Cultural Essay
Posted: Tue Apr 14, 2020 5:39 pm
Gabrielle Stewart
The films And the Spring Comes and Mona Lisa Smile differ in cultural origin, plot, and language. The Chinese movie, And the Spring Comes, follows a homely but talented voice teacher in rural China on her path toward her dream—singing in the Beijing opera. Mona Lisa Smile, an American film, tells the story of a progressive art history professor struggling to make a difference in her conservative university setting. Using their respective cultural contexts and characters, both films reject the notion that a woman’s worth and happiness must come from her potential to marry.
The protagonist of And the Spring Comes, Wang Cai-ling, refuses to find contentment through marriage per the custom for most Chinese women. In a conversation with her unnamed neighbor, Cai-ling expresses that she is single by choice. Her neighbor responds, “No one chooses to be single,” highlighting the desirability of marriage’s social status benefits. Cai-ling is not convinced by this argument, however, and continues pursuing her own goal for fulfillment: singing. Later, Cai-ling’s belief is supported further when the neighbor’s husband leaves her; the neighbor feels immense sorrow and has little to care for now that her marriage is broken. Though Cai-ling herself cannot meet her ultimate goal—being an opera singer—she still resists the social pressure to marry for maintaining a positive public image. At the film’s conclusion, she finds purpose through another avenue: adopting a child. This practice would be fairly unheard of for a single woman, because children are typically associated with marriage. Cai-ling, however, disregards this social ruling, knowing that she can feel content without a husband.
In Mona Lisa Smile, Katherine Watson aims to teach her female students that a woman’s worth is not necessarily associated with her future as a housewife. She embodies this lesson through her own status as an unmarried woman at thirty. A comment from Betty shows that this is not the social norm; when Giselle calls Watson “fabulous,” Betty argues, “No man wanted her,” illustrating the belief at the time that women cannot be anything without a husband. Watson, however, is determined to share her ideology with her students. When bright Joan tells Watson that she would go to law school if she were not to get married, Watson insists that she “can do both.” Joan cannot believe this, because law school would create difficulty for becoming a homemaker. Finally, Joan decides that she chooses not to attend law school despite Watson’s recommendation of schools that would enable her to be a law student and wife. Watson is disappointed until Joan tells her that the choice was her own, and that she is not any less smart for it—Watson, seeing that she has encouraged Joan to make the decision she wanted and not the decision everyone else wanted, is therefore pleased. Joan learned that her worth can stem from her empowerment to choose rather than her expectation to do as she is told.
And the Spring Comes and Mona Lisa Smile tell the stories of two women teachers in differing cultural contexts. Their messages, however, converge: women should not be expected to perform a social function based on their historical subservience to men. Both Katherine Watson and Wang Cai-ling demonstrate for themselves and for others that a woman’s fulfillment can be found in whatever she chooses—not simply her capacity for making a home.
The films And the Spring Comes and Mona Lisa Smile differ in cultural origin, plot, and language. The Chinese movie, And the Spring Comes, follows a homely but talented voice teacher in rural China on her path toward her dream—singing in the Beijing opera. Mona Lisa Smile, an American film, tells the story of a progressive art history professor struggling to make a difference in her conservative university setting. Using their respective cultural contexts and characters, both films reject the notion that a woman’s worth and happiness must come from her potential to marry.
The protagonist of And the Spring Comes, Wang Cai-ling, refuses to find contentment through marriage per the custom for most Chinese women. In a conversation with her unnamed neighbor, Cai-ling expresses that she is single by choice. Her neighbor responds, “No one chooses to be single,” highlighting the desirability of marriage’s social status benefits. Cai-ling is not convinced by this argument, however, and continues pursuing her own goal for fulfillment: singing. Later, Cai-ling’s belief is supported further when the neighbor’s husband leaves her; the neighbor feels immense sorrow and has little to care for now that her marriage is broken. Though Cai-ling herself cannot meet her ultimate goal—being an opera singer—she still resists the social pressure to marry for maintaining a positive public image. At the film’s conclusion, she finds purpose through another avenue: adopting a child. This practice would be fairly unheard of for a single woman, because children are typically associated with marriage. Cai-ling, however, disregards this social ruling, knowing that she can feel content without a husband.
In Mona Lisa Smile, Katherine Watson aims to teach her female students that a woman’s worth is not necessarily associated with her future as a housewife. She embodies this lesson through her own status as an unmarried woman at thirty. A comment from Betty shows that this is not the social norm; when Giselle calls Watson “fabulous,” Betty argues, “No man wanted her,” illustrating the belief at the time that women cannot be anything without a husband. Watson, however, is determined to share her ideology with her students. When bright Joan tells Watson that she would go to law school if she were not to get married, Watson insists that she “can do both.” Joan cannot believe this, because law school would create difficulty for becoming a homemaker. Finally, Joan decides that she chooses not to attend law school despite Watson’s recommendation of schools that would enable her to be a law student and wife. Watson is disappointed until Joan tells her that the choice was her own, and that she is not any less smart for it—Watson, seeing that she has encouraged Joan to make the decision she wanted and not the decision everyone else wanted, is therefore pleased. Joan learned that her worth can stem from her empowerment to choose rather than her expectation to do as she is told.
And the Spring Comes and Mona Lisa Smile tell the stories of two women teachers in differing cultural contexts. Their messages, however, converge: women should not be expected to perform a social function based on their historical subservience to men. Both Katherine Watson and Wang Cai-ling demonstrate for themselves and for others that a woman’s fulfillment can be found in whatever she chooses—not simply her capacity for making a home.