Crying for Butterfly

Last Saturday’s performance of Puccini’s Madama Butterfly at the Royal Opera House was preceded by some controversy, fuelled by Professor Roger Parker’s article ‘One fine obscenity’. Published by central-left newspaper The Guardian, Parker, a respected academic, stated that Butterfly is a good example of how opera can be racist and that the audience should be warned against its unacceptable content. I cannot disagree with Parker when he says that opera can be racist. I go even further: opera can also be male chauvinist or even justify terrorism (and if I were not currently working on an academic project about that I would give you examples of all this). This said, however, I am not sure whether Butterfly is a racist opera. On the contrary, as one reader of The Guardian said in his response to Parker, ‘Puccini doesn't make his audience…