Success and Beauty

[David L.]

David Lee

Success and Beauty

Even in the current society, women continue to live in a masculine society. Over the past century, the women around the world struggled to fight for gender equality. The movie “Mona Lisa Smile” depicts the difficulties the women in the United States faced, while the movie “And the Spring Comes” shows the struggles of the women in the Chinese society.

The movie “Mona Lisa Smile” explains the situation of the women in the United States during the 1950s within its title. The student, Betty, refers to her life as the facial expression of the painting Mona Lisa. The society instructs women to live and behave a certain way, and the women must sit there and smile. Mona Lisa’s smile shows ambiguity, as the viewers cannot not tell how she feels inside behind her smile. The girls who attended Wellesley College all faced the same fate. No matter how they felt inside, they must please the society and their husbands. The ethos of the women almost seems non-existent, as the authoritative figures in their lives continue to remind them to live for their husbands.

Katherine, the professor, challenges the girls to establish their own ethos in the society. She wants the girls to realize that what they want and what they need should matter in the society. Women should not give up their careers in order to move in with their husbands. Women should not give up their careers to have children and take care of them. The irony in all of this is that the society only acknowledges a woman, once they marry a successful man. When Betty’s mother spoke, the men listened and followed her instructions. Her words and her ethos had power behind them. However, one may ask whether she, herself, established her own ethos, or if her ethos has been created by the influence of her husband. Marriage became the source to gain one’s ethos, yet it took away the ethos of the woman as well.

In “And the Spring Comes”, the main character, Wang Cailing wishes to get married. However, she finds little luck in finding herself a man, for she lacks in beauty. Although very talented, most men only seemed to care about the looks. In order to exploit this situation, the director chose to show the bareness of the actress’s face. The director did not glamourize the actress with make up or with good lighting and camera angels. The camera made sure to capture all of the physical flaws that she showed.

I found the Chinese approach to feminism quite interesting, as it showed the realness of the women behind the fancy lighting and the make-up. The movie chose to portray the physical flaws of a woman. On the other hand, “Mona Lisa Smile” showed bright lighting, as if to celebrate the beauty of the women. In the end, both movies attempted to put the emphasis on the importance of women’s independence in the society. Both movies tried to persuade the viewers to reflect upon empowering the women, and how that will alter the ethos of the women. However, the west captured the positive sides of the women, while the east captured the negative, or perhaps the flawed side of the women. I believe that we must look at both perspectives of the women. A woman may not have the beauty, but that does not mean that she should be ignored. Also, all women are capable of achieving great dreams. In my opinion, success could be seen as beauty as well. I believe that when these two ideas collide, a true form of women’s empowerment could be achieved.

[Xiaoxue C.]

After reading your passage, I can't agree more on some of your opinions, such as the ethos as well as the equality betwwen men and women and you also talked about Betty- the student to support your contention.
As far as I am concerned, you have focused on the empowerment of women and try to call for the gender equality. However, when you thought that Wang Cailing wished to get married but failed because of her ill-favored appearance, I don't quite agree with you. Because as you can see in the movie, she regarded herself superior to others due to her great dream and her determination. She wasn't the kind of women who was desired for marriage. Instead, she pursued her dreams more than marriage. In the film - And The Spring Comes, Wang Cailing firmly and directly rejected Zhou Yu who tried to court her. If she was that kind of women, why did she turn down? Also, she once said that she had no intention of being in love with somebody in that backward town.Therefore, maybe you have misunderstood Wang Cailing. You may need to look more deeply about this character.
What's more, I was pleased to find that we both shared the same idea that Betty was perfect and graceful in the surface but miserable and struggling inside, just like the smile of Mona Lisa. Also, I feel pity for her who lived in a struggling life.
Last but not least, you have had a unique perspective towards beauty and success. Nevertheless, in the former paragraphs the relation between beauty and success is not very clear. Though you have some examples of the films to support you, it is better to further talk about how beaty and success connect with each other. So maybe you can add some explanations to talk about the relations to support your article.

[Leah R.]

Xioxue, thank you for suggestions. I will defiantly consider a deeper analysis of the characters that you have suggested.

[Xiaoxue C.]

Good Luck, Leah

[Yicheng G.]

Nice start!
I really like the slow slide from our morden life into your topic.
The analysis about 'Mona Lisa Smile' is really profond.
And the main idea "success can also be a kind of beauty" is a nice point which I cannot agree more
But I think maybe you can write Katherine before her students for she is the main character
And as Xiaoxue said, there is indeed something deep in ‘And the Spring Comes’
She suffered from the times. her dignity,but not the desire to get married
Finally, I think maybe you can put the last sentence as an idependent paragraphy, making your point more clear
Maybe you can write a conclusion as the last paragraphy
these are my opinions~~~
Good luck

[Leah R.]

Turning the back the focus onto your essay since this thread is about you, I reread your article. After rereading your article, I liked your analysis on Betty and the "Mona Lisa" painting. Your comparison was brief, I think you should explain that paragraph a little more. Maybe extend the analysis to Katherine and how she may be an exception to the painting and how she defies the cultural normal at this very conservative Wellesley College. Or continue the analysis on Betty and drawing examples from the movie.

