16 - Diverse Social and Physical Mobility in Mona Lisa Smile and The Spring Comes
Posted: Wed Apr 11, 2018 2:53 pm
Beijing and New York, Wellesley College and Central Conservatory of Music, when these two pairs of names are listed, we can easily find the corresponding resemblance between each of them. They signify several of the supreme ideal places to go in their countries, physically and socially, in Mona Lisa Smile and The Spring Comes. This essay is going to make comparisons of social and physical mobility between eastern and western society mirrored by the two movies.
To begin with, physical mobility, which is a cultural representation relatively easy to distinguish, diversified in the two movies. It was much higher in Mona Lisa Smile, viz., the USA in early 1950s, than in The Spring Comes, viz., China in early 1990s.
Katherine Watson, the main character of Mona Lisa Smile, came to Wellesley College, Massachusetts, from California out of her own will, instead of governmental job arrangement. One of the pieces of supporting evidence was that Betty Warren wrote that Miss Warren had chosen to come to Wellesley, which was to say, Miss Watson could decide herself where to work and make a living, and so could Amanda Armstrong. Professor Armstrong mentioned that she should have left after her companion passed away in May, suggesting that she also had the right to choose whether to stay or not (as long as she was not dismissed).
However, Wang Cailing, the temporary teacher of local music normal school, found it almost impossible to be recruited by Central Conservatory of Music without a registered permanent residence in Beijing, the capital city of China. She had no choice but fabricate a record illegally.
As an institutional reason lying behind the difference above, Chinese household registration system fixed every inhabitant onto a certain area, as well as the type of residence (agricultural or non-agricultural), regulating everyone by limiting his or her working and living place. Despite its advantage of administrating the vast population and levying taxation etc., household registration system restrained those who, like Wang Cailing, wanted to pursue their dream in another city. For them, this system served as an enclosure, forbidding the outsiders to enter the cosmopolitan city, Beijing. Although the institutional reason was not the mere cause leading to the low physical mobility, whereas others were not demonstrated obviously in the movies.
Apart from physical mobility, social mobility appeared as a more complicated illustration of the prospect of a society. Throughout the lives of Wellesley ladies, I suppose that the upper class of that society was relatively stable, rather than flexible, while, in The Spring Comes, in terms of the fluidity between different classes, we need to take more factors into consideration.
Wellesley College, referred to as “ivy with no men”, attracted the most outstanding female students all around the USA, including some of the daughters of professors, principals, and school governors. Their life path could almost be predicted: after graduation or even before that, they would get married with well-educated young men coming from prominent families, support their husbands’ career, give birth to babies, care for and educate them, still occupying the upper class. While it was much painstaking for average girls to elbow their way into Wellesley girls’ community. The first obstacle was the admission of Wellesley College, consisting of requirement of academic achievement and expensive school fees. Even if one was lucky enough to enter it, it was hard to say that her future mother-in-law would not care about her family. Thus, romantic love stories rarely happened in a society with strong sense of obsession of hierarchy.
In order to take a look at the social mobility in The Spring Comes, we are not supposed to ignore the background of China in early 1990s. It was over a decade after the Reform and Opening had been carried out, domestic economy being quite dynamic, a mass of opportunities being provided, the psychological field, yet, being barren as a result of a rupture of conventional culture on account of the transformation of the whole nation, ranging from the New Culture Movement (1915) to the Great Cultural Revolution (1966-1976).
Therefore, on a personal note, the social mobility then was both high and low. It was high because it was very likely to make great fortune overnight if you grasped the chance. In The Spring Comes, Huang Sibao was an example, who went to Shenzhen, the earliest special economic zone, took off in his career, though through an immoral way, nevertheless, he ran his own matrimonial agency, and rose to a higher social status. Gao Beibei was an opposite instance in the story. She could do nothing but cheat Wang Cailing that she had cancer, otherwise, she was unable to win fame in Beijing. Wealth, power and interpersonal relationship with those who were rich or in authority, could smooth the path leading to celebrity, where mere talent and diligence was far from enough. Under this condition, social mobility was at a low rate, for those with great popularity and reputation tended to have more wealth and higher social status, allowing them to get rid of life of poor quality and the underclass people, while millions of Gao Beibeis, born in remote towns, had less access to an opportunity to enter the upper class. This may originated from the almost blank mental world at that time, what we consider as elegant art today not being appreciated then. Early 1990s was a time when both physical and mental wealth were short of. Physical wealth could be earned soon, while mental wealth needed a long time to be acquired by the majority. That was why the business path leading to higher class was more unobstructed than the path of art.
To summarize, throughout the two movies, I have already seen the contrast between the two societies—society of the USA in early 1950s and society of China in early 1990s. In regard of physical mobility, it was much higher in US society than in Chinese society, whereas the social mobility of US society was relatively low. As for Chinese society, social mobility was, of course, higher than itself a decade ago, especially through business, but it remained rather low otherwise.
