- Bina Shah is a member
of the Wellesley College Class of 1993.
When Revolution Studios announced the making
of “Mona Lisa Smile”, starring Julia Roberts,
Kirsten Dunst, Julia Stiles, and Maggie Gyllenhaal and
set at Wellesley College, the news greatly excited the
student body, faculty and administration, and the alumnae
of the College. Everyone hoped that the movie would
showcase not just the spectacular Wellesley campus,
but also the incredible spirit that makes Wellesley
one of the top academic institutions in the United States,
and arguably the world. Although the movie was set in
the 1950s, a time when American society required women
to perform primarily as wives, mothers, and homemakers,
Wellesley had always had wider expectations of its students,
challenging them to excel in academics, sports, the
arts, and in community service. Wellesley was different
from other “girls’ colleges”; it was
special because it recognized its students as intelligent,
capable women from the very beginning.
Wellesley College administrators
allowed the use of the Wellesley name and campus as
the name was in the public domain, and since the campus
is a source of pride for the Wellesley community, it
was better to allow the actual campus rather than some
other campus being filmed and then called “Wellesley”.
No one can dispute, looking at the finished product,
that the