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Mona lisa smile feminist critique
Mona lisa smile the movie gender roles
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Sequence Analysis: Dead Poets Society and Mona Lisa Smile
The Behaviour of the Students: In both movies, we see a lot of how the students interact amongst themselves. In Dead Poets Society, we see the boys running around and being playful and friendly with one another. We also see them building a radio, having their “study sessions,” and, eventually, resurrect the Dead Poets club and attend the meetings that follow. The boys are friendly with each other overall, with little to no feuds in most of the movies duration. They also show more openness to Mr.Keating and what he has to teach the students. In contrast, throughout Mona Lisa Smile, we learn a lot less about what the girls might be interested in doing with their free time. We see them
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So in this case, when we see the girls participating in activities mostly surrounding their futures with their husbands and fitting into the ‘trophy wife’ depiction, we side with Watson in thinking the girls should want more out of their lives because society is less inclined to the idea that a woman’s job is strictly to take care of her husband and children. Because Watson defies these ideas in the movie and is presented as if she came out of our own time and because the girls only look to amount to what is expected of them, we see them as unambitious to our standards of what living is, and because of their behaviour towards each other and their teacher, we see them as rude and snobby and thus become attached to Ms.Watson as someone more relatable to the audience. Although Dead Poets Society is set in the late 1950s (released in 1989), these times don 't seem to matter as much about why the characters do what they do. Although there are expectations put on the boys, they are less clear and specific and have more to do with successfulness in work later in life. The movie focuses more on their interests in activities and we see the boys rebelling in small ways against their expectations and authority. A scene where two of the boys …show more content…
Dead Poet Society’s Welton Academy being an all boys school and Mona Lisa Smile’s Wellesley College, an all girls school. You could almost tie many of the differences in the plot of these films into the difference in gender; especially with the time periods these movies are set in. Because they focus on singular genders you do not see the issue of conflicting feminist views in Dead Poets Society but instead the boys artistic wants, and in Mona Lisa Smile you that is what the main focus is. Mona Lisa Smile’s attention is on the societal ideas of what a woman’s life will pan out to be and how Katherine Watson encourages the girls she teaches to want more out of life than just to take care of a husband and raise a few children. This movie expresses a lot of the conflict leading into feminist movements at the time. Even though we see a lot of young men throughout the movie in relation to the girls, we mostly see how unaffected they are by Ms. Watson’s views and how they expect that these girls, who they plan to marry, will do just as they, and everyone else expect them to. This is significant because it shows just how powerful societal norms and influenced wants are and how breaking things of tradition seems like a foreign concept. Tradition is something that is seen as never changing. Obviously, to society in 2003, we feel that they are the absurd ones. To the audience it looks as though
Can you recall the very last night that you spent with your high school buddies before packing your bags and leaving for college? The films American Graffiti and Dazed and Confused bring you back to that through the recreation of those great experiences. American Graffiti is based on a closely-knit group of teenagers who will all be leaving each other the next day for new adventures. This gang of teenagers, despite their differences, all goes out together and share their last memorable evening. Throughout the night, friendships are strengthened, conflicting struggles arise, and romances are created and disrupted. Dazed and Confused dealt about life during wartime – the wartime of high school, where the faculty is irrational, the parents are
The second scene of the film opens up to Vincent Vega and Jules Winnfield drivi...
