A Review on Mona Lisa Smile and And the Spring Comes

[1822542008]

Cheng Yihan

"Mona Lisa smile" and " And the Spring Comes" are two films, one from a foreign country, the other from China; One was taken in 2003, the other in 2008, but all pointed to a theme – upset the secularism.

The protagonists of the two films are women, who all have a persistent heart that dares to fight against the world. The difference is that the protagonist of Mona Lisa smile, Miss Watson, is so elegant in her persistence, which is not only because Julia Roberts is beautiful enough, but also because she has a clear understanding of her dream. I will not reject life because of my dream. I will not tolerate others' different choices because of my dream. I will not give up easily because of being rejected. After encountering the realistic worldly obstruction, she dared to change her own way, so she saw the dawn of victory on the ideal road of awakening of woman's self-consciousness. This is the true rational dreamer. I remember the last voice-over of the movie was: "she once said that people who give up easily are aimless wanderers, but not all wanderers are aimless wanderers. Especially those who seek truth beyond tradition, who are not rigid, who are not limited.” And the protagonist of And the Spring Comes, Wang Cailing is more like an aimless wanderer, self-righteous goal clear, but until after so many years still can't clearly know your dream is not the only path of, still lost in barely bowed to reality is helpless, until finally, in doing that dream, so she is destined to defeat by secular, was forced to abandon their own ideal, her dream is destined to elegy for the two characters, the same ambition but different kind of fate, we will involuntarily thinking, what, let two women have such a different result.

The so-called a hero is nothing but a product of his time, the environment can create a person's life. So it's natural for us to want to know what time they were in, and what different cultures they came from.

The Mona Lisa smile is set in the United States in 1953. America was in the midst of a transformation, and the woman's liberation movement was in full swing. Although the status of women is gradually valued, woman's self-consciousness is still in a state of numbness. “Woman's social role is housewife, serving both their husband and children is the responsibility of women born" this concept prevalent in society, all kinds of newspapers, magazines and TV programs also encourage women to return to the family, many kitchen and sanitary appliance, such as washing machines, refrigerators, vacuum cleaners have been described as "the dream of all women", advertisers and many social problems, such as drinking, juvenile crime even war are ascribed to women give away of housewives and mothers and out onto the road of career consequences, so the whole environment of the country is working on at that time will come out in world war ii to the society women were encouraged to return home again. The awakening of woman's feminist consciousness, which was disturbed by the national environment, opened the way to pursue the ideal of woman's rights. Against the national environment and traditional secular concepts, the woman's liberation movement also promoted these behaviors to see the light of day. However, the protagonist of And the Spring Comes was an unsuccessful female artist in the 1980s. During this period, China is emerging from a decade of cultural revolution. All the people are making concerted efforts to carry out the great cause of China's reform and opening up and pursuing the improvement of material life. In the mainstream of this pursuit of material life as the main premise, the artists who pursue spiritual life and artistic ideals seems to be incompatible with the society. At that time, people's ideology had not completely changed, and they did not have much understanding and interest in those high-level arts, such as opera, ballet and oil painting. This also led to the tragedy that Wang Cailing, an ideal-pursuing artist, was not appreciated by ordinary people. Though Katherine Watson's pursuit of ideal is not public support, however, at that time, the pursuit of woman's rights had been organized and carried out in the national social environment, and in the future you can see the pursuit of hope, and comply with the inevitable requirement of social development phase, is the inevitable trend of historical development. Wang Cailing's pursuit can not be said to be hopeless, but, in the big trend of China where everyone is pursuing the improvement of material life, the pursuit of artistic life, spiritual life is incompatible with the social environment at that time.

There is also a word is heroes decide the courses of history, even if the two protagonists in a space and time, their endings will be different. In the final analysis, it is because of their different personalities and ways of doing things.

