Résumé

The opera Madama Butterfly (1904) by Giacomo Puccini (1858-1924) is a work that refers to scenarios full of symbolism of oriental influence, demanding a deep knowledge of the symbols used in it and the symbolism associated to them. The theme, a target of interest for David Cronenberg (b. 1943), gave rise to a film proposal in 1993. In both media, characters and narratives transport us through themes and experiential environments where conflict and ambition for realities dissimilar from our own, predominate.
The story, based on the passion of a Western man for an Eastern woman, refers to a specific era in culture and arts, where the fascination for the East Culture and the absorption/incorporation of its ways of being are revealed in painting, music and media. The original text, by John Luther Long, serves the libretto of Giacomo Puccini’s opera written by Luigi Illica and Giuseppe Giacosa, as well as for the plot to the screenplay by David Henry Hwang.
Using the discourse offered in these proposals, we intend to discuss the symbolic component present in them, as well as in the one proposed by Giacomo Puccini. This action will allow us not only to describe their characters and experiential and emotional environments, but also to show how their use contributes to the manifestation of the characteristics of an artistic movement that emerged at the end of the 19th century and beginning of the 20th century, the Art Nouveau movement.