Discriminating gender roles throughout the movie leaves one to believe if they are supposed to act a certain way. This film gives women and men roles that don’t exist anymore, during the 60s women were known to care for the family and take care of the house, basically working at home. However, a male was supposed to fight for his family, doing all the hard work so his wife didn’t have too. In today’s world, everyone does what makes them happy. You can’t tell a woman to stay at home, that makes them feel useless. Furthermore, males still play the roles of hard workers, they are powerful compared to a woman. However, in today’s world a male knows it isn’t right to boss a woman around, where in the 60s, it happened, today women have rights to do what they want not what they are
Feminism is evident throughout the typical gender stereotypes such as the ‘perfect’ girls are the blonde, skinny ones. When students are asked about their thoughts on ‘the plastics’ in the beginning of the movie, they tell that they are preppy and attractive. The stereotypes in this movie cause hurt feelings and discrimination towards all of the females. Girls were also viewed as sex symbols based on their looks and physical appearance, not their ability and intelligence. In the movie, most of the girls are known for copying ‘the plastics’ look which is usually short skirts and tank tops making the outfit look provocative. Another example is on Cady’s first day of highschool, she is asked if ‘her muffin is buttered’ which is a sexual question. Feminism is definitely shown throughout the female characters personalities and
The women in the book seem to take up important and powerful roles that make significant change in the key areas of the narrative. The writer asserts that women can be independent, intelligent, assertive, and similar to the men, women can survive in the street by being smart. This is illuminated by the fact that a majority of women in the book are good hackers. The skills and character of the women help in discovering the cure for the virus. They are given roles that are not traditional and instead they take on leadership positions that are a great determinant of the success of the mission. This is unlike the notion in most scientific novels that leaves out women. This is portrayed by one of the major characters Y.T who worked hand in hand with the protagonist of the novel to bring out different skills and talents of women. In the book, we see Y.T talk on behalf of his partner, which shows stereotyping of gender in leadership. “Y.T. has to step in on his behalf. “Okay, “she says. “Speaking for my partner and myself, we 'll stay away from him” (Stephenson,
During this time period there was a very distinct line of gender roles. Women were viewed as homemakers, while the men were seen as the money-makers. Women did work and go to school just like men, however, women were given easy labor – front office type of work, and men took on more mighty and powerful careers. This was a drastic change in pace for women as they were forced to work hard laborious jobs during the industrialization era a few years prior to this time. Caulfield may not have wanted to accept the lifestyle that society was encouraging at that time, although, he did appear accepting of the gender roles that were being imposed. This can be seen during a date with his on-again off-again flame Sally Hayes, he attempts to pitch a juvenile idea that they do not have to live this life of conformity and they could just run away together. He makes promises that he will find work and home for them and perhaps get married. Sally points out to Holden that they are merely children and these types of acts are not possible as they need to obtain a college education before they can run off and get married. She also mentions that if Holden was unable to find a job they would starve, which implies to this author that they two of them believed heavily in the idea of the man working and the woman being dependent of the man. Other examples of gender roles can be seen throughout this novel.
A change in feminism is shown between Wollstonecraft’s essay and Young’s essay. As women first demanded rights, they were coming out of complete dependence on men. Wollstonecraft and other activists fought for the basic right of education for women. As women gained liberty, they began to oppress themselves in the Third Wave of feminism. Wollstonecraft focused on the basic rights of women in her paper, saying “They must be permitted to turn to the fountain of light, and not forced to shape their course by the twinkling of a mere satellite” (Wollstonecraft 5). Here Wollstonecraft is saying that women need to be given the opportunity to get a good education, not just be taught by what their husbands tell them, so they could be their better selves.
Jane Austin, author of Pride and Prejudice, is critical of the gender injustices and portrays that through her character. The women in Pride and Prejudice are dependent on men for social status and financial security. The women either needed to be born into the social high class or they have to get married to have social status and wealth. Men vi...