Catherine, the heroine of Mona Lisa's smile, graduated from the Open University of Berkeley. She is an advocate and holdout who dares to challenge the authority and secular female self-consciousness. She has accepted new ideas in the University and become a very self-conscious new female. Full of woman's new ideas, she chose to come to Wesley woman's college, the most conservative woman's College in the United States. She was eager to change the traditional concept of students rushing to marriage and awaken their woman's self-consciousness through her words and deeds. It is not regrettable that Catherine's thought of female self-consciousness has successfully influenced and transformed the thoughts and destiny of many students: Joan has become a practitioner of female self-consciousness who dares to choose the life she wants, Betty Warren became a pursuer of female self-consciousness who was brave to get rid of the shackles of unhappy marriage and traditional family. Even Connie Beck, who had almost no idea of his own, grew up to be a publicist of female self-consciousness who was bold to pursue love. So what Katherine Watson is leading is a revolution, a challenge not only to the school system, but also to the future destiny of women. Her firm eyes make us believe that there is more than one rule in the world. At the same time of educating students, Katherine herself is also growing up, firmly adhering to her own female self-consciousness. When she felt that the relationship with her boyfriend was not enough to make a marriage, she did not sacrifice her happiness at a loss, but resolutely rejected his proposal; when she decided to accept the pursuit of her Italian professor bill and agreed to start dating, she asked him to sever his association with other female students strictly and frankly, which protected the dignity of those girls She also maintained her female dignity; when the school authorities made her stay at the expense of her free thought and female consciousness, she did not hesitate to leave. In a word, Katherine Watson is such an advocate and holdout who dare to challenge the authority and secular female self-consciousness. Just as Betty, her student, evaluated her, she lives her own life and does not compromise with anyone or any power.

Wang Cailing in And the Spring Comes, her heart with the love of literature and art, at least in the way of literature and art, she is a professional, these can be from her when she was singing, she went to buy the ticket scalpers rushed into the thrills and spills of the opera house, when she was teaching high Beibei singing once pointed out that high Beibei is studied. However, her deep love of literature and art is still rooted in her high pretend ability life of a kind of yearning, is her vanity. For example, she was worried about the status of her school music teacher and wanted to go to Beijing. She bragged about the transfer to the central opera house and threatened to sing to the Paris opera house. She said she was still a virgin and did not want to have love in this small county. In the face of Zhou Yu's sincere pursuit, she replied: I would rather eat a fresh peach, not a basket of rotten apricot. In the movie, Wang Cailing sings the lyrics "show your art, devote yourself to love" to emphasize one point: Wang Cailing USES the artistic vision to choose a mate, the pursuit of art makes her raise her own weight and forget herself, she is trapped in a kind of paranoid unwilling to try to make the dream and life slightly balance. When she met in the same way in the pursuit of art on the road repeatedly frustrated Huang Sibao, she immediately put the other party as a confidant to each other to send books, and Huang Sibao went to Beijing together, wishful thinking that Huang Sibao like themselves, and Huang Sibao drunk and he had a relationship. And Huang Sibao, even if again and she cherish, he is still a man who cares about the eyes of lust, he does not like her, and after having sex with her said she raped himself. When she met Hu Jinquan, who also suffered from the cold scene in the performance, she should also have a sense of sympathy for the other side. I think she probably had a fantasy about being with this artistic man, such as she took the initiative to chat him up and eat hot pot with him. Unfortunately, the other side just wanted to marry her in a false way, and then went to jail, this once again became impossible. Wang Cailing did not like Zhou Yu such a rotten apricot, she thought that all the people who lead a good life are rotten apricot, she thought that the poor county in the city of mediocre men are rotten apricot. When Gao Beibei told Wang the truth, Wang rushed out in a panic and rode her bike in Beijing to vent. She finally chose to face life: marriage. But she still has the vanity and pride of a literary youth: I want to find someone who will do scientific research, even though she has already turned four and is not good-looking, even if she is born in a small town parents are not good conditions, even if she can not stand in Beijing.

