Film Review Mona Lisa Smile

1056 Words3 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: 1950s america conformity and conservatism

Mona Lisa Smile. Dir. by Mike Newell. Columbia Pictures, 2003.

In the movie, Mona Lisa Smile directed by Mike Newell, a new art history professor at Wellesley College teaches her female students alternatives to their seemingly preordained futures as wives and mothers. In this paper we will examine women's roles in the 1950's through Mona Lisa Smile and compare this film to actual experiences of Wellesley collage graduates.

In 1953, a time when women's roles were rigidly defined, free-spirited, art history professor Katherine Watson (Julia Roberts) begins teaching her dream job at Wellesley College. Wellesley is an all-female campus with a prestigious reputation for academic excellence, however, despite its name it is an environment where success is measured by 'how well' the students marry. Katherine, who recently left her husband (first strike against the non-conformist), taught liberal views that were out of place in this conservative ‘50s college. Encouraging these women to strive for a more open-minded future, Watson challenges the administration and inspires her students to look beyond the image of what is, and consider the possibilities of what could be. Besides butting heads with college administrators who object to progressive ideas, she also pushes the conservative students who firmly believe a woman's only role is to be a wife and mother.

The girls were more interested in nabbing a good husband than achieving scholastic and intellectual growth. The main characters were; catty but well brought-up Betty (Kirsten Dunst), potential graduate student Joan (Julia Stilies), insecure Connie (Ginnifer Goodwyn) and campus slut Giselle (Maggie Gyllenhaal). All of the women in the film were defined by their relationsh...

... middle of paper ...

...essor of Italian in the movie).

Mona Lisa Smile is like a medley of '50s ideological disgraces: A school nurse gets fired for dispensing birth control, a teacher refers to Lucille Ball as a "communist", Betty's prayers are answered when she gets what every woman dreams of… a washer and dryer. The message that the film tried to deliver, a critical insight into '50s culture, became mumbled in the drama of bad relationships. In the end, Watson's unorthodox teaching style and emphasis on modern art influenced the faculty and earned her students' respect. She represented the many "so called" free spirited, non-conformist, feminist, liberal women in the ‘50s who pictured a different world among men.

Works Cited:

Burros, Marian. "Critique From 50's Wellesley Grads." The New York Times 29 Dec. 2003.

Mona Lisa Smile. Dir. by Mike Newell. Columbia Pictures, 2003.

Show More
Related

  • Rape Of Europa Essay

    1315 Words  | 3 Pages

    Next they go into further detail about the history of the painting of Adele Bloch-Bauer. They say that it was described as the “Mona Lisa” of the Austrian people to whom it belonged to.

    Read More

  • Critiques of Sara Rimer’s A Lost Moment Recaptured and Stephen Mosher’s Where Have All the Heroes Gone?

    757 Words  | 2 Pages

    While Rimer directly interviews the students and faculty of Smith College’s Ada Comstock Scholars Program for her primary research source, this particular college is not the main focus of the essay. Women’s colleges Mount Holyoke and Bryn Mawr are also mentioned in the essay (para.27). Rimer’s interview with a historian who has studied women in higher education, speaks to women’s colleges in general. The historian goes on to explain that going back to college is transforming for older women who have been shaped by gender specific expectations (para.9). Women’s colleges o...

    Read More

  • Depictions of Life in Movies During the Great Depression

    706 Words  | 2 Pages

    The Depression Era was chaotic and detrimental to most Americans, but it was also a time of growth in some ways. Women playing major roles in movies during this time period was becoming more and more common. Women were viewed in many different ways though. In “Room Service”, women were viewed as hard-working, influential individuals, but they were also very invested and dependent on love. In “The Public Enemy”, women were viewed as something that could be thrown away when they were of no more use, and finally in “Gold Diggers of 1937”, women were viewed as sneaky, smart people who would to whatever they had to do to accomplish their goals. These conflicting views of women show depth and diversity in a dark, dreary time period.

