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Sangyeop Kim

Movie Prompt Essay

Mona Lisa Smile

The movie presents the life experience of Kathrine Watson who is an art history teacher. She moved from California to England to teach at a highly esteemed school called Wellesley College. The film depicts a social setting that is conventional. The following paper reviews the ethos and feminism are represented in the movie.

The film comprises of the ethos of an era in which youthful women who attend high-status schools are supposed to be conversant with the contents of the course. Learning is perceived as a way of molding them to be excellent mothers who will be wives to the influential men in the country as well as seeing their children through education. The societal role of women to be good mothers and wives was driven by the dominant thoughts of middle-class individuals. According to these ideologies, girls were to go through a certain school program that would make them appealing and ready for marriage. Watson has a postulated syllabus that she is expected to adhere to and prove it she has to submit her lesson plans.

Watson is feminist as she goes against the prevailing perspectives that girls should get married after completing their education and advices her students to pursue career-oriented goals. However, the school administration does not agree with her, and she is warned not to teach her students anything that is not in the given curriculum. Some of the students are backing her up while others strongly believe in the ideology of becoming mothers and wives. For instance, Joan Brandwyn is in a dilemma trying to choose between the societal constraint of marriage and bearing children and her desire to become a lawyer (Reynolds, n.p). From a conversation they are having with Watson, Joan says that her plan is to get married after school. Again, she also has a school in mind where she would like to attend for further studies if she was asked to choose a law school to be taken to. Watson advocates for women empowerment but the pressure around her is intense. These ideologies are not appropriate and especially in today's world because women should have equal opportunities to those of men, and their future should not be narrowed down to motherhood and wifely duties.

‘And the Spring Comes’

The film revolves around the life of Wang Tsailing who takes up a job a teacher in an industrial town but still holds firmly to her desire to pursue her dream as a singer and outshine others in the national theatre. She lives a life of solitude filled with frustration and happens to come across artists who have a similar lifestyle. Her frustrations are fueled by the lies she tells that the humiliations she gets are affiliated to Beijing as well as not experiencing romance and sexual encounters ("And the Spring Comes" , n.p). The film showcases the cultural aspect of China by use of characters’ appearance and behavior as well as the camera shots and angles.

Camera shots are wide and taken at an angle that brings out the natural state of China showing plainness and uniformity of the place. From the shots, one can tell that the city is detached and that one has no option but to accept the minute achievements that you are able to make.

Homosexuality is brought out in the behavior of the characters who are present as artistic but ugly. These aspects are meant to bring out the cultural mindset that is aimed at discouraging individuality. Again, the crowd which Tsailing and Hu are performing for seem bored and not interested. The unconcerned crowd is used to show that people in this city are not ready to encourage and support each other as Wang had tried to stand up for her career and failed many time times. The film depicts a culture that does not support talent, and this should not be the case in the modern world that is dynamic.

Analysis of the Perception of the Social Norms

These two films share similarities in a way Katherine and Tsailing resisting the pressures of the society. Regardless of different cultures, corsets have always been implicitly or explicitly enforced on women, and finding a husband to form a family was nobly considered as a ‘role woman’s born to fill’ (quoted from Betty’s article in Mona Lisa Smile). Katherine and Tsailing were both forced to face this invisible yet irresistible social compulsion. However, their seemingly equivalent struggles indeed manifest very different meanings that are noteworthy to understand the underlying differences between Chinese and Western philosophy.

In Mona Lisa Smile, Katherine is deemed a smart, progressive and successful woman who is eager to make a difference to the conservative society. She has a rather dichotomous way of determining the happiness of a person’s life. To her, marriage is never a source of satisfaction and happiness. While she is always capable of being secure within the boundaries of social norms (e.g. engagement, contract extension, etc), she clearly defines following enforced social norms as a failure. On the other hand, in And the Spring Comes, Tsailing is an outcast who’s thrown into involuntarily subversive life choices. She strives to fight against the social norms that restrict her from being successful, but at the same time, changes to adapt into the social norms by putting a makeup, endeavoring to enhance her appearance, and adopting a child. We do not know if the last scene of her playing with her child in front of the Forbidden City implies her compromise or continued challenge. However, her way of diluting the subversiveness and melting herself into the social norms could signify the balance of yin and yang of the Eastern philosophy.

Good job! I really like your descriptions of the two films, Sang. You discovered many points that I didn't notice when I was watching the films. I also like the structure of your essay. You divided the essay into three parts and made it clear. But I suggest you to write deeper in the third part of your essay. The comments seem not to be the major part of your essay. And you can develop a clearer focus in this part.

