Mona Lisa Smile (2003) is a motion picture that depicts a woman named Katherine Ann Watson who travels from sunny, liberal Southern California to the cold, and traditionally conservative campus known as Wellesley College in order to teach art history. It is at this institution where women are taught some academics (art, languages, history, etc.), but the underlining purpose of Wellesley is to teach the girls who attend how to be a good wife- to thrive domestically.
Ms. Katherine Watson (played by Julia Roberts) was criticized by many at Wellesley for being too liberal. Rather than sticking to the syllabus that was originally given to her in order to teach the art history course, she talked about and showed the class more contemporary pieces. One of the main characters, Betty Warren, publicly humiliated Ms. Watson in an article in the school newspaper, stating that Ms. Watson had “declared war on the sacrament on marriage, she had subversive and political thinking that taught Wellesley girls to reject the roles they were born to fulfill”.
Watson challenged this article by questioning the recent ads (from the era- the 1950s) in class the day that the article was released to the students. One advertisement in particular that was displayed to the class that day was one about girdles. The woman in the picture was wearing one and looked ecstatic, as if it was the best article of clothing she owns. Under this captioning is a quote that reads “A girdle to set you free”. Ms. Watson expressed to the class that day that she can’t understand how a woman who graduates from Wellesley can simply decide to stay at home cooking and cleaning all day. Katherine was deeply offended by this article. She had no intention of ruining the “roles women were born to fill” mindset of some of the students at Wellesley by instilling wisdom and excellence into her students.
Mona Lisa Smile also illustrated the lives of the girls whom Ms. Katherine Watson taught. These beautiful ladies lived together in the dormitories and participated in various college social events as well. One of these students, Joan is an extremely bright and talented girl who expressed interest in going to law school after graduating from Wellesley. She informs Ms. Watson of her desire and she helps Joan acquire an application and provided any other vital information for the admissions process.
The audience learns later on in the film that Joan chooses being a housewife over early admission to Yale University’s Law School. When she informed Katherine that she and her fiancé had eloped, Katherine insisted that she could do both- be married and go to law school. Joan stood her ground and explained that getting married is something that she really wanted. She went on to tell Ms. Watson that she had instilled in her that she could achieve anything she wanted and that getting married and having a family is something that she truly wanted.
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