Mona Lisa Smile Take 2
Note: I accidently published then deleted my post on this movie before finishing my commentary, and so unfortunately I've lost it and the comment Amy left for me.Nevertheless, I still believe it's worth $8.50 to see, especially for the homeschooled girl.
Amy, you said "by all appearances it seems like feminist hype" or something along those lines. If you wish to base judgement entirely on appearances than that is the correct assumption you could make. And indeed, that was my assumption and my expectation, before actually paying my $8.50 to see it. Perhaps I had a biased view exiting the movieplex and did not coherently interpret the film, but I don't think it's entirely propoganda like the Wall Street Journal makes it out to be. Yes, you can make the argument that the main character was anti-family/marriage but that really wasn't the point of the film. And there was only one character who hinted at being lesbian. (Actually the gal I saw the movie with didn't even catch the major hint.)
The film reached me on two levels: as a woman and as an artist.
I don't even know how I can sufficiently explain the parallel I saw between the film and my own life situation. In my background, girls were not encouraged (at least in the beginning) to attend college and instead plan their lives around a phantom knight who may or may not knock at their door, but that is a minor detail, because the phantom represents their future. Minus the fact that the film takes place at Wellesley College, a prestigious girl's college (cancelling the whole anti-college aspect), the situation is exactly the same as 1950s culture. The girls in the film base their expectations, their foundations, and their idea of happiness in marriage. They are stuck in the rut of tradition and the traditional expectations their parents place upon them as society's ladies. You simply cannot deny the parallel to many conservative homeschooling communities. There is the expectation, and though some parents may deny it, at least there's sufficient amounts of peer pressure, to marry, have 10 kids, homeschool them, wear large collar blouses, join the local health food co-op, and raise your kids to do exactly the same. It's the "cooking, cleaning, and childbearing" stamp that's placed on many conservative girls growing up, and if they don't conform to the mold, they're cast aside as lesser women. If they dare think outside of the box, much less think for themselves, it's scandalous. But as many of us would agree, that's simply not reality.
The culture Julia Roberts battles when she joins Wellesley faculty as art history professor is the same culture I fight against when I defend myself and my college attendance. We're just 50 years behind schedule.
There is no overt, in-your-face feminism in the film that screams "female dominance." It's simply a challenge to tradition and an honest evalution of what is reality, or rather what is assumed to be reality, and the question of whether a modern woman can find the balance between being individual and being feminine.
The film focuses on several students, but two in particular and their reaction to Julia's teaching and their response to tradition.
Kirsten Dunst plays Betty, the ultimate society lady who makes marrying her goal, with all the bells and whistles too, please. She is the one we all know (and have been once or twice too) who dreams of her wedding day and idolizes the marriage phantom in her mind. Well Betty gets married and discovers it's not all it's cracked up to be. She's slapped with the reality that dreams and true happiness are not synonymous, because she has completely wrapped her feminine identity in marital bliss. But when a girl does not have an accurate understanding of and confidence in who she is as an individual, girl + boy - individual confidence = entangled disaster! This is the sad fate of Betty, who winds up declaring to her appearance driven mother that divorce is the only escape from her unhappy, sticky mess.
Joan, the Julia Stiles character, is another girl who also dreams of getting married one day. That too is her ultimate desire, but her journey there is vastly different from Betty's. The audience can see Joan's growth as a individual thinker and our confidence in her builds as she builds confidence in herself. Julia Roberts encourages her to apply to Yale law school to which Joan is accepted. She's then faced with the choice: boy or Yale? Of course, she chooses the boy, and when she does she makes an enormous stand for the rightness of marriage and challenges Roberts's stereotype of the unintellectual, frill and pearl clad housewife. She's the girl we all cheer for because she's smart, beautiful, and stands before the world and says, "I know I'm smart. I know I'm beautiful. I still just want to get married."
The film is not about feminism, it's about the journey girls take to discover themselves, their dreams and their potential, and what they have to do when faced with tradition. Sometimes tradition is a good thing, and sometimes tradition is simply tradition. It's a film which says it's OK to think outside the established box. Sometimes a girl has to look beyond it to discover and define what really makes her clock tick as a person. Without examination, ideals, tradition, and expectation are like a rainbow, which no doubt is very beautiful at first sight. But how is a girl going to know that the pot of gold really doesn't exist at the end of it if she doesn't get up and do a little exploration on her own. That funny little leprachaun certainly isn't going to divulge the secret!
I truly wish all homeschooled girls could see this film. When my ideas and opinions are scoffed at because I'm a girl, my blood boils inside of me. My chest tightens and I can't breathe. This film touched the release button on all those emotions and stifled thoughts that are often kept bottled up and like champagne, they burst in a stream when freed from pressure. I wanted to walk, no run, out of there and yell, "Yes, I'm right! I am not a horrible person! IT'S OK TO THINK! IT'S OK TO HAVE AN OPINION! AND YES, IT'S OK TO MARRY!!"
Maybe the finding the balance between the two types of womanhood is more elusive than I imagine. Maybe Joan is the unattainable heroine. I don't know, but finding it is worth a try. I want more than anything to be a wife and mother, because I won't deny that is where I can be most fulfilled as a woman. But I wouldn't trade my individuality and the experiences I've had that have taught me to think and to stand on my own for all the glitzy kitchens in all the world! Even if it had granite countertops!
I encourage girls to see the film, but only if they'll see it with the open mind that it might actually apply to their 21st century lives. Yes, it's foolish to absorb it all and to not sift out the bad from the good. But I think it's worse to toss good out because the cover smells badly. Please let me know what you think of the film, I'd love to hear your take.
Oh and the artistic aspect of the film is equally stimulating and touches the core of my passion, but I think I'll save that for another day.
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