Contrast between “Mona Lisa Smile” and “And the Spring Comes”

[Tong W.]

The dreams of women—Contrast between “Mona Lisa Smile” and “And the Spring Comes”
180104 吴桐

Last week I saw two films, one is “Mona Lisa Smile” (directed by Mike Newell) from America, the other is “And the Spring Comes” (directed by Gu Chang Wei) from China. Both of them depict the stories about the “new women” who got the ideal of being an artist in last century (The former was in 1950s, the latter was in 1980s,). Now, I’d like to make a contrast between two films.

As I have mentioned above, the main characters of each film, Katherine Watson from “Mona Lisa Smile” and Wang Cailing from “And the Spring Comes” are a kind of “new women”. In the beginning, they held an unyielding spirit towards the gender confine of conservative tradition. Wang, an old virgin in a small village, dreamed of being a singer in the capital theater. During her way to achieve the dream, she came across many men who pursued for art as well. Such as Hu Jinquan, who was a handsome dancer but was disgusted by other men for his homosexuality. While no matter what she had undergone with those men, she finally ignored them for chasing her dream. Just as she said, “I don’t want to fall in love in this city.” Katherine, a new young teacher in the department of Art History at UCLA never got marry too. When she was in UCLA, she tried to change the conservative thoughts of her students and spread the knowledge of arts by all means. Harsh though the process was, she eventually succeeded in influencing her students, a student named Betty even broke off with her fiancé.

Their inspiring stories remind me a word –feminism. As for me, feminism can boil down to a few words—“regardless of the limits of female gender, do as you want!” For thousands of years, women have always been in the underprivileged status, they couldn’t do many jobs and had to follow men’s orders. Gradually, they became the symbol of weakness. To prevent from being abused, they could do nothing but totally depended on husband’s protection. But women like Katherine or Wang battled this gender inequality, they didn’t want to be the subordinate of men anymore. These women are the “feminists”, they want to “fight” just like man. Their aim is to achieve their dreams even though they are alone, rather than being a vulnerable lady inside the house. What men can do, they will make it as well. I think it is the progress of society, men and women are gradually becoming equal, which challenged the traditional men-dominant society.

While the ends of Wang and Katherine are quite different, which results in different emotions. After years of struggles, Wang finally lost her pursuit of being a “great singer” and submitted to secular life. She adopted a little girl to disguise herself as a “married mother”, and chose to become a “housewife” forever. In the end of the movie, she sang “Why are you so cruel and merciless” in a theater, which showed her desperation towards initial dream lively and dramatically. Her story was a “complex tragedy”. On the contrary, Katherine’s ending was a “sensational comedy”, because she won the supports from her students and colleagues when she left for Europe. It is obvious that both directors want to hold different attitudes toward feminism. Director Newell shows great confidence towards the development of feminism in America. By describing the inspiring and happy-ending story of Katherine, he tends to show people that with enough efforts, women can be no less successful than men. Director Gu shows us the efforts of a woman too, but his attitude towards feminism seems ambiguous. I am not sure if he wants to tell us that feminism is hopeful in China. If he does, I suppose that Wang’s ending would have been as perfect as Katherine. Actually, the liberation of female spirits in china was just at the beginning. Traditional thoughts and customs are still limiting many Chinese women. Some persons or companies even hold the idea of gender discrimination, which causes women to face many obstacles through their ways to dream. Wang Cailing is not only an individuality, she stands for thousands of Chinese women who failed to achieve their dream because of reality, unbowed but unable to change their future. Therefore, I think Chinese government still needs to enhance the propaganda of women liberation, to give them more chances to achieve their great dreams.

You may ask: “Katherine succeeded in achieving her dream, so Wang failed, didn’t she?” As for me, Wang neither succeeded nor failed. It was a kind of reconcile. We always say “No pain, no gain”. However, not everyone can gain something by efforts. When the society may not allow you to achieve your dream, why not “change” your dream then live another kind of life. Katherine’s college was tolerant, which gave her an open atmosphere for her teaching. That is a necessary factor for her success. Wang was nearly forty when she went to Beijing for her dream, she didn’t have a family to support her or get enough financial sponsors. Worse, she was an ugly countryside woman, while the facial appearance and social background was essential for a woman to become a theater singer at that age. Her spirit was respectable, unfortunately her dream was ridiculous. A “good dream” shall be based on subjective and objective situations. Fighting for the dream which is not practical is only a waste of time and strength. Luckily, it is never too late to change. Just like Wang, choose to compromise between dream and reality, avoid further losses and pains. In that case, it may be a better choice to “abandon” your “initial dream”.

Moreover, I‘d like to talk about the details on both movies. Both stories in the films took place in last century, while the scenes are attractive, from which you can get a sense of history. Both directors chose the background with classic buildings and vehicles. The characters’ dresses were designed follow that period. What really attract me are the dialogues in “And the spring comes”. The characters spoke local dialect each other even though the actors didn’t know how to speak at first. It makes me feel as if the stories were really happened instead if created by people, which is an excellent way to show a nation’s culture. They treated the details of film conscientiously, and it’s an essential reason why they got high praise. It also teaches Chinese directors an indispensable lesson: If you want to make your historical movie popular, you must try your best to avoid mistakes about details.

