Women’s Empowerment and Other Issues in Mona Lisa Smile and And the Spring Comes

[Taylor H.]

Taylor Hayes

Women’s Empowerment and Other Issues in Mona Lisa Smile and And the Spring Comes

The two movies, Mona Lisa Smile and And the Spring Comes tell two different stories of artistic teachers from opposite sides of the world. Katherine Watson, played by famous actress Julia Roberts at the height of her career, relocates from California to teach art history at a prestigious, all-girls school called Wellesley College in 1953 in Mona Lisa Smile. Wang Cailing in And the Spring Comes aspires for a career in singing opera during the 80s in China. She also teaches and mentors various students along the way. However, both of the main characters are restricted by the traditions and social norms of the time. In America, Katherine doesn’t conform to women as homemakers and mothers while Wang Cailing adopts daughter Fan without getting married.

Each important character in Mona Lisa Smile represents a limiting or liberating factor to American women during the 50s. To start, Katherine rejects the concept of marriage while one of her students, Betty, aspires to be married and become a housewife because motherhood was viewed as the most fulfilling role in society for a young woman. Most women would marry and stay at home to take care of the children while the men worked. Eventually, Betty divorces her husband which was unconventional for the 50s due to religious and social reasons. Since Katherine is seen as unconventional and “goes against the grain”, she struggles to bond with her students in the beginning and isn’t well liked by the alumni board despite her tremendous knowledge and skill. Katherine Watson seeks her own truth beyond tradition and definition. Another one of her students, Giselle, represents women’s newly-discovered sexual liberation as she pursues married men and her Italian Professor, Bill Dunbar. Her parents are also divorced and she is judged by her friends, including Betty for her scandalous actions. Lastly, Katherine’s favorite student, Joan, initially dreams of going to Yale law school until she elopes with husband Tommy. Since it was hard for women to gain an education at the time, Katherine helps her apply to Yale. In a scene at Betty’s wedding, Tommy expresses to Katherine his desire to marry Joan and move to Philadelphia with him instead of attending Yale. He says, “that’ll be an awful long commute [from Yale] when she needs to get dinner on the table at 5.” Despite her goals, Joan ends up marrying Tommy and abandoning her education to take care of her husband. From the etiquette classes, to the ideas about divorce and marriage, single-sex dormitories, and the denunciation of contraceptives, Mona Lisa Smile accurately depicts American society during the 50s which was deeply entrenched in traditional gender roles.

In And the Spring Comes, Wang Cailing is socially constrained by Chinese society since she is an unattractive, single musician. Like a lot of younger people at the time, Wang wants to move to Beijing to continue her career in music and escape her poor living conditions. The painter, Haung Sabio, and Wang have a connection because they are both condemned for practicing Western art. And the Spring Comes is drastically darker than Mona Lisa Smile as it shows Wang’s many failed relationships and turns to teaching and singing for happiness. Towards the end she even turns to a match making agency to find a partner. After no success, she adopts a young girl who has a cleft lip. Wang’s adoption of Fan is symbolic in the sense that neither of them are conventionally beautiful. Just after surgery, someone asks what happened to her face.

In the end, Katherine and Wang Cailing show what it’s like to be women in their worlds and their struggles. Katherine isn’t interested in becoming a housewife because she doesn’t believe they have any depth or interests while Wang Cailing ends up a working, single mother. Both movies show the progress that has been made in terms of women’s issues but also the tremendous amount of work that still needs to be done to gain true gender equality.

[Shuixiu Y.]

I have read your article for few days, here is my suggestions:
1. Structure:
In the beginning of the article, you make a brief introduction of two movies, and it’s nice to depict the theme clearly at the end of the first paragraph. I found that your article is surrounded by the point “the two are restricted by the traditions and social norms”. When you are talking about Mona Lisa Smile, you did example much to suppose your point, oppositely, you did little in your description of And the Spring comes. So I suggest that you can example more details when you are expressing your point.
What’s more, in the second paragraph, you just talk about Mona, and didn’t make a contrast between the two movies, But you did it in the third paragraph. It’s better for you to make contrast point to point in one paragraph, or just make a contrast in different paragraph.
2. Content:
Possibly, it is your lack of knowing about the history of China, it’s hard for you to analyze And the Spring come deeply. The reason why Cailing was despised is not only concerned with social norms but many other things. Economy is the base of superstructure. People had a low living level at that time, naturally, it’s hard for them to admire art. You can try to express your idea by analyzing more, such as why the people look down upon them, why director use a dim light, why Cailing had a semi-bad ending and so on. What’s more, I don’t think that the Dancer is homosexual, it was not express clearly in the film, he was recognized as homosexual.
Your article is focus on breaking the convention, and you just talk about the surface of it. You can depict the social norms in detail. And you can investigate the meaning of the film in now time. You can make it deeper and wider in your article.
Above are my suggestion. Looking forward to your reply.

[Xiaochun L.]

Dear,Taylor:
I am more than delighted to have this opportunity to communicate with you about these tow films. In your article, your own views about these tow films impress me. The issue of women's rights deserves close attention and scrutiny. I think perhaps you can analyze the reasons combing with the background and cultural concept in the article. Those women make different choices because of the social factors and their own value.

[Taylor H.]

Hi Shuixiu Y,

I appreciate your feedback on my essay. I chose to examine women's empowerment issues because I have always been interested in women's roles in society. Both movies provided very different outcomes for the main characters and I agree that I should go more in depth about And the Spring Comes to prove my point. I believe that my unfamiliarity with Chinese culture caused my minimal analysis. I plan to take your feedback about strengthening my analysis while considering societal and economic influences that Cailing experienced in the film. I will also reorganize the structure of my essay after adding the additional analysis to And the Spring Comes.

