Engaging with Orientalist Opera in the Twenty-first Century

自“黑人的命也重要”（2020年）和“停止对亚洲人的仇恨”（2021-22年）抗议活动以来，人们对种族问题的意识有所提高。然而，英国的歌剧公司正在努力适应。例如，皇家歌剧院（ROH）试图在2022年秋季“修复”他们现有的“蝴蝶夫人”，再次被发现对文化不敏感（BEATS 2022）。在我的博士项目中，我的目标是调查学术研究与英国歌剧表演之间的脱节，学术研究经常谴责歌剧东方主义，批评刻板印象，寻求更多的修复性阅读，而英国歌剧表演很少挑战东方主义。通过三组研究问题，涉及行业，受众和学术界，我将确定为什么弥合这一差距的尝试是无效的，并探索前进的方法。从历史上看，歌剧总是反映——并以此延续——围绕着种族“他者”的欲望和焦虑。对这些歌剧的处理和接受是如何看待种族的晴雨表，特别是与性别和性有关的种族。如今，人们对种族和代表性问题的意识越来越强，也有了做出改变的愿望，多亏了社交媒体和放映平台，歌剧比以往任何时候都更容易接近。最近东方学歌剧作品引发的争议揭示了一种愿望，即上演这些歌剧的公司更批判性地参与其主题，反思和改变东方学歌剧在系统层面上的处理方式。我的研究将为如何解决这个问题提供途径。

Since the Black Lives Matter (2020) and Stop Asian Hate (2021-22) protests, there has been agreater consciousness about issues of race. Yet UK opera companies are struggling to adapt.The attempt of the Royal Opera House (ROH) to 'fix' their existing Madama Butterfly inautumn 2022, for example, has again been found to be culturally insensitive (BEATS 2022).In my doctoral project, I aim to investigate the disconnect between academic scholarship -which often decries operatic Orientalism, critiquing stereotypes and seeking more reparativereadings - and British opera performance, in which Orientalism is rarely challenged. Usingthree groups of research questions, concerning industry, audience, and academia, I willestablish why attempts to bridge this gap have been ineffective, and explore ways of movingforward. Historically, opera has always reflected - and in so doing perpetuated - desires andanxieties surrounding the racial 'Other'. The treatment and reception of these operas serves asa barometer of how race, especially in relation to gender and sexuality, is perceived. Now, at atime when there is greater awareness around issues of race and representation and an appetiteto make changes, opera has become more accessible than ever, thanks to social media andscreening platforms. The controversy generated by recent productions of Orientalist operasreveals a desire for the companies that stage these operas to engage more critically with theirsubject matter, to reflect upon and change how Orientalist opera is handled at a systemic level.My research will offer avenues on how to approach this.