Stick to Your Happiness

[Yicheng G.]

Stick to Your Happiness

180108 郭禹呈 Yicheng Guo

Recently, I have watched two films -- And the Spring Comes and Mona Lisa Smile. The former is a film directed by Gu Changwei in 2008, in which Jiang Wenli starred. The latter is a film directed by Michael in 2003, in which Julia starred.

Similarly, the two females both suffered from the times.

In ‘And the Spring Comes’, Wang Cailing (Jiang Wenli played) had always dreamed to be the national chief soprano. However, there were many obstacles in her way. One of the biggest was her lack of Beijing registered permanent residence, which she had spent 30,000 yuan (a large amount of money at that time) to buy but eventually in vain. Though insulted by her soul mate and cheated by her beloved student, thus losing the last entry into Beijing, she never really lost her faith in opera. Only when she was urged by her parents to get married (Chinese people were eager to start a family to extend the clan) did she finally give into her destiny and the unchangeable pressure of times. Not only small individuals, like Wang, were destroyed by times, but also thousands of Wang lost their dreams and anticipation in the dark depressed times.

Also, Huang (Wang’s soul mate) was left to make business to earn a living for herself after feeling ashamed of sleeping with Wang, who was merely treated as a friend by Huang. Besides, turned down by Wang, Zhou (the man who studied opera with Wang wanted to get married with Wang) immediately started a family and forgot all about his opera dream. Mistakenly known as a gay, professor Hu, who loved Ballet, turned out to be in prison for attempted rape just to prove not to be homosexual. The scene where he was dancing on his tiptoes in the prison to show Wang that he was happy was the most ironic. Too many people had to give up their dreams in fear of pressure from the public, family or themselves. As a matter of fact, the main cause was times.

While in Mona Lisa Smile, Katherine (Julia played) left her hometown to go to the famous Wellesley College, the famous female school, to start a new life. Her frankness on breaking through the restrictions associated with being female and to seek her own happiness surely was different from what was highly praised at that time. To be a good wife and good mother was women’s final goal, certainly the female students’. It was not hard to image what would happen when something new arose. Hard as Katherine tried, she was sill rejected by the students. Despite being passionate, her behaviour was still not acceptable by the conservative school’s ideologies.

The beginning was her being frustrated after being teased by her students. But the film ended by her leaving to another city, and all her students rode their bikes to see her off. By stark contrast, the transition had implied the theme of women’s empowerment. There is no doubt that her bravery to shake off the chains of the times had encouraged thousands of women.
Different skills were used in the two films in the formation of topic.

Throughout the film ‘And the Spring Comes’, the light being dim, the weather being terrible, and the soundtrack being sorrowful, all of them contributed and implied the pathetic fates the characters carried. Besides, Wang and other characters all contributed to the same topic. They all gave into fate.

Unlike ‘And the Spring Comes’, ‘Mona Lisa Smile’ seemed to be totally opposite, especially in the hue. With the beautiful scenery, characters finding their happy endings. In addition, the bright music never made people depressed. What’s more, Katherine served as the core of story, while others’ being different from her was just to highlight her independence and uniqueness. The existences of others acted like a mirror, emphasizing women being bold and brave.

People become great when they have a dream. Although they are sometimes defeated by cruel fate, the hope still carries on to the next generation.

After watching the two films, I feel the powerlessness of women and the strength of women. At most times, preserving one’s initial dream is really difficult, let alone moving forward to change others. Being bold sometimes will be strange and rejected by the wide public.

But as the song lyrics sing: “

Here ’ s to the ones who dream, foolish as they may seem.
Here’s to the heart s that ache.
Here’s to the mess we make.
A bit of madness is the key to give us new colors to see.”
Just stick to your madness .
Just stick to your own right to seek your own happiness.

[Leah R.]

