Depictions of Cultures in “Mona Lisa Smile” and “And the Spring Comes”

[Zion E.]

Zion Emanuel

Depictions of Cultures in “Mona Lisa Smile” and “And the Spring Comes”

The two films “Mona Lisa Smile” and “And the Spring Comes” both deliver a powerful message to their audiences. “Mona Lisa Smile” deals greatly with women empowerment and rejects the notion that women have a specific “role” that they must follow throughout their life. The movie tells the story of the challenges that the protagonist Katherine Watson had to overcome in order to educate conservative college students about the matter. “And the Spring Comes” details the meaning of success, actions that lead one to an overall sense of contempt and happiness, and how people go about achieving it. This movie follows Wang Cailing, a woman in a small town in China that has the dream of becoming a famous opera star despite having numerous obstacles placed before her. Both of these films depict a woman that will face heavy opposition in order to achieve their goal. But they use different strategies to do so. This paper will explain these two films used different strategies to present a similar message to their audience. Here we will see how “Mona Lisa Smile” uses ethos and pathos to convey its message and how it relates with how “And the Spring Comes” utilizes its abnormal cinematography, including camera angles, screen cuts and more to convey its message.

In “Mona Lisa Smile”, Katherine Watson takes a job as an art professor at a prestigious college for women to explain to them the importance of being a woman and how that should provide them with freedom instead of restrictions. Prior to her arrival to the university, the students believed that their roles in life were to get married and become house wives. This mindset appears to be fixed and set in stone for the students, making them believe that they already have their life planned for them. Katherine uses ethos to challenge this belief through her art class. When she realizes that the students read through the material on the syllabus during the first day of class, she realizes that while the students are “learning”, they are not necessarily thinking about what they learn. The following day she changes her teaching style so that students have to explain how they feel about the art that they see. This causes them to think not only more about the meaning of art but also how they view themselves. They realize that like art, women are not meant to be seen only one way, they have a deeper meaning and purpose to fulfill than the one that society sets for them. The film also used pathos to appeal to the audience’s emotions. Betty Warren, daughter of the President of the university realizes that her husband Spencer is cheating on her and seeks out her mother for help. However, her mother simply tells her to ignore his polygamy and stay as Spencer’s wife. This scene is especially important for the audience because it shows that if one were to “Play the role of a woman” as society demands, they could end up in a relationship that causes nothing but pain for them and leaves no option for escape.

“And the Spring Comes” depicts a similar struggle as “Mona Lisa Smile” wherein a woman must overcome obstacles placed by society to achieve heir goal. Wang Cailing dreams of becoming a famous opera singer but is faced with issues including her lack of romance due to her “ugly” appearance, and manipulation from others that inevitably prevent her form accomplishing this goal. An interesting strategy that the film uses to convey its message is its cinematography. The film’s camera shots and angles do a great job of making the film fell more realistic than an average Hollywood film. When people are conversing in the film, there are few cuts between the speakers’ faces. Instead the scene would be shot only from one angle which makes the interaction and any issues described in that interaction much more realistic. The sense of realism allows the audience to connect more with the film and Wang Cailing. The depression that Wang Cailing faces as she strives to achieve her dream can be felt and understood by the audience through the connection that the film creates. Another scene in the film that uses cinematography to convey a message is the shot Wang Cailing’s performance during the arts festival. Here we se a large area that is at first populated with an uplifted audience. But as her song goes on, more and more people begin to walk away leaving Her standing in the middle of an open courtyard singing to herself. This scene is a very important component of the message being conveyed because it shows that not every dream can be attained easily. The scene shows that there will be times where you will fail or embarrass yourself to achieve what you truly desire.

“Mona Lisa Smile” and “And the Spring Comes” use different strategies to convey a similar message to the reader. Through the use of pathos and ethos “Mona Lisa Smile” is able to show the audience the importance of women’s empowerment and why people want to challenge the “role” of a woman. “And the Spring Comes” utilizes it unconventional cinematography to provide a striking sense of realism allowing the audience to connect with the main character and understand her struggles to achieve her dreams.

[Xuejin H.]

Hi, Zion

Thank you for sharing your text. I’m very happy to follow you to know the different strategies of two films.

It’s not hard to know that your text focuses on explaining how two films aware audiences the importance of women’s empowerment, and you indeed use many evidence to support them.

Your text is carefully constructed including the beginning echoes the end and the summary sentences in the beginning of the paragraphs, but you are supposed to make your text better paragraphed since if the paragraph is too long, readers may feel inpatient. For instance, your description of cinematography brightens my eyes, but maybe you can make your description of cinematography be an independent segment.

You have explained too many pots in details, in which case sentences used to express your point of view are easily obscured. For me, I was informed by my teacher to pretend my readers have seen the films so that I can ignore or shorten the basic introduction to the background of films. So for me the detailed introduction of Katherine’s job and their conflict in the class is a little redundant. What about your requirement and your opinion toward that?