Good luck

[David L.]

Hi Xiaoxue,

Thank you for bringing up the point about Wang Cailing and her views on marriage. I do agree with you that she saw herself as superior to the others; therefore, that could be a reason why she turned down Zhou Yu. Perhaps marriage was not the appropriate example that I should have given. I think I should have given the example of her failing at finding a partner. One of the examples that I would give is the interactions she had with Huang Sibao. This may not define a true success, but I would say Wang Cailing desired to be liked by someone attractive.

Your second point on connecting the success and beauty will help me a lot in my next essay. I will make sure to incorporate both of the elements to crteate a better representation of my thoguhts.

Thank you for your analysis and your suggestions!

[David L.]

Hi Yicheng,

Thank you for your opinions on how to improve my essay. Now that I looked over my essay again, I do see that I could elaborate more on Katherine, "And the Spring Comes", and my conclusion. While I was trying to focus on my broad ideas, I missed several essential parts to the plots of both movies. For the conclusion, I will try to discuss more on my last sentence, so I do not leave the readers confused.

Thank you for your thoughts!

[Leah R.]

In this thread I think I might have got confused in the earlier comments and I sincerely apologize to all.
--

David,
Looking back at your paper in your 4th paragraph, I think you should explain more about how the movie was film.
"The director did not glamourize the actress with make up or with good lighting and camera angels. The camera made sure to capture all of the physical flaws that she showed. "
You made a good point here and I think you should further explain about the camera angles and your opinion.
Good Luck

[David L.]

[Revision}
Even in the current society, women continue to live in a masculine society. Over the past century, the women around the world struggled to fight for gender equality. The movie “Mona Lisa Smile” depicts the difficulties the women in the United States faced, while the movie “And the Spring Comes” shows the struggles of the women in the Chinese society.
The movie “Mona Lisa Smile” explains the situation of the women in the United States during the 1950s within its title. The student, Betty, refers to her life as the facial expression of the painting Mona Lisa. The society instructs women to live and behave a certain way, and the women must sit there and smile. Mona Lisa’s smile shows ambiguity, as the viewers cannot not tell how she feels inside behind her smile. The girls who attended Wellesley College all faced the same fate. No matter how they felt inside, they must please the society and their husbands. The ethos of the women almost seems non-existent, as the authoritative figures in their lives continue to remind them to live for their husbands.
Katherine, the professor, challenges the girls to establish their own ethos in the society. She wants the girls to realize that what they want and what they need should matter in the society. Women should not give up their careers in order to move in with their husbands. Women should not give up their careers to have children and take care of them. The irony in all of this is that the society only acknowledges a woman, once they marry a successful man. When Betty’s mother spoke, the men listened and followed her instructions. Her words and her ethos had power behind them. However, one may ask whether she, herself, established her own ethos, or if her ethos has been created by the influence of her husband. Marriage became the source to gain one’s ethos, yet it took away the ethos of the woman as well. Katherine sets an example for the girls, as she shares her experience living a single lifestyle. She opens up to the students about dating different men. Katherine pursues her true happiness over settling down with a man, as she rejects men in multiple settings. Although capable of luring men with her beauty to settle down, Katherine chooses success as she earns respect from her students and her peers.
In “And the Spring Comes”, the main character, Wang Cailing wishes to find an attractive partner. Cailing courts a lover named, Huang Sibao, who later leaves her. Cailing finds little luck in finding herself an attractive man, for she lacks in beauty. Although very talented, most men only seemed to care about the looks. In order to exploit this situation, the director chose to show the bareness of the actress’s face. The director did not glamourize the actress with make up or with good lighting and camera angels. The camera made sure to capture all of the physical flaws that she showed. After Sibao accuses Cailing of rape and leaves, Cailing attempts a suicide. Sadly, the factor that causes Cailing to act this way is due to the rejection of a man, rather than the rejection of her talent as a singer. The struggle to define the true success between the beauty and her talent ended up working against Cailing.
On another aspect, I found the Chinese approach to feminism quite interesting, as it showed the realness of the women behind the fancy lighting and the make-up. The movie chose to portray the physical flaws of a woman. On the other hand, “Mona Lisa Smile” showed bright lighting, as if to celebrate the beauty of the women. In the end, both movies attempted to put the emphasis on the importance of women’s independence in the society. Both movies tried to persuade the viewers to reflect upon empowering the women, and how that will alter the ethos of the women. However, the west captured the positive sides of the women, while the east captured the negative, or perhaps the flawed side of the women. I believe that we must look at both perspectives of the women. A woman may not have the beauty, but that does not mean that she should be ignored. Also, all women are capable of achieving great dreams. In my opinion, success could be seen as beauty as well. I believe that when these two ideas collide, a true form of women’s empowerment could be achieved. One day, the world may deem a woman with great talents as beautiful.