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Hey Olivia,
Thank you for your comments on my essay and I'm glad that you agreed with my analysis.
Although the atmosphere and the setting/lighting did play a part in this assessment, I felt as though the Chinese storyline and how the characters acted was a main factor, especially the ending. In the Chinese storyline, unfortunate things are constantly happening: Sibao plays with Cailings heart, Mr. Hu sexually assaults someone, BeiBei tricks Cailing into giving her money, and Cailing's neighbor gets left by her husband, and more. Although Mona Lisa Smile has "sad" parts, like when Betty was cheated on and when Bill lied to Katherine, the ending of the story was ultimately very happy. Even though she did not accept it and decided to pursue her passions elsewhere, Katherine got offered another year of teaching at Wellesley. Betty ended her unhappy relationship with her husband and decided to move away and focus on herself. These scenes showed that the women were able to break free from societal standards and pursue what they loved; everyone had a happy ending. In "And the Spring Comes", however, Cailing ends up as a single mother who is a butcher. Although she is able to break free from societal standards as well, she does not get the happy ending that those in "Mona Lisa Smile" did. She may have been content with her daughter, but the movie emphasized that one may not always reach their dreams and may have to compromise. From my experience, most American movies have happy endings where the the girl ends up with a good guy, someone gets their dream job, and/or other positive scenes. Although I cannot generalize Chinese movies into one group, just from watching "And the Spring Comes," I felt that they are more realistic in how life works and that not everything may work out.
Let me know if you have any other comments or questions.
From,
Sarah

skw5377 wrote: ↑Fri Apr 24, 2020 9:46 pm Dear Zhang Peiyun,
I am a Public Relations major and much of the writing involves writing that would be for things like the news or press release. They are more seen as articles versus formal essays. Journalistic writing is different in a way that it is more about story-telling and letting the audience know facts, whereas in formal essays is more about evaluation and analyzing a phenomena. In the writing i do for my classes, some paragraphs may only be three sentences, and even in some cases, one sentence. It is also written in a pyramid style where the most important information is at the top, and as the article continues, the less interesting and important facts are listed. Because most of my writing for classes is press releases and news writing and they may not have transition/topic sentences, I forget to use them in my cultural essay. Thank you for reminding to incorporate these aspects and helping me remember that I must change my usual style of writing for this specific paper.
Let me know if you have any other comments of questions on journalistic writing or anything else in my essay.
From,
Sarah Wu

Dear Sarah,
I'm glad to receive your reply. Your answer has benefited me because I have always believed that good writing requires a transition. I have no specific distinction between news articles and cultural articles. Like this article is a film review, the review article should also be reasonable and argumentative, but it is difficult for me to judge whether it should belong to the paper, do you think? I am looking forward to further communication with you.
The From,
Zhang Peiyun

Revised Essay

The storyline of both “Mona Lisa Smile” and “And the Spring Comes” follows the journey of two middle aged women who are struggling with social pressure whilst pursuing their professional dreams. Two primary themes in both films that go hand in hand are personal pursuit and women’s empowerment. As the women prioritize their careers over marriage and try to achieve their career goals, they are faced with challenges due to the stigma surrounding being a single woman. Although the films have similar messages and social backgrounds, they also reveal the differences between Chinese and American culture during their specific times.

In “Mona Lisa Smile”, the story of Katherine Watson and her journey to find happiness shows how women were viewed through the Western eye during the 1950s. Watson moved across the country to work at Wellesley, an extremely conservative and traditional women’s college, and because she possessed more liberal views, she was constantly challenged by the people around her. Students attend this esteemed university to receive a well-rounded education, but Watson later discovered that after graduating, most of the women planned to simply be housewives. Although this was the appropriate lifestyle for women at the time (li), she did not agree and was constantly challenging her student’s to step outside of the box and be like Van Gough as he “refused to reform his ideas to popular taste.” Women during this time period, although they were taught to live in order to provide for their husbands, were still valued for their skills and knowledge. It was because of the support of their wives, that husbands were able to succeed. In China, however, women were not worth quite as much.

In “And the Spring Comes”, which takes place around the 1990s, Wang Cailing worked as a music teacher while pursuing a future as a famous singer in Beijing. She was considered ugly by the people around her, and as the result, it became difficult for her to find success both professionally and romantically. This is one difference between American and Chinese culture that is displayed through the films. During that time period in China, women were not valued for their abilities, but for their looks and status. In the film, it was mentioned that how one looks may not matter for a man, but for a woman to succeed, she needs to be beautiful. Women also lacked independence. They were to listen to their husbands, and if their husbands passed away, they would have to listen to their sons. Women were not seen as individuals, but rather as accessories to men. Throughout the course of the movie, Cailing came into contact with three different men who presented the idea of marriage with her. Although marriage would have made her life easier and be the appropriate choice (li), she declined all of them because she cared more about personal happiness than having an easy life.

Another noticeable difference between Chinese and American films was the atmosphere of the stories. Both movies had sad scenes, but “Mona Lisa Smile” generally had a positive storyline. Watson got along with her students, was offered to work another year at Wellesley, and eventually went to Europe to pursue her dreams. “And the Spring Comes”, on the other hand, had a very different ending. Although Cailing is content at the end of the film as a single mother, her entire journey throughout the movie was difficult, and she even had to compromise her dream as a singer.

