814 Romantic Illusions HWANG / M. Butterfly ROMANTIC ILLUSIONS: CULTURAL CONTEXTS FOR A PLAY DAVID HENRY HWANG, M. Butterfly CULTURAL CONTEXTS: PAUL GRAY, "What Is Love?" ANASTASIA TOUFEXIS, "The Right Chemistry" NATHANIEL BRANDEN, "Immature Love". Our cultural assumptions are so pervasive that we may find it hard to ques- tion "the obvious." The reality of romantic love is such an assumption. We see and hear about it so often in movies, books, television shows, and songs that the reality of romantic love seems beyond question. We may search for the all- consuming, magical, "spiritual-emotional-sexual attachment" we often see in contemporary films. But does this love exist? Perhaps romantic love is just an illusion that has more to do with physical attraction and passion than with true love. How do we know the difference, especially if we believe totally that such love exists? Can the belief create the illusion of reality? Or can it so blind us that we fall in love with someone who turns out to be someone else entirely? How deceived can we be by the belief in romantic love? Perhaps some people want to be deceived and fall in love with the "wrong" person on purpose. The mysteries of love never seem more puzzling and surprising than when we try to explain why some people choose implausible loves. BEFORE YOU READ In the film The Crying Game (1992) the main character, a former IRA fighter, falls in love with a man who he thinks is an attractive woman. He is shocked at the discovery. Can you imagine this happening to someone? To you? 815 DAVID HENRY HWANG M. Butterfly David Henry Hwang (b. 1957) characterizes himself as "interested in the dust that settles when two worlds collide." Born in Los Angeles into an affluent, ethnically Chinese family, Hwang's earliest influences were multicultural: His banker father was born in Shanghai, and his mother, a pianist and music teacher, spent her early years in the Philippines. Hwang attended the elite Harvard School in North Holly- wood, California, and later majored in English literature at Stanford University, graduating in 1979 with honors and a Phi Beta Kappa membership. The same year, his first play FOB (for "fresh off the boat") was staged at the National Play- wright's Conference. Hwang taught creative writing, studied playwriting at the Yale School of Drama, wrote television scripts, and saw several plays produced before achieving acclaim for M. Butterfly in 1988. The play, with John Lithgow and B. D. Wong in the principal roles, broke box-office records and gained numer- ous honors, including the 1988 Tony Award for best play of the year. THE CHARACTERS RENE GALLIMARD SONG LILING MARC/MAN NO. 2/CONSUL SHARPLESS RENEE/WOMAN AT PARTY/PINUP GIRL COMRADE CHIN/SUZUKI/SHU-FANG HELGA TOULON/MAN NO. 1/JUDGE DANCERS TIME AND PLACE The action of the play takes place in a Paris prison in the present, and, in recall, during the decade 1960-1970 in Beijing, and from 1966 to the present in Paris.
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