A small error: In the last paragraph,"....her playing with her child in front of the Forbidden City....", it's not "the Forbidden City" but "the Tiananmen Square".

Good luck

-Xie(or you can call me Mia)

Dear Kim,
I really like your essay. I believe that your essay has a clear structure and tells many aspects that I didn't pay much attention to. But there might be a problem in the third part of your essay. I believe that you want to analyse the differences between Chinese and Western philosophy, but you didn't tell which philosophy idea that Watson's actions convey. And as a reader, I think not many people could have a clear concept of yin and yang, so you might try to give a brief explanation of it and analyse which actions of her belong to yin and which belong to yang. In my opinion, Wang Tsailing gave up her dream of being a singer finally, because she sold mutton after adopting a child, and the last scene of her playing with her child just shows that she still remembered her dream but would not continue to pursue it, so I think it wasn't a balance.

Good luck
Jiancai(or you can call me Kevin)

Xie J. wrote: ↑Sun Apr 14, 2019 7:11 am Good job! I really like your descriptions of the two films, Sang. You discovered many points that I didn't notice when I was watching the films. I also like the structure of your essay. You divided the essay into three parts and made it clear. But I suggest you to write deeper in the third part of your essay. The comments seem not to be the major part of your essay. And you can develop a clearer focus in this part.

A small error: In the last paragraph,"....her playing with her child in front of the Forbidden City....", it's not "the Forbidden City" but "the Tiananmen Square".

Good luck

-Xie(or you can call me Mia)

Hi Xie J,

I am sorry for posting my response on your comment late. I genuinely thought it was unnecessary as we could still communicate under your essay. I absolutely agree that I would need to put more focus on the third party of my essay. The first two parts were to give general analysis of each film that could help readers understand what kind of understandings are expected from the films before going into deeper analysis. I will try to develop the third part of my essay and add more points in my revised essay.

p.s. thank you for correcting the error for me. The forbidden city and Tiananmen Square shouldn't have been confused.

Jiancai X. wrote: ↑Sun Apr 14, 2019 9:04 am Dear Kim,
I really like your essay. I believe that your essay has a clear structure and tells many aspects that I didn't pay much attention to. But there might be a problem in the third part of your essay. I believe that you want to analyse the differences between Chinese and Western philosophy, but you didn't tell which philosophy idea that Watson's actions convey. And as a reader, I think not many people could have a clear concept of yin and yang, so you might try to give a brief explanation of it and analyse which actions of her belong to yin and which belong to yang. In my opinion, Wang Tsailing gave up her dream of being a singer finally, because she sold mutton after adopting a child, and the last scene of her playing with her child just shows that she still remembered her dream but would not continue to pursue it, so I think it wasn't a balance.

Good luck
Jiancai(or you can call me Kevin)

Dear Jiancai,

In Chinese philosophy, yin and yang is a concept of dualism in ancient Chinese philosophy, describing how seemingly opposite or contrary forces may actually be complementary, interconnected, and interdependent in the natural world, and how they may give rise to each other as they interrelate to one another. Compared to western philosophy, a distinction between good and evil, or right and wrong could be relatively ambiguous in Chinese philosophy given the concept of yin and yang. Tsailing's colliding desires of pursuing her dreams and being complacent do not seem to coexist throughout the entire movie. However, the way this film portrays her life and emotions at the end of the movie is quite different. The spring has come and she seems much more relaxed and happier than any other moments we saw in the movie. How should we define happiness and success? Is her life a failure just because she couldn't become a opera singer? Reality and dream could be seen as contrary concepts. However, Tsailing embracing her spring in front of Tiananmen could implicitly show that her dream and reality have finally been interconnected and interdependent which is a concept of yin and yang. So I still believe that this point could be valid in this perspective. Thank you so much for your comment though. That really helped me think about this idea and philosophy more thoroughly.

Best,
Sangyeop

<Analysis of the Perception of happiness and freedom>

These two films share similarities in a way Katherine and Tsailing resisting the pressures of the society. Regardless of different cultures, corsets have always been implicitly or explicitly enforced on women, and finding a husband to form a family was nobly considered as a ‘role woman’s born to fill’ (quoted from Betty’s article in Mona Lisa Smile). Katherine and Tsailing were both forced to face this invisible yet irresistible social compulsion. However, their seemingly equivalent struggles indeed manifest very different meanings that are noteworthy to understand the underlying differences between Chinese and Western philosophy.

