Cultural Women Struggles

[Leah R.]

Leah Radovich

Cultural Women Struggles

The two movies “Mona Lisa Smile” directed by Mike Newell and “And the Spring Comes” directed by Gu Changwei show important American and Chinese cultural aspects respectively. “Mona Lisa Smile,” made 2003, depicts a story that took place in 1950s Massachusetts. The second movie, “And the Spring Comes,” made in 2007, sets the scene in the 1990s. Female empowerment along with social and physical mobility are represented in both films. The two films have also taken very different approaches to editing and filming certain scenes.

In each of these two works of art, the directors portrayed the struggle of being a woman. In addition to being women, the characters also faced problems with social and physical mobility. Katherine Watson from Mona Lisa Smile was faced with extreme conservatives while Wang Cailing struggled with her appearance and her for passion singing opera. During their respective struggles, the pressure for each is to push against the customary norm. They faced their “ups and down” of those who did not accept or understand their choices. However, each of these women were able to find happiness and a new improved look of life. In “Mona Lisa Smile” the main character Katherine Watson struggles to influence the girls from a very conservative liberal arts institution called Wellesley College. Many of the girls were taught to follow previous generations of getting a simple education and then marrying off to a husband. However, through personal growth, Watson is able to inspire the girls to rethink their futures and encouraged the girls to break the normal social construct. Watson was not the only character that had the limited movement, the girls in the school were taught that change was “bad”. While in “And the Spring Comes” Wang Cailing, a vocal teacher who dreamed big to become an opera singer at the National Opera House. During the 1990s in China, the Italian Opera was not accepted by many individuals at the time, in fact it was frowned upon. She tried to get a work pass in Beijing since she came for a small town. Nevertheless, she was able to learn there are other components of life that can almost fill the void of not being an artist but a more regarding option, being a parent.

“Mona Lisa Smile” was more Hollywood film while “And the Spring Comes” had a more socialist realistic effect even though both movies were filmed in early 2000s. In terms of rating, “And the Spring Comes” was considered the highest rating movie in China since it was shoot in 2008 while “Mona Lisa Smile” was filmed in 2003. “Monas Lisa Smile” had better camera angles along with smoother transitions. While the movie angles in the other movie were not ideal or flattering to the actor. Not only the angle, the actors in “Mona Lisa Smile” had make- up which covered up any blemishes and imperfections throughout the whole movie. While in the Chinese movie, the actors did not have makeup to beautify them. The movements of characters were fluid or smooth, there was no abrupt movements that really distracted the audience in Hollywood movie but not the Chinese film. The goal was to show a more socialist realistic effect was intended to show the true image of the Chinese cultural. The angles “Mona Lisa Smile” has a better appeal to audiences rather than choppy angles, thus the quality of the movie is impeded. Not only the movements, but the acting skills were more perfected in the Hollywood motion picture compared to the other movie’s acting. The acting seemed more abrupt and seemed force since the acting portion seemed to miss fluidity. The editing was much better in the American movie compared to the Chinese movie. This was evident through abrupt transitions that appeared in the “And the Spring Comes” movie while, in “Mona Lisa Smile”, the transition were less abrupt and not distracting the viewer from the story of the film.

[Xiaoxue C.]

After reading your article, I found it well-organized as well as coherent. And the passage has its focus statement- the struggles of women in different cultures.
However, there are many grammatical mistakes. First of all, in paragraph 2 line 3, the sentence"... struggled with her appearance and her for passion singing opera" seems a little odd. Maybe you could change it into "...her passion for singing opera". What' s more, you may pay attention to the tenses. For instance, in paragraph 2 line 7, the sentence you wrote "Watson is able to... and encouraged girls..." has not coordinative tense. Last but not least, please pay enough attention to the subject and predicate in the sentence- each of these women were... of life, which is in the second paragraph. Maybe you need to further check whether there are grammatical mistakes.
When it comes to the content, it seems a little bit absolute to jump to a conclusion that both Katherine and Wang Cailing were able to find their happiness. It's true for Katherine but not for Wang Cailing. Though you have explained a little of it in the latter parts, it still seems to be ambiguous. Because as we know in the film- And the Spring Comes, Wang Cailing had miserably compromised to the cruel reality, giving up her wonderful dream and living in a common life. I think Wang's happiness was to fulfill her dreams. As for Wang's being a parent, it was just her compromise to the facts, not the real happiness she tried to pursue. Therefore, you may have to carefully organize your words or you could tell the readers that Wang finally lived in a common life.
Aa far as I am concerned, it's better to make a brief conclusion of what you told above in order to make the entire passage more organized and let readers know the points you have emphasized. For example, you could add more paragraph to conclude the struggles women faced and the non- verbal strategies used in these two films. Just a few words not too long.

