THE BUTTERFLY PROCESS CURRICULUM FRAMEWORK A Suggested Companion to Boston Lyric Opera’s Butterfly Process Discussion Series and Articles Ideal for adaptation with 11th or 12th Grade English Language Arts Courses or Undergraduate Courses as relevant
Purpose Introduce students to Giacomo Puccini’s opera, Madama Butterfly, through the framework and topics in Boston Lyric Opera’s Butterfly Process Discussion Series that critically examines the cultural context, stereotypes, and socio-cultural issues connected to this opera that perpetuate myths and assumptions about Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) culture and peoples. Goal Students will critically analyze the story and the music of the opera Madama Butterfly spanning from the premiere of the work through today and understand its enduring influence in shaping and reinforcing stereotypes of AAPI people in Western European and American cultures. Students will explore their own adaptation of the opera, using their knowledge of good storytelling, point of view, character design, musical motifs, symbolism, and archetypes, while avoiding cultural appropriation and stereotyping. Essential Questions • Why do we tell stories? What makes a compelling and enduring story? • How does the storyteller and their point of view influence how the story is told? • How do musical motifs describe the character’s emotional journey? • What is cultural appropriation? What are the power structures within cultural appropriation? • What role do symbols play in storytelling? When do they become stereotypes? • How do archetypes help us understand characters? How do they perpetuate stereotypes? • How can we retell stories in new ways that preserve the essence of the story while avoiding cultural appropriation and stereotyping? Enduring Understandings • It is important to be aware of who the storyteller is and what point of view they are taking when telling a story. The cultural identity of a storyteller can also impact how the story is told. • It is important to identify who your audience is when you are telling a story. • When the storyteller imagines people and places that are different from their own culture and experience, they risk appropriating that culture, stereotyping people, and misrepresenting traditions. • Symbols and archetypes can be helpful when the audience has the same cultural understanding as the storyteller. If the audiences’ cultural understandings are not the same as the storyteller’s, these symbols and archetypes may be misunderstood and hurtful. • Musical expression is a rich symbolic artistic medium to convey the emotions in a story. • Telling or re-telling a story for a multi-cultural audience requires critical analysis to effectively convey the characters, the enduring emotional journey, and the key plot points, while not appropriating another’s culture or stereotyping people, which can cause harm. Boston Lyric Opera | 2023
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