JOURNAL/WEEK 9- MONA LISA SMILE

Mona Lisa Smile was set in the early 1950’s.In this movie Julia Roberts stars as Katherine Watson who had graduated recently from UCLA and was hired to teach Art History in a prestigious all-female Wellesley College. She accepted the job only to discover her students were in college to prepare themselves to become wives and mothers.
Katherine Watson was determined to make an impression and shake up their orderly lives, she began teaching the young women to rebel against their restraints, to think for themselves and to look further beyond their limitations .It is evident that times have really changed. Take education for instance, education for women in the pre World War 2, era was privileged to the rich and elite of the society whilst in the 21st century educating a woman is a priority, as a result, women have become more intelligent and ambitious with very high self esteem enabling them to compete with their male counterparts for top jobs that were previously mostly male dominated. The significance of choice cannot be under estimated .In relation to contraceptives and abortion, there is freedom of choice. Women have a choice to have their babies or not to have them depending on their circumstances. Some parts of the USA have actually legalized abortion. Women use contraceptives freely without any intimidation or fear being stigmatised as used to be the case in the 1950’s.The advent of technology has also brought considerable change into the lives of women, for example computers, cell phones, electric cookers and hot water systems, just to name a few. Keyboards have also made typewriters a thing of the past. Services like child care are invaluable to working mothers .Despite the foregoing, most women place a high priority on marriage, husbands, keeping house and raising children. Some women trade off career advancement and higher earnings ,for a job that offers flexibility to manage family responsibilities .It can be said without exaggeration that women are enslaved to the roles they play in the lives of their families, most women cannot leave home without feeling guilty about leaving their children alone. A woman’s life before the 1960’s had been difficult, they were denied basic rights, trapped in the home and discriminated against in the workplace. The redemption came in the 1960’s with the formation of the women’s liberation movements and other Feminist groups. These feminist movements championed the course of women for better employment and equal wages with their male counterparts, a woman’s right to vote just to name a few. Irrespective of all these struggles, women have placed their priorities with their families over their liberation,thus becoming financially and emotionally dependent on their spouses.
In view of these, most women have become victims of one form of abuse or the other,
ending up with miserable and unfufilled lives.The presence of men smoking cigars was a clear indication that the film was set in the 1950’s, it was the vogue for men of the elite society at the time.Wallpaper used in decorating the walls, the ‘Elizabethan’ clothes worn by the women, their hats, and the way they carried themselves portrayed the style of the 1950’s,the slide projector used by Katherine in class and the music also showed the style of the 1950's.