Madame Butterfly: The Video Game

Michael Lovero

Professor Dorsey

Art & Technology

September 14, 2018

Madame Butterfly: The Video Game

If I were a twenty-first century director and I were transforming the work of Madame Butterfly into a video game, I would include 

many modern day values to it. Some examples would be to transform the opera into a story-mode based game (where the player 

controls (a) certain character(s) throughout, telling the plot and providing many different opportunities and different paths for the 

player to go down. This way, the player decides his/her own destiny and there can be an element of surprise with each decision the 

player makes. 

Some examples of where I would put plot twists as compared to how the actual opera played out, are at the points where 

Pinkerton returns; will he have enough time to save Butterfly, or will be too late as the opera has it? Maybe there can be a way to 

play the game as Pinkerton, and to see his side of the story, his thought process and see how his life back in America is. Maybe 

there is a way that you can decide to not even return to Butterfly, leaving her all alone, likely resulting in a similar outcome to the one 

that actually occurs in the opera. Allowing the player to play as Pinkerton shows his side of the story, his point of view, etc. Another 

possibility for the video game would be to provide an extension, or a sequel to the Madame Butterfly video game; one where you can 

play as the child, see how he reacts to his mothers death, and see if he resents his father for the act he caused Butterfly to commit. 

Will he stay in Japan? Or will he go back to America with Kate and Pinkerton. Where does Suzuki play a role now that Butterfly is 

dead? There are many questions to be asked and many different possibilities when thinking about this as a video game. The ability 

to alter possibility within a video game with today’s technology opens up so many doors for a game about this opera. Another 

feature I would love to see included would be a side game mode, one that doesn’t act relevant to the story in itself. This game mode 

could be featured as a war-type online multiplayer mode where you can take over as Officer Pinkerton, customize him to stand out 

from other people controlling Pinkerton, and test your skills to other Pinkertons across the world. Multiplayer games are a very 

popular type in today’s gaming world, and this feature would make this game versatile, as well as extremely popular with today’s 

gamers. 

As for this opera itself: I believe it is an innovative work that features ideas that were revolutionary for its time. This work is 

famous for putting works similar to it on the map; works that involve a love story, but end as a tragedy are implicated in today’s 

movies more so than not. While it is based off of a tragic event, the Titanic is a similar type work that features a love story that ends 

tragically, stemming from works like Madame Butterfly. I believe audiences loved this work and I could see them as looking at it as 

something different from what they’ve most likely seen from previous operas. The element of surprise in the end with the suicide of 

Butterfly is a plot twist that one could not simply expect back in the early 20th century. I think it’s ironic, however, because many 

people would the able to see that she would end up killing herself because in today’s world, we see tragedy much more often than 

people did in the late 19th and early 20th century. While works based around tragedy have been around forever, seemingly, Madame 

Butterfly is a work that paved the way for other works similar to it in the future. It is a cornerstone for the genre and provides the 

audience with a sense of unpredictability. I think it plays an incredibly important role in the chronology of opera because it can be 

considered more modern-day, but at the same time, is a nostalgic piece that lacks modern-day features (which is a good thing, 

depending on how you see it). While opera today is more modern, and less popular with the evolution of film and technology, we see 

a basis for both in opera and this piece in particular. Puccini’s work is great, and it shows considering we still use it as a basis for 

tragedy in today’s world.