26 - A Reflection on Mona Lisa Smile and And the Spring Comes

[Yuping L.]

Mona Lisa’s Smile is a film about the arranged life of American girls in the 1950s after the second World War. The leading actor, Katherine Watson, who got a position as an instructor in the art department in the most conservative college in America, was determined to make changes there. At the begining of the film, the choir was singing and doves were flying over the school church, meaning knowledge and the pursuit of freedom. The girls in Wellesley, with exquisite makeup, dressing up conservatively, talking softly, were told that they were mean to be a housewife, which was their life goal. In Wellesley, rules were everywhere, and female freedom was strictly supressed. The girls spurned changes and they were pursuing the roles they were born to fill, that were, housewisves. In fact, the girls’ life was like the smile of Mona Lisa, because people could only see that she was happy but they knew nothing about her inner world.

Katherine was considered as an “exception” who was advocating female fredoom. She showed the girls the story of Van Gogh who refused to compromise his integrity, and she taught the girls to appreciate works with critical thinking. Through her persistence, Katherine made her success. The girls were finally pursuing the life they wanted, their dreams and they dared to say no to marrige.

And the Spring Comes was a fim about the struggling life of several young people who loved arts in a small city in north China during the 1980s. Those young people could not achieve their dreams in that small city and they all wanted to seek their opportunities in Beijing. They were talented dreamers, but they had no chance to make their dreams come true, and they had to bear the citicism of the public during that backward time. Everyone was looking forward to the coming of the spring to make the seeds in their dreams sprout. Finally the spring came, however, they all led a life which was different from what they wanted, which was actually a tragedy.

Like Mona Lisa’s Smile, which was telling the story about the life of young girls in the United States after WWII when conservatism was overwhelming across the country, the life of people in And the Spring Comes was actually the epitome of people in the 1980s when the Reform and Opening-up were just introduced. Both countries, America and China were in their special times, and people’s life was deeply affected spiritually and physically. In both films, marriage was considered to be a crucial part of a woman’s life.

In America, Katherine was trying to fight for female freedom to achieve women’s personal values, and in China, people like Tsai-ling were managing to find an opprtunity trough Guanxi. It can be seen that there were big differences of social, cultural and economic structures between the two countries. The girls in Wellesley, though strictly trained to be a particular role, were in fact living a life that was apparently much better than those in China, which was a striking contast of the development of economy of the two countries. There were more nonverbal gestures of the Americans while Chinese tended to be more stiff since in the 1980s Chinese people’s ideology was still comparatively closed. Cool color was the main theme in Mona Lisa’s Smile, but when it was coming to an end, it turned out to be the bright color and again doves were flying over the school church. Finally fredoom came.

There were more long shots in And the Spring Comes and the color was almost all cool, which displyed a feeling of doom and gloom.

[Yixiong X.]

Hi Yuping,
You covered all the basic elements in your essay, so overall it looks good. However, the structure is somehow disordered and looks like that article is not completely over. You could add something at the last paragraph to conclude all the perspectives you talked above or enhance your essay to another level.
I really like this sentence from you: In fact, the girls’ life was like the smile of Mona Lisa, because people could only see that she was happy but they knew nothing about her inner world. You actually connect that masterpiece to this movie -- this might be exactly what the director wants to show to his audiences. Since the same title won't be the coincident. But I see not many people mentioned it.
After all, if you could make transitions between paragraphs more smooth to make the topics' change less abrupt, the whole essay will be more structured and clear. BTW, very welcome to judge my essay~ I pretty sure you can find out the deficiencies in my essay that others couldn't find. Thank you!

[John F.]

Hi Yuping,

I first want to start off by saying that I am sorry for not commenting till now. As for your essay, I was truly impressed with how you saw the struggle that each country was going through, in terms of social change. There definitely was a clear divide between the economic lifestyles portrayed in each film, but you where able to look more in depth at the societal reforms that were happening during the time periods, which was very insightful to read about.

In addition, I found that your logic was consistent throughout the paper and that some topics were fully explained to the reader. You were able to describe it to the point that even if someone didn’t watch the movie they would still know what was going on without it being a summary to them. My main critique of your essay however, is the last two paragraphs starting from “There were more nonverbal gestures of the Americans…”. I feel that for a majority of your paper you talk about the cultural representations of each woman and country, but you then switch to the non-verbal strategies used by the directors. This switch seems unnecessary to me because your thoughts on the cultural representations were complete and should have had an ending conclusion where “There were more nonverbal” started.

I look forward to discussing this with you more, but some questions I have right now are: even though there are cultural and language gaps between each movie, do you feel that the portrayed social changes are an important aspect for the progression of society? Also, should societal norms be constantly challenged so that people can become more individualistic?

John Faeth

[Yuping L.]

Hey John,

Your paper is impressive for its logic and structure, and, there are many in depth thoughts you have mentioned. Your paper is well organized compared to mine which is somewhat disordered. You have emphasized the importance of female independence, and gone deep into the social norms and inequality that women were facing by comparing two cultures, and you have mentioned that women should gain the knowledge to change. I think your perspective is indeed profound and interesting.