[Yicheng G.]

Very clear start! Brief and to the point.
The structure is really good, but I think maybe you can add some transitional sentences to the two parts that lead to your following paragraph~~
for example,maybe you can break the second para into two paragraph from the sentence" However, each of these women were able to find happiness and a new improved look of life."
In this way , the passage will have a more distinct boundary between the conclusive statements and the detailed arguments.
Also, I do love the analyses of setting and shooting skills. Really professional!
For the contents, maybe you can dig more about the causes of the sruggling of the two women, and could write more about the contrast in the beginning and the ending of the movie.
( As far as I am concerned, Wang didn't get her own happy ending. She just compromised to the pressure of life and the times. She had to carry her hope to the next generation. In this case, she failed in some way. What do you say~~~~
These are my opinions~~~
Good luck
Yucheng (Ruby)

[Leah R.]

Ruby and Xiaoxue, thank you for your feedback. I appreciate the help with picking up my grammars mistakes as well as additional suggestions to better my essay. I will definitely take in both of your suggestions. They are very helpful . I personally struggle with grammar, never has been a strong suit of mine. I agree with both regarding my ambitious assumptions as well as assuming that happiness that Wang and Katherine are the "same." It is true that teacher Wang failed in fulling her dream, however she was able to find a different source of happiness - her kid.

[Leah R.]

Cultural Women Struggles (EDITED)

The two movies “Mona Lisa Smile” directed by Mike Newell and “And the Spring Comes” directed by Gu Changwei show important American and Chinese cultural aspects respectively. “Mona Lisa Smile,” made 2003, depicts a story that took place in 1950s Massachusetts. The second movie, “And the Spring Comes,” made in 2007, sets the scene in the 1990s. Female empowerment along with social and physical mobility are represented in both films. The two films have also taken very different approaches to editing and filming certain scenes.
In each of these two works of art, the directors portrayed the struggle of being a woman. In addition to being women, the characters also faced problems with social and physical mobility. Katherine Watson from “Mona Lisa Smile” faces extreme conservatives while Wang Cailing struggles with her appearance and her for passion singing opera. During their respective struggles, the pressure for each is to push against the customary norm. They faced their “ups and down” of those who did not accept or understand their choices. In the beginning of “Mona Lisa Smile” the main character Katherine Watson faces females from a very conservative Wellesley College students who knew the text book in and out. The students lacked the skills for critical thinking when Watson did not follow the syllabus and asked opinion-based questions. While in the beginning of “And When the Spring Comes” the main character Wang Cailing struggles to achieve her long- life dream to become an opera artist at National Opera House in 1990s China.

Katherine Watson and Wang Cailing are able to find happiness and have a new improved outlook on life. Katherine Watson struggles to influence the women in her art class to think for themselves which carriers over to personal life. Many of the girls are taught to follow previous generations of obtaining the highest achieve, American dream of “white picket fence” with a husband and eventually kids. However, through personal growth Watson inspires the girls to rethink their futures and encourage the girls to break the normal social construct. Movement was very limited, Watson knew that there ladies of this college were taught that change was “bad” and must follow their predecessors in order to obtain meaning of life. While in “And the Spring Comes” Wang Cailing, a vocal teacher who dreamed big to become an opera singer however the the Italian Opera was not widely accepted by many individuals at the time, in fact it was frowned upon. She tried to get a work pass in Beijing since she came for a small town. Wang’s voice was beautiful however her appearance did not match her voicing that doubled her odds of her achieving her goal. Nevertheless, she was able to learn there are other components of life that can almost fill the void of not being an artist but the ability to live a common life and find joy by being a parent.

“Mona Lisa Smile” was more Hollywood film while “And the Spring Comes” had a more socialist realistic effect even though both movies were filmed in early 2000s. In terms of rating, “And the Spring Comes” was considered the highest rating movie in China since it was shoot in 2008 while “Mona Lisa Smile” was filmed in 2003. “Monas Lisa Smile” had better camera angles along with smoother transitions. While the movie angles in the other movie were not ideal or flattering to the actor. Not only the angle, the actors in “Mona Lisa Smile” had make- up which covered up any blemishes and imperfections throughout the whole movie. While in the Chinese movie, the actors did not have makeup to beautify them.
Moving on from the lighting, the movements of characters were more fluid or smooth, there was no abrupt movements that really distracted the audience in Hollywood movie. On the other hand the Chinese film had more abrupt movements disrupting the fluidity which satisfied the socialistic realistic effect. The goal was to show a more socialist realistic effect was intended to show the true image of the Chinese cultural. In a similar manner, the angles in “Mona Lisa Smile” has a better appeal to audiences rather than choppy angles, thus the quality of the movie is impeded.

