2. Author-ities Daffodil poems, M. Butterfly, etc. Metafiction and Parody: Postmodern Challenges of

3. Outline WhyWhy parody and metafiction? Parody: definitiondefinition Parody: examplesexamples Metafiction: definitiondefinition Metafiction: examplesexamples M. Butterfly as Parodic Metatheatre 1) metatheatre defined; 2) the ‘meta-’ elements;metatheatre defined‘meta-’ 3) the parodic elements 4) role play & powerparodicrole play ReferencesReferences Assignments for next week

4. Why parody and metafiction? 1. Both are dominant postmodern genres which move beyond their textual boundaries; (text  context; intertext 互文 ) 2. Both serve to illustrate how postmodernism challenges/deconstructs author-ities; 3. Like postmodernism, the examples of (self)deconstructing texts will help us understand poststructuralist theories (e.g. deconstruction).

5. Parody: Definitions Comic and/or critical imitation + revision. (comic parody; critical parody, metafictional parody.) Comic refunctioning of preformed linguistic or artistic material (Rose 52).Rose De-coding and re-encoding

6. Parodies in Popular Culture 電視模仿風 & parodies of politicians ：李祖惜 （侯冠群﹚；附總統（倪敏然﹚；張俊熊（高 凌風﹚ Sesame Streets’ parodies: Bruce Springsteen's "Born To Run“  “Born to Add” Beatles’ “Let it Be”  “Letter B” music & music videos: by 豬頭皮， "Weird Al" Yankovic"Weird Al" Yankovic Films: Mel Brook’s films (Young Frankenstein, etc.) Woody Allen’s films.

7. Parodies in Arts Paintings: e.g. “The Last Supper”, “Scream” etc. Photography: (left: Big Bad Chinese Mama right: Cindy Sherman)Big Bad Chinese MamaCindy Sherman

8. Parody: Related Issues critical parody or playful imitation? The issue of copyright. e.g. a 1992 U.S. case, Rogers v. Koons; Mattel v. Walking Mountain Productions (Tom Forysthe’s products ); parody or pastiche? Loss of history, meaning? Schizophrenic lack of depth? Challenging originality, author & author-ities.

9. parody or pastiche? 1) Moulin Rouge 2) Richard Hamilton Just What Is It That Makes Today's Home So Different, So Appealing? (1956) How is ‘Today’s home’ critiqued? --example of pastiche:

10. Daffodil Poems What are the main ideas of each poem? Stop bothering us! The bliss of solitude

11. What is “meta-”? Fr. Greek meta-, “beside, after”; or “above, upon, or about” (in other words, both referring to and transforming/transcending at the same time). 後設 What is metafiction?

12. Easy signs story within the story; frame within the frame; TV within TV Historical figures juxtaposed with fictional ones; Digression, discussion of plot… whatever stops you from being immersed in the story.

13. Self-Reflexive Arts: general definition Art which expose its own artificiality (and that of its target), e.g. artistic medium(stage, language, camera), creative process; artistic frames, story, by 1) denying the author’s power; 2) bringing its context into the text; 3) making narrative intrusion, speaking to the audience/reader; 4) refusing to tell the whole story or revealing its untruthfulness.

14. Challenging “Reality” & Realism Some metafictional methods: 1. Discuss/expose novelistic elements or frames; 2. Undermining the “Author’s” abilities to control meanings; 3. Parody or pastiche Different kinds of “reality”: Belief/stereotype, History, Memory, Life, Identity Realist conventions: omniscient narrator (author- god), progressive & linear history, characters with depth. Fourth wall in theatre

15. MasterpieceMasterpiece, 1962 (137,2x137,2) Mr & Mrs Melvin Hirsch, Beverly hills (Ca.) ; Homepage of Introd. to Lit. Ray Schulte, Fall 1999 Metafiction: e.g. (1) -- In what ways are these two images meta-art or meta-homepage?

16. Metafiction: some examples (2) 1. Music videos; 2. Animation: 1) “Animando”; 2) “I move, so... “ 3) “Mindscape” 3. M. Butterfly: 1) as metatheatre, 2) as parody of Orientalism, 3) role playmetatheatre parodyrole play

17. M. Butterfly as metatheatre “"Metatheatre" is a convenient name for the quality or force in a play which challenges theatre's claim to be simply realistic -- to be nothing but a mirror in which we view the actions and sufferings of characters like ourselves, suspending our disbelief in their reality. ” (source)source

18. metatheatre Marks those frames and boundaries that conventional dramatic realism would hide.  we are forced to acknowledge the estranging frame, or break the frame of the "fourth wall" of conventional theatre, reaching out to assault the audience or to draw it into the realm of the play  Thus calls attention to the strangeness, artificiality, illusoriness, or arbitrariness of theatre and also the life we live in (source)(source

19. M. Butterfly metatheatrical elements? Direct address to the audience:pp. 4; 7; 9 Stage direction -- which suggests mixing of the Chinese and western elements p. 1; costume change: pp. 14 Characters as (writers and) performers Pinkerton -- Gallimard, Marc – Sharpless Chin – Suzuki Song – Cio-Cio Sang The role of Gallimard as “an author”: pp. 2,

20. M. Butterfly metatheatrical elements? Purpose of the ‘meta’ aspects: -- Madame Butterfly performed and adapted to his version of the story. The problem is that he is not the only “author.”  Life as performances of different roles (subject position provided by discourses) which are defined in terms of each other. -- conflicting versions of “history” --in the play and in history.

