1 - Comparisons on “And the Spring Comes” and “Mona Lisa Smile”

[Mikaela A.]

Even though “And the Spring Comes” and “Mona Lisa Smile” are filmed and produced in very different parts of the world, they showcase many similarities related to cultural representations and non-verbal representations.

In “And the Spring Comes,” the main protagonist woman (Ms. Wang) demonstrated a persistence for women’s empowerment by making several comments like “she has the power of her voice and doesn’t need money or beauty.” By saying things like this she’s re-defining the common perception of what a woman should be and empowering herself to move forward in her career no matter what anyone tells her. In “Mona Lisa Smile,” women’s empowerment is clearly a strong theme because it is an all-women’s college that Katherine Watson becomes an Art History teacher at. Katherine Watson challenges her students to move out of their comfort zone of what they think a woman should be because they have all decided they should become wives right away. Miss Watson encourages several of the students to pursue their dreams of being a lawyer, for example, and later get married or make both work. Women’s empowerment is showcased in a new light when one of the students, Betty, files for divorce because that’s what she wants. I supported this idea made by Miss Watson because women shouldn’t feel like their only job is to be a wife.

Social and physical mobility, as well as success and the means to achieve it are also major themes of both movies. In “And the Spring Comes,” all the artists in the movie are portrayed as being “real professionals” and must overcome this stereotype in order to achieve their own personal definition of success, along with everyone else’s. The two men in the film are factory workers trying to achieve their own artistic dream and achieve social mobility. Ms. Wang is trying to achieve social mobility as an opera singer and physical mobility as well by trying desperately to move to Beijing. They are all stuck in this small industrial, bland town and they come to accept small triumphs in their life and therefore re-define their idea of success. In “Mona Lisa Smile,” Miss Watson redefines her own idea of success and decides to not accept to continue her position at the school because they don’t allow her to teach the way she wants to (which I believe was the right decision).

Camera angle and shots were also something that interested me in both movies. In “And the Spring Comes”, there are very few shots of Ms. Wang up close and when there are it is only to portray her lack of beauty which contributes to the plot of the film. However, Miss Watson in the other film is shown in very close-up angles that show her facial expressions and in the beginning scene, when she is first teaching the students and in many teaching scenes after that, helps to establish her ethos. This is common in the American movie, to show the faces of the characters in order to better portray their emotions. However, in the Chinese movie the camera angles are more of the landscape. Camera shows the blandness of the landscape of China with wide sweeping camera angles- they capture the reality.

As shown here, both films (even though they are filmed in very different places) can be compared to each other by their similar views on women’s empowerment and the examples of social and physical mobility throughout.

[Wanyi C.]

Hi Mikaela!

I really like your point of view and how you pointed out the similarities related to cultural representations and non-verbal representations, because in my mind, to find the similarities of And the Spring Comes and Mona Lisa Smile is much more difficult than to find their differences. And it’s no doubt that you did well. All the sections of the text fitted the focus well. Well, I am not sure if the comment “She has the power of her voice and doesn’t need money or beauty” demonstrated Ms. Wang as a persistence for women’s empowerment, because I think the power of her voice is just a gift which is natural and isn’t connected to the persistence of women’s empowerment. What do you think of the relationships between them? Besides, could you tell me more details or examples about Ms. Wang’s persistence for women’s empowerment? By the way, I think that Mr. Wang longs for becoming beautiful and need beauty, because in the film, she makes a facial mask and tries to find a way to get rid of pimples and freckles. Also, I would consider about “she’s re-defining the common perception of what a woman should be and empower herself to move forward in her career no matter what anyone tells her”, because I think she doesn’t “re-define” what you said. In my mind, she just pursues her own dream all the way instead of wanting to confirm what a woman should be. Maybe I didn’t catch what you really wanted to express, so could you give a detailed account? (: I agree with you on that women shouldn’t feel like their only job is to be a wife. Your Language was fluent; the transitions were helpful and the organization was clear (opinion—analysis—conclusion). By the way, I think it will be better if you add a summary to the second paragraph, which can make the part of analysis more orderly.

[Mikaela A.]

Wanyi,

Thank you so much for responding to my paper! I included the quote "She has the power of her voice and doesn't need money or beauty" related to women's empowerment because I think a lot of people think that women need money or beauty to be successful, but she showed us throughout the movie that she did not by being successful in a different way. Let me know what you think of this explanation as to why I included it! I, however, like what you said about Ms. Wang using a face mask and want to include something in my final paper along the lines of : "every woman wants to feel beautiful (as well as Ms. Wang), but it doesn't mean that they can't feel successful even when they are not because Ms. Wang eventually does." What I meant by re-defining success was that Ms.Wang realized that she didn't have to be the lead singer in the opera or move in order to be successful. Let me know if you think there's a way I could make this more clear!
Also, what do you mean by adding a summary to the second paragraph? Do you mean a summary of the plot?
Looking forward to hearing back from you!