I have noticed in your paper that your main point is that women should make the change so that they can be independent from the social norms which hinder their personal development, however, in And the Spring Comes the theme is not solely about women's independence but that of people who are constrained by social norms in a conservative China. I think not only women should gain the knowledge to change but the society should make them and other groups free, and I think your paper will be more perfect if you look at these movies from more aspects.

As for your comment on my paper that I swithed abrubtly in my last two paragraphs, I totally agree and I think I should have organized them in a more logical and clear way. Actually the paper does not look like what I was expecting. You have mentioned that the nonverbal strategies are unnesessary in my paper, but I want to make it clear that I wanted to make comparisons between the two cultures, maybe I did not make a good structure and you cannot fully get my point.

I completely agree on your question that social chnages are important factors for the progression of society, but on the one that to social norms should be changed to become more individualistic, I don't think all forms of social norms should be challenged. Social norms like those mentioned in the two movies that impeded people's normal development should be changed, however, the society need other norms to keep it ordered and harmonious by imposing restrctions on people's improper behaviors.

Thank you for your commnets and questions.
Yuping Linghu

[Yuping L.]

Hey Yixiong,

Your essay is rather clear and logical while that of mine is just like what you have mentioned as disordered haha. You have mentioned that both movies have the same style, that is, to show feminism in some similar or different ways. You have made your points very clear by exploring the movies in several aspects. You expressed your personal feelings of the movies and then to some other reflections in depth. I really appreciate your structure and expression that are easier to understand.

What I have seen mostly in your paper, however, are your personal feelings toward different characters rather than your comparison between the two cultures. I think maybe you can make more reflections in a more broad scale. Thank you for pointing out the disordered structure of my essay and my abrubt transition in the last part may cause the readers confusion.
Thank you for your advice and look forward to your reply.

Yuping Linghu

[Yuanping L.]

Hi Yuping,

Firstly I would like to say your opinion is overall because you mentioned the characters’ inner world and outer behavior. I think it’s very good that you also talked about the different backgrounds of the two countries in different periods. In addition, I like that you mentioned some small details to make your ideas more convincing because I did as well. The sentence I like most is that “Everyone was looking forward to the coming of the spring to make the seeds in their dreams sprout”. It reads like a verse, isn’t it?

What’s more, I would like to give some suggestions which maybe helpful to your paper. The first one is I think it would be better if you could change your title to make your paper more attractive. I’ve noticed most titles of the papers show the writers’ feelings or their opinions of the two movies in a brief way. And you could add a paragraph at the very beginning of the paper to show your general thoughts. In order to make smooth transitions, you could use some fiction words, like “even though” ”while” and so on. In the fifth paragraph, you mentioned “Guanxi”, which I think means doing business outside the normal. I check it from Bing and the translation it offers is “backdoor dealing”. At the end of the paper, you could make a conclusion, emphasize your opinions again so as to make the paper more perfect. If you want to talk about something about film style, I think it would be better you could set another paragraph.

However, I feel confused about some of your ideas. For example, in the second paragraph, you said “Katherine was considered as an “exception” who was advocating female freedom.” By the way, your spelling of “freedom” is wrong. It isn’t “fredoom”. I wonder what your understanding is of “female freedom” in the movie. I think the girls had freedom because nobody trapped them or prevent them from having their own ideas. They just adapted themselves to traditional marriage ideas and refused to change themselves, therefore, they had backward thinking just like what Katherine saw through her eyes. Also in the second paragraph, the last sentence, I think not all the girls dared to say no to marriage, just Betty decided to get divorced. What’s more, it seemed that there was no one forced them to get married after graduation and they were willing to marry their boyfriends. Could you please what you want to show by writing” compromise his integrity”? And in the third paragraph, I wonder whether “Finally the spring came” means the spring season came or the spring of the characters’ lives came?

Any disagreement is welcomed. Looking forward to your comments on my paper and more ideas of the movies from you.

Yuanping Lu

[John F.]

Hey Yuping,

In my opinion I really do like your paper and the logic you portrayed through it, so you shouldn’t be too hard on your writing. For your comment about making the comparison between the two cultures, I think you could make a paragraph in the beginning of your essay to introduction your initial thoughts on the differences between each. This would allow for the reader to have some background on the cultures before talking about the movies.

In regard to your thoughts on my previously asked questions, your comment about how not all social norms should be changed really made me start thinking. Because looking back at when I was making the question, I do not think I was looking at both the positive and negative influences that social norms have on people and society as whole. I think I was only looking at the negative aspects that make social norms restrict our rights and freedom, without fully seeing the stability and order it creates. So, I completely agree with your opinion that we need some norms so that society could stay functional, but to also challenge the ones that hinder growth.

Thank you for your comments and ideas and I look forward to your response.

John Faeth

[Yuping L.]

Female liberty and the pursuit of personal value, no matter what kind of cultures they are in, are always being put in a prominent position. Some women were striving for their rights and liberty by challenging backward social norms and some others were struggling for personal value under criticism and pressure of in a particular society.