Aside from the plot of the stories, the atmospheres of the films were also exemplified through non-verbal traits like lighting and clothing. “And the Spring Comes” generally held a darker tone; many scenes took place at night or indoors with dark lighting. “Mona Lisa Smile”, on the other hand, had brighter and lighter scenes. The clothing in “And the Spring Comes” were also dimmer colors and heavier, which gave the film a more disheartening feeling. Despite these contrasts, both films had similar messages that were very powerful. The protagonists in both films were able to break free from the pressures of society and the traditions of their time in order to live fulfilling lives.

skw5377 wrote: ↑Fri Apr 24, 2020 10:15 pm Hey Olivia,
Thank you for your comments on my essay and I'm glad that you agreed with my analysis.
Although the atmosphere and the setting/lighting did play a part in this assessment, I felt as though the Chinese storyline and how the characters acted was a main factor, especially the ending. In the Chinese storyline, unfortunate things are constantly happening: Sibao plays with Cailings heart, Mr. Hu sexually assaults someone, BeiBei tricks Cailing into giving her money, and Cailing's neighbor gets left by her husband, and more. Although Mona Lisa Smile has "sad" parts, like when Betty was cheated on and when Bill lied to Katherine, the ending of the story was ultimately very happy. Even though she did not accept it and decided to pursue her passions elsewhere, Katherine got offered another year of teaching at Wellesley. Betty ended her unhappy relationship with her husband and decided to move away and focus on herself. These scenes showed that the women were able to break free from societal standards and pursue what they loved; everyone had a happy ending. In "And the Spring Comes", however, Cailing ends up as a single mother who is a butcher. Although she is able to break free from societal standards as well, she does not get the happy ending that those in "Mona Lisa Smile" did. She may have been content with her daughter, but the movie emphasized that one may not always reach their dreams and may have to compromise. From my experience, most American movies have happy endings where the the girl ends up with a good guy, someone gets their dream job, and/or other positive scenes. Although I cannot generalize Chinese movies into one group, just from watching "And the Spring Comes," I felt that they are more realistic in how life works and that not everything may work out.
Let me know if you have any other comments or questions.
From,
Sarah

Sarah,
I agree with your assessment about the movies having differing endings. I think the American/Hollywood audience is typically more satisfied with happy endings while Eastern stories can notoriously leave the audience thinking. Now obviously this is not accurate with all movies but from some of the Eastern movies I have seen, it is more about revealing a portion of life that people can see and identify with. Hollywood movies promote more of a sense of escapism. This is simply my opinion and you are free to disagree with it. I think And the Spring Comes brings a sense of realism in which a woman does not achieve all of her dreams, but she does find something to live for. In Mona Lisa Smile, Catherine essentially fulfills any artist's dream. I think the culture in which these movies were made affects the way storytelling is shown.

All the best,
Olivia Myers

Reflection:

1) Going into the border-crossing activity, I wasn't quite sure what to expect. Although I have spoken to ESL students before, it was always in a casual situation rather than an educational one. I also didn't know how proficient the students would be in English and what their essays would be like. I was pleasantly surprised when I read the exchange students essays. They were very well-written and some of them noticed things in the movies that I did not catch.

2) One thing that stood out to me about the exchange students was their interpretation of the movie. Based on the essays I read, it seemed like they focused more on the character's personal pursuit whereas myself and the American students' essays that I read focused more on women's empowerment. Another thing that struck me was some of their word choices. In the essays I noticed words that I feel like American students might not typically use. This may be because they did not know the proper word and had to use a translator app. The last thing that i noticed when interacting with the exchange students was how they wrote their essays. They all seemed to write in similar styles and very systematically.

3) I did incorporate a lot of the notes that the Chinese students suggested into my revised essay. One suggestion that was made was using topic sentences and creating a smoother transition between by paragraphs. I let her know that although this was something I had learned before, I often forget because as a PR major, I am used to writing in a more journalistic style rather than a formal essay. We briefly conversed about the differences between the two and how she is not very familiar with journalistic type writing. A student also reminded me that in watching this one Chinese film, I should not generalize my assumption gathered to all Chinese movies. I had made a comment originally about how Chinese movies were not as positive and decided to remove the comment and instead, decided to focus on the differing atmospheres of the two movies.

4) I do think that the activity was beneficial to me because I learned more about Chinese culture and history. A few of the students mentioned the reforms occurring in China during the period that the film was set in and described how the Chinese mindset was formed from the results of the tragedy of the era. I also learned how differently Chinese viewed their women compared to Americans. One of the students mentioned how women were seen as accessories and only valued for their beauty and status, and I utilized this information in my revised essay.

7) - Engaging: Although I wasn't sure how the conversation with the exchange students would be prior to the assignment, once it began, I was very interested in conversing with the students. I had various good conversations and was always eager to hear what the other party had to say.
- Valuable: As I mentioned before, I actually learned quite a lot about Chinese culture and history from my conversations with the students and am able to carry this knowledge with me in the future.
- Beneficial: I felt that through the suggestions made by the exchange students, I was able to make notable improvements on my original cultural essay. The students were able to make remarks that I otherwise would not have thought of or noticed.

8) Overall, I think the exchange activity was very helpful in various aspects, and I am unable to think of any suggests for improvement.