By Ericka Mejia, Year 12
As recommended to me by Priya Roy, editor-in-chief of the LGB Express, I watched the movie “Mona Lisa Smile”, which stars Julia Roberts and features an all-star cast. It is about a new teacher at a renowned all-girls university in the mid 1900’s.
“What is art? What makes it good or bad and who decides?”
These were questions asked by Ms. Katherine Watson to her students at Wellesley College in 1953. During her first lesson as an art history teacher there she didn’t manage to teach the girls anything because it turns out they had all memorized the syllabus beforehand. So she had to change her approach completely and strived to teach her students to think for themselves, to decide for themselves, not only on art-related things, but also in more important matters such as who they wanted to be.
Throughout the movie, Ms. Watson challenges society’s claim that a woman must be submissive and that her only purpose is to cook and clean for her family. She is described as subversive and is confronted by other staff members about her progressive views, but despite what everyone else tells her she refuses to change and continues to support her students to not get married so young (as is custom at the time) and to properly finish their studies. She is very liberal and this causes her to come into conflict with students who are genuinely happy getting married when they finish university.
The movie also focuses on four main students: Betty Warren, Joan Brandwyn, Giselle Levy, and Connie Baker. Of these, Betty and Joan are the main young women used to convey the main themes of this movie, which are feminism, marriage, and education.
Joan is accepted into a prestigious university, but she is also engaged to her long-time boyfriend Tommy. Katherine encourages her to pursue a career in law and even discovers a campus close to her home that would be suitable for Joan to study at, as well as allow her to fulfill her duties as a housewife. Her fiancé, on the other hand, doesn’t think that would work, stating that it would be “an awful long commute to get dinner on the table by five”. Joan does not have to choose, as it is possible for to have both a family and a career, but she decides that she does not want to juggle both, she just wants to do what makes her happy. In the end, Joan makes a decision and tells her beloved teacher “You said I could do anything I wanted. This is what I want.”.
Betty gets married halfway through the year and expects to be exempted from going to class and doing work, as most newly-wed girls usually are at the university. However, Katherine won’t have it and demands she do the work, as all other students must.
Later, Betty discovers something devastating about her husband, her mother tells her that she just has to live with it because divorce is not an option and a woman should be submissive to her husband no matter what. As she stares at a picture of the Mona Lisa, she tells her mother, “She’s smiling. Is she happy? She looks happy, so what does it matter?”. These statements basically encompass what the whole movie is about: the role of a woman in society and the appearances she is expected to keep up, despite her unhappiness.
Betty represents the conformity of some women to society, those who got married young even if it didn’t make them truly happy. She is a complex character that develops throughout the movie and even when she is angry and hurt and says cruel things to her friends, they show her true solidarity as fellow women and give her a shoulder to cry on.
I will not spoil the ending because I really recommend this movie to all of you, and I give it 3.5-4 stars out of 5. It was thought-provoking and puts feminism in a different light, in a way that it should be viewed.
Feminism should not mean the condoning of women who sincerely want to be housewives and have a family because it makes them happy.
Overall, this movie shows that every woman should be allowed to do what she wants.
If she wants to stay at home and take care of her family, that’s great.
If she wants to go out and pursue a career, that’s also great.
As long as she contributes to society and, more importantly, as long as she is happy, she should be allowed to pursue whatever activity she likes.
Don’t ever let others tell you who to be, just be the best you you can be.
As Betty Warren wisely said, “To change for others is to lie to yourself.”
