M. Butterfly compared to SSTLS

The movie M. Butterfly and the book Super Sad True Love Story share many similarities and differences. Both stories are set in times filled with dramatic change. M. Butterfly is set during many great conflicts between east and the west, while Super Sad True Love Story is set during the downfall of America. Both stories possess white males and Asian “females” with starkly contrasting personalities. But despite all the similarities, the two movies have major differences in their opinions on morality.

                Great perversion can describe both stories according to current morals and standards, but the perversions involved in both of the stories are polar opposites. In M. Butterfly, an old story, considered to be of tragic love, is corrupted even further to demonstrate how feeble people’s perceptions of love and romance can be. The movie creates a false premise of purity by mirroring the old fashioned story’s wholesome and old fashioned values. It employs deception to depict how artificial romance and stories can be. It looks into the core of people and reveals great perversion, immorality, and unwillingness to accept one’s own depravity.

                Super Sad True Love Story, in contrast, begins with sexual deviance and extremely explicit immorality compared to current standards. At first, it appears to be a warning or sign of how the world will progress. It depicts women as having almost no restraint in their vulgarity. The world is filled sexually explicit brands and devices to rate one’s attractiveness. He creates a world where relationships and romances have become a consumer good. But despite this world of moral corruption and selfishness, at the core of people like Lenny and Eunice, people still value sanctity and purity. They long to have meaningful relationships that exist outside of the world’s immorality.

                Super Sad True Love Story’s message is that, while people’s outer character may be immoral, on the inside people always seek real love that is uninfluenced from the corruption of society. While in M. Butterfly, the author portrays people as desiring to live in what our current society perceives as illusion and indecency. The movie M. Butterfly questions our perceptions of romance, instead of defending the nature of romance, like in Super Sad True Love Story.

D.L