However, I am a bit confused about this suggestion, "What’s more, I don’t think that the Dancer is homosexual, it was not express clearly in the film, he was recognized as homosexual." I don't believe I mentioned the dancer but instead, the painter that Cailing has a relationship with in the beginning.

Thanks for taking the time to read my essay.

-Taylor

[Taylor H.]

Hi Xiaochun L,

I appreciate the complimentary comments on my essay. Since I've always been interested in women's rights and empowerment, I chose to compare the lives of the main characters in both films since they oppose traditional gender norms. In my revision, I plan to dig deeper into the socioeconomic factors that influenced Cailing's actions. I think that especially for Cailing, she is still restricted in some ways because she doesn't achieve her dream of singing opera or leaving town. Instead, she ends up a single mother working as a butcher. The endings of both of these movies provide strong examples of the different lives they lived so I plan to expand on them in my essay.

Thanks for your time and effort.

-Taylor

[Yanqiong Y.]

Hi Taylor,
Your essay is very good. I like your summary. Since your title is women's empowerment and other issues in Mona Lisa Smile and And the spring comes, if you give more analyze about women's empowerment and other related issues, it would be much better. I also suggest that you should compare these two movies.
Thanks
Yanqiong

[Taylor H.]

Hi Yanqiong Y,

Thank you. Along with the others suggestions that were provided to me, I plan to go into a deeper analysis and increase the comparison between the two movies for my revision.

Thanks, Taylor

[Qirong S.]

Taylor,

You have chosen a very good angle to illustrate the theme of the two films. The first paragraph of your essay is a good comparison of the themes of the two films. In the second paragraph, your analysis of the movie Mona Lisa's Smile is detailed and accurate. You analyzed the social status of American women in the 1950s and the characters in the movies. Great job! If you can do more analysis on the constraints imposed on Wang Cailing, the protagonist of the film "And the Spring Comes", the theme of the whole article will be more profound and the structure will be more balanced.

Qirong

[Taylor H.]

Hi Qirong,

Thanks for taking the time to read my essay. I agree with your advice that I should balance the essay more by adding more analysis of And the Spring Comes. I am really interested in women's role in American society in the earlier part of the 20th century so I appreciate your compliments about the overall theme of my essay.

-Taylor

[Taylor H.]

Hi all in Group H,

First and foremost, I wanted to say that it has been a pleasure getting to know you all and have read your essays. I greatly value this experience. With that being said, I took your comments and suggestions into consideration and have greatly revised my essay to analyze these two movies. Thanks again for your time.

-Taylor

The Pressures of Social Conformity in Mona Lisa Smile and And the Spring Comes

The two movies, Mona Lisa Smile and And the Spring Comes tell two different stories of talented, artistic teachers from opposite sides of the world. In Mona Lisa Smile, Katherine Watson relocates from California to teach art history at a prestigious, all-girls school called Wellesley College in 1953. Wang Cailing in And the Spring Comes is a gifted singer who dreams of a career in opera during the late 80s in China. She also teaches and mentors various students along the way. Both movies show each main characters’ struggles to fulfill their dreams and attempt to break free of traditional norms in their respective cultures.

In Mona Lisa Smile, Katherine, Joan, and Betty are shaped by the social norms in America during the 50s that were greatly influenced by traditional gender roles. While Katherine rejects the commonly accepted roles of women becoming homemakers and mothers, many of her students strive to get married and start a family. Their differing views in regards to a woman’s role in society initially causes tension within the group since Katherine is seen as unconventional and “goes against the grain” in the old-fashioned college. One of her most traditional students, Betty, gets married to in order to feel satisfied with her life since being a housewife was viewed as the most fulfilling role in society for a young woman at that time. Eventually, Betty divorces her husband which was unconventional for the 50s due to religious and social reasons.

Katherine’s favorite student, Joan, initially dreams of going to Yale law school until she elopes with husband Tommy. In a scene at Betty’s wedding, Tommy expresses to Katherine his desire to marry Joan and move to Philadelphia with him instead of attending Yale. He says, “that’ll be an awful long commute [from Yale] when she needs to get dinner on the table at 5.” Despite her goals, Joan marries Tommy and abandons her education in order to please her husband. While some of her students are able to free themselves from these norms, characters like Joan in Mona Lisa Smile struggle to dissent the common practices in 1950s American society.

Wang Cailing, Haung Sabio, and dancer Hu in And the Spring Comes are socially constrained by the Chinese cultural mindset that discourages individuality. This film is drastically darker than Mona Lisa Smile as it shows the character’s struggles to do what they love and be their true selves. Wang Cailing, Haung Sabio, and Hu’s dreams are stifled by society as they practice Western art (opera, ballet, and abstract painting).
In one of the first scenes, Haung Sabio is shown scared, hiding under his bed because he was painting a nude self-portrait. After he realizes its Zhou Yu, he shares that the reason he was hiding was because his family disapproves of his artwork. Wang Cailing’s vocal talent is also underappreciated. When preforming in a town hall setting, the crowd ignores her even though she was singing beautifully. In this following scene, she meets Hu the ballet dancer who is also defeated by the crowd’s response to his performance. All of these scenes show that society isn’t accepting towards Western art and the people that pursue it.

Both of these films depict the variety of struggles many people face in their particular societies because they don’t conform. Katherine and some of her students resist the American norm that women belong in the house; while Wang and her fellow artists struggle to be accepted in a society that dejects individuality. Though Mona Lisa Smile tells an inspirational story in that women should be granted the freedom to fulfill their dreams (i.e get an education or pursue their passion for art) and not be confined to motherhood and household work, And the Spring Comes tells that in reality not everyone can break through restrictive social barriers.