22- Ism in movie: East and West

[You L.]

Mona Lisa Smile and Andthe Spring Comes are two different movies that represent the living situation in two completely disparate countries. I was wondering how I could find some aspects to compare in these two unrelated movies at first. However, when I examined two movies carefully, I found that there is a correlation between the gist and latent ideas of two movies.

First, Mona Lisa Smile sets in 1950s in the Wellesley College, which is an old-fashioned women’s private college in America. Both professors and students in the college tend to be a responsible housewife of their husbands and families. However, Kathrine Watsonwho just takes the teaching position in Wellesley is an avant-garde in women’s rights. She wants to disseminate the seeds of freedom into this conservative college as an art history teacher. The whole process is full of obstacles but Kathrine does change her students’ life to some extend with the ending that Betty gets a divorce and becomes an independent female or Joan surprisingly chooses to have an elopement with her boyfriend.The movie And the Spring Comes is about a vocal teacher named Cailing with a dream to become a renowned singer and there are people who also have their own dreams to fulfill. Most of them are quite incompatible with the society at that time in China. In the end, they are forced to submitted to the majority of the society and leads a vapid life.

As I have written before, two movies seem irrelevant but there are some internal connections. Two movies both tell a story of how to achieve their life goals and success. Mona Lisa Smile is about female liabilities and personal careers and And the Spring Comes is individual dreams. However, two movies lead to different ends. In Mona Lisa Smile, Kathrine does make a difference to some extend in the highly conservative college and most of students in the movie are able to choose their life pursuit of what they truly want. On the contrary, in the movie And the Spring Comes, no one is capable of chasing their dreams but only be subordinated to the mainstream of Chinese society. From my perspective, the reason caused this divergence is that Chinese society emphasizes relationship between each other and collectivism rather than individualism compared with the United States. Everyone in China is not an independent atom. They share connections and potential interest so they have to search for endorsement and incorporation of the majority of the society. If you are too rebel or special, you will be treated as a Frankenstein. Frankly speaking, during the time set in the movie, no one has their own choices, what they are only able to act is to be submissive and adopt the truth that they are just a layman like the what happened in the movie to the gay dance teacher. On the other hand, American Society stands for individual feelings and purists based on my own understanding and reading. Even though female does not share equivalent position to males in the movie, they all consider what are the cost of their own or their small family instead of the relationship between others. Two different social background and culture make for two distinct ends.

I am not saying that Chinese collectivism is harmful for individuals or American style is good for personal development, I am just trying to convey the reason why I think these two movies are connected and diverse based on my own interpretation.

In the end, therefore, two different social backgrounds cultivate two different situations happened in two movies.

[Christian E.]

Hi You,
I like your analysis of the two movies' distinct endings and tones. I recognized this as well, that And the Spring Comes had a pessimistic ending where no one realized their dreams or potentials while Mona Lisa Smile is more optimistic where the characters do succeed. However my reasoning for this was more simplistic. I thought that And the Spring Comes was more realistic while Mona Lisa Smile was more "Hollywood". American movies are stereo typically happy endings or optimistic. I thought And the Spring Comes was just more blunt and realistic. However, now after reading your analysis I tend to agree with your argument that the different tones are indicative of the two different cultures. I also agree that neither collectivism nor individualism is better than the other; both have their pros and their cons.

[Daniel Z.]

I thought your analysis was quite insightful. Your comparison was fresh and creative, and I enjoyed reading it. I agreed with the main idea of your essay, but I think it could be conveyed in stronger manner. The argument as I understand it was that the result of trying to align ones goals with the society in which they are pursued. In that way, the Chinese movie is about aligning individual goals within the society of collectivism. The American movie is about aligning collective goals within an individual society. I feel you could explore further why Katherine was able to achieve some of her goals though they didn't align with society and the characters in And the Spring Comes, namely Cailing, were not able to achieve any of their goals. I think you've conquered the hardest part of the analysis, but a little bit further thought would take it to the next level.
Separately, I'm a bit confused about the title. It just doesn't really make sense to me, and I'm not sure what you are trying to convey with it.

[You L.]

Hi Chris,
Thank you for your reply. I think your opinion does have an insight and sometimes the simplistic answer is the fittest one. Most of Hollywood movies are optimistic and have a happy ending lol. But sometimes movies are more of an educational or symbolic revelation of the social circumstances especially considering these two movies central topics are serious and realistic. And that’s exactly why I tried to dig out the background reasons for two opposite endings in these two movies.

[You L.]

Hi Daniel,
Tell you a secret, the topic is the hardest part for me to write my whole essay. The ism is from the common suffixes of individualism and collectivism. It is a phrase that I made up to represent the core point in my essay.
Besides, thank you for your advice. I haven’t realized my argument could be further developed in that way and the questions you mentioned in your reply are quit complex so I will try to look up more articles to find out the answers.

[Daniel Z.]

Hi You,
The title makes a lot more sense now! It is dangerous though because a lot of English words end in -ism. I really like the point of your essay and even plan to incorporate the difference between societal and person goals in my own essay.