Wang Cailing's sorrow, or tragedy, lies in the impossibility of a high position or a low position. This impossibility comes from her vanity. She is not willing to live a life in the present, and she has no capital to live a poem or a life far away. When encountering difficulties and obstacles in the pursuit of my artistic ideal, I did not stop to give myself time to think, but still looked high and unreasonably and blindly went to a dead end. She finally bowed to the secular pressure, give up the ideal, willing to mediocrity in the end is also a wake-up call to all dreamers.

[1787523600]

Cheng Yihan,
I'm glad we have come to an agreement on many points. For example, we both think Katherine and Wang posess different backgrounds. And there are social reasons lied behind the two female characters' endings.
In your essay, you first ponit out that the two movies both tell about women who go against the grain of society. Then from many respects you analyzed characters' time background and their different personality. Particularly the part on psychology analysis inspired me a lot.
Deficiency: some concepts like "secluarism" (religion should not be involved in the organization of society), "rotten apricot" are quite confusing. It may be important to concern more about the cultural context. Second, the last part seems lack of coherence. Adding a logical conclusion will be necessary, I think.

Dou Miaomiao& Zhu Ke

[skm5765]

Hi Cheng Yihan,
I think you did a good job of providing us with some historical backgrounds, which I find very helpful especially in giving a clear sense of how the norms were developed in society at the time. Though I do agree with Dou Miaomiao and Zhu Ke in regard to the conceptual use of secularism and "rotten apricot" which seems to be a bit confusing and unrelated to one another. I also think that it would be best if you focus and discuss more of your opinions on the cultural aspects presented in both films. Perhaps I may be unaware of this when I was watching both films, but I did not notice any significant scenes that suggest any serious need for involvement in any religion. However, if you strongly stand by this claim, I would appreciate it if you could provide a specific scene that portrays a strong sense of religious acts. Also, I think you could say more in your conclusion paragraph where you could perhaps include a general summary of comparison between the two films, and even your own personal remarks on them. All in all, great effort!

[1822542008]

Zhu Ke&Dou Miaomiao
First of all, thank you very much for reading our article carefully and offering some valuable Suggestions. I have to admit, we really need to improve the addiction, such as the first suggestion you gave us on the word secularism, we actually mean that neither the two heroines run with the crowd. Maybe it is because of our literal translation and vocabulary lacking. There are many expressions of chinglish in the article, which affect your reading. We will focus on this aspect in the next revision.
Cheng Yihan&Wu Meijia

[jtw5387]

Dear Cheng Yihan,

Thanks for your essay, I really enjoyed reading it! You did a great job of describing the time period of each film. I am slightly confused by the theme you believed was present in both films: "upset the secularism". By my understanding, this means that both films meant to upset the worldly aspects of life and instead focus more on religion. Perhaps there is a miscommunication there.

The ideas you present about the films are similar to mine. Your comments about "Mona Lisa" and the women's liberation movement echo the same ideas I wrote about in my paper. In addition, your comments about Wang Tsailing and the transitions that occurred in China as a result of economic development also mirror the comments I made in my essay. All in all, your essay was well written and I look forward to working with you!

[1822542008]

Hi, Siti Nur Arifah Mohamad Azhar
First of all, thank you for reading our article and giving your opinion and suggestions to us. I think these will be a great help in revising our article. I'm going to explain the religion here. The suggestion you gave us on the word secularism, we actually mean that neither the two heroines run with the crowd. Maybe it is because of our literal translation and vocabulary lacking. There are many expressions of chinglish in the article, which affect your reading. I feel so sorry for this. We will focus on this aspect in the next revision.
Cheng Yihan &Wu Meijia

[1822542008]

Hi, Jacob Wang.
I'm very happy to have some common ground with you. And about the phrase "upset the secularism," I'm so sorry that's because I had a poor vocabulary so I used the translator, and maybe there was some error in the translation and I didn't notice that the word has to do with religion. I'm sorry to confuse you. I actually mean that neither the two heroines run with the crowd and they have their own ideas about life.
Cheng Yihan&Wu Meijia

[skm5765]

Hi Cheng Yihan and Wu Meijia,

You both have no need to apologize at all and I wasn't intended to make both of you feeling down. I totally understand your struggles as I, myself am not an English native speaker too. As for that, I do realize the importance of proper use of terms so that the message(s) we try to convey is accurate and comprehensive. I understand the points and claims you were making and you also have provided sufficient evidence to prove your claims. I recommend you to be more careful in choosing proper words so that your message is clear and coherent. Overall, you guys did excellent work!

