But I digress.
Unlike most of my meandering visits to the video store, last night I walked those DVD-lined corridors with purpose. My mission: I must find An Education (2009). The film follows Jenny (played by the wonderfully enchanting Carey Mulligan), a smart, sophisticated girl whose imagination and intelligence surpass her status as a young woman in 1960s Britain. Jenny dreams of a world in which the greatest of novels always linger at her fingertips, classical concerts never end, and fine art hangs in every room. These fantasies are constantly dismissed by her practical parents (Alfred Molina and Cara Seymour) and her rigid headmistress (Emma Thompson. Need I say more about the film? It has Emma Thompson! Go watch it!). All of the adults in Jenny's life seem to live without passion, drive, or brilliance...
Until she meets David (the finally top-billed Peter Sarsgaard), a dashing, charismatic older man who offers to bring her into his world of jazz clubs, whirlwind trips to Paris, and anti-bourgeois philosophy. Now Jenny must navigate through two worlds: the world she's told to want and the world she's always wanted in spite of its dangers. Both choices come at a steep price but Jenny must finally learn the best way to get an education.
Okay. The summary ends there.
Now, I honestly loved the film! I don't want to say too much--you really should see this one for yourself--but the whole endeavor earned a solid B+ in my book. The acting was undoubtedly top-notch. Sarsgaard brings his A game, romancing me until I found myself hoping Jenny ditched her stodgy future at Oxford just for him, and Molina finds the perfect balance between the humorously out-of-touch parent and the truly caring dad. Thompson is perfect (obviously) in each of her brief though poignant scenes and Olivia Williams delivers a treat of a performance as Jenny's concerned English teacher Miss Stubbs. Nevertheless, it was Carey Mulligan who stole the show and I think it's an unavoidable fact that Miss Mulligan promises to rise to the head of her generation of young British actresses. The script offers a fresh portrayal of unconventional romance and the loss of sexual innocence. Though it occasionally drifts into the realm of moralizing tones, the story's message about the value (or lack thereof) of women's education was refreshingly contemporary.
Although An Education takes place in the 1960s, Jenny's opinions regarding the post-graduation value of female education are still overwhelming relevant in contemporary society. Fifty years later, I find that people of both genders question the extent to which women should be educated, for what purposes that education be used, and the ways in which women should vocally articulate the intelligence they possess. These issues have been at the forefront of my thoughts in recent years and I find that I still have no proper way to discuss the problems at hand. I attend Bryn Mawr College, a small, all-women's liberal arts college outside Philadelphia, PA. A Seven Sister school, Bryn Mawr College was founded in 1885 as an equivalent to the then all-male Ivy League universities. Bryn Mawr's emphasis on rigorous education and the ceaseless pursuit of knowledge in an environment free of sexism has not wavered once in all these years.
I have a deep--bordering on profound--love for my college. My appreciation for single-sex education grows exponentially with each passing year and, indeed, I now find myself believing that every woman with access to an all-women's education should experience it, if at all possible. Unfortunately, while at Bryn Mawr, I forget the outside world, the "real" world, and its opinion about outspoken, competitive women. When did "feminism" become such a dirty word? Why do the men at nearby colleges attend Bryn Mawr parties just to treat us like sex-starved pieces of meat? Why does it become more acceptable for Bryn Mawr women to be opinionated once we've been pigeon-holed as a "bunch of hairy lesbians"? And moreover, why do so many people think that my appreciation of my all-women's college is "just a phase"?
Watching An Education, I found myself identifying intensely with Jenny and her quest to find a world where her intelligence and independence could be accepted by those around her. Her parents couldn't understand her desire to attend Oxford unless she maintained the ulterior motive of securing a husband and even David and his "progressive" friends couldn't truly accept her presence without her romantic connection to an older, more experienced man. Half a century later, I return home from college to find myself plagued by questions like, "Are you dating yet?", "Are you at least going to attend a graduate school where there are men?", and "How are you ever going to get married and have children when you attend a school with only girls?"
It's exhausting. And it feels ridiculous! If the purpose of higher education is simply to ensure that females discover husbands and that they eventually take up the torch of the domestic sphere, why do female students even bother? Why are we not just put up for auction (an auction house being the meaningful location of Jenny and David's second date)? Why is it so difficult to understand that many female students--like Jenny--want an education to have an education? Sometimes it feels like female education is just one highly expensive sham. Adults today pay grossly exorbitant tuition fees to send their daughters to the best schools and thus appear to respect the intelligence and drive of young women. But underneath all this, they maintain the singular importance of marriage and, by extension, the idea that men must lead in a relationship in terms of both education accrued and careers possessed.
At the end of the day, I find that I have no answers just more questions. Indeed, I feel I only have the Bryn Mawr motto: "Veritatem Dilexi."
"I delight in the truth."
And I do.
No comments:
Post a Comment