Blooming of Women's Freedom: A Review of Mona Lisa Smile and And the Spring Comes

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Lin Chengying

"Not all who wander are aimless, especially not those who seek truth beyond tradition, beyond definition, beyond the image!" For Mona Lisa Smile, director Mike Neville shows a shift in the self-pursuit of contemporary independent women. Against the background of American society in 1953, the film tells the story of Catherine, who graduated from the University of Berkeley, went to Wellesley Girls' College to teach art history, which leads to the collision between liberalism and traditionalism. Catherine infected students in her own way and challenged traditional schools and society. And the Spring Comes is a feature film directed by Gu Changwei and co-starring Jiang Wenli and others. The film tells the story of Wang Cailing and other young artists in a small county town in the 1980s, struggling in the contradiction between dream and reality.

In Mona Lisa Smile, Catherine is the main theme of the film, is an attractive woman, in the eyes of others, she is perfect, even the Mona Lisa, she once wanted to change Wellesley College, but the college directors forbade her to spread those freedom theories, and she finally gave up, and in that classroom, she yelled at the students, "I give up, you win. The smartest woman in the country." But I don't think she failed. She made a big difference to her students. From the sunflower portraits of the students in the end, we can see that they have begun to yearn for freedom and are full of enthusiasm for life.

Similarly, Wang Cailing in And the Spring Comes has a clear self-cognition. She knows that she is ugly and destitute, and has an inferiority complex about her appearance. But she also knows that her advantage lies in her singing. She is not blindly confident, but builds a loftiness based on her own singing and pursuit. In order to realize her dream, she saves money to set up a Beijing household registration, constantly goes to Beijing to promote herself, saves money to listen to opera, and works very hard. Wang Cailing is self-conscious and seldom cares about the opinions of others. Mr.Hu left the stage because he could not stand the ridicule of the crowd, while Wang Cailing sang the whole song with only one or two audiences; she had principles, never gave in to her love, and flatly refused after the marriage of two men she did not love; after a series of heavy blows, she was still able to find the meaning of life.

In the two films, as far as the identity of the heroine is concerned, Catherine and Wang Cailing, as art teachers, both have a deep pursuit of art, and both express their character characteristics that they are not willing to be mediocre and have the courage to pursue dreams and freedom through art.

In Mona Lisa Smile, the social view at that time was that women should take care of their husbands and children. Wellesley College etiquette classes, art classes and annual traditional activities are to teach female students how to be a good wife and mother. Women should yearn for their family, and give everything for them, even freedom and future. But Catherine refused this way, through works of art to tell students how to think, and under her influence, these students have changed a lot. The Mona Lisa's smile was mysterious. Betty asked her mother, "She is smiling. Is she really happy?" It also alluded to the social reality that women were not satisfied with their gorgeous appearances and seemingly happy families at that time. Therefore, the theme of this film is to liberate the traditional minds of women. Mona Lisa also represents the burgeoning unconstrained women. What women really pursue is not the so-called work independence, but self-choice, whether they are lawyers or housewives, it should depend on what they really want to do, and they should have more choices.

In And the Spring Comes, a group of quasi-artistic youth living in a small city, with a passion for art, persistently chase their dreams, were out of tune with the surrounding environment, and rushed to the different directions in the whirlpool of life, this is the portrayal of the quasi-artistic youth represented by Wang Cailing in And the Spring Comes. They were originally marginal people living at the bottom of society, and life had not been easy for them, but unfortunately they still have dreams, and the dreams even are unachievable dreams, the huge gap between dream and reality makes their pursuit of dreams doomed to tragedy. So even if Wang Cailing was not willing to be mediocre, she still had no chance to get rid of mediocrity. When Hu Jinquan asked Wang Cailing for a fake marriage, Wang Cailing said absolutely: "I am different from you. I just don't want to be mediocre, but you are incompatible with here. I really can't hold on any longer. As soon as I gnash my teeth, I find someone to marry." Wang Cailing was unwilling to be mediocre and refused ordinary daily life, which led her to struggle in the ordinary life.

The two films are similar in the handling of tonality. The films are dominated by dark gray and black, which fits the atmosphere of the whole film; they interspersed with warm colors to indicate the mood of the characters. Two films are mainly in cool tones and supplemented by warm tones, which sets the tone of the film.

