Mona Lisa Smile...

My classmates and I watched a movie entitled ‘Mona Lisa Smile’ in our tutorial class. It is the first movie we watched for this semester. The movie was quite long about two hours. This movie was released seven years ago and I wasn’t interested to watch it that time because it was not related to me in any way but now that I am going to be a teacher next year I feel this movie touched me in some way or other.
The lead actress is Julia Roberts who is Katherine Watson, an arts teacher who asks the students to view arts from their own perspective and not from the book. The movie teaches me that I should never let my students to conform to the society and lock up their talent in a closet. This movie is taken in the 1950’s where the ladies main aim is to get married and take care of their family no matter how talented they are in any other fields. Miss Katherine Watson asked a brilliant student if she had a chance to continue studying for law, which University she would like to go. The girl answered Yale and the next day Miss Katherine gave her an admission form to go to Yale. The girl applied for it and she did get it but she chose to get married and have a family. They are very conservative. This is a girl from the 50’s which is far more different from nowadays where most girl’s dream of getting married would be last in the list after getting what they want first in their life especially education. Education is very important in this 21st century and it has nothing to do with gender. Women are seen as equal with man even though discrimination does occur slightly here and there but what matters is that education is needed by both man and women.
Miss Katherine encourages her students to study to become career professionals. She wants her students to lead the world and not just to live as the wife of somebody. She uses modern art to suggest that they need not conform to female stereotype. She feels that women can do more than solely adopt the roles of wives and mothers. Although many are initially put off by Watson's style, as the film progresses, more students begin to admire her, including Betty, despite being her most vehement critic.
I liked this movie because I can use some of the values used in this movie in my future when I become a teacher. This movie inspired me in a way where I can tell myself that anything is possible. All students need some motivation and confidence given to them by the teacher and they will become the best in their own way no matter how head strung they are. This is seen from one of the student Betty. This is a must watch movie!