This paper is an analysis of Jennifer Walshe’s 2003 multimedia Barbie opera XXX_LIVE_NUDE_GIRLS!!!, with a particular focus on the opera’s treatment of sexual assault. I argue that in addition to depicting an instance of acquaintance rape directly in the narrative, Walshe’s entire opera can be read as a simulation of an experience of acquaintance rape and its aftermath. Drawing on sexual assault research and case studies, I demonstrate that XXX_LIVE_NUDE_GIRLS!!! creates this simulation in three ways. First, plot points are initially obscured and later clarified. This slow revelation simulates the phenomenon of delayed recognition (in which many acquaintance rape victims do not immediately recognize their experience as rape). Second, the opera’s overwhelming multiplicity of intersecting and diverging sonic, musical, visual, and textual streams simulates the complex web of communications surrounding an instance of acquaintance rape. Third, the drastic reduction of sonic and visual information and the emotionally dissonant music in the rape scene simulate the phenomenon of disassociation. By creating a simulation instead of a mere representation, Walshe engenders enhanced empathy for victims of sexual assault.

Thesis (doctoral)--Stockholms universitet, 2000.

Ave Maria / L. Luzzi -- Per pieta bel idol mio / Vincenzo Bellini -- Ideale / Francesco Paolo-Tosti -- Mattinata / Ruggiero Leoncavallo -- I wait for you; How fair this place; Believe it not / Sergei Rachmaninoff -- L'alba separa dalla luce; Non t'amo piu; L'ultima canzone / Tosti -- In un coupe; O Mimi, tu piu non torni / Giacomo Puccini -- Giovanna, ho die rimorsi; Parla, siam soli; Un di, se ben remmentomi / Giuseppe Verdi -- On the hill / Wonho Kim -- Mountain village / Dunam Cho -- Lullaby / Leslie Adams -- Ride on King Jesus / arr. Hall Johnson -- Mountain sunset / Pangil Park -- Boating song / Doonam Cho. / text

Ave Maria / L. Luzzi -- Per pieta bel idol mio / Vincenzo Bellini -- Ideale / Francesco Paolo-Tosti -- Mattinata / Ruggiero Leoncavallo -- I wait for you; How fair this place; Believe it not / Sergei Rachmaninoff -- L'alba separa dalla luce; Non t'amo piu; L'ultima canzone / Tosti -- In un coupe; O Mimi, tu piu non torni / Giacomo Puccini -- Giovanna, ho dei rimorsi; Parla, siam soli; Un di, se ben remmentomi / Giuseppe Verdi -- On the hill / Wonho Kim -- Mountain village / Dunham Cho -- Lullaby / Leslie Adams -- Ride on King Jesus / arr. Hall Johnson -- Mountain sunset / Pangil Park -- Boating song / Doonam Cho. / text

Ave Maria / L. Luzzi -- Per pieta bel idol mio / Vincenzo Bellini -- Ideale / Francesco Paolo Tosti -- Mattinata / Ruggiero Leoncavallo -- I wait for you, op. 14, no. 1; How fair this place!; Believe it not! / Sergei Rachmaninoff -- L'alba separa dalla luce; Non t'amo piu; L'ultima canzone / Tosti -- In un coupe?; O Mimi, tu piu non torni / Giacomo Puccini -- Giovanna, ho dei rimorsi; Parla, siam soli; Un di, se ben remmentomi / Giuseppe Verdi -- On the hill / Wonho Kim -- Mountain village / Dunam Cho -- Lullaby / Leslie Adams -- Ride on King Jesus / arr. Hall Johnson -- Mountain sunset / Pangil Park -- Boating song / Doonam Cho. / text

Dirti addio / Gaetano Donizetti -- Four songs / Andre Previn -- L'amero saro costante / W. A. Mozart -- La flute enchantee / Maurice Ravel -- Une flute invisible / C. Saint-Saens -- Scena, Le nozze di Figaro / W. A. Mozart -- Trio, Der Rosenkavalier / Richard Strauss. / text

Recit.: Er hat uns allen wohlgetan; Area: Aus Liebe will mein Heiland sterben / J. S. Bach -- The giraffes go to Hamburg / Andre Previn -- Allmacht'ge Jungfrau (Elizabeth's prayer) / R. Wagner -- Mir ist so wunderbar / L. Beethoven -- Duet from Arabella / R. Strauss -- Die Fledermaus, Act I Finale / J. Strauss. / text

Largo al factotum from Il barbiere di Siviglia / Gioacchino Rossini -- E fra quest'ansie...e allor perche from I Pagliacci / Ruggiero Leoncavallo -- Symphonie espagnole, op. 21 / Edouard Lalo -- Next! To this we've come...papers, papers! from The consul / Gian Carlo Menotti. / text

 On the stage of Kunqu Opera, The Peony Pavilion has been the best accepted masterpiece and the script has been adapted frequently by performing groups throughout the history, but those adaptations have not arouse much attention among researchers. This study will focus on the Kunqu Opera adaptations of The Peony Pavilion after the People’s Republic of China was established. By analyzing different modes of adaptations of the script and the characteristics of performances in different periods, I attempt to evaluate the work of inheritance of Kunqu Opera since the 1950s and to propose solutions to the difficulties the Kunqu Opera artists faced with today. The adaptations are greatly influenced by the dominant political ideology and aesthetic ideas. The early ones were, to a large extent, based on the main excerpts (Zhezixi) of the original script and the performance was traditional, but the endeavour came to an end with the advent of the Cultural Revolution. After the Cultural Revolution, different performing groups developed various modes of adaptation. Some of them presented the main plot of the original script and traditional performance, while most other adaptations aimed to transform the tradition: in the 1980s they mainly revise the scripts and tunes and in the 1990s they began introducing elements of the drama, the symphony and the TV play in the performance of The Peony Pavilion. The new trend reflected that the Kunqu opera artists lost confidence in their performing art and began to deviate from the aesthetics of traditional Chinese opera. Since the new millennium, Chinese began to attach more and more importance to traditional Chinese culture and under the influence, Kunqu opera artists also gradually turned back to the tradition. However, as the opera had to be staged on the modern theatre rather than the traditional one, the artists also had to cope with the tension between the performance of the ancient opera and the new performance conditions. This burgeoning endeavour, on the one hand, modernised the traditional opera, and on the other hand, sacrificed the traditional performing art. To find an appropriate way to inherit and develop the Kunqu Opera is still a challenge task for the artists and scholars. / published_or_final_version / Chinese / Master / Master of Philosophy

published_or_final_version / abstract / Chinese / Master / Master of Philosophy