In the aspect of the music of the films, the interspersed background music also sublimates the effect of the film and makes the image of the characters more plump. The music at the end of Catherine's first class in Mona Lisa Smile perfectly reflects her embarrassment at that time. A sentence from the opera sung by Wang Cailing in And the Spring Comes, "but in this desperate moment, why, God, why ruthless to me "is an accurate expression of the hostess's dissatisfaction and resentment against her tragic fate after being rejected by the opera house.

At the end of the film, Catherine finally chose to leave school and embarked on the journey to Europe to pursue her thought and freedom. Wang Cailing's dream was shattered; she left school to become a butcher, and finally adopted a little girl to live as an ordinary woman. Although both of them fight hard for their dreams and pursuits, their destinies are diametrically opposed, and this is also the difference in the way the two films express their themes. Catherine's beautiful ending in search of herself to Europe implies a bright future for unconstrained women, thus calling for women's liberation. While Wang Cailing's ordinary ending is a compromise to her life, with this tragic ending to stimulate women's determination and action to liberate their thoughts.

[1578267199]

Dear zhou and Lin
This article starts from the collision between liberalism and traditionalism, and through the analysis of the plots of the two films, tells the common theme of the two films, that is, the self-pursuit and self-liberation of women. And from the plots and details of the two films to support their views. As the title says, this is the blossoming of woman's freedom. In the following discussion, the author selects many plots in the two films to describe, which all tell us that the theme of woman's self-pursuit and liberation is reflected in the film. This makes most of the discussion in the article consistent with the focus. Besides, from the reader's point of view, I think the details are enough.

However, the cohesion between sections and the overall logic is not perfect. For example, the absence of a topic sentence at the beginning of each argument can hardly make the overall idea of the article obvious. Moreover, in the penultimate paragraph, from the visual effects of the two films and the background music, the article comments on the different colors and musical backgrounds of the two films. But this is not closely related to the topic of the article, which makes the overall structure of the article seem a little out of place. What is the author's purpose in writing this way? Is it a foil or a complement?

Therefore, firstly, I suggest that in the modification of the next article, the author can consider starting from the cohesion of the article and adding topic sentence before each point to discuss with the purpose, which will make the whole article clearer and more logical. This will also help the reader better understand your point of view. Secondly, in the two films, the awakening of woman's self-consciousness and the development of self-pursuit are not accomplished overnight, and the development of both films has a process. The author can analyze the story gradually according to the idea of beginning, development, climax and end, and find out how the independent consciousness and self-pursuit of women are generated in the film. Only by logical development process and the theme of the article can the overall discussion of the article be more powerful. Finally, if the author does not want to delete the comments on the visual effects and music background of the film, you can think about how to find out the relationship between them and the theme of the article, and use them as the embellishment of the article.

The above is my personal opinion. Please feel free to communicate with me at any time. I am looking forward to your reply.

Yours
Zhang Peiyun

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Dear Zhang,
Thank you very much for your reply.
For one thing, I think your suggestion of adding topic sentences is valuable. Our article is indeed lacking in this respect, and there is no way to find the central meaning of every paragraph we want to express at a glance.
For another ting, we choose to describe the color of the film because the color of the film can reflect the social background in the film. For example, China is in the process of reform and opening up. In this era, people were intertwined with the old and the new, so the colors in the film are interlaced to reflect the ups and downs of the protagonist's fate in this era. Therefore, the color of the film is not closely related to the theme of the film.
The music of the film is mentioned because we want to compare the artistic similarities between the two films. That is, music is used to imply the protagonist's state of mind at that time.
I will take your suggestion seriously in the next revision and revise it in terms of the logic of our article, the connection between the theme and artistic techniques of the paragraph and the theme of the film.
Yours,
Lin

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Hi Lin,
I'd like to share about the color, clothing and accessories in the film with you. The atmosphere of the whole movie is just a section of the special era node after the reform and opening up. The description of the condensed life state in the movie is the tragedy of the era. At that time, the color of clothes was dim, especially the clothes people wore in winter were heavy, which would bring us a very depressing impact on the vision.
When Wang Cailing went home for the new year, she saw her mother setting off firecrackers. Finally, she felt the happiness of her hometown and family, which was never given by her ideal. Red represents the meaning of festivity in China, which also brings a trace of vitality to the cold and harsh reality.
It is a vivid comparison in color that i find out in the film, which is my personal superficial view. I hope you can point out my inappropriateness.

