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Gender roles and constraints are prevalent in societies across borders. In both “Mona Lisa Smile” and “And the Spring Comes,” the female and male characters had to overcome societal constraints, stereotypes, and expectations to accomplish their professional goals. In order to be empowered, not only did these characters have to find it within themselves, but they also needed an extra push from another character who also defied norms.

“Mona Lisa Smile,” starring Julia Roberts, was a movie heavily focused on improving social mobility and success in life. However, in order to do so and for women to achieve success, they needed to be married or on the path of marriage. This is why Katherine Watson’s character did not meet the expectations set by society. She supposedly fled California to get away from the drama of her affair. In addition to this, she faced harsh criticism from those around her due to her pedagogical styles. She was considered to be “too modern” for the university that she was teaching at and was even told that in order to keep her job, she needed to return to a more traditional teaching style.

Joan’s character also faced social restriction that prevented her from achieving success in her career. She wanted to attend Yale Law School, but she did not have the motivation within herself to apply and she did not believe that she would ever get accepted. She believed that it would be easier and more realistic to marry and push her own dreams to the side, adhering to the social norms of her time. Luckily, Katherine Watson convinced her otherwise. She gave Joan the confidence to just apply because there was a chance she would get admitted to Yale Law. Taking this advice, Joan applied and did in fact get accepted to Yale Law School. When she informed her friends, she faced negative feedback for defying social norms.

Wellesley as an institution was extremely conservative and even enforced social etiquette to the students. All of the young women were taught lessons on how to be a “good” mother or “good” wife. The instructor would provide a hypothetical situation and the teach the students how to handle the situation in a proper manner. It was expected that after graduation, all of the women would be married with children. For this, there was a heavy emphasis placed on instructing the women and providing them with the tools to achieve success in society and how to abide by social expectations. However, despite this teaching, Katherine Watson was capable of transforming Joan’s character to look past all of her etiquette lessons and understand that being a good wife does not mean that a woman must give up her career.

“And the Spring Comes,” is a Chinese movie that had similar constraints for the main character Ms. Wang. However, much of the criticism she faced was due to her lack in professional conformity. She wanted to pursue a career that was considered to be a Western career instead of conforming to the expectations placed on Chinese women. She did not have a husband, which was in part due to her lack in physical beauty and her drive to pursue her career. For this, she never found a husband. However, she still adhered to some expectations by adopting a daughter at the end of the movie and pushing her career to the side to raise a child.

Another character that did not conform to gender norms was Hu Jinquan, who also had a passion for a western career: dancing ballet. He faced harsh criticism from those who observed his performances. Relating to Ms. Wang, he suggested that they marry to silence their critics, but she did not agree to such a thing. Feeling he had no other way out, he raped a female dancer not for pleasure, but to be purposely put into prison. He needed this out to silence his critics and to affirm their beliefs that he was only interested in Western art because he was crazy. Shortly after being arrested, we see Ms. Wang visit him. Rather than looking unhappy with being in prison, Hu Jinquan looked content and at peace because he was able to practice his art without having to feel the pressures from society. In addition to practicing freely in prison Hu Jinquan taught ballet lesson in prison, furthering his professional goals and living them through practice.

In both Western culture and Eastern culture, constraints and expectations are put on men and women. They are both expected to adhere to the social rules of what femininity and masculinity mean. Katherine Watson, Joan, and Ms. Wang were all expected to be ruled abiding women, but they all challenged norms in different ways. They achieved success in their careers by challenging the expectations that they faced as women. Hu Jinquan was expected to adhere to masculine expectations in China, but he defied this by purposely breaking the rules—even if this cost him prison time. Through art and cinema, social norms can be confronted because film offers a way for characters to challenge norms without bearing total costs in society.

Hi Nadia!

I really like how you focused a lot on Gender roles and constraints, and I like how you present the basic facts and your own opinions. You provide enough opinion about Katherine and Wang, moreover, you pay attention to the supporting role Joan and Hu Jinquan, and give more evidence to support your point.
People always desire to achieve their goals, and different people have different dreams. But it seems that on the way to achieving their professional goals, both Katherine and Wang don’t deal with other important things properly, their life is almost all about themselves and what they are fond of, lack of friends, family, and other important person throughout the life. I think unrealistic dreams and normal life is not opposite to each other, maybe they can do both like Katherine once said to the girls.

Xiangling,

Yes, I agree with you. I think that if Katherine and Wang were able to follow Katherine's advice, they would both be able to achieve their dreams. However, the issue is that they know this, but the constraints of society are so debilitating that they are unable to execute what they know. They cannot break free of the pressures from society, and therefore, conform to societal expectations.

Gender roles and constraints are prevalent in societies across borders. In both “Mona Lisa Smile” and “And the Spring Comes,” the female and male characters had to overcome societal constraints, stereotypes, and expectations to accomplish their professional goals. In order to be empowered, not only did these characters have to find it within themselves, but they also needed an extra push from another character who also defied societal norms.

“Mona Lisa Smile,” starring Julia Roberts, was a movie heavily focused on improving social mobility and success in life. However, in order to do so and for women to achieve success, they needed to be married or on the path of marriage. This is why Katherine Watson’s character did not meet the expectations set by society. She supposedly fled California to get away from the drama of her affair. In addition to this, she faced harsh criticism from those around her due to her pedagogical styles. She was considered to be “too modern” for the university that she was teaching at and was even told that in order to keep her job, she needed to return to a more traditional teaching style.

