. My heart broke when the man teared the string connecting her ex lover to her(and his) daughter. Separating a mother from her daughter is the most horrible thing you can do to a woman; I can't relate to it, but just seeing it fills me with deep sadness and rage. She went insane when his love took her daughter from her and she commits suicide. Also, I really like how the animation shows the passing of time (day, then night and so on in the same scene). The animation really worked for me.

    Last but not least, I find the story so beautiful, yet tragic. (I hate sad endings...) The story really saddens me, because I know that men were(and still are) capable of doing such a thing to a sincere and loving woman. Not only did he use her for his own pleasure, but also took away her daughter! That is unforgivable! The worst pain a woman can experience is the loss of her child. I've seen that pain so many times, that I lose my breath for a second if I imagine that ever happening to me. To do that to a woman who truly loves you, who stays loyal to you all that time you were away... How can someone live like that? What can a woman do when her love takes away her daughter? In the end, the woman from Madama Butterfly decides to commit suicide, because se can't live with so much pain and solitude. This ending almost made my eyes teary; nobody deserves an ending like that.

   In general I truly liked this Madama Butterfly animation. I'm going to see if I can watch the real Madama Butterfly opera. That would be interesting. 

   I think I'm going to do my paper on Madama Butterfly... I don't know. Maybe. ;) I already have some ideas that I brainstormed today, so all I need is to watch the "Beginning and Life of Opera"and other opera movies at the library. 

Can someone tell me how can I find them in the library? Using computers, right? How?

Please and thank you!

Sincerely,

Michelle