Stories are often based on reality, both films also reflect some “diseases” of modern society. For example, when Wang wanted to find a singing job in city, she had to get the residence permit from the city. However, it was difficult for a citizen from the countryside to get that, so she “bribed” her friend to help her. In “Mona Lisa Smile”, the college just wished their female students learn how to be a good wife after marry and live a happy life as soon as possible. From these details, we can learn that in the society of commodity economy, money is so “important” that even emotions concern about money. The aim of studying in the college is to have a rich family after married. The dream of being a theater singer will never come true without “paying” money. I believe it is a terrible problem and we should ponder it seriously.

In conclusion, both movies are impressive. They not only focus on the liberation of the women, but also concern about the philosophy of dream. If you want to learn more substantial meanings of feminism and dream, you ought to watch both of them thoughtfully. (1265 words)

[Matthew K.-K.]

Tong Wu

I first want to start of by saying how impressed I am with with your proficiency in English knowing that it is your second language. I have been studying the Chinese language for 2 years and understand the difficulty of learning a foreign tongue. Now in reference to your paper I think overall it was pretty well written. I think you organized it very well, and did a good job of describing the events. However, it would be nice if you could go a littler deeper in your analysis, and also reference yourself more and your values. I was interested to hear your perspective, and opinions on feminism. Just because you are not a a female does not mean your opinion does not matter. Also from a cultural point of view it would have been interesting as well. How is feminism viewed in China, and what does it mean to someone in Chinese society? Finally it would of been nice if your conclusion was a little longer. Conclusions are usually the time for the author to summarize and tie everything together but you skipped that part.

Matthew Koval

[Michael H.]

Tong,

I was also impressed with your proficiency in the English language and the style of your writing. I believe that this is an extremely strong depiction of both films. I think your ability to highlight your opinion of the process of becoming a "new woman" is also valuable to the conversation that you are trying to start between these two films. Aside from a few minor grammatical changes, I would like to see just one or two more changes.

I think that your opinion of feminism is fascinating, and I would like to see you dive further into that because I think these films are excellent commentaries towards the meaning of feminism and how it is viewed in both China and the U.S. I also think that your essay would benefit from a further unpacking of your experience with feminism in China and how it effected your view of both And the Spring Comes and Mona Lisa Smile.

I hope to continue this dialogue to only make this paper stronger.

Michael H.

[Katherine M_5198]

Tong,

I enjoyed your discussion on how the women in both films were "new women." The spirit in each of these women, that you highlight, is very relevant to their breaking barriers from traditional ways. I see this both with Katherine and Ms. Wang when they begin teaching. They are faced with a hard structure to work within but in the end both make a difference and defy norms, paving the way for girls and other women to come after them. Additionally, I found that your analysis of how both women interact with men is very accurate and interesting. You describe how Ms. Wang ignores men after a while and paves her own path and follows her own dreams and then how Katherine even has an influence on a young woman's engagement, both of these highlighting the power women can carry independently.

I also enjoyed your take on feminism and what it means to you. I think your approach is thoughtful and meaningful. As I woman, I look at your analysis and appreciate the time and effort you have put into your thoughts. I agree that both of these films remind me of the word too and that the actions of these women do show that what men can do, women can too.

Lastly, I felt that your comparison in the emotions of the two women was an interesting topic that I did not think of myself. I think it was helpful to connect the music of "And the Spring Comes" to the outcome of Wang. I felt as though your analysis in calling "Mona Lisa Smiles" a "sensational comedy" was also true in that she received great support when she left for Europe.

Overall the analysis of both of these pieces through the lens of women empowerment was greatly looked at in your writing. I appreciate the new knowledge you shared.

Sincerely,

Kate Main

[Tong W.]

Dear Matthew

Foremost, thanks for your admiration. Actually my skills on English writing is average. I have been learning English for almost ten years just like my classmates, it's quite common to write an English article like this. I believe your Chinese will improve greatly if you keep on learning, and it's my pleasure to help when you are facing difficulties in learning Chinese.

I have only watched both movie once, so maybe my opinions in this article are a little shallow, especially lack in my experience and the situation about feminism in China. Moreover, I understood the way of "conclusion", my conclusion becomes a "recommending words" instead of summary.

Anyway, thanks for your advice, it plays an essential part on my reforming the article

[Tong W.]

Dear Katherine

Thanks for your reply.

Do your know? After reading your reply I can't help revising both movies again, for you mention an important point that I overlooked: the of in the movies.

It's true that the music in the movie show the culture at that age lively. Furthermore, the background music do a great help to the movies' emotions,no matter miserable or joyful. Maybe next time when I watch movie I should take much attention on that.

Anyway, thanks for your advice, it will help me to reform my article greatly.