Overall very nice job Yicheng.
Liked how you started out your essays by introducing the two movies, but I suggest you include the late names of actors who acted in each of the two movies, specifically Julia. I think it is better to assume, the reader didn't see the movie in this specific case.
You clearly stated your main point which clearly showed your argument. I know that our styles of writing of different maybe you can combine these two mini paragraphs into 1 intro paragraph:
"Recently, I have watched two films -- And the Spring Comes and Mona Lisa Smile. The former is a film directed by Gu Changwei in 2008, in which Jiang Wenli starred. The latter is a film directed by Michael in 2003, in which Julia starred.
Similarly, the two females both suffered from the times. "
Good Luck
- Leah

[Yicheng G.]

Thank you Leah
I appreciate your suggestion!
Indeed, it would be much better to list out the names of the actors, making readers better known about the films.
But for the second advice, I probably need to stick to my arrangement
cuz as you can see, there are two main parts in my film review -- the similarity and the difference of the two films
and the second paragraphy " Similarly,.........times" serves as the leading sentence but also a transition from the basic information to my views.
Good luck!
Yicheng(actually it is Yucheng, or you can call me Ruby

[Leah R.]

Ruby, I am so sorry for miss spelling your name, my apologizes.
I after reading your paper, I see agree that you should probably stick to your original arrangement, it works for your case.
On a side note, I like how you referred to the song and typed you the lyrics. It was a clever move and I think it would be a good idea maybe to add some analysis of the song lyrics as template to make an analysis on the Katherine as well as Wang.
Good Luck

[David L.]

Hi Ruby,

I really like how you made side notes with parenthesis in your sentences to provide further explanations. This helped me to understand concepts better. I also really like how you tied up your points in the conclusion with a song at the end.

If I could give a couple of suggestions, I think you could name the actor's/actress's last names as Leah mentioned and combine some of your paragraphs. I think your paragraphs 1(Recently...) & 2(Similarly...) and the paragraphs 5 (While...) & 6 (The beginning...) could be put together. Also, I think you could add a transition sentence between the paragraph 4 and 5 to have a smoother flow between the two movies.

Good luck on your final essay!

David

P.S.

Which song are those lyrics from?

[Leah R.]

Hi Ruby,

I saw this sentence: People become great when they have a dream. Although they are sometimes defeated by cruel fate, the hope still carries on to the next generation. I think this is a great point, maybe you can expand your point a little more. It is more obvious with Wang however maybe you can extend this analysis to Katherine. Are there aspects of Katherine where she failed in the sense of influencing other characters?
Have fun

[Yicheng G.]

Hi Leah,
It is really a good idea to add more analyses to the lyrics, which will certainly help readers have a deeper understanding on my views.
And there are some scens where Katherine failed to change others.
Since the two endings are different, do you mean that I can expand the analysis to"People become great when .............generation.When you cannot defeat times or change others, Just stick to your own happiness. Never abandon your own right to seek your happiness."
Will this be better?~~~~~~
I really appreciate your suggestions. They do help me a lot!


Have fun
Ruby(Yucheng)

[Yicheng G.]

Hi David,
Thank you for your advice
I will definately add the actresses' last name, making an all -- side introduction about the two films. Thank you
For the rearrangement of paragraphys, I am afriad I have to partly stick to my original arrangement.
cus as you can see, there are two main parts of my views -- the similarities and differences about the two films.
And paragraphy 1 serves as a conclusive sentence about the similarities, making a clear structure.
but I do love to combine paragraph 5 and 6~
As for the transition sentence, how about "like Wang, Katherine suffered from the times as well. However, she somehow sought her own happy ending"
( The lyrics are from Audition, ' La La Land'. The movie is really well worth watching

[Leah R.]

Dear Ruby,
I think you can expand your analysis , will be interesting to see how you can think a little outside of the box by expanding your analysis regarding your sentence. However it is up to and what you think is best for your paper. You're welcome (:
Good Luck

[Yicheng G.]

Dear Leah,

thanks!
I surely will take your advice into consideration and try to develop a deep analysis .
Lucky to know you~~~~