[Jinfeng G.]

Hi, Mikaela A.!
I am very surprised that the structure in your essay is clear and divided into several parts. I really like this style to organize your ideas. In you essay, you showed the theme about women in “And the Spring Comes” directly and told how the movie expressed the theme. But I think that you can show your ideas about that more or explain how it expressed the theme with more details to support your views. Maybe the views can be stronger and more persuasive.
In fact, the theme about women in “And the Spring Comes” is a little difficult for me to understand. Could you offer me more details or plots that express this theme. And do you think the characters in “And the Spring Comes” also help to show the theme for female empowerment? Could you give an example?.

[Mikaela A.]

Hi Jinfeng! Thank you for responding to my paper!

I didn't include as many details about the theme of women's empowerment in either movie because I didn't want my essay to be too long for this activity! I also included an explanation of women's empowerment in "And the Spring Comes" through Ms. Wang's character. Did you think this was sufficient evidence or no? Also, do you think it would be worth expanding my essay (even though it was only supposed to be 500 words) in order to show more evidence? I'm not sure if this would be worth it! Let me know what you think!

Looking forward to hearing back from you!

[Wanyi C.]

Mikaela,

Thank you so much for explaining the reason why you included the quote related to women’s empowerment and the meaning of Ms. Wang’s “re-defining” success. I think your explanation was really clear and maybe you can add it to your paper, which can make your text more clear. Well, you mentioned that “…she did not by being successful in a different way” and I think you can show what the “different way” is in the text, too. That is, how Ms. Wang became successful? Maybe you think that Ms. Wang led an ordinary life in the end was her success? The reason why I say this is that most people think Ms. Wang wasn’t successful because she didn’t become the main soprano with the National Opera Company that she constantly wanted to be.
By the way, I wonder why you would think that Ms. Wang demonstrated a persistence for women’s empowerment because personally speaking, for most of Chinese students, there is no relationship between Ms. Wang and women’s empowerment. (: It’s an interesting cultural phenomenon, right?) How do you comprehend the women’s empowerment?
Also, what I meant by adding a summary to the second paragraph was that you can point out the gist of this paragraph. For example, “The views on women’s empowerment are similar.”(It’s based on what you are talking about.)
After re-reading your text, I also wonder more functions of wide sweeping camera angles in And the Spring Comes. For example, does it give the audience more time and space to figure out the feelings of the characters?
Looking forward to your reply!

[Mikaela A.]

Wanyi,

I am so glad that you explained to me that Chinese students don't see Ms. Wang as being associated with women's empowerment because I find these different cultural perspectives fascinating! I comprehend her as being an empowered woman because she has a big dream and shows that she doesn't need a man or beauty throughout the movie, she is just focused on achieving her dream! Why don't Chinese students view her as an empowered woman? I'd love to hear more!
I will definitely be adding the explanation I provided to my text and explaining further what I meant by a "different way" of success. I have also added a summary to the second paragraph that clears up my paragraph as well as the movie plots to make it more clear.
As for the camera angle note, I had never thought of it that way but it's very interesting! I was focusing more on how it made the Chinese landscape look!

Please let me know if you have any other revisions for my paper! Thank you!

[Wanyi C.]

Mikaela,

Thank you for telling me how you comprehended Ms. Wang as being an empowered woman and I really agree that Ms. Wang has a big dream and focuses on achieving it.
Well, we Chinese students think the one who deserves to be called empowered woman should contribute to the society, just like Katherine who tries her best to change the methods of teaching and the traditional thoughts of society. But Ms. Wang doesn’t and she just pursues her own dreams. After a discussion with my friend called Yuanping, both of us agreed that Mr. Wang gave in to the society in a way. For example, Mr. Wang tries to buy a residence permit in Beijing, knowing the unfair social condition but doing nothing to change or reveal it, so we don’t consider Mr. Wang as an empowered woman. Actually, though the comprehensions of empowered women are a little different, I admire that you viewed the individual value as a standard of empowered women at this moment. Please let me know if you have any questions about how Chinese people comprehend women’s empowerment.
By the way, in the third paragraph, you mentioned that “The two men in the film are factory workers trying to achieve their own artistic dream and achieve social mobility” and in my opinion, Sibao is like what you said but Zhouyu is not, because I think the reason why Zhouyu tries to learn music from Ms. Wang is that he wants to marry Ms. Wang instead of becoming a real musician. So, I think it will be better to change “the two men” into “Sibao”. What do you think of it?
Looking forward to your reply.

