As you first read the title, you might think you are going to read about a Mona Lisa, some Mona Lisa, just another Mona Lisa, or the Mona Lisa! You might also expect your Mona Lisa to be introduced in a beautiful short story or even a daring article! What matters is that the following is about Mona Lisa! Beautiful, sophisticated, and embracing life to the fullest, Mona Lisa could be thought of as a good planner, a dangerous thinker, or simply a happy being…She might also represent the mysterious archetype that Da Vinci suggested, only to be mixed with the freedom of the feminist philosopher, De Beauvoir.
Mona Lisa could be the dream of her own dreams. She could have a larger-than-life free mind. Her freedom might well serve her being, only to exhibit love and gracefulness through her actions. Mona Lisa could be a feminist herself, and one that De Beauvoir would like to meet! Mona Lisa is as rhythmical as her name suggests. She dances to the beats of her own definitions. She is finely tuned to life, with all its highs and lows, expeditions and frontiers. Mona Lisa is a teacher! No. She is the new teacher of the upcoming days. She is the fresh and vital teacher that we would all love to attend her classes.
Mona Lisa Smile, Dangerous Minds, and Freedom Writers…Three big titles for three big production movies! In each, a female teacher takes the class to new chapters; special ones of course, because they’re out of the book. Out of the book, out of the box, out of…It doesn’t really matter as long as the students don’t get out of their minds! Each of Julia Roberts, Michelle Pfeiffer, and Hilary Swank does a great job by being the teacher who is a role-model, who fights for justice, who understands students’ fears and triggers their hopes instead and yet choses to address their individual needs. Each leaves her prints and makes a difference by simply being different.
The three actresses, who are among the most famous in Hollywood, have carefully indulged in the role of the teacher; each in her own way of course. This indulgence, however, is of no coincidence. It particularly shows their deep understanding of the teacher’s role and influence on students’ attitudes, perceptions, decisions, or more generally on their lives. They all showed how teachers touch tomorrow.
Julia Roberts plays the role of the liberal Art professor in the 1950s in Mona Lisa Smile. Through teaching Art Appreciation course, she strives to show the diverse roles a woman can have in life while pursuing a career or a dream, without necessarily restricting herself to being shaped by only a particular one; a housewife. Otherwise, as she shows the girls in her class, a woman would be a housewife and only a housewife, and will most probably end up being a desperate one too!
Michelle Pfeiffer plays the role of a teacher in the early 1990s who is a keen observer, a good listener, a quick decision maker, and a conflict resolution facilitator in Dangerous Minds. Being a white teacher, African-American high school students learn to accept being educated and lead by a progressive, pro-justice white educator. She deals with social problems that her students encounter such as drugs, teenage pregnancy, and gangs. Most importantly, she teaches her students to deal and live with the consequences of their deeds and the complexity of their situations.
In Freedom Writers, Hilary Swank demonstrates the enthusiasm of a teacher, also in the early 1990s, who struggles to earn the trust of a racially-segregated class who is disruptive and “at-risk”. She buys them composition books to record their diaries as a way to help them reconcile with negative past experiences they have had, such as the death of a friend, being abused, or evicted. She challenges the school administration to accept her unorthodox ways of teaching by accepting the true notion of education- its purpose and function in students’ lives.
Mona Lisa Smile, Dangerous Minds, and Freedom Writers…Joining the first word from each movie title results in the spirit of the new teacher: Mona Lisa’s Dangerous Freedom. That’s what the new students want to see in us, teachers. Students are looking for teachers who are not afraid to overcome the limitations of their own minds, who are willing to be caring, and who are dynamic and well… interesting. They want to listen to new stories, to be loved and be listened to in return, so they have enough reasons to love you back- you being their Mona Lisa, without being “a” Mona Lisa or “just another” Mona Lisa. So, be the Mona Lisa!