I am trying to cover both physical mobility and social mobility in this essay, for I suppose they are not two independent elements of a society, and are influencing each other. Low physical mobility could limit social mobility, which was reflected by Wang Cailing’s experience, and the latter, was also struggling to break the yoke of the former.
To begin with, physical mobility, which is a cultural representation relatively easy to distinguish, diversified in the two movies. It was much higher in Mona Lisa Smile, viz., the USA in early 1950s, than in The Spring Comes, viz., China in early 1990s.
Katherine Watson, the main character of Mona Lisa Smile, came to Wellesley College, Massachusetts, from California out of her own will, instead of governmental job arrangement. One of the pieces of supporting evidence was that Betty Warren wrote that Miss Warren had chosen to come to Wellesley, which was to say, Miss Watson could decide herself where to work and make a living, and so could Amanda Armstrong. Professor Armstrong mentioned that she should have left after her companion passed away in May, suggesting that she also had the right to choose whether to stay or not (as long as she was not dismissed).
However, Wang Cailing, the temporary teacher of local music normal school, found it almost impossible to be recruited by Central Conservatory of Music without a registered permanent residence in Beijing, the capital city of China. She had no choice but fabricate a record illegally.
As an institutional reason lying behind the difference above, Chinese household registration system fixed every inhabitant onto a certain area, as well as the type of residence (agricultural or non-agricultural), regulating everyone by limiting his or her working and living place. Despite its advantage of administrating the vast population and levying taxation etc., household registration system restrained those who, like Wang Cailing, wanted to pursue their dream in another city. For them, this system served as an enclosure, forbidding the outsiders to enter the cosmopolitan city, Beijing. Although the institutional reason was not the mere cause leading to the low physical mobility, whereas others were not demonstrated obviously in the movies.
Apart from physical mobility, social mobility appeared as a more complicated illustration of the prospect of a society. Throughout the lives of Wellesley ladies, I suppose that the upper class of that society was relatively stable, rather than flexible, while, in The Spring Comes, in terms of the fluidity between different classes, we need to take more factors into consideration.
Wellesley College, referred to as “ivy with no men”, attracted the most outstanding female students all around the USA, including some of the daughters of professors, principals, and school governors. Their life path could almost be predicted: after graduation or even before that, they would get married with well-educated young men coming from prominent families, support their husbands’ career, give birth to babies, care for and educate them, still occupying the upper class. While it was much painstaking for average girls to elbow their way into Wellesley girls’ community. The first obstacle was the admission of Wellesley College, consisting of requirement of academic achievement and expensive school fees. Even if one was lucky enough to enter it, it was hard to say that her future mother-in-law would not care about her family. Thus, romantic love stories rarely happened in a society with strong sense of obsession of hierarchy.
In order to take a look at the social mobility in The Spring Comes, we are not supposed to ignore the background of China in early 1990s. It was over a decade after the Reform and Opening had been carried out, domestic economy being quite dynamic, a mass of opportunities being provided, the psychological field, yet, being barren as a result of a rupture of conventional culture on account of the transformation of the whole nation, ranging from the New Culture Movement (1915) to the Great Cultural Revolution (1966-1976).
Therefore, on a personal note, the social mobility then was both high and low. It was high because it was very likely to make great fortune overnight if you grasped the chance. In The Spring Comes, Huang Sibao was an example, who went to Shenzhen, the earliest special economic zone, took off in his career, though through an immoral way, nevertheless, he ran his own matrimonial agency, and rose to a higher social status. Gao Beibei was an opposite instance in the story. She could do nothing but cheat Wang Cailing that she had cancer, otherwise, she was unable to win fame in Beijing. Wealth, power and interpersonal relationship with those who were rich or in authority, could smooth the path leading to celebrity, where mere talent and diligence was far from enough. Under this condition, social mobility was at a low rate, for those with great popularity and reputation tended to have more wealth and higher social status, allowing them to get rid of life of poor quality and the underclass people, while millions of Gao Beibeis, born in remote towns, had less access to an opportunity to enter the upper class. This may originated from the almost blank mental world at that time, what we consider as elegant art today not being appreciated then. Early 1990s was a time when both physical and mental wealth were short of. Physical wealth could be earned soon, while mental wealth needed a long time to be acquired by the majority. That was why the business path leading to higher class was more unobstructed than the path of art.
To summarize, throughout the two movies, I have already seen the contrast between the two societies—society of the USA in early 1950s and society of China in early 1990s. In regard of physical mobility, it was much higher in US society than in Chinese society, whereas the social mobility of US society was relatively low. As for Chinese society, social mobility was, of course, higher than itself a decade ago, especially through business, but it remained rather low otherwise.
I am trying to cover both physical mobility and social mobility in this essay, for I suppose they are not two independent elements of a society, and are influencing each other. Low physical mobility could limit social mobility, which was reflected by Wang Cailing’s experience, and the latter, was also struggling to break the yoke of the former.