Finally, the acting skills were more perfected in the Hollywood motion picture compared to the other movie’s acting. The acting seemed more abrupt and seemed force since the acting portion seemed to miss fluidity. The editing was much better in the American movie compared to the Chinese movie. This was evident through abrupt transitions that appeared in the “And the Spring Comes” movie while, in “Mona Lisa Smile”, the transition were less abrupt and not distracting the viewer from the story of the film.

In “Mona Lisa Smile” and “And When the Spring Comes” the main characters struggled to fit in their respective movies nevertheless, each were able to succeed in different aspects of life. Wang was unable to reach her original dream however, she found happiness in a different aspect of life. On the other hand, Katherine was able to succeed by influencing the girls to question the norm and change how they view their roles in life. Finally, the movie angles and lighting also influenced the quality of the two movies making them each have their strength and weakness.

[Leah R.]

Reflection:
1) What were your expectations for the border-crossing activity? Are your expectations met? Why or why not?

Initially for this border crossing activity, I was not sure what to expect. I thought it was going to be slightly dreadful since it was another assignment. I thought this assignment was going to be more tightly regulated making it dreadful. I am glad it was not tightly regulated with additional assignments. It was especially fun to communicate with students half way across the world. In essences, the activity definitely succeeded my expectations.

2) Please name three things that struck you most when you interacted with the Chinese peers, and explain why. (You may comment on the differences and/or similarities in lexical choice, writing style, idea presentation, rhetorical preference, cultural convention etc.)

The three elements that struck me the most was: writing style, idea presentation and finally cultural convention.
First the writing style compared to what is taught in American schools versus Chinese school teacher writing is quite different. In high school I was taught that paragraphs must be 5-7 sentences, not a sentence that is 1-3 lines long. And this activity showed me it is okay to write differently since there is no “right” or “wrong” way of writing. Just as long the writing piece makes sense.
Second, the idea presentation connects with style. Having more paragraphs was much easier on the eyes compared to a 5-7 sentence paragraph. I think more paragraphs was also a little overwhelming, make the paper look longer than it was. But I think the idea presentation really depends on what is being discussed. Some papers are better off with short paragraphs. While other papers are better off with longer paragraphs are needed to further explain the topic.
Finally, the cultural convention stuck out to me because it seemed these students were more outgoing and were not afraid to use the emojis. I was initially afraid to use emoji because I thought I initially thought I had to be formal since it was an assignment. I realized I did not have to worry as much I was more willing to use emojis making the activity more fun.

3) Did you incorporate what had been discussed into the revised draft? If so, please elaborate on how the discussion had led to the revisions you made. If not, please explain why.

Any comments received was taken into consideration. I believe all comments were meant to help me improve. The only way I can improve in my writing is by taking on the suggestions especially since I believe most of the students were English majors while I am biology major.
My grammar has never been a strong suit of mine and they have picked out some mistakes which was helpful. It helps me realize that must take the time to edit my paper more before submitting. This lesson can be carried out to the real world when I am asked to write up an assignment.

4) Could you provide three adjectives to describe your feelings about the activity? Please explain your choice.

Three feelings that I describe this activity as: intriguing, humors, and gratitude.
This broder crossing activity, made me feel intrigued. First off watching the two movies made the assignment fun from the beginning. But adding on communication with other students made it even more interesting because it rare to have the opportunity to communicate to others outside the country without going to the country
I also found this assignment humors because of the communication back and foruth. Some of the comments made me chuckle so it had it a touch of personalization to this assignment.
Finally, I felt sense of gratitude during the communication of this activity. This one is harder to explain but it was nice that the students I communicate with, there were able to help me out with grammatical mistakes. I was grateful that they pointed it out to me, my mistakes.

5) Could you provide three adjectives to describe the activity? Please explain your choice.

The adjectives for this activity can be described as enjoyable, interesting, and helpful. This assignment turned out to be enjoyable because of commination with other students. I also found it quite interesting to learn about the cultural difference of how writing is taught. Finally, I found it helpful in my continuous learning process. I learned that there is no “right” or “wrong” way of writing. I was thought paragraphs had to be long, but now I know that is not the case.

6) Any additional comments, suggestions, and observations you would like to make to better help us assess your performance in this activity?

I did not find too much flaw in class however, discussion in class I found that comments on either end can be absent. Maybe a little stricter regulation would involve a response within 3 days no matter who comments. The comment can be on anything along there is a source of communication regarding the topic at hand. Otherwise else, continue this activity since it really opens doors to reach out to others. I found it easily to be sucked in Penn state Cultural and forgot there is world around me. So I think it helps with staying in touch with the world even if its discussions of movies.