In Mona Lisa Smile, Katherine is deemed a smart, progressive and successful woman who is eager to make a difference to the conservative society. She has a rather dichotomous way of determining the happiness of a person’s life. To her, marriage is never a source of satisfaction and happiness. While she is always capable of being secure within the boundaries of social norms (e.g. engagement, contract extension, etc), she clearly defines following enforced social norms as a failure. On the other hand, in And the Spring Comes, Tsailing is an outcast who’s thrown into involuntarily subversive life choices. She strives to fight against the social norms that restrict her from being successful, but at the same time, changes to adapt into the social norms by putting a makeup, endeavoring to enhance her appearance, and adopting a child. We do not know if the last scene of her playing with her child in front of the Forbidden City implies her compromise or continued challenge. However, her way of diluting the subversiveness and melting herself into the social norms could signify the balance of yin and yang of the Eastern philosophy.

In Chinese philosophy, yin and yang is a concept of dualism in ancient Chinese philosophy, describing how seemingly opposite or contrary forces may actually be complementary, interconnected, and interdependent in the natural world, and how they may give rise to each other as they interrelate to one another. Compared to western philosophy, a distinction between good and evil, or right and wrong could be relatively ambiguous in Chinese philosophy given the concept of yin and yang. Tsailing's colliding desires of pursuing her dreams and being complacent do not seem to coexist throughout the entire movie. However, the way this film portrays her life and emotions at the end of the movie is quite different. The spring has come and she seems much more relaxed and happier than any other moments we saw in the movie. This questions audience who were bound by a thought that becoming an opera singer is the only way she could reach happiness. Life is more complicated than it seems and there’s often a very fine conceptual line between success and failure. In a nutshell, reality and dream could be seen as contrary concepts. However, Tsailing embracing her spring in front of Tiananmen could implicitly show that her dream and reality have finally been interconnected and interdependent which is the concept of yin and yang.

Freedom could also provide an interesting viewpoint for audiences to interpret the behaviors and decisions of Tsailing and Katherine in different ways. On the surface, Tsailing seems to be the one who is deprived of her freedom by constant failures and unable to be freely in control of her life throughout the entire movie. On the contrary, Katherine is deemed a brilliantly capable woman with a free will and open mindedness. Undoubtedly, Katherine is a capable woman. However, her thought process and decisions are majorly centered on her mission statement that 'every woman is better off when they are independent'. When Bill said, "you didn't come to Wellesely to tell people find their ways, I think you came Wellesely to find your way", this signifies how much her freedom is bound by a single thought she blindly believes. On the other hand, Tsailing’s decisions and behaviors aren't truly bound by surroundings albeit hardships. She fully makes decisions in her life that are not necessarily subordinated to social norms, beliefs, and even her own sake.

These two films feature two very distinctive characters that are challenged by the realities that are not nice to them. Although the styles and plots of these two firms are very much different, the life of Tsailing and Katherine certainly make audiences reconsider how should happiness and success be defined.

This cultural exchange program definitely was an interesting experience that has given me chances to broaden my perspective. I was paired up with Jiancai Xu and Xie Jin and we have shared our opinions on each other’s essay a few times to reflect them and reinforce our essays.

I myself am an international student who studies English as a second language, so I had a tremendous interest in figuring out their writing styles and competence in English. After we shared our essays, I quickly realized that their English was much better than what I initially expected. They were able to fully express their thoughts and ideas using wide range of vocabularies and constructive sentences. Also, the knowledge they have as an English major enabled them to generate extensive and thoughtful feedbacks for the other students’ essays.

However, there was a noticeable discrepancy between students in China and students in America in terms of the writing styles. In America, writing styles are generally established as either MLA or APA and firmly settled. Every student in America has been taught to generate his or her essay in a certain format and structure that readers would easily find what the introduction, body, and conclusion are. Unlike this, the essays of Chinese students were not bound by certain formats. They wouldn’t hesitate to start or end their essay by quoting literary work or even insert an absolutely abstruse sentence in between paragraphs. Although I believe that this feature of their writing could be undeniably ineffective and would also merely look grandiose sometimes, the creativity and unrestrictedness they have in their writing styles could potentially enable them to come up with more interesting and unique pieces of work.

I personally had an experience in hosting Chinese students from Nanjing University last semester and that was one of the best experiences I had in 4 years of college. Although I couldn’t personally meet these students to talk in person and build relationships, I could experience a different form of cultural exchange in an educational and informative way, and I am very very grateful for this opportunity.