[Mikaela A.]

Wow Wanyi!

Thank you for enlightening me on how Chinese students view empowered women! I was seeing Ms.Wang as being empowered just because of her personal goals, and not relating it to society at all! I think I will leave it in my essay this way because I want to show how I interpreted it as an American student! I have loved learning so much from you though and really appreciate the time you have put in to answer all my curious questions!

I understood that Zhouyo was trying to pursue his musical career even before he decided that he loved Miss Wang! How did you interpret it differently?

[Mikaela A.]

Mikaela Axman
Border-crossing essay (revised)

Comparisons on “And the Spring Comes” and “Mona Lisa Smile”

Even though “And the Spring Comes” and “Mona Lisa Smile” are filmed and produced in very different parts of the world, they showcase many similarities related to cultural representations and non-verbal representations. “And the Spring Comes” is a movie on the story of Ms. Wang, who is an unattractive voice teacher with the dream of being the lead singer in the National Opera House in Beijing. She meets two men, who are both factory workers, one of whom she gives voice lessons to and the other (who wants to be an artist) that she ends up falling in and out of love with as well as a gay male ballerina dancer. Together, they work toward their dreams and form relationships while learning a lot about themselves. “Mona Lisa Smile” is about Katherine Watson, a woman who has just received an Art History teacher position at the all-girls Wellesley College. Throughout the movie, she is determined to help her students realize that not everything in a woman’s life is about becoming a wife (even though that’s what they have been taught all their lives) while also continuing to make choices in her life that help her do what she wants.
Both movies show a demonstration of women’s empowerment. In “And the Spring Comes,” the main protagonist woman (Ms. Wang) demonstrated a persistence for women’s empowerment by making several comments like “she has the power of her voice and doesn’t need money or beauty.” I think a lot of people think that women need money or beauty to be successful, but she showed us throughout the movie that she did not by being successful in a different way (in the end, she decided that adopting a child was the way she wanted to be successful). By saying things like this she’s re-defining the common perception of what a woman should be and empowering herself to move forward in her career no matter what anyone tells her. In “Mona Lisa Smile,” women’s empowerment is clearly a strong theme because it is an all-women’s college that Katherine Watson becomes an Art History teacher at. Katherine Watson challenges her students to move out of their comfort zone of what they think a woman should be because they have all decided they should become wives right away. Miss Watson encourages several of the students to pursue their dreams of being a lawyer, for example, and later get married or make both work. Women’s empowerment is showcased in a new light when one of the students, Betty, files for divorce because that’s what she wants. I supported this idea made by Miss Watson because women shouldn’t feel like their only job is to be a wife.
Social and physical mobility, as well as success and the means to achieve it are also major themes of both movies. In “And the Spring Comes,” all the artists in the movie are portrayed as being “real professionals” and must overcome this stereotype in order to achieve their own personal definition of success, along with everyone else’s. The two men in the film are factory workers trying to achieve their own artistic dream and achieve social mobility. Ms. Wang is trying to achieve social mobility as an opera singer and physical mobility as well by trying desperately to move to Beijing. Ms. Wang re-defines her own success by realizing that she didn't have to be the lead singer in the opera or move in order to be successful. They are all stuck in this small industrial, bland town and they come to accept small triumphs in their life and therefore re-define their idea of success. In “Mona Lisa Smile,” Miss Watson redefines her own idea of success and decides to not accept to continue her position at the school because they don’t allow her to teach the way she wants to (which I believe was the right decision).
Camera angle and shots were also something that interested me in both movies. In “And the Spring Comes”, there are very few shots of Ms. Wang up close and when there are it is only to portray her lack of beauty which contributes to the plot of the film. However, Miss Watson in the other film is shown in very close-up angles that show her facial expressions and in the beginning scene, when she is first teaching the students and in many teaching scenes after that, helps to establish her ethos. This is common in the American movie, to show the faces of the characters in order to better portray their emotions. However, in the Chinese movie the camera angles are more of the landscape. Camera shows the blandness of the landscape of China with wide sweeping camera angles- they capture the reality and allow the audience to view what is going on from a broader angle for a longer period of time.
As shown here, both films (even though they are filmed in very different places) can be compared to each other by their similar views on women’s empowerment and the examples of social and physical mobility throughout.