In addition, you can make more comparisons about two films, since by doing so can make your text more compact. For example, you mention Wang Cailing’s obstacles to her dream are her “ugly” appearance and others’ manipulation, and you can compare it with Katherine’s. Katherine’s obstacle is all about thought and general mood of society, and she has ability to choose her material life. But Wang Cailing is poor, she has no choice.

There are some small mistakes taken in your text. In the first sentence of the third paragraph, you mistook the word “her”, and as well as the second sentence, word “from” and so on. So maybe you can have a more careful examination at the text and correct them. Actually I don’t really know the meaning of “pathos and ethos” even after I look up in a dictionary. Is it about the power to produce feelings of sadness and ethics? If not, could you explain it to me please?

If there’s any question, please tell me. I look forward to your reply soon.

[Meini X.]

Hi Zion,
Thanks for the sharing. I really enjoy reading your essay and get a better understanding about the movies through your comparison between their different strategies. And here I want to add several my personal opinions.

In your first paragraph, you wrote that"Both of these films depict a woman that will face heavy opposition in order to achieve their goal." In my opinion, there seems to be a grammar mistake. It will be more grammatically if the noun "goal" was used in it's plural form"goals''. Of course it is just a suggestion. You could claim your view if there are any differences.

In the second paragraph,you mentioned students finally realized "women are not meant to be seen only one way, they have a deeper meaning and purpose to fulfill than the one that society sets for them." through Kathrine's efforts. I think you can add some evidence in the movie to support your idea. For instance, you can refer to one of the students Joan, who once decided to apply to Yule university by her encouragement. And actually, I can't understand the meaning of "ethos and pathos" quite well. Could you please tell me what's their exact definition in you essay?

In the third paragraph, you analyzed And the Spring Comes from a quite different angle, which is very interesting and attractive. And I am totally agreed with your ideas towards the two scenes you've mentioned. I think you have made the readers connected with you and the film.

In the last paragraph, which is severed as a summarize, it would be better if you exactly point out what the similar message is. By doing so, the essay will be well-organized and well-knit.

Very nice job Zoin! Please feel free to ask me if there are any questions.

[Zion E.]

Hi, Xuejin,
I am sorry for the late response but thank you so much for your comments and suggestions.
I followed your advice and separated some of the big paragraphs into smaller ones. I also removed some of the background information that summarizes the movies since we all have seen it. This was a little challenging since some of the summaries supported my main claims but I understand why it is necessary.
Then I added a paragraph talking about the similarities between the obstacles that Katherine and Cailing faced. I feel like this was a good addition because it shows that I have done an in-depth analysis of both films. Thank you for pointing out the spelling and grammar errors as well.
As for Pathos and ethos, they are writing techniques that people use to help convey an idea. Pathos is a technique that connects to the reader's emotion (If you were to reading a book about a poor community, pathos would be used to connect to the reader's sadness and empathy). Ethos is a technique used to promote credibility (If you hear a speech from a famous person it would most likely be more credible than one made by non-famous person causing you to listen more attentively).

Thanks again for your suggestions! I really appreciate your feedback!

[Zion E.]

Hey Meini,
Thank you for your feedback it was very helpful and I feel that it definitely made my paper better.
You are completely correct regarding the grammar mistake in my first paragraph and the lack of evidence in my second paragraph so I fixed those accordingly.
Also I apologize if there was confusion with ethos and pathos. I added some information in the paper to help explain it and I also talked a little bit about it in my comment to Xuejin so feel free to check that out and let me know if it is still not clear.
Thank you so much for your help!

[Zion E.]

Here is my revised essay:

The two films “Mona Lisa Smile” and “And the Spring Comes” both deliver a powerful message to their audiences. “Mona Lisa Smile” deals greatly with women empowerment and rejects the notion that women have a specific “role” that they must follow throughout their life. “And the Spring Comes” details the meaning of success, actions that lead one to an overall sense of contempt and happiness, and how people go about achieving it. Both of these films depict a woman that will face heavy opposition in order to achieve their goals. But they use different strategies to do so. This paper will explain these two films used different strategies to present a similar message to their audience. Here we will see how “Mona Lisa Smile” uses ethos and pathos to convey its message and how it relates with how “And the Spring Comes” utilizes its abnormal cinematography, including camera angles, screen cuts and more to convey its message.
In “Mona Lisa Smile”, Katherine Watson uses ethos (a rhetorical technique that establishes the credibility of the rhetor) in her art class to challenge the belief that women have a role in life to get married and become housewives. When she realizes that the students read through the material on the syllabus during the first day of class, she realizes that while the students are “learning”, they are not necessarily thinking about what they learn. The following day she changes her teaching style so that students have to explain how they feel about the art that they see. This causes them to think not only more about the meaning of art but also how they view themselves. They realize that like art, women are not meant to be seen only one way, they have a deeper meaning and purpose to fulfill than the one that society sets for them. An example of this can be seen in the changes that Joan goes through within the film. At first, she is conservative as her friends and plans to marry and become a house wife even though she wants to go to law school. After Katherine’s classes, she became more motivated to follow her dreams and apply to Yale. The film also used pathos (a rhetorical technique that connects with the audience’s emotions) to convey its message. This is shown when Betty is being cheated on and seeks her mother’s help. This scene is especially important for the audience because it shows that if one were to “Play the role of a woman” as society demands, they could end up in a relationship that causes nothing but pain for them and leaves no option for escape.
“And the Spring Comes” depicts a similar struggle as “Mona Lisa Smile” wherein a woman must overcome obstacles placed by society to achieve her goal. Wang Cailing dreams of becoming a famous opera singer but is faced with issues including her lack of romance due to her “ugly” appearance, and manipulation from others that inevitably prevent her from accomplishing this goal. The obstacles that Wang Cailing faces are similar to those faced by Katherine because they both detail a woman attempting to go against societies standards to achieve their own forms of success. Society deems Wang Cailing as poor and unattractive, preventing her from being the opera singer of her dreams. Katherine also goes against society in an attempt to promote progressive ideals to women in an extremely conservative environment.
An interesting strategy that the film uses to convey its message is its cinematography. The film’s camera shots and angles do a great job of making the film fell more realistic than an average Hollywood film. When people are conversing in the film, there are few cuts between the speakers’ faces. Instead the scene would be shot only from one angle which makes the interaction and any issues described in that interaction much more realistic. The sense of realism allows the audience to connect more with the film and Wang Cailing. The depression that Wang Cailing faces as she strives to achieve her dream can be felt and understood by the audience through the connection that the film creates.
Another scene in the film that uses cinematography to convey a message is the shot Wang Cailing’s performance during the arts festival. Here we se a large area that is at first populated with an uplifted audience. But as her song goes on, more and more people begin to walk away leaving her standing in the middle of an open courtyard singing to herself. This scene is a very important component of the message being conveyed because it shows that not every dream can be attained easily. The scene shows that there will be times where you will fail or embarrass yourself to achieve what you truly desire.
“Mona Lisa Smile” and “And the Spring Comes” use different strategies to convey a similar message to the reader. This message is that there will be times where one will face heavy opposition to reach their goals. These films demonstrate that the path to success will not always be easy but it can also be a worthwhile adventure if you are determined to see it through. Through the use of pathos and ethos “Mona Lisa Smile” is able to show the audience the importance of women’s empowerment and why people want to challenge the “role” of a woman. “And the Spring Comes” utilizes it unconventional cinematography to provide a striking sense of realism allowing the audience to connect with the main character and understand her struggles to achieve her dreams.

[Zion E.]

Here Is my reflection for the activity. Thank you both for helping me out so much and I wish you the best of luck in your future endeavors!

Going into the border-crossing activity, I had pretty high expectations about what I expected to learn from the activity and I am happy to say that my expectations were met. I imagined discussing papers with students across the globe not only for the benefit of the content of the paper but also to better understand writing techniques of other cultures. Both of these goals were achieved throughout the activity as I was able to improve my paper with the help of Xuejin and Meini (who are both very amazing people), while also getting some insight to the writing styles taught in China. This activity has been an overall enjoyable one and I am very grateful to have been able to participate.
One characteristic of Chinese writing that struck me the most during the activity as the paragraph structure. The paragraphs of my two group members were significantly smaller than mine and it struck me as odd at first but I then noticed that it made the text feel less lengthy and more enjoyable to read. Another interesting thing I noticed was the of knowledge of Aristotle’s ethos, pathos and logos. These were some topics that were engrained in my education at an early age, so I was a little surprised when there was some confusion surrounding the topics. However, I was happy to explain them so that they could possibly be used in the future. The 3rd interesting thing from the activity was the flow of the essays. I have been taught to have an exact type of flow throughout the paragraphs that I write but It was interesting seeing the essay that had a flow different from mine that still got their point across in a way that was even more beneficial for both the writer and the audience.
Feedback from Meini and Xuejin greatly improved my essay. Meini helped me provide more evidence to my claims so that they appear more credible and get my point across better. Xuejin was very helpful in making my paper more concise by removing excess background info. Xuejin also provided feedback that help me with my paragraph structure and even introduced an additional form of analysis (comparison of the two protagonists) that strengthened my paper. The feedback I received was extremely beneficial for my future writing because I am now able to incorporate more techniques that can better support the claims I make in my papers. I am so happy that Xuejin and Meini were able to help me so much in this activity.
Three adjectives that can be used to describe the activity are enlightening, productive and fun. I chose these three words because I got to learn about education across the world while being able to help others with their writing as well as get help myself. Finally, I had fun throughout the entirety of the activity meeting nice people and helping each other out. This has been a great experience and I want to thank Meini and Xuejin for being such amazing group members giving feedback and being open to the suggestions that I had for their papers.