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Mobility and Change: Movie Comparison Essay

Mona Lisa Smile and And the Spring Comes both deal with a lot of similar issues pertaining to the goals of the main characters and their hard-headed approaches to complete them. The similarities end for the most part with this determination seen in both women. The access both women have to the means of achieving a goal and then the ultimate outcome of both stories is different.

Social mobility is a term used to describe an individual’s ability to increase the value of their place in a social hierarchy. It is an unfortunate truth that oftentimes in more conservative cultures that the beauty of a woman becomes a means of her having social mobility. This is particularly fascinating when observing the difference in attractiveness between our two main characters. In Mona Lisa Smile, the heroine seems to be shown in the best light no matter what angle she is in. Even at her most stressful moments, Katherine looks like an ideal woman. Notice throughout the movie her makeup is perfect, her hair is shiny and luxurious, and overall she looks beautiful in every moment. The clarity of the film and the vibrant colors both play into this display. And the Spring Comes, on the other hand, has a purposeful crudeness to it. Wang Cailing is often put at an angle that is unflattering and her makeup is used to create an uglier look rather than enhance her best features. Their levels of beauty seem to coincide with their place in society; Katherine is able to teach at a wealthy girls’ school while Wang Cailing seems to live in dingy places throughout the film. At the end of the movie as well, Katherine moves to a different place pretty easily while Wang Cailing is kind of in the same position she began with.

The personal growth of the main characters in these two movies is distinct. In And the Spring Comes, Wang Cailing begins by exuding dignity- almost self-righteousness- and bent on this dream of her becoming a famous opera singer. By the end of the movie, she makes the decision to change her priorities after adopting a little girl. In Mona Lisa Smile, Katherine’s character never really changes. She begins with the same priorities and general character that she ends with. Rather than accept what is around her, she moves. Both characters begin by working with relentless ambition towards a goal, both cannot get what they want, but their responses are far from the same. And the Spring Comes shows how the internal character of Wang Cailing needed to shift in order for her to live a more content life, whereas Katherine changes her surroundings rather than herself.

Both movies end in memorable ways: Katherine’s loving students are desperate to keep up with her departing car so they can give her one last goodbye before she leaves their lives forever. Wang Cailing begins a new life with her adopted daughter and lets her obsessive goal of becoming a famous opera singer devolve into something she dreams of but no longer needs to achieve. To get to these ends, it is interesting to note how there is a difference in the changes both characters create. The fact that beauty was a part of Katherine’s ability to succeed throughout the movie is pretty much ignored, and the greatest changes she makes in the film is external (the opinions of her students for instance). Wang Cailing on the other hand makes the greatest change internally by deciding to drop her dream, and the fact that her looks impede her from achieving her goals (such as wooing men) is a constant theme. Both characters were set up alike: with goals and a strong willpower, but the other factors such as physical beauty and place in society result in far different ends.

Dear Kristina,
I have read your article for many times because it obviously meets most of my admirations for good writing. I have learnt a lot about structure and content in writing from your work. I would like to thank you first for this good writing example.
The most impressive part, for me, is how you reasoned your argument from the perspective of camera shots, angles as well as characters’ makeups and features. As you mentioned, “the clarity of the film and the vibrant colors” in Mona Lisa Smile makes Katherine and all the Wellesley girls so shiny and blessed. And that might indicate that their places in social hierarchy is initially higher than the plain village teacher, Wang Cailing, and their beauty is more like a stepping-stone to success. I had very distinct perceptual feelings (including visual enjoyment, etc) when watching the two different movies and realized that this may indicate something, but i was not able to describe it in an appropriate way. So I really appreciate your demonstration which inspired me for improvement in future writing.
According to your statement in paragraph 3 and 4, I assumed that you insisted, besides the distinct personal growth of Katherine and Wang Cailing, the main reason resulting in their different endings are factors like their different physical appearance and distinct social place of the origin. And also in the first two paragraphs, you also indicated that the physical beauty of Katherine served as a steppingstone for her brave liberation and success. Assume, if a person (especially woman) is not physically appealing enough, and unfortunate as well to be born in a poor (or at least under middle-class) family, is it fairly hard or even impossible for her to achieve success? Or if his/her personal motivation, hard struggle/efforts, education and social surroundings, etc should be taken into account. This is not meant to be any kinds of judgment or critique, just for friendly discussion.