21. M. Butterfly: a critical parody of Orientalism (definition)definition examples of Westerner view of the Chinese: Helga – pp. 18 “old”; MB; martial art; Gallimard’s gaining power p. 36 –38; his inside knowledge 45; parody of Madame Butterfly? MB included (e.g. 5-8; 13; 42 ) and then criticized p. 10 more subtle criticism: Juxtaposition of “Love Duet” and girlie magazine pp. 11-; Song by the window 25; p. 41

22. Roles & Difference Why do the characters take roles which are opposite to each other? Why does Song takes the role after criticizing it? -- “Vive la différence!” p. 4; “bad” defined in relation to “good”; man defined in relation to “woman.” -- discrepancies between rhetoric and “realities”

23. Binary Opposites: G/Marc vs. Women 1) Marc: pp. 8-9; 24-25; pp. 32-33 2) Western women—strong or not lovable: Helga, Isabelle p. 32-33; 3) Oriental “woman”: submissive & pleasing; ManSexy, desirable woman Wimp Sexy, desirable woman Wimp (G)Oriental Woman

24. Binaries Subverted or Relativized. 1) Song: ironic overtones: pp. 30; 51; 2) The switching of roles. While G is gaining power: Man (M)Sexy, desirable woman Wimp (G) Sexy, desirable woman Wimp (G)Oriental Woman

25. Switching Roles G vs. Song 1) Song: anti-Orientalism; Gallimard: attracted (like and dislike MB), sees Song as “sour grape” p. 19 2) Song: “Western”; distanced from her culture. Gallimard: aware of imperialism; distanced from his values; 3) Song: “But sometimes... “ (p. 22) G: feel able to “flirt”  power relationspower relations 4) Song: “Do you forgive me?” p. 26

26. Role Play G vs. Song (2) 5) G’s thirst intensified p. 27; Song’s role as Oriental woman: 1) Anna May Wong; inferiority complex pp. 27-28; as a Chinese girl 31; 6) G’s eight-week torture of Song and his ascension to power pp. 31 – (Toulon as “God”) 7) Intrusion of comrade Chin 47 8) Discussion of infertility p. 50

27. Role Relativized Man (M)Sexy, desirable woman (Renee) Wimp Sexy, desirable woman Wimp (G)Oriental Woman 1. While Song is re-gaining his power: he continues and exaggerates the role of Oriental woman. (p. 51) 2. G: after gaining power, wants to gain more. (p. 54; )  not from Renee but from Song.(56)

28. Power Plays No one has absolute power. Power has to be confirmed by those subordinate to it, or by chances in reality. e.g. Toulon’s test of Gallimard. P. 57  Gallimard goes by to Song after being denied by Renee and Toulon in turns.

29. Roles = Clothes 1) Renee: We fight wars because we wear clothes. P. 55 2) Gallimard not undressing Song. 60 -- Is there truth underneath clothes? Or is clothing a part of identity? -- Does Gallimard turns to “really” love Song at the end of Scene 60. What’s the “something new, something unnatural,... Something very close to love”?

30. Orientalism "Orientalism is a Western style for dominating, reconstructing and having authority over the Orient" (E. Said Orienatalism Introduction 3). It is supported by a large group of discourses ranging from travelogue, letters to academic studies. It’s constructions of ‘the Orient’ is usually stereotypical.

31. Anna May Wong Anna May Wong and Douglas Fairbanks Sr.; from The Thief of Bagdad (United Artists, 1924).Douglas Fairbanks Sr.The Thief of Bagdad

32. References Rose, Margaret A. Parody: Ancient, Modern and Post-Modern. NY: Cambridge UP, 1993. Metafiction: http://www.eng.fju.edu.tw/Literary_Criticism/p ostmodernism/metafiction.htm http://www.eng.fju.edu.tw/Literary_Criticism/p ostmodernism/metafiction.htm Metatheatre: http://instruct1.cit.cornell.edu/Courses/engl327/ 327.meta.html http://instruct1.cit.cornell.edu/Courses/engl327/ 327.meta.html

33. Assignments for next week 1) Finish M. Butterfly 2) Postmodernism lecture 1 3) The Group’s text?