11 - Social Mobility for Women Seen in Different Cultures

[Christian E.]

Social Mobility for Women Seen in Different Cultures

At first glance, the American movie “Mona Lisa Smile” and the Chinese movie “And the Spring Comes” seem to have little in common. Each provides insight into two different societies and the social mobility of each. Characters discover in both movies that it can prove to be difficult to move up the social ladder, specifically for a woman. In this essay I will first briefly summarize the two films, then I will discuss this theme of a lack of social mobility.

In “Mona Lisa Smile” a liberal woman from California takes a job teaching at a conservative women’s college in 1950’s Massachusetts. She teaches art history to a class of women and quickly bonds with them. In the end she changes several of their lives and opinions for the better. In my paper I will focus on the social mobility and obstacles facing one character in particular; her name is Betty. Betty is a conservative women who is determined to become a housewife instead of realizing her true potential, all because of the norms of the day’s society.

In “And the Spring Comes” a music professor in a small northern Chinese town dreams of singing opera in Beijing. However, she believes she is being discriminated against for her looks. At the same time, she finds little support within the town’s more conservative population. In the end, she discovers happiness after giving up on her dream and adopting a child of her own.

In both movies, several factors hold back characters from reaching their full potential. In “Mona Lisa Smile”, Betty limits herself and her goals in life by conforming to the norms of 1950’s America and becoming a housewife. I think this is not necessarily what she truly wants in life. I argue that she has been influenced by several factors in society. For example, at her college they teach the students how to be “good” wives to their husbands, meaning to basically stay home and take care of their husbands. Growing up and learning in an environment that encourages this as a career will influence someone to follow along with the propaganda. That is what I believe happened to Betty.

In “And a Spring Comes”, Wang believes that she is being discriminated against by those with the power to help her move up the social ladder. I agree with her. If she had been born wealthy, beautiful, and in Beijing then she would have had a much better chance of realizing her dream. Instead she was born poor, ugly, and in a smaller industrial city with a smaller population who cares about singing and the fine arts. For example, even applying for a living permit for Beijing proves to be very difficult for her because she cannot afford to buy the permit. Barriers such as this make Wang’s dream almost unreachable.

In both movies, there are clear speed bumps, limiting each characters’ growth in their relative societies. Betty had to deal with the misogynistic stereotypes of the 1950’s. Professor Wang had to deal with similar stereotypes while growing up and living in China. These two movies show that cultures often share biases and stereotypes while attempting to climb the social ladder. In particular, these movies show the difficulties that women had to face in the recent past while attempting to ascend the social ladder.

[Qiulan G.]

Hi,Christian,
I think you really did a good job choosing a point of view!!! Your reading of social mobility in these two movies is unique and accurate!
But I have some questions about your analysis on the reasons that Wang fails.Yes, I agree that Wang's appearence and the city she lives are the factors that stops her from realizing her dream. However, I am wondering if you see all these as the main or the most important reasons.
In my eyes,any individual is living in a society,differnent though,which influences them. Like Katherine,no matter whether she likes it or not, she is surrounded by the traditional norms at that time. She is under pressure from the surroundings and unable to escape. Go back to Wang, as you put it, she "finds little support support" in that small city where people are "conservative".Why is it? I suppose it is because the public is incapable of appreciating the fine art---opera. When performing in front of the public,Wang finds people show no interest at all and just walk away.For most people in the 1980s,opera is still hard for them to appreciate.So Wang ,as an artist, is lonely like that ballet dancer Mr. Hu.
In China,this situation is what we call "千里马常有，而伯乐不常有". "千里马" refers a person who is talented. "伯乐" refers to persons who appreciated that talented person. And it means it is hard to find the person who could trully appreciate you.
The above is my personal understanding of this movie. Any disagreement is welcome.
By the way,which movie do you prefer between these two? And why? Looking forward to your reply.

[Christian E.]

Hi Qiulan,
I think you make some good points. Perhaps her "failing" as an opera singer and her lack of support is because the people of her city do not appreciate the fine arts in general and less because she is poor/unattractive. For example, if she was beautiful and sang in front of the crowd, would they have suddenly cared more? I think probably not.
Also, personally I liked And the Spring Comes more than Mona Lisa Smile, even though it was in a language I only have a little bit of experience in. I can not think of a specific reason, but I definitely enjoyed it more than Mona Lisa Smile. I thought Mona Lisa Smile was sort of boring haha

[Qiulan G.]

Hi Christina,
Actually, more Chinese students like ‘Mona Lisa Smile’ more than ‘And the Spring comes’, so do I. I found ‘And the Spring comes’ boring as what you feel about Mona Lisa Smile. That is interesting and reasonable as well. Usually, we show more interest in culture unfamiliar to us.
Right now I am majoring in English and as far as I know, you are learning part of Chinese culture as well.(if I remember rightly) Then do you feel a bit difficult to understand ? Has anything you learned changed any of your impressions of China?

[Christian E.]

Qiulan,
I think you may be correct about people having more interest in cultures which are unfamiliar to ourselves. Now that you say that I think that is the reason I enjoyed "And the Spring Comes" and found "Mona Lisa Smile" boring; because the setting and story of "Mona Lisa Smile" is too familiar to me.
To answer your other question, I am working on getting a minor in Chinese and have been studying the language for about two years. I think the biggest thing I have learned by studying Chinese/China is how similar we all are in our wants; good friends, family, health, happiness, etc. despite our different cultures and languages.
How about yourself? How have your impressions of America changed while studying English?

[Qiulan G.]

Hi Christina,
I am a bit surprised (happy ,too)that you reply so soon.
I guess you are studying Confucianism or other schools of thinkers like Laozi. And I am studying the history of western philosophy, I also found that both the west and east focus on human (friends, family, happiness and so on) like Socrates, Plato. That is to say, maybe our ancestor Confucius was not just trying to talk to only Chinese, but also the whole world.
I believe any society will choose certain thoughts as its core values. Part of Confucianism is adopted by our present president Xi Jinping as a core value to govern the country. I am wondering whether you could tell me a bit about American society’s core values. I know it would be hard for you, so you could just tell your personal opinions.
As for the ‘change’ thing, I am sorry to say not much because I suppose I need further study into America.

[Christian E.]

Qiulan,
I recently read the Laozi's Dao De Jing for class and I very much enjoyed it. The idea of "wu wei" in particular took a little bit of time to fully understand for me, but once I did I thought it was a very profound way of living one's life. It is translated as "to do nothing" which to a Westerner seems very confusing; I took it to mean that I should literally do nothing with my life. I finally came to understand that it referred to the way most things in the world take care of themselves and we should act cautiously or else we may cause more problems than we may solve. I found that all very interesting.
For your second question, defining core values for Americans is so hard to do because so many different cultures make up America. Countries such as those in Europe and Asia with primarily one culture or people have easy to define cultural values, but new world countries such as America, Canada or even Mexico are comprised mostly of immigrants from different cultures with their own values. In the past these mixing of cultural values has lead to bad things; without a doubt America's history is filled with discrimination and racism, but I think it is much better today than it ever was before. If I had to pick one core value, I think a value all American cultures share today is to be welcoming of other cultures and realize that we would not be American without each other.
That is just my opinion but I hope that sheds light on American society. Of course there are ignorant or racist people in every society and they still exist in America, however they are the minority. Despite what America's current president says and does, most Americans share the core value of welcoming and understanding each others' different cultures.

-Chris