Hi ShuangShuang,

Wow, I really appreciate the time and effort you put into crafting a response.
As for the last comment: no worries, I love discussion. I think that it is far easier for a person who is attractive to find the means of achieving some form of success. For the sake of example, if we want to define someone's success by how much money they have, there are actual studies correlating someone's appearance and whether or not they get hired to work (here is one link, it's actually kind of interesting: http://www.businessinsider.com/beautifu ... ews-2013-9). Now, while I think it might be a little bit more difficult in situations like that, I certainly do not think it is impossible. I also think that the things you listed are absolutely taken into account. I am certain that (if we go back to the previous example) if an employer has a choice between a passionate, highly educated person they think is ugly and a gorgeous person who is less educated/motivated the employer will go with the more logical choice.

So what are your thoughts? I am looking forward to hearing back from you!

I totally agree with you in this regard that it is more possible for the highly-educated and passionate though ugly candidate to get hired. But back to the question of the importance of beauty for women. I think it leads to an important question related with women’s social upward mobility and empowerment. When beauty is of essential importance for women in job hunting, job promotion, as well as in social networking and social impact, does the same effect happens for men? If not so, is this another stereotype that gets in the way of women’s empowerment saying “if you want to be successful, be beautiful first.” I mean, this might be a little extreme. But the reality is, in China, the belief in “beauty brings all” is inserting devastating influence on young girls and even women at all ages. The more believing of women in “beauty brings all”, the more desperate they are on the way of chasing beauty. Many girls, some only at primary high school ages, disregard their natural beauty and receive plastic surgery to fit in the mainstream beauty model of “small V-shape face”. Some others go on strict diet to lose weight because the society is telling them “beautiful women never weigh more than 99 lbs”. They are ruining their health to achieve “beauty” because “Opportunity favors only the beautiful man”. I’m wondering if it is sad for women when they are always “classified” into “good-looking” or “bad-looking” before any other qualities are considered.

Here I just want to share with you some phenomenon in China and some of my personal opinions. Feel free to tell me what you’re agree or disagree with. And I am also wondering what the situation is in America and other western countries you are familiar with? I hope to hear from you soon.

I believe it is incredibly sad when people categorize each other based on what is superficial. In the USA there are plenty of horrible stories that I've heard about what teenagers, in particular, are willing to go through in order to look like the (overly enhanced) models they see in media. The fact that I can locate an article explaining how the Business Insider came to the conclusion that 'more attractive' adults get hired more than 'less attractive' adults looks to me like no one has really stopped this problem that children have developed in their early teens. It means that society hasn't stopped judging people's competence based off of appearances. I think that traditionally women must feel the effect of this more, but I am sure that men also experience these same 'classifying' issues. While society makes women feel like they need to be extremely thin, and wrinkle free, and those kinds of well-known judgments, I wonder what kind of ways this superficialness becomes an issue for men. And what is the root of this problem? If professional competence isn't connected to someone's appearance, why is it a factor when they're getting hired? That makes absolutely no sense to me.

I enjoy hearing your opinion, I think we agree on a lot with this topic.
Hope to hear from you soon.

Mobility and Change: Movie Comparison Essay
Revision

"Mona Lisa Smile" and "And the Spring Comes" both deal with a lot of similar issues pertaining to the goals of the main characters and their hard-headed approaches to complete them. The similarities end for the most part with this determination seen in both women. The access both women have to the means of achieving a goal and then the ultimate outcome of both stories is different.