[1822542008]

For this transoceanic interactive activity, we felt that we benefited a lot from it. On the one hand, when we read the American students' compositions, we will find that the most prominent point is the American students' way of thinking, that is, the point of seeing things is always a little more novel than ours. We also learned to analyze the two films from different angles, which helps us to understand the two films in all aspects. On the other hand, the American students pointed out the wording errors that we make in our article. At the same time, they also give many comments and suggestions on the content of the our article. Meanwhile, we also give advice on each other's compositions. In such a round of reply, we can also draw from the suggestions of various parties that our composition needs to be revised. This will provides a lot of help to our composition revision. We believe that it is meaningful to communicate with people who have different opinions, which can make us see the problem more comprehensively and enrich ourselves. Transocean interaction is a meaningful activity, which gives us an opportunity and platform to communicate with students from different countries. Also, during the conversation, it can enable us to better understand each other's culture, way of writing, way of thinking and so on. In a word, we benefit a lot from this exchange.
Cheng Yihan& Wu Meijia

[1822542008]

Revised Draft
"Mona Lisa smile" and "And the Spring Comes" are two films, one from a foreign country, the other from China; One was taken in 2003, the other in 2008, but all pointed to a theme –never run with the crowd and pursue their own dream bravely.
The protagonists of the two films are women, who all have a persistent heart that dares to fight against the world. The difference is that the protagonist of Mona Lisa smile, miss Watson, is so elegant in her persistence, which is not only because Julia Roberts is beautiful enough, but also because she has a clear understanding of her dream. I will not reject life because of my dream. I will not tolerate others' different choices because of my dream. I will not give up easily because of being rejected. After encountering the realistic worldly obstruction, she dared to change her own way, so she saw the dawn of victory on the ideal road of awakening of woman's self-consciousness. This is the true rational dreamer. I remember the last voice-over of the movie was: "she once said that people who give up easily are aimless wanderers, but not all wanderers are aimless wanderers. Especially those who seek truth beyond tradition, who are not rigid, who are not limited.” And the protagonist of And the Spring Comes, Wang Cailing is more like an aimless wanderer, self-righteous goal clear, but until after so many years still can't clearly know your dream is not the only path of, still lost in barely bowed to reality is helpless, until finally, in doing that dream, so she is destined to defeat by secular, was forced to abandon their own ideal, her dream is destined to elegy for the two characters, the same ambition but different kind of fate, we will involuntarily thinking, what, let two women have such a different result.
The so-called a hero is nothing but a product of his time, the environment can create a person's life. So it's natural for us to want to know what time they were in, and what different cultures they came from.
The Mona Lisa smile is set in the United States in 1953. America was in the midst of a transformation, and the woman's liberation movement was in full swing. Although the status of women is gradually valued, woman's self-consciousness is still in a state of numbness. “Woman's social role is housewife, serving both their husband and children is the responsibility of women born" this concept prevalent in society, all kinds of newspapers, magazines and TV programs also encourage women to return to the family, many kitchen and sanitary appliance, such as washing machines, refrigerators, vacuum cleaners have been described as "the dream of all women", advertisers and many social problems, such as drinking, juvenile crime even war are ascribed to women give away of housewives and mothers and out onto the road of career consequences, so the whole environment of the country is working on at that time will come out in world war ii to the society women were encouraged to return home again. The awakening of woman's feminist consciousness, which was disturbed by the national environment, opened the way to pursue the ideal of woman's rights. Against the national environment and traditional secular concepts, the woman's liberation movement also promoted these behaviors to see the light of day. However, the protagonist of And the Spring Comes was an unsuccessful female artist in the 1980s. During this period, China is emerging from a decade of cultural revolution. All the people are making concerted efforts