Madame Butterfly Animation Comments

Kevin Wagenheim

Madame Butterfly Comments

9/19

When viewing the video for the first time in class, I will admit it was a little uncomfortable. My first impression was not a bad one, I was just a little thrown off by a sex scene with two toys. However, on the second time viewing the video, I was able to look passed it and actually listen to the music and understand how it ties into the story. The music and how loud it gets is what makes it seem passionate. You can almost tell exactly what the two of them are feeling, even though they are just dolls.

After that scene, when viewing the first time I felt that the story was a little hard to follow. To be honest, I didn't really notice she was even pregnant until the baby popped out. I was trying to understand what was being sung, but it was too difficult. I was hoping that the music can tell the story a little bit, but I assume it is in a different language (could be wrong). I felt that the music just added feeling to the video instead of telling the story. Maybe when we watch the Opera we chose for our paper, the subtitles will help tell the story a little bit better.

Lastly, I want to make some comments about the animation. I really was impressed with how well I could understand the story without dialog or hearing the words of the music. I believe an animation that could  tell a story without dialog is a pretty difficult thing to do. It was also cool to see a stop motion animation done with dolls instead of clay. The scene where she rips herself apart was also very clever. Obviously a real person couldn't do that, but, one can definitely feel like ripping up themselves. I thought it was a really good way to show that feeling.