Cross-Cultural Comparison between Asian Theatre Performance Styles and Western Styles
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The Asian theatre performance styles of the 19th century were mostly dominated by melodrama as well as being sentimental. This simply implies that most of the writers used songs in their drama and novels to capture the readers’ emotions. They works therefore appealed to the pathos of the reader. Uncle Tom’s Cabin is one kind of novels written during the 19th century in the sentimental and melodramatic style. In this case, the novel features most of its characters being the female characters as the main characters and when read; it evokes empathy and deep emotions from the reader. The book features female characters like Eliza and Eva who contribute strongly to the conflict in the novel. The major conflict is slavery which elicits strong emotional feeling from the reader even though a male character in this case has been used as the main character in the novel.
The novel revolves around Uncle Tom who has to be sold into slavery to pay off his master’s debts. The sympathy attached to the novel is the manner in which slaves are sold from one master to another. The main character ends up serving three different masters and the way the plight of slaves is presented draws the reader closer to the characters in the novel. Romance forms one of the central themes in the novel which is an indication of the writing styles used by most writers of this period. Uncle Tom falls in love with Eva who eventually dies drawing the sympathy of readers even the more. The power in the type of style used to write Uncle Tom’s Cabin is seen from the feelings it elicits from the readers. They associate with the characters in the book following their hardships.
2
It is distinctive that the Asian theatre performance style had a great influence on the western theatre styles. This is especially evident in the Uncle Tom’s Cabin novel which features mostly the sentimental and melodramatic writing style. The influence embedded itself particularly in the complexity of the plot to draw the reader’s attention and empathy. Most of the Asian theatre during the 19th century had complex scenes which made the plot as well to be complex. The action for instance of the plays varied greatly and had its strength in the use of love scenes and poetry. This is what could be defined as having the melodramatic kind of writing style. A good example among the Asian literature was “The Peony Pavilion” which had most of this features.
One unique thing about the Asian performance style was that the work featured mostly the female characters. These were in fact made the main character as they developed the plot of the works of art to undermine the evil in society and praise the good. After a long period of interaction between the writers from the Asian continent and those from the west, the western literature styles changed embracing most of the styles used to script their work. The books and films featured main themes like love. Characters had to develop their traits in the circumstance of love stories. In “the Peony Pavilion”, Tu Liniang falls in love with Liu Mengmei who is a scholar. It however does not take long before she dies giving the melodramatic effect of the book to the readers who empathize with every action taking place in the book. The sentimentality in most of these kinds of works is to redefine the roles of women who were seen as weaker individuals in the society. This gives the reason why writers opt to use them as main characters in their work.
Considering the comparison of the cross-cultural influence of the Asian performance to the western theatre styles, it has been particularly depicted in the Uncle Tom’s Cabin. The writer scripts her work in a western background but lays her argument mainly on the Asian writing styles. Melodrama is all over the novel just like the one seen in The Peony Pavilion. Stowe has employed the complex plot in her novel that draws the reader’s attention and inner feelings as they read her book. The book concentrates on a central theme which is slavery. The writer admonishes this ill in the society where slaves are being mistreated as seen with Uncle Tom, seemingly the main character, where he is sold to serve three masters. This experience appeals to the pathos of the readers as they experience some of the suffering that characters in the book undergo. The writer of the book has as well utilized the strategy of female characters like Eliza and Eva. When one reads this novel, they feel sympathetic with Uncle Tom who on his way into the second slavery falls in love with Eva. It does not take long before Eva dies. The readers therefore feel sorry for the two as their relationship does not last for a longer period of time. The writer has in this case employed the Asian theatre style of making love one of the central themes in the novel apart from slavery.
The optimism associated with the Asian melodramatic type of writing is evident in Uncle Tom’s Cabin when Eva at her point of death has visions for the slaves. This implies to the living that slavery was not a good thing. Uncle Tom after being oppressed to abandon his faith does not give up on Christianity which portrays the optimistic feeling that slaves have towards the coming to an end of slavery. Egalitarian is also indicated through this kind of resilience not to give up personal beliefs by the characters of the novel.
On the other hand, the Japanese Bunraku and Kabuki had the employment of melodrama through the use of poetry in their works of art. Most of their performance put emphasis on lyrics and movements to capture the attention and emotions of the audience. In the same way, they used love as the main themes of their drama as female characters dominated the stage. Apparently weaker characters emerged as heroes and heroines especially through the utilization of puppets. Music and costumes were selected keenly to add to the complexity of the plot. As a result of the interaction with the western film makers, actions were influenced by what they did in the Asian continent. The cross-cultural influence therefore came about as a result of the interaction and reading of the literature from Asia so that western writer copied the styles of presentation and performance in staging and scripting of their pieces of work.
It has been noticed that the Asian theatre performance was dominated by melodramatic styles and sentimentalism. This was particularly to win the readers sympathy and was used as a marketing strategy. Readers could not leave reading their work after they had began as a result of the emotional attachment that they experienced with characters. It was from this Asian performance styles that the western writers and artists copied their ways of presentation