to carry out the great cause of China's reform and opening up and pursuing the improvement of material life. In the mainstream of this pursuit of material life as the main premise, the artists who pursue spiritual life and artistic ideals seems to be incompatible with the society. At that time, people's ideology had not completely changed, and they did not have much understanding and interest in those high-level arts, such as opera, ballet and oil painting. This also led to the tragedy that Wang Cailing, an ideal-pursuing artist, was not appreciated by ordinary people. Though Katherine Watson's pursuit of ideal is not public support, however, at that time, the pursuit of woman's rights had been organized and carried out in the national social environment, and in the future you can see the pursuit of hope, and comply with the inevitable requirement of social development phase, is the inevitable trend of historical development. Wang Cailing's pursuit can not be said to be hopeless, but, in the big trend of China where everyone is pursuing the improvement of material life, the pursuit of artistic life, spiritual life is incompatible with the social environment at that time.
There is also a word is heroes decide the courses of history, even if the two protagonists in a space and time, their endings will be different. In the final analysis, it is because of their different personalities and ways of doing things.
The protagonist of "Mona Lisa smile" Katherine graduated from the liberal Berkeley university. She is an advocate and persistent of female self-consciousness who dares to challenge the authority and the society. Full of new ideas of women, she chose to come to the most conservative woman's college in the United States -- Wesleyan woman's college, hoping to change the traditional concept of the students' single-minded commitment to marriage and awaken their female self-consciousness through her words and deeds. Catherine's thoughts of women self-awareness, influence and transform the thought of the many students and fate: Joan become a dare to choose the life that you want to female self-consciousness of practitioners, Betty warren became a courage to get rid of the unfortunate marriage and traditional family bondage female self-consciousness of pursuers, even few independent-minded Connie beck also grow up to be a female self-consciousness bold pursuit of love. So what Catherine Watson leads is a revolution that is challenging not just the school system, but the future of women. Her steady eyes make us believe that there is more than one rule in the world. At the same time of educating students, Catherine herself is growing up and firmly adhering to her own female self-consciousness. In a word, Katherine Watson is such an advocate and persistent of the female self-consciousness who dares to challenge authority and the world. As her student Betty said about her, she lives her own life and does not compromise to anyone, and does not compromise to any power.
Wang Cailing in And the Spring Comes, her heart with the love of literature and art, at least in the way of literature and art, she is a professional, these can be from her when she was singing, she went to buy the ticket scalpers rushed into the thrills and spills of the opera house, when she was teaching high Beibei singing once pointed out that high Beibei is studied. However, her deep love of literature and art is still rooted in her high pretend ability life of a kind of yearning, is her vanity. For example, she was worried about the status of her school music teacher and wanted to go to Beijing. She bragged about the transfer to the central opera house and threatened to sing to the Paris opera house. In the movie, Wang Cailing sings the lyrics "show your art, devote yourself to love" to emphasize one point: Wang Cailing uses the artistic vision to choose a mate, the pursuit of art makes her raise her own weight and forget herself, she is trapped in a kind of paranoid unwilling to try to make the dream and life slightly balance. Wang Cailing's sorrow, or tragedy, lies in the impossibility of a high position or a low position. This impossibility comes from her vanity. She is not willing to live a life in the present, and she has no capital to live a poem or a life far away. When encountering difficulties and obstacles in the pursuit of my artistic ideal, I did not stop to give myself time to think, but still looked high and unreasonably and blindly went to a dead end. She finally bowed to the secular pressure, give up the ideal, willing to mediocrity in the end is also a wake-up call to all dreamers.
Although both of them fight hard for their dreams and pursuits, their destinies are diametrically opposed, and this is also the difference in the way the two films express their thoughts. Success in pursuing your dream requires not only the courage to stick to it, but also the support of the big environment.