From,
Shuyou Xiao

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Dear Lin
You said that the analysis of film colors in the article is to reflect the social background in the film, and the analysis of music is to compare artistic similarities. In fact, I agree with you because it creates a special atmosphere for the films. But I wonder if you think these two aspects are logically related to the topic? If so, what is the logical connection？ And can you specify how they relate to the old and the new? I look forward to further communication with you in this regard.
From
Zhang Peiyun

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Dear Xiao,
Thank you for your reply.
You are right, the whole film does use a dark color to reflect the tragedy of the fate of the protagonist, whether the fate of the heroine Wang Cailing or the fate of those supporting roles will be full of sadness.
When Wang Cailing went home for the Spring Festival after various blows in life, the red touch of her mother setting off firecrackers rekindled her hope for life. So although she no longer clung to her dream of singing at the Paris Opera House, she still did not succumb to the society's view of women at that time and randomly married a man she did not love for the rest of her life. Instead, she took the initiative to adopt a little girl and spend the rest of her life blandly and happily according to her own ideas. Such a bright color reflects that she was excited at that time and suddenly enlightened her tragic fate in the first half of her life.
In addition to thi spart, after Wang Cailing had experienced that night with Huang Sibao, Wang Cailing chose to wear a bright yellow scarf, which is one of the few bright colors in the film. This reflects Wang Cailing's joy after being nourished by love.
If you have any other thoughts, please contact me at any time.
Yours,
Lin

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Dear zhang,
I'm glad to hear from you, and I have some thoughts about your question.
Indeed, the logical sense of this article is not very strong, mainly because the process of comparing the two films in the process of writing is not very deep, and as you said, there is no topic sentence connection, so it appears to be very scattered. We will pay attention to improve this aspect.
On the other hand, with regard to the comparison of tone and photography proposed by you, we think that it can show the comparison of the Chinese and American film culture of the two films. In the Mona Lisa's smile, the music is cheerful, and in the end, the comic ending can also set off each other. In Spring Comes, the music is slow, a little sad, and sets off its tragic ending. We believe that the tone, music and photography of the film are simply discussed, which can be used as an auxiliary comparison to better show the differences between the two films.
Finally, I am glad to have your comments on us again, and I look forward to your more comments and exchanges with you.
Yours,
Zhou

[skw5377]

Hello Lin,
I am glad to have the opportunity to participate in this exchange with you.
Your analysis was very descriptive and well-written. I like how you started the essay out with a relevant quote, however, it may be helpful to cite who said this. Was it someone from one of the films? Or was it the director who you refer directly after the quote?
At the beginning of the essay you discuss Katherine's impact on her students and Cailing's principles during her pursuit of her dreams. However, there is not a clear connection between these two paragraphs. Maybe adding transition sentences or discussing similarities between the movies before switching between them may benefit the flow of your paper.
I was glad to see that you mentioned the conversation between Betty and her mother. Although it was a minor part of the movie, it was very impactful and also connected to the title of the movie. It was also a great example of how women of the time were not content with the social standards, which is a major part of the film.
I agree that the films both used tonality to demonstrate the moods of the film. From my view of the movies, however, I felt that Mona Lisa Smile had a more light and uplifting atmosphere than And the Spring Comes. Although both films did consist of dark and sad scenes, Mona Lisa Smile still had many happy and light moments with brighter lighting, which presented a positive atmosphere, but this is just my opinion.
I would just suggest to reorganize or add some sentences in order to create smoother flow throughout the paper, but overall, your paper covered some good ideas and you used examples to back up your statements.
Let me know if you have any questions or comments for me.

From,
Sarah

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Dear Zhou,
Glad to hear from you. I have a new understanding of your articles in your reply. You found a connection to the theme from the details of the film, and I think your idea is very good and original. I also gained a lot from it. At the same time, have you thought about the relationship between it and woman's freedom? I would like to know your thoughts on this and discuss it further with you. Looking forward to your reply.
Yours
Zhang Peiyun

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Dear Zhang,
I'm very glad to hear from you, and I have my own views on feminism.
As far as I am concerned, in the context of the two films, American society at that time regarded women as vassals of men, and they believed that the purpose of women's high-quality education was only to better assist their husbands, and as said in the film, they are doing housework while looking at physics papers, and their lives are determined by their husbands. And China is also similar, the status of women is low, they can not get what they want, or even a happy marriage, but in that social context, not only women are not happy, ordinary men are also unable to realize their dreams, which may be the result of social class differences at that time.
The above is just my opinion. I am very glad to continue to communicate with you.
Yours,
Zhou hanying