Mona Lisa Smile

Mona Lisa Smile is a real mirror of the period (1950’s) and a tribute to the Wellesley women who were the pioneers in terms of going out and forging paths and shoving their way into businesses that didn't want them. They were the generation who went out into the world and made a change."

At the Wellesley library, there was a photo from a 1956 issue of The Wellesley News that seemed to encapsulate the dilemma facing women of the era. It was a snapshot of a young woman in a smart dress and pearls with a frying pan in one hand and a book in the other. The headline was something like 'Survey Shows Married Women Make the Best Students'. What a mixed message. On the one hand, the school boasted that its academic standards for women were on a par with male institutions like Harvard. But there was a P.S.: 'A woman's main purpose in life is still to get married.'

Thematically that's really the heart of the movie. It's about what we see on the surface - of society, of these women's lives - and what's really going on underneath. Each of the female characters presents a facade, but as soon as we think we have them pegged, they surprise us, even Katherine.

In addition, we think the Mona Lisa works as an icon for women. Most people giggle when they see it. They know it's very expensive and valuable, more something to own than to understand. And that's exactly what Katherine is trying to warn her students against - being turned into a 'pretty, valuable object' on some corporate executive's arm, an expensive piece of property.

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In the film, Katherine Watson brings to her class not just a new way of seeing things, but an inspiration to seek out whole new modes of perceiving the worls – and one’s place in it. The quest for new ways of seeing can begin anywhere, with any inspiring person. This page is an opportunity for you to write about someone who inspired you to find new ways of seeing the world. You can use anyone who affected you – someone close to you, someone you read about, or someone you may have known from a distance. Artists, scientists, singers, politicians, or even your parents, anyone you feel has helped you forge your own art of living.

Official website:

http://www.sonypictures.com/homevideo/monalisasmile/title-navigation-1.html

Enjoy it!