Social mobility is a term used to describe an individual’s ability to increase the value of their place in a social hierarchy. It is an unfortunate truth that oftentimes in more conservative cultures that the beauty of a woman becomes a means of her having social mobility. This is particularly fascinating when observing the difference in attractiveness between our two main characters. In "Mona Lisa Smile," the heroine seems to be shown in the best light no matter what angle she is in. Even at her most stressful moments, Katherine looks like an ideal woman. Notice throughout the movie her makeup is perfect, her hair is shiny and luxurious, and overall she looks beautiful in every moment. The clarity of the film and the vibrant colors both play into this display. "And the Spring Comes," on the other hand, has a purposeful crudeness to it. Wang Cailing is often put at an angle that is unflattering and her makeup is used to create an uglier look rather than enhance her best features. Their levels of beauty seem to coincide with their place in society; Katherine is able to teach at a wealthy girls’ school while Wang Cailing seems to live in dingy places throughout the film. At the end of the movie as well, Katherine moves to a different place pretty easily while Wang Cailing is kind of in the same position she began with.

The personal growth of the main characters in these two movies is distinct. In "And the Spring Comes," Wang Cailing begins by exuding dignity- almost self-righteousness- and bent on this dream of her becoming a famous opera singer. The end of the movie reveals that Wang Cailing has changed priorities, replacing her dream of becoming a famous opera star with her new- simpler- life caring for her adopted daughter. In "Mona Lisa Smile," Katherine experiences no personal change. She begins with the same priorities and general character that she ends with. Rather than accept and adapt to the life that has been handed to her at the all-girls school she teaches at, she moves out. It is interesting that both characters begin their story by working with relentless ambition towards a goal, but when they cannot fulfill those goals to their desired extent, they react far differently. "And the Spring Comes" shows how the internal character of Wang Cailing needed to shift in order for her to live a more content life, whereas Katherine changes her external surroundings rather than herself.

Both endings leave a deep impression in the minds of the audience: Katherine’s loving students are desperate to keep up with her departing car so they can give her one last goodbye before she leaves their lives forever. Wang Cailing begins a new life with her adopted daughter and lets her obsessive goal of becoming a famous opera singer devolve into something she dreams of but no longer needs to achieve. To get to these ends, it is interesting to note how there is a difference in the changes both characters create. The greatest change Katherine makes in the film is external: she changes the hearts of the people around her. Wang Cailing, on the other hand, makes the greatest change internally by deciding to drop her dream. The concept of beauty is used in both movies but for "Mona Lisa Smile" it almost seems unintentional. In "And the Spring Comes" the idea of beauty and how it works against Wang Cailing is a constant theme, it is a clear impediment. While Katherine is blatantly beautiful, this whole concept is pretty much ignored, even though throughout the movie Katherine is always idealized and put in the best light. Both characters were set up alike: with goals and a strong willpower, but the other factors such the importance of physical beauty and place in society result in far different ends to the movies.

Hi Kristina,
Thank you for sharing with me some situations in America and something you've been always thinking, being puzzled and worried. I was also thinking about this problem, "what's the root of it" as well as "what's the possible way-out?".
It's really glad to have a discussion and sharing with you about this issue in this activity. Thank you for all the patient replies.

REFLECTIONS

1) What were your expectations for the border-crossing activity? Are your expectations met? Why or why not?
I did not have a lot of expectations outside of reading essays on the movies. Getting involved in an active discussion was not something I anticipated, but I was pleasantly surprised.

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.)
One: the level of interest my peers had not just in the writing but in personal opinions and discussion for discussion's sake. Two: that my peers invested themselves in the knowledge around the points in the essays, not just the main ideas. Three: the rampant use of smilies, I appreciate those the most

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.
I touched up my essay a little after talking with my peers about how beauty works in for people in their career. I tried to distance my point from revolving around the idea that both characters got where they are because of their looks.

4) Do you think the activity is beneficial to you in terms of knowledge gains or skill enhancement? If so, please elaborate. If not, please explain why.
I think that getting to meet new people and really delve into each other's opinions helped us to learn more about things we had not known before. I think our ability to explain ourselves was also increased due to just putting it into practice.

7) Could you provide three adjectives to describe your feelings about the activity? Please explain your choice.
Inspired, educated, and yellow.
Inspired by the level of thought put into each other's work. Educated about topics that I didn't know about prior to this activity. And yellow smilies

8) Any additional comments, suggestions, and observations you would like to make to better help us assess your performance in this activity?
No, this was just a fun activity.