This is my biggest impression after watching the film "Mona Lisa Smile", which tries to explore the issue of "feminism".
Katherine (Julia Roberts), a woman from California who has just completed her master's degree, comes to teach at Wesleyan Women's College in Massachusetts, known as the "Ivy League without men". Soon after, she discovered that the so-called good students in this school who were "excellent in both character and study" only focused on memorizing knowledge from textbooks, rather than thinking independently. The ultimate goal of these students' studies is not to gain more knowledge, but to find a good home, become a virtuous wife, and complete their "innate" mission of inheriting the family.
Catherine witnessed the conservative, stereotyped side of the school: Her colleague and roommate, the school nurse, was fired from the school board for giving condoms to a female classmate.
Before leaving, the nurse said to Catherine, the most frightening thing is that you don't know who is protecting, what is protecting, and who is protecting.
You don't know who your enemy is, how do you fight back? Your enemies may come from your colleagues, your students, from same-sex women, from any group that doesn't understand what you're doing.
So Catherine decided to challenge the conservative stereotypes of the school and the rigid thinking patterns of the local society. She adopted a new approach to teaching, and in her art history class, she moved away from the textbook to inspire new ways of thinking in her students. She inspires her students to think about questions like "what is art" that girls at Wesleyan have never thought about. She also introduced more works of contemporary art into the classroom, and these works of art that did not seem to be art at all brought great shock to the students.
Gradually, Katherine's teaching style was loved by the students, and while he still couldn't shake the school's conservative rules, the way she acted gave her students a new way of thinking about the future. Student Joan applied to Yale Law School with the help of Catherine; Connie changed her passive role in love and took the initiative to pursue love; Betty, who had always opposed Catherine, disregarded her mother's efforts to protect the family's reputation after her marriage failed. Advice, decided to choose a divorce.
At this point in the film, it seems to be a complete story: Catherine, a new-style woman with firm will and independence, brings her open concept to this conservative place, so that women here gradually have the will to pursue independence and freedom. This seems to have explained the concept of "feminism" very well, but a scene in the film gave me new inspiration.
The student Joan, who was influenced by Katherine earlier, gave up the opportunity to study law at Yale and chose to marry her beloved boyfriend.
In the face of Katherine's constant encouragement of her love and study, Joan said: "I am willing to make such a choice. You say I can choose whatever I want, then this is what I want.
" What is true "feminism", that is, being able to deeply recognize what you want in your heart and act bravely. Influenced by Katherine, Joan understood that she could have multiple choices in her future life path. She was not only an option to return to her family, but she could also choose to go to a prestigious university to study the law she liked. But after comparing various options, she finally chose to marry the person she loves, and the family is something she can't sacrifice. While the results were still the same as other women in the area, the difference was that it was a thoughtful and heartfelt choice.
What is the new woman? If only women who pursue careers and dreams can be called independent and free women, and housewives are considered ignorant, boring, and even sold their souls, then are women restricted to new ones again? Inside the box?
True feminism should be fully aware of the realization of self-worth, and maintain respect and understanding of the way of life of others. Many times the biggest limitation for women comes from women themselves. Women in Massachusetts in the 1950s believed that women should return home, and viewed people with different lifestyles as outliers, even losers among women. And when independence and freedom are regarded as the labels of "feminism", and when tradition is swept into the garbage heap of history recklessly, are women caught in a new round of "incomprehension"?
Fortunately, Catherine did not do this. Facing Joan's choice, she gave her an understanding hug. She doesn't share Joan's values, but she also respects the choices of others. At the same time, she also insisted on her own path, just like the Van Gogh who never sold a painting when he was alive - never compromise.
While living out oneself, don’t forget to have more understanding and tolerance for other women’s different ways of life, so as to achieve true female liberation.
View more about Mona Lisa Smile reviews