Katherine Watson in Mona Lisa Smile, who got a position as an instructor in the art department in the most conservative college in America, was a typical female liberty advocator. At the begining of the film, the choir was singing and doves were flying over the school church, meaning knowledge and the pursuit of liberty. The girls in Wellesley were told that they were mean to be a housewife, which was their life goal. In Wellesley, rules were everywhere, and female liberty was strictly supressed. The girls spurned changes and they were pursuing the roles they were born to fill, that were, housewisves. In fact, the girls’ life was like the smile of Mona Lisa, because people could only see that she was happy but they knew nothing about her inner world.

Katherine was considered as an “exception” who was advocating female liberty. She showed the girls the story of Van Gogh who refused to compromise his integrity for his personal value. Katherine made her success. The girls finally begun to pursuit the life they wanted.

In And the Spring Comes, several young people could not achieve their dreams in a small city and they all wanted to seek their opportunities in big cities. They were talented dreamers, but they had no chance to make their dreams come true, and they had to bear the citicism of the public for their "odd behaviors and thoughts" during that backward time. They were struggling and they were looking forward to the coming of the spring to make the seeds in their dreams sprout. They had no choice but to face the realities generated during that period of time. Finally the spring came, however, they all led a life which was different from what they wanted, which was actually a tragedy. Spring could mean new beginnings that brought people with hope and energy even though people in And the Spring Came did not realize their original dreams.

Like Mona Lisa Smile, which was telling the story about the life of young girls in the United States after WWII when conservatism was overwhelming across the country, the life of people in And the Spring Comes was actually the epitome of people in the 1980s when the Reform and Opening-up were just initiated in China. Both countries, America and China were in their special times, and people’s life was deeply affected spiritually and physically. In both films, marriage was considered to be a crucial part of a woman’s life.

In America, Katherine was trying to fight for female liberty to achieve women’s personal value, and in China, people like Tsai-ling were managing to find an opprtunity through Guanxi. While in Mona Lisa Smile there seemed to be regulations and rules. It can be seen that there were big differences of social, cultural and economic structures between the two countries. The girls in Wellesley, though strictly trained to be a particular role, were in fact living a life that was apparently much better than those in China, which was a striking contrast of the development of economy of the two countries.

In additon, irrespective of cultural, social and economic differences, both movies were emphasizing the same theme: liberal feminism. People in Wellesley were challenging conservatism to fight for their rights and those in And the Spring Comes were struggling for personal value through endless efforts despite of the pressure from society. Both films ended with bright colors, that were, doves flying over the church in Wellesley and the sight of spring finally came into Tsailing and other people's life.

Though faced with hinderness, people especially women had and should always keep struggling for their rights and personal value not matter how hard it was. Moreover, women, who had being regarded as socially and physically inferior to men, should get more equality from society.

[Yuping L.]

My expectations for this activity were to change thoughts and learn from other people's writing styles and, indeed, I've learned a lot from my group members. They have given me very useful and practical suggestions, and to get to know their thoughts about different cultures is a new experience. I've experienced directly the disparities between the thking of American students and Chinese students from the writing styles and contents. I look forward to exchange more ideas from them, but actually we have not interacted too much may be due to time limitation and personal arrangement.

There were three things that struck me most when I interacted with my group members. The first one was that my domestic peers seemed to pay more attention to the form, correctness and attractiveness of my paper, while that one from America paid more attention to my ideas. The second one was that my Chinese peers often observed the details and they would point out their confusions and provide many suggestions. I really appreciated these suggestions because I could learn a lot from my deficiencies and their experiences.While my American peer seemed to like interacting with me in a broader scale, for example, he would point out that I might have made unnecessary points in my paper rather than saying what was wrong with my logic or transition. The third one, from my obervation, was that all of us Chinese students seemed to prefer to express personal feelings rather than exchanging ideas with others. For instance, my American peer would list questions for every member to think critically , while other students, including me, did not act like this which actually made it hard for further discussion.

I've incorporated some parts of the discussion into my revised draft. The title of my paper was revised because one of my peers said that it should be more brief and I did think so, and the transition of the paragraphs in my paper was changed a little because they looked rather disordered. One of my peers said that the nonverbal strategies in my paper seemed abrubt and unecessary, however, I insisted on my original organiztion because I thought that he did not fully get my point.

My feelings about the activity can be described by three words--novel, interesting and time-comsuming. In terms of novel and interesting, this activity is different from what Chinese students are taught in the classroom, which encourages students to learn by themselves and by peer collaboration. Students can take the initiative and creat freely without being feared of standards, which is student-centered to a large degree. Moreover, students can interact with others from different cultural backgrounds, which enables them to exchange ideas and experiences from a particular culture. As for time-consuming, I think that it takes more time than my other assginments to do this interaction since not every student is online at the same time and you have to wait and to write posts like this is not so easy.

My only suggestion is that the time of interaction be prolonged. I find it somewhat difficult to write about 10 posts within 2 weeks since some members are not online for a long time and it is hard to meet the requirement that each student should write at least 3 posts as responses to another student.