Joan’s character also faced social restriction that prevented her from achieving success in her career. She wanted to attend Yale Law School, but she did not have the motivation within herself to apply and did not believe that she would ever get accepted. She believed that it would be easier and more realistic to marry and push her own dreams to the side, adhering to the social norms of her time. Luckily, Katherine Watson convinced her otherwise. She gave Joan the confidence to just apply because there was a chance she would get admitted to Yale Law. Taking this advice, Joan applied and did in fact get accepted to Yale Law School. When she informed her friends, she faced negative feedback for defying social norms.

Wellesley as an institution was extremely conservative and even enforced social etiquette to the students. All of the young women were taught lessons on how to be a “good” mother or “good” wife. The instructor would provide a hypothetical situation and the teach the students how to handle the situation in a proper manner. It was expected that after graduation, all of the women would be married with children. For this, there was a heavy emphasis placed on instructing the women and providing them with the tools to achieve success in society and how to abide by social expectations. However, despite this teaching, Katherine Watson was capable of transforming Joan’s character to look past all of her etiquette lessons and understand that being a good wife does not mean that a woman must give up her career. However, in the end, both Katherine and Joan adhered to society and changed the paths of their careers to fit in with the norms and expectations of society.

“And the Spring Comes,” is a Chinese movie that had similar constraints for the main character Ms. Wang. However, much of the criticism she faced was due to her lack in professional conformity. She wanted to pursue a career that was considered to be a Western career instead of conforming to the expectations placed on Chinese women. She did not have a husband, which was in part due to her lack in physical beauty and her drive to pursue her career. For this, she never found a husband. However, she still adhered to some expectations by adopting a daughter at the end of the movie and pushing her career to the side to raise a child.

Another character that did not conform to gender norms was Hu Jinquan, who also had a passion for a western career: dancing ballet. He faced harsh criticism from those who observed his performances. Relating to Ms. Wang, he suggested that they marry to silence their critics, but she did not agree to such a thing. Feeling he had no other way out, he raped a female dancer not for pleasure, but to be purposely put into prison. He needed this out to silence his critics and to affirm their beliefs that he was only interested in Western art because he was crazy. Shortly after being arrested, we see Ms. Wang visit him. Rather than looking unhappy with being in prison, Hu Jinquan looked content and at peace because he was able to practice his art without having to feel the pressures from society. In addition to practicing freely in prison Hu Jinquan taught ballet lesson in prison, furthering his professional goals and living them through practice.

In both Western culture and Eastern culture, constraints and expectations are put on men and women. They are both expected to adhere to the social rules of what constitutes femininity and masculinity. Katherine Watson, Joan, and Ms. Wang were all expected to be ruled abiding women, but they all challenged norms in different ways. They achieved success in their careers by challenging the expectations that they faced as women, but ultimately gave up these successes to match the demands placed by society. Hu Jinquan was expected to adhere to the masculine expectations in China, but he defied this by purposely breaking the rules—even if this cost him prison time. Through art and cinema, social norms can be confronted because film offers a way for characters to challenge norms without bearing total costs in society.

1) What were your expectations for the border-crossing activity? Are your expectations met? Why or why not?
a. My expectations for the border-crossing activity was to better understand the thoughts of the students from China. I feel that my expectations have been met because I realize that although we are across borders, we share similar ideas and responses to the two films.

2) Please name three things that struck you most when you interacted with the Chinese peers and explain why. (You may comment on the differences and/or similarities in lexical choice, writing style, idea presentation, rhetorical preference, cultural convention etc.)
a. Three things that struck me the most were the similarities in ideas, the impressive use of grammar and language, and the thoughtfulness and thoroughness of the responses from the students in China. I was not expecting to share such similar views as them and I was impressed with their use of spelling and grammar since English is a second language. I know that if I had to write in a different language, I would be incapable of fully expressing my ideas.

3) Did you incorporate what had been discussed into the revised draft? If so, please elaborate on how the discussion had led to the revisions you made. If not, please explain why.
a. I tried to further explain things in my revised draft that I feel were not as thorough as they could have been. The comment that I received mentioned the characters lack in fully achieving their goals, so I chose to clarify my point on that just a bit.

6) Could you provide three adjectives to describe the activity? Please explain your choice.
a. Three adjectives I would use to describe this activity are: thought-provoking, eye-opening, and insightful. I use these adjectives because I had to really gather and explain my thoughts in each essay, my eyes were opened from seeing the perspectives of the other students and insightful because I now understand that students, even across borders, may have similar views and opinions on films.

7) Could you provide three adjectives to describe your feelings about the activity? Please explain your choice.
a. Three adjectives to describe my feelings about this activity are: excited, eager, and expressive. I use these adjectives because I was genuinely excited and eager to share my thoughts on the films and gender roles in them and also excited and eager to read the thoughts of students from China. It was an expressive activity that fostered communication across borders and I felt that I had easy opportunity to full express my ideas and thoughts.

8) Any additional comments, suggestions, and observations you would like to make to better help us assess your performance in this activity?
a. I think starting this assignment earlier in the semester would enhance the experience, as it would give students more time to communicate with one another and gain more insight into the differences and similarities of Chinese and American students across borders.

Hi Nadia,

I think that your essay is very strong and that you backed up your opinions about how the characters faced and overcame societal norms well through the inclusion of detail from the movies. I think that you did a good job of revising your essay to include the outcomes of the characters that they did end up conforming to the norms of society even though they had persistently rebelled against it the majority of the movie. I agree that the characters gained empowerment to pursue their individualistic goals through encouragement from other characters. All in all, great essay with strong insight!