    Read More

  • ANALYSIS OF ANGELICA KAUFFMAN ‘TELEMACHUS ON HIS RETURN TO HIS MOTHER’ 1770-1780 OIL ON CANVAS

    1334 Words  | 3 Pages

    Whitney Chadwick, Women, Art, and Society 3rd ed. (NY: Thames & Hudson world of art, 2002), 153-160.

    Read More

  • Education and Women’s Social Roles

    1916 Words  | 4 Pages

    Solomon, Barbara. "In The Company of Educated Women, Women and the Modernizing of Liberal Education."

    Read More

  • Feminist Art Movement Analysis

    416 Words  | 1 Pages

    "Whilst some feminists have argued to be included in 'male stream' ideologies, many have also long argued that women are in important respects both different from and superior to men, and that the problem they face is not discrimination or capitalism but male power." (Bryson, 2003, p. 3). The feminist art movement is unclear in its description because some describe this movement as art that was simply created by women and others describe it as art with anti-male statements in mind. For the focal point of this paper, the goal will be to analyze several female artists and their works of art who influenced, and who are said to have made powerful influence both in the feminist art movement from a political and societal perspective, then and today. With that being said, we will start with the female artist Judy Chicago and a quote from her that calcifies her position as an artist. "I believe in art that is connected to real human feeling that extends itself beyond the limits of the art world to embrace all people who are striving for alternatives in an increasingly dehumanized

    Read More

  • Female Holocaust Experiences

    2263 Words  | 5 Pages

    ...locaust Girlhood Remembered. New York: Feminist Press at the City University of New York, 2001. Print.

    Read More

  • The Art Deco Image

    1122 Words  | 3 Pages

    Women have spent a large amount of time throughout the 20th century fighting for liberation from a patriarchal form that told them that they must be quiet and loyal to their husbands and fathers. For the duration of this essay, I will be discussing how the “Modern Woman” image that appeared through the Art Deco style — that emulated ideas such as the femme fatale and masqueraded woman, and presented new styles to enhance women’s comfortability and freedom — is still prevalent and has grown in contemporary art and design since. Overall I will describing to you how fashion, sexuality, and the newly emerged ‘female gaze’, and how these tie in together — in both periods of time — to produce what can be described as powerful femininity.

    Read More

  • Women in the Late 19th Century

    1218 Words  | 3 Pages

    Images of women throughout the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries have both shaped women’s outlook on their lives in the workplace, at home, and in politics, and have also encouraged change for them as individuals. While often times women are seen as weak individuals that have minor influence on society, artistic evaluations and various writings throughout history have successfully proved otherwise.

    Read More

  • lucy stone

    817 Words  | 2 Pages

    A college education is something that women take for granted today, but in the 1800’s it was an extremely rare thing to see a woman in college. During the mid 1800’s, schools like Oberlin and Elmira College began to accept women. Stone’s father did a wonderful thing (by 19th century standards) in loaning her the money to pay for her college education. Stone was the first woman to get a college education in Massachusetts, graduating from Oberlin College in 1843. Her first major protest was at the time of her graduation. Stone was asked to write a commencement speech for her class. But she refused, because someone else would have had to read her speech. Women were not allowed, even at Oberlin, to give a public address.

    Read More

  • Analysis Of Cassatt's The Child And Mother Nursing Her Child

    1035 Words  | 3 Pages

    Aristotle once claimed that, “The aim of art is to represent not the outward appearance of things, but their inward significance.” Artists, such as Louise-Elizabeth Vigée Le Brun and Mary Cassatt, captured not only the way things physically appeared on the outside, but also the emotions that were transpiring on the inside. A part no always visible to the viewer. While both artists, Le Brun and Cassatt, worked within the perimeters of their artistic cultures --the 18th century in which female artists were excluded and the 19th century, in which women were artistically limited-- they were able to capture the loving relationship between mother and child, but in works such as Marie Antoinette and Her Children and Mother Nursing her Child 1898,

