“Passing” as a thematic approach to literary analysis is a hot topic in today’s academia. In the the most general sense, it involves a person who belongs to one race, gender or group attempting to “pass” or be taken for a member of another. It also addresses, among other issues, Western literary and artistic renderings of Eastern motifs. Among the best-known popular examples are David Henry Hwang’s M. Butterfly and Ang Lee’s The Wedding Banquet. In M. Butterfly, the Chinese opera diva Song Liling passes as a female who fascinates the French diplomat Rene Gallimard and successfully deceives him. Song’s success in their affair hinges on the Western mainstream stereotype of an Asian woman as the quintessentially meek, submissive, and loving animated object that the Western (male) society is so attracted to. Given this perception of Asian woman, many professional Asian women ironically play this role in order to live up to that identity so as to fit into a mold cast for them by western thinking. They do pass as such although many are fiercely independent, strong, and tough deep down. After all, these are the characteristics a female need to succeed in a male-dominated society. In this case, to pass is to survive–Asian women must hide that warrior inner soul to advance in a hemisphere where their counterparts are still struggling to combat similar stereotypes about women. However, Asian women are faced with a double whammy, when they struggle to fend off stereotypes from both western male and female.
“Passing” as an Approach to Literary Analysis of David Henry Hwang’s M. Butterfly and Ang Lee’s The Wedding Banquet.
M. Butterfly
Prof. Liu showed video clips from both Puccini’s Madame Butterfly and D. H. Hwang’s M. Butterfly, comparing and contrasting their interweaving themes in order to illustrate her points.
Song Liling’s “Passing”
Song’s passing is a physical and visible one that serves as a means to two ends:
- His desire to be loved as a woman
- His resentment of the colonialist
The French Diplomat’s “Passing”
Rene Gallimard’s passing is an invisible and psychological one:
- Psychologically, Gallimard refuses to see “her” (Song’s) penis–as a form of physical and racial castration
- To preserve his sense of masculinity
The Wedding Banquet
The portrayal of Asian men in western media–the feminine role of the Asian man. Prof. Liu demonstrated the various aspects of passing in the world of Ang Lee’s Wedding Banquet, where only the viewer knows the whole truth behind each character.
