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Be Yourself

180216;李盈盈 Yingying Li

To tell the truth, And the Spring Comes and Mona Lisa Smile are not my favorite movie type, but they do cause me to think a lot.

It is said that they are two very similar movies, but at first I don’t think so: And the Spring Comes is a Chinese film, and Mona Lisa Smile is a foreign movie; And the Spring Comes tells about what happened in society, and Mona Lisa Smile tells about school.

But in fact, what is similar is not the movie itself, but the characters in the movie.

And the Spring Comes is a feature film directed by Gu Changwei, and Jiang Wenli, Zhang Yao, Li Guangjie, and Jiao Gang starring. The film tells us the stories of a group of art youth in a small northern county in the 1980s. Among them, Wang Cailing, an ugly music teacher with a good voice, is a vivid example. Unwilling to live a mediocre and secular life like the people around her, she is determined to root in Beijing. However, after experiencing the betrayal of Huang Sibao and the deception of Gao Beibei, she finally decided to stay in the county and live an ordinary life.

Mona Lisa Smile is directed by Mike Neville, and Julia Roberts, Kirsten Dunst and Julia Stiles starring. The film tells about the United States in 1953. Catherine Watson, who graduated from a university with an open atmosphere, goes to Wellesley College to teach art history. At school, she meets a group of girls such as Betty, Joan, Giselle, and Connie. She influences them with her enthusiasm and encourages them to do what they wanted to do. Finally, she won the respect and love of her students and was called "Mona Lisa".

What I admire most about Wang Cailing and Catherine is their true character, and that's what they have in common. In the old times, their attitude towards love and marriage is brave and even bold.

Wang Cailing left with Huang Sibao because she thought they were in love. And after finding that Huang Sibao did not love her, she even thought of committing suicide. But she still wasn't controlled by marriage. Back in the county, she turned down a fake marriage request from male dance teacher Hu Jinquan. Because she knew what she wanted to do and did not want to be influenced by other people's gossip.

Catherine is a woman of her own mind. When she found that her feelings for Paul were not love, even if she had accepted his proposal, she still proposed to separate from Paul. Knowing that her boyfriend Bill had lied to her, she stuck to her principles and broke up with him.

Both Wang Cailing and Catherine, women in their 30s, were being criticized because they were not married. But they both insist on being themselves. On the contrary, Hu Jinquan in And the Spring Comes, in order to avoid rumors, he proposed to marry Wang Cailing. After being rejected, he even used fierce methods to prove his sexual orientation and finally went to prison for crimes.
And the female students in Wellesley College, most of them have a good family background and have received excellent education since childhood. However, because of the environment they grew up in, their purpose of learning is to marry a good man, not for their own success. Among them, Joan even gave up her favourite universities because of marriage.

Gossip has affected the life of Hu Jinquan, and marriage is the first place in the life of female students in Wellesley College. But for Wang Cailing and Catherine, being themselves is the most important thing. In the end, Wang Cailing adopted a little girl and Catherine left the college to pursue higher goals. They're all living the life they want. I think that's what these two movies are trying to tell us: be yourself.

Hello Yingying Li!
I thought that this was a really interesting paper that makes a lot of interesting comparisons, especially regarding the content of the films. I thought your look into the character arcs of both female leads was great, and it shows that you have paid attention while watching and have an eye for detail. I believe that with a few minor changes this paper can be even better.

First, I think that I would start with a different opening, and try to combine the first few paragraphs so that the paper feels more like a formal essay and less of a conversation. I also think that by creating a thesis statement prior to the body of your essay will benefit you and keep the essay focused.

Secondly, I think that I would like to see a little more of a dive into the things that the movies are showing, rather than just through the eyes of the main female leads. What commentary do you think these movies offer on feminism? How do you think the U.S. commentary differs? Does it? I think that with a few changes this can be a great paper.

Michael

Hi, Yingying Li!

Very well-written work here. The main characters of each movie are similar – women going against the grain of society – but they exist in very different settings.

What’s interesting is your example with Hu Jinquan in “And the Spring Comes.” In contrast with Wang, Hu tries to fit in, but ultimately fails in doing so. Similarly, Betty in “Mona Lisa Smile” sees her traditional lifestyle fall apart. In both movies, the characters going against the grain find happiness in their own ways, but the characters trying to go with the flow are punished. This might be interesting to write about if you want to look at the “big picture” of each movie, as Michael suggested.

I personally don’t think the conversational tone hurts the piece – this assignment is supposed to spark conversation, after all.

Great stuff!

-Aaron

Hello！
Thank you for your advice.
At the beginning of the article, I used the form of conversation to draw closer to the reader. But I will think about Michael's suggestion.
After reading your article, it really gave me a lot of inspiration and made me realize my own shortcomings.
I think your thoughts are all great, they can let me look at the two movies from different aspects.
Thanks again.

Yingying

Hi again, Yingying! I have a few small nitpicks about your current draft.

You said in your intro that "And the Spring Comes tells about what happened in society, and Mona Lisa Smile tells about school." Both movies actually deal with societal issues, they just do so in different settings. "Mona Lisa Smile" deals with a very conservative society, which Kathryn aims to influence; "And the Spring Comes" deals with a society that the main characters try to succeed in or fit into.

Small grammar issue here: "And the Spring Comes is a feature film directed by Gu Changwei, and Jiang Wenli, Zhang Yao, Li Guangjie, and Jiao Gang starring.": this should say "directed by Gu Changwei, and starring Jiang Wenli, Zhang Yao, Li Guangjie, and Jiao Gan."

-Aaron

This is my reflection.

In this communication with American students, I learned a lot.

For the first feeling of American students' papers, I think their ideas are very high-end. It can be seen from their topics, Aaron's " The Philosophical Meaning of Success in “Mona Lisa Smile” and “And the Spring Comes”" and Michael's " Non-Verbal Strategies: “Mona Lisa Smile” and “And the Spring Comes”" and we can also see that their thinking is very deep. In addition to the topic, their language expression also shocked me. They use a lot of advanced sentences and expressions in the article to express their thoughts and let me learn how to express more accurately and authentic.

In their papers, Aaron tells different stories of success in two movies, with "success" being relative to their respective culture's philosophical background, and Michael's non-verbal strategy is interpreted in the film's shooting techniques, such as clothing, characters' clothes, makeup, actors, the production aspects and so on. Their ideas also inspired me to look at the two films from different aspects, and make my understanding of the two films more profound.

We comment on each other. We shared some thoughts about the films, such as feminism. We have the same ideas about feminism and filmmaking. We also pointed out some points that do not agree with each other. And in their comments on me, Michael suggest that I should try to combine the first few paragraphs so that the paper feels more like a formal essay and less of a conversation. However, Aaron don’t think the conversational tone hurts the piece – this assignment is supposed to spark conversation. I seriously considered their different advices and decided to keep my original beginning, because the article begins with the form of conversation can draw closer to readers.

I was excited and nervous at first. After reading their articles, I feel that my article content and language expression are really bad. However, the American friends are still very enthusiastic about discussing with me, sharing their advice and thoughts, and even express their appreciation. I am very happy. The whole process is pleasant and relaxing, I think this cross-ocean exchange is worthwhile, more than my expectation. I am very grateful to them, I also thank the teacher for providing us with an opportunity to communicate with American friends.

One thing I feel pity is that their ideas are good enough, and I can't give a lot of good advices for them, so I will continue to work hard to enhance my ability in the future.

Thank you all!