    Read More

  • Allan Johnson The Gender Knot Analysis

    1115 Words  | 3 Pages

    “There is a double standard here that shapes our perceptions of men and women in ways that support patriarchy as a system. What is culturally valued is associated with masculinity and maleness and what is devalued is associated with femininity and femaleness, regardless of the reality of men’s and women’s lives”,( Johnson 64). In the movie Mona Lisa Smile, Betty’s mother was pressurizing Betty to make her husband read a poem at the wedding not just to act like he enjoyed the marriage but mainly because it was a tradition for men. When Betty said she didn’t care about it, her mother refused and still insisted that she should do it. Women are looked down upon when it comes to the assignment of gender roles and this is because of labels that the society has placed on the female gender. In a home, the father is always the head of the home, providing food and clothing for every family member but there are some women who like to be independent and would also love to work and make money and cater for the family. In the 19th century, women were told they were home makers and were not allowed to endeavor further in higher educational studies. Wellesley College was a college built to raise future wives and not future leaders meaning that society had already placed women below the ladder without any intention or thoughts of them climbing back

    Read More

  • The Lady of Luminosity: Henrietta Swan Leavitt

    1178 Words  | 3 Pages

    The androcentric view of history often fails to acknowledge the achievements of notable women who have made profound impacts that have revolutionized the way in which we see the world, as well as the universe. Although the modernized 21st century society is more apt to recognize the achievements of women with an equivocal perspective with men, it was not always so. During the early 20th century, women were consistently denied equality with men due to a perverse androcentric, male-dominated perspective that deemed women as subordinate and insignificant. This androcentric perspective limited the opportunities available to women at the time, leaving them only with domestic occupations that were deemed acceptable for women such as nurses, teachers or clerics. Very few women aspired for higher education, and even fewer achieved it. There were very few colleges that accepted women at the time, save for those erected for women alone. It is because of this, women rarely e...

    Read More

  • Women in Art and Their Role’s in Society

    813 Words  | 2 Pages

    Women have played many roles in societies since the dawn of time ever changing with time and from society to society. Each society hold a special place and role for women good and bad. Freedoms and equality of women has varied from opression to freedom. I will discuss some specific pieces of art and explain how the art shows the role of women in a specific society. I will tell you of their paril and achivements through time. Giving you a glimpse into the lives of women and how they were percieved by males and society. Some have have reveared women and some have disrespected them but through it all women have found a way to perservear. Women hold a place in history from culture to culture, and we see this in many pieces of art. From the art we can have a glimpse into a culture view of women and how they were treated in society.

    Read More

  • Analysis of the Inspirational Film, Mona Lisa Smile

    2055 Words  | 5 Pages

    The movie, “Mona Lisa Smile” is an inspirational film that explores life through feminism, marriage, and education lead by a modernist teacher at the end of a traditional era. It begins by introducing the lead character, Katherine Watson (Julia Roberts), a liberal-minded novice professor from California, who lands a job in the art history department at a snobbish, all-girl college, called Wellesley, in the fall of 1953. Despite warnings from her boyfriend Paul that a Boston Brahmin environment was out of her element, Katherine was thrilled at the prospect of educating some of the brightest young women in the country however, her image of Wellesley quickly fizzles after her first day of class, in which, was more like a baptism by fire. Her smug students flaunted their exhaustive knowledge of the text and humiliated her in front of a supervisor. However, Katherine, determined not to buckle under pressure, departs from the syllabus in order to regain the upper hand. She quickly challenged the girls’ idea of what constituted art and exposed them to modern artist not endorsed by the school board. She dared them to think for themselves, and explore outside of their traditional views. This form of art was unacceptable by the students at first however, overtime Katherine penetrated her student’s distain and earned their esteem.

    Read More

More about Film Review Mona Lisa Smile

Open Document