Basically the Victorian era sucked for women. During the beginning they were expected to be smart, but to not have an opinion. They were to be beautiful, yet act and appear virginal. Women were also
In a lot of works, especially those of the early 20th century, women can be shown as mere stereotypes, and also lacking the values of a whole character, in other words, they are incomplete. In Gatsby, the reader is introduced to Daisy rather early in the novel. She is presented to Nick as a beautiful young woman, who has been chased after her entire life by an endless number of men. Daisy was viewed as very seductive and desirable, but the way it was written allowed her to have a sort of childlike innocence. “There was an excitement in her voice that men who had cared for her found it difficult to forget,” (14). Not only did she possess very beautiful physical qualities, but just the way she talked and cared for people gave the impression that she was far from the stereotypical female. Daisy seemed very independent; she would not settle for just anyone. Issues Daisy had with Tom are shown, but the reason she is staying with him first seems to be because of her child or simply because she cares too much; this still doesn’t create the anti-feminist environment seen as a whole. If feminism was examined after chapter one, the book would seem very pro feminism. Both Daisy and Jordan were very different from other ordinary females of this time era, but as the novel completed itself, the true twisted, and selfish intentions of Daisy are brought out through her interactions with
...thing her mother told her, and took her beliefs very seriously. Giselle even talked about her parents splitting up after her father returned from the war. She explained that things just were not the same. Society was going through a tremendous change, and affecting the lives of everyone. “Mona Lisa Smile” is a great reminder of what it was like to live when a woman did not have a voice. However, if this movie were to take place on a campus today, society would not have played a factor in the movie. Both women and men would be equal on campus, and their educations would be held of equal value. In today’s society, it is very important for a female to educate herself and to have a career. We are a feminist society in that all people should be treated equally however, sometime we could all use a Katherine Watson in our lives, as a reminder that women do have a voice.
Film Review of Dead Poets Society Dead Poets Society explores the conflict between realism and romanticism as these contrasting ideals are presented to the students at an all boys preparatory school. Welton Academy is founded on tradition and excellence and is bent on providing strict structured lessons prescribed by the realist, anti-youth administration. John Keating is a new English teacher with a passion for poetry. When he returns to his own strict childhood school to teach, his unconventional methods quickly prove to be inspirational to a group of students. He inspires them to pursue their desires and live life to the fullest.
Wollstonecraft expresses how gender roles in society, do in fact create social problems, because unequal relationships are formed, focusing on what is expected of women and men separately, not a society as a whole. I agree with her fight of feminism, believing that men and women should have equal rights and opportunities. I also agree that education definitely plays a huge role in shaping an individual, which is why still today, children are required to attend school, to learn the fundamentals of what is important in life and set them up for what is ahead of them after school is finished. Clearly the equality of men and women has been a topic of discussion since the world began, always fighting for the same respect that men get. If you think about it, back then, women were always being taught how to be the most attractive they can be and abide by their husbands wishes. Now, women have more freedom of speech and more power in intimate relationships but a woman’s body is used as a sex object for increased popularity in advertisements and
As previously mentioned, inferiority perceptions and obstacles for women remain prevalent in the twenty-first century. Although substantial progress has been made with regards to the educational opportunities for women, as well as educating both men and women to view women with equal regard, we have yet to achieve parity among genders. In particular, “Contemporary feminists, such as Catherine MacKinnon, argue that the law and society’s political institutions are based on male assumptions, such that women can never achieve equality within them” (Tannenbaum, 2012, p. 220). Additionally, the recent focus on gender socialization directly relates to Wollstonecraft’s writings. In fact, she may be one of the first philosophers to establish the foundation for studying gender socialization through her assertions from two hundred years ago, “the character of women was artificial, and a consequence of the roles society defines for them” (p. 213a). Tannenbaum’s summary of Wollstonecraft’s A Vindication of the Rights of Women, reads as though it’s from a current Sociology course in gender equality and diversity. “Women are fond of dress and gossip; are helpless, emotional, weak; and act like children, not because it is there nature, but because they are educated or trained this way” (p. 213b). Wollstonecraft’s assertions were revolutionary when taking into account the historical context of her vision. Hence, both genders can benefit from studying her feminist perspective, then contemplating how her vision has evolved over time in society, as well as advocating for its continued
"The Dead Poet’s Society" is a movie about a group of kids. The conflict, characters, plot and theme are very interesting. So now I am going to tell you a little about it.