A Super Sad Butterfly

M Butterfly and Super Sad True Love Story have parallel themes between them, the most prominent ones, in my opinion, dealing with love and politics. These three themes propel the events of both stories and, especially in M Butterfly, serve as the downfall of some of the characters.

Love is at the heart of both M Butterfly and SSTLS. The main characters (René and Lenny, who are both Westerners) fall in love with Asian women, and the romances are characterized as a sort of “forbidden love,” more specifically in René’s case. Song claims that a relationship with a Westerner is looked down upon in her society, which matters a lot to her. Similarly, Eunice mentions several times that her parents would not approve of her relationship with Lenny, which was clearly shown during the dinner with the Park family. While I have yet to finish SSTLS, M Butterfly ends with the romance destroying René, leaving him dead at the end of the novel, and SSTLS (considering the title) seems to be on track to leave a ruined relationship between Lenny and Eunice.

Another underlying, yet manipulating theme of the story is the role of politics, specifically in M Butterfly. At the end of the movie, we find out that Song was a Chinese male spy disguised as woman, and he had used René’s love for him to gain French intelligence about the Vietnam War. Chinese politics had an iron fist over how Song behaved, and he believed so much in his ideals that he was willing to go to the lengths shown in the movie to destroy someone, someone that Song seemingly has deep affections for by the end of the movie, even though homosexual sentiments are severely reprimanded in a nation like China. In the case of SSTLS, the US has become controlled by a single political think-tank, and the political atmosphere has effects on Lenny and Eunice’s relationship. Lenny does not want to become involved in the LNWI vs. HNWI conflict, as he fears for his safety and that of Eunice’s. Eunice, while sharing similar feelings towards the political atmosphere, has a personal connection to the issue, as her sister has become involved in the clash. This presented an impediment in Lenny and Eunice’s relationship, as Lenny refused to let Eunice go to check up on her sister, and Lenny claims that the incident of Noah’s death and Eunice’s disregard for her own safety has left him thinking that Lenny and Eunice should not be together, as they want very different things. While the situation sort of resolves itself later on, it is clear that politics play a pivotal role in both SSTLS and M Butterfly.