27 - Dream or Reality

[Yuanping L.]

Mona Lisa Smile is a story about a new woman teacher, Katherine tries her best to change her students’ traditional thoughts, bringing them to a new world. She gets through lots of problems. Meanwhile, she becomes more excellent.

And The Spring Comes is a story about a single, middle-aged woman, Wang Tsailing chases her music dream for a long time but finally gives up because of real life.

Both two movies are about females chasing their dreams, but the two main characters have different backgrounds, different experiences and different endings. Katherine represents females who have been highly educated and have chances to choose their life, even influence others’ life. They have ability and courage to fight with traditional ideas. Even though they can’t change actualities, they are still able to follow their heart, leaving the circle. Wang Tsailing, a single and middle-aged woman, represents females in poor cities in developing China. Even though economics is improving, they still can do nothing to change their life, because of imbalanced developments. They look forward to high quality life, in the meantime, they have to bow to real life or traditional ideas. But sometimes they may tell nice lies, satisfying their vanities, to show they are different from others.

The directors of two movies use some remarkable skills to show different topics of the movies or the characters’ different personalities and denstinies.

The first one is background music. In the movie Mona Lisa Smile, background music is melodious odes, grand symphonies or lilting jazz, setting the mood of academy. In addition, the background music shows Katherine thinks she have started her new life at first and is reluctant to leave, following her heart in the end. And in the movie The Spring Comes, background music is operas sung in Italian, which show how eager Wang is to get out of her life and set off Wang’s low quality life on the contrary. Wang expects to have a future like what is sung in the opera, however, as for her, it is just a daydream.

The second one is language. In the movie Mona Lisa Smile, characters use many formal forms of language, like “Miss”, “It is great pleasure”, and many professional terms of history of art, which shows enviable academic environment and characters in it are highly educated and respectable. But in the movie The Spring Comes, characters speak the northern China dialect, which shows the backward town Wang is in, setting off Wang’s unchangeable and disappointing destiny.

The third one is about camera shot. In the movie Mona Lisa Smile, there is a scene that the unbalance light of the projector was shining on Katherine’s face. The unordinary light shows Katherine is a unconventional female, fighting with traditional ideas. Further more, the composition of the scene is that Katherine’s face is about at one third place of the picture, which skillfully makes Katherine catch audience’s eyes at the first time rather than in the center, emphasizing Katherine has been incensed by traditional marriage ideas and can’t wait to speak out her thoughts in deep mind.

The scene that impresses me most in the movie The Spring Comes is that when Wang finds her ailing father is staring at Wang’s mother, her adopted daughter and her playing in the yard, she grins peacefully. I think there is a hidden symmetry line separates the father and three females, making the scene looks more harmonious. Also the scene is divided into two sides, the left side is dark and the right side is bright. Naturally, the bright side catches out attention quickly. Through the change of light, I can feel that Wang is still satisfied with her life though she has given in to the reality. She doesn’t have the ability to stick to her dream any more, but she can find the most comfortable life within the bound of her abilities.

Dream or reality? That is a question. The two females spare no efforts to pursue their dreams and neither of them really meet the end they want. By making use of different background music, different language and different camera shots, the directors of two movies show us conflicts between the characters and themselves or society, making us distinguish the differences between them better, thinking deeply about their backgrounds or Chinese and American histories.

[Yixiong X.]

Hi Yuanping
I think you have a sensitive mind to let you catch the small details in the movie. You separated the essay into three parts talking about language, music and camera shots, which is clear and structured. The perspectives you focus are slightly different to general's focus. Those points are new and accurate. You are really talented at observing things and you are knowledgeable. Well done!

[Yuanping L.]

Hi Yixiong!
Thank you for opinion.
In the end, the two lead characters don't achieve their dreams, but Katherine goes to explore Europe and Wang lives a peaceful life. I want to ask you whether you think they have happy endings, why or why not?
Looking forward to your reply.

[Yixiong X.]

I think they are the most lucky people among the unlucky group -- they understood what they really want after what they have been through. Katherine went to Europe exploring the true freedom and Wang got a better and more clear insight for herself. As long as people find out their limit and start doing what belongs to them, they could enjoy their life. However, their power is too small comparing to the whole society. Therefore I would say they are still in the unlucky group since what they have done has little impact to the whole generation. But for themselves, their spirit and body had renewed and they have found their paths.

[John F.]

Hi Yuanping,

I first want to start off by saying that I am sorry for not commenting on your essay till now. As for your essay, I think your perspective on the two movies was very acute and you were able to notice the subtle ques that the directors implicitly placed. Without reading your essay I would have not otherwise thought about these aspects for each movie, so I found it very captivating to read.

Within your essay you have the three main topics of the background music, language, and camera shot. I believe you fully explained your thoughts on how each feature was used to create the portrayed character’s life struggle and personality. However, I want to comment on the structure you first used to give background information on the character and movie. I feel that if you made the first four paragraphs into one coherent one it would allow the reader to briefly summarize what each movie entails without having those three small separate paragraphs. The rest of the essay though is great as it is because each paragraph has its own topic connected with it.

So, after reading your essay, my question for you is that do you feel that Katherine and Wang should have kept up with their dreams? Or do you think they made/were forced into the right decision of facing reality and trying to make the best with what they were given?

John Faeth

[Yuanping L.]

Hi John,

Thank you for your opinion. It’s okay, better late than never. In fact, before writing, I wanted to regard the first two paragraphs as summary, and the third and fourth paragraph as a profound explanation of the movies, some social norms or reality that some people have to accept which we can know from the movies. However, when I reread my essay after reading yours and others’, I realized I just talked about similar topics, just like you said. I’ll adjust my structure later.

As for your questions, I think Katherine should have kept up her dreams, because I think she had the ability to chase her dream. Even though the headmaster had lots of demands for her, she could still combine her modern thoughts with art. Nothing can trap one’s thoughts. In China, there is saying that”带着镣铐跳舞”, which means “dancing with shackles” in English. Chinese often use the saying to describe one still can have unique thoughts or live a colorful inner life though he is getting through hard times or being constrained strongly. When it comes to Wang, I think she should not have kept up her dreams, since she was too weak to chase her dreams, especially in that such a backward town. In addition, she was so fascinated that she tried to achieve her dream through backdoor dealing, which refers to paying for an account in Beijing. And in China there is another saying “叶落归根”，which means fallen leaves fall onto the ground where beside the roots. Chinese use this saying to describe people who leave their hometowns or want to leave for dreams will eventually back to their hometowns when getting older. Given Wang was the only child of her family, I think maybe in her mind she had thought of accompany her parents instead of chasing her dream. So I couldn’t say whether they really were forced into the right decision since they might found something more valuable than dreams. However, they did try to make the best with what they given. Do you have any other opinions? I am interested to hear more from you.

Any disagreement is welcomed. Looking forward to your reply.

Yuanping Lu

[Yuping L.]

Hi Yuanping,

Your essay is impressive for its logic, clear structure and reflections. I really appreciate that you made a general introduction of the two movies in the first part of the essay which enables the readers to get the points quickly, and you did very well in the transitions in your essay by organizing them into different aspects. You have mentioned many details and your analysis is very similar to what I was thinking. Your main point is that in both movies the females are chasing their dreams bu challenging traditional ideas. While I think that And the Spring Comes does not only emphasize feminism but other people's fate similar to that of the leading actor Cailing during that period of time.

I want to say thank you for your useful and practical suggestions. I should have made my title more brief to the point, and I might have made abrubt transitions in my essay. In fact I was in a hurry when I was writing this essay so that I have made some unnecessary mistakes you have mentioned.

You have three questions about my paper. The first one is that you wonder whether the term "Guanxi" was propriately used in my paper. I have checked the word on Oxford dictionary which descricbes it as "connected with the system of social networks an d the relationships between people that are helpful and useful in business". The reason why I used the word is that people in And the Spring Comes could not achieve their dreams in that poor small town and everyone was struggling to leave for big cities such as Beijing, and of course it was not easy to settle there. In order to settle in Beijing,Cailing bought a Hukou of Beijing by "Gunaxi" which offered her a path. In addition, the girl who cheated on Cailing as being ill with cancer, wanted to achieve her goal, resorted to Cailing for help. In my opinion, this is a kind of "Guanxi" since in both cases people did not turn to what was labelled as "normal ways" but personl relationships that was helpful because only in this way could they achieve their goals.

As for the second question about "compromise his integrity", here I have mentioned Van Gogh who was reluctant to compromise to those who did not understand his works, and he insisted on making his works. The theme in Mona Lisa Smile and people in And the Spring Comes are very much alike in this sense because they both emphasize personal thoughts and persuits, which are part of individual integrity that cannot be distroyed by the outer enviornment.

The third question is whether "finally the spring came" means the coming of spring or the coming of the spring of the life of people. I want to make sure that it contains both meanings. The ending turned bright as the spring came, even though people did not get what they expected. Spring stands for new begining I think, and people in And the Spring Comes got new life after the cold winter.
Again thank you for your suggestions and comments.

Yuping Linghu

[John F.]

Hi Yuanping,

After reading your thoughts on my question, I have to admit that you answered it in a way that I could not have. I completely agree with your interpretation of it and it was really profound in my opinion. The way in which you described those sayings “带着镣铐跳舞” and “叶落归根” helped me see a different perspective on each of their situations. The one about dancing with shackles especially intrigued me because it encaptures the theme of both movies so accurately. So I would like to thank you for giving me insight on this bit of culture/thinking.

As of right now I do not have any other thoughts about it, but if you have any questions for me I would more than appreciate answering them for you.

John Faeth

[Yuanping L.]

Hi Yuping,

Thank you for your explanations. You have answered my questions clearly, which does help me understand your thoughts better. When I read your explanation for my third questions, I felt like I was reading a prose because your words are really nice. You mentioned the meaning of the coming of spring, which reminded me of some touching plots of the movie.

However, I still have some doubts about your reply. In the first paragraph, you mentioned the movie And the Spring Comes emphasized feminism. But I didn’t think so. Because I think Wang just wanted to achieve her dreams instead of changing any social rules or looking for her place in politics. Could you please tell me your reasons for the idea?

In addition, I wonder which movie you like better. Could you please tell me reasons? And I would be glad if you would like to share any other unconventional movies with me.

Looking forward to hearing back from you soon!

Yuanping Lu

[Yuanping L.]

Dream and reality are friends but they are enemies. Anytime, anywhere, people always have dreams. Meanwhile, they have to face realities, which may block their way to fantastic dreams. Both movies are about females chasing their dreams, but the two leading characters have different struggles and different endings. Through different film-styles, we audience can have different feelings about movies

In the Mona Lisa Smile, the leading character Katherine represents females who have been highly educated and have chances to choose their life, even influence others’ life. They have ability and courage to fight with traditional ideas. Even though they can’t change actualities, they are still able to follow their heart, leaving the circle. While in And the Spring Comes, Wang Tsailing, a single and middle-aged woman, represents females in poor cities in developing China. Even though economics is improving, they still can do nothing to change their life because of imbalanced developments. They look forward to high quality life, in the meantime, they have to bow to real life or traditional ideas. But sometimes they may tell nice lies, satisfying their vanities, to show they are different from others.

In order to take on best effect of movies, the directors of two movies use some remarkable skills to show different topics of the movies or the characters’ different personalities and denstinies.

The first one is background music. In the movie Mona Lisa Smile, some of background music like melodious odes, grand symphonies, making you feel like living in that beautiful college in the movie. In addition, some background music like lyrics and lifting jazz shows Katherine is a wild girl running after her dreams, making audience can’t help to shake bodies to the rhythm. And in the movie The Spring Comes, background music is operas sung in Italian, which show how eager Wang is to get out of her life and set off Wang’s low quality life on the contrary. Listening to the operas, audience will understand Wang’s strongly expectations to have a future like what is sung in the opera. However, as for her, it is just a daydream.

The second one is language. The magic of language is to pull you into the scene very quickly. In the movie Mona Lisa Smile, characters use many formal forms of language, like “Miss”, “It is great pleasure”, and many professional terms of history of art, which shows enviable academic environment and characters in it are highly educated and respectable. But in the movie The Spring Comes, characters speak the northern China dialect, which shows the backward town Wang is in, setting off Wang’s unchangeable and disappointing destiny.

The third one is about camera shot. In the movie Mona Lisa Smile, there is a scene that the unbalance light of the projector was shining on Katherine’s face. The unordinary light shows Katherine is a unconventional female, fighting with traditional ideas. Further more, the composition of the scene is that Katherine’s face is about at one third place of the picture, which skillfully makes Katherine catch audience’s eyes at the first time rather than in the center, giving audience a more visible image that Katherine has been incensed by traditional marriage ideas and can’t wait to speak out her thoughts in deep mind. (Picture 1) Besides,the scene that impresses me most in the movie The Spring Comes is that when Wang finds her ailing father is staring at Wang’s mother, her adopted daughter and her playing in the yard, she grins peacefully. I think there is a hidden symmetry line separates the father and three females, making the scene looks more harmonious. Also the scene is divided into two sides, the left side is dark and the right side is bright, just like black and white. Through the change of light, I can feel that Wang is still satisfied with her life though she has given in to the reality. She doesn’t have the ability to stick to her dream any more, but she can find the most comfortable life within the bound of her abilities. Nevertheless, instead of colorful lights, black and white offer a sense of regret and bitterness to audience. (Picture 2)

Dream or reality? That is a question. The two females spare no efforts to pursue their dreams and neither of them really meet the end they want. By making use of kinds of skills, the directors of two movies show us conflicts between the characters and themselves or society. Anyway, we need dreams to drive us move forward. Even though sometimes we have to accept disappointing facts or being fettered by immaterial strings, our hearts are free. Therefore, we can keep our dreams in the mind in reality. In that way, there’s nothing to lose.