Important Values in Yue Opera
By Carmen Huang
A very important value reflected in Yue Opera is the empowerment of women through their ways of circumventing traditions and boundaries in realms that suppress their agency. In “Butterfly Lovers,” for example, Zhu Yingtai manages to convince her father to allow her to attend an all-male school, succeed in the school for the duration of three years, and eventually, reunite with her lover whom her father has not arranged her to marry. Just because she is born female does not mean she is supposed to assume the role of a daughter and a woman– rather, she refuses to be hidden in the private spheres of home and embraces free love. Yingtai is a powerful female figure because even though she is bound by society’s gender expectations and marriage traditions, she is a martyr that creates an identity that allows for more freedom through the plots that she meticulously plans and succeeds in carrying out. Likewise, in “Saving a Prostitute,” even though Pang’er is a prostitute and from a not-so-venerable social class, she manages to free her “sister,” Yin Zhang from the antagonist, Zhou She. Through her seduction, she manages to convince Zhou She into marrying her so he can divorce Yin Zhang. Inevitably, Pang’er is able to use her intelligence and awareness of gender norms (as seen in the last seen, in which she cunningly educates Zhou She’s wife on how to keep or treat her husband) to retaliate the oppressor, Zhou She. Pang’er shows that her occupation and social status do not entail the oppression from those in the upper class.
Important Values in Yue Opera
Important Values in Yue Opera
By Carmen Huang
A very important value reflected in Yue Opera is the empowerment of women through their ways of circumventing traditions and boundaries in realms that suppress their agency. In “Butterfly Lovers,” for example, Zhu Yingtai manages to convince her father to allow her to attend an all-male school, succeed in the school for the duration of three years, and eventually, reunite with her lover whom her father has not arranged her to marry. Just because she is born female does not mean she is supposed to assume the role of a daughter and a woman– rather, she refuses to be hidden in the private spheres of home and embraces free love. Yingtai is a powerful female figure because even though she is bound by society’s gender expectations and marriage traditions, she is a martyr that creates an identity that allows for more freedom through the plots that she meticulously plans and succeeds in carrying out. Likewise, in “Saving a Prostitute,” even though Pang’er is a prostitute and from a not-so-venerable social class, she manages to free her “sister,” Yin Zhang from the antagonist, Zhou She. Through her seduction, she manages to convince Zhou She into marrying her so he can divorce Yin Zhang. Inevitably, Pang’er is able to use her intelligence and awareness of gender norms (as seen in the last seen, in which she cunningly educates Zhou She’s wife on how to keep or treat her husband) to retaliate the oppressor, Zhou She. Pang’er shows that her occupation and social status do not entail the oppression from those in the upper class.
Categories:commentary2