Entranced by his first sight of Song Liling, during a performance at a diplomatic function, he falls immediately in love, forgets his wife and his responsibilities, an

Postcolonial China before the Revolution was made up of the China that reconstructed itself after World War II. During this time China suffered from cultural imperialism, the “takeover” of one culture by another. Mao was the Chinese leader after the war and during his reign Western culture started leaking into the China. In one scene in the movie Song’s servant confronts her about her western magazines; “Don't you understand how degrading those images are to women?”. And… “ why do you have to behave this way when he is not even here?” The Chinese perceived the westerners as evil. Several times Song refers to Rene as a “white devil” and one who attempts to corrupt her ancient Chinese ways. She has to ask Rene to respect her ancient Chinese culture and traditions by permitting her to leave her clothing on during sex as a sign of her modesty.

I found Rene’s “Final Performance” to be the most powerful scene in the movie. He stripped himself of his pride and dignity, and in the end you could tell he was hopeless and going to go off the deep end. His portrayal of the death scene from Madam Butterfly was my favorite part of the movie. He broke down every guard and barrier of his emotional state and revealed his true emotions to all his prison mates. His “poetic” death touched me because I felt that he was truly humbled and humiliated by Song’s deceit and he could no longer bear to the burden of living. As he lay on the stage dying, staring at his reflection in the mirror that he slit his throat with, I got chills and felt great sorrow for Rene. I felt that he was at peace with his own death as he lay there dying, holding no regrets.

d embarks on a bizarre relationship fueled by mad passion. I found Rene and Song’s relationsh

Some topics in this essay:
Rene Song’s, Madam Butterfly, Chinese Eastern, Rene Song, Cultural Revolution, Mao Chinese, Lines Song’s, Chinese Rene, Song Liling, II China, true identity, song’s true identity, cultural revolution, throughout movie, rene song’s, song’s true, “perfect woman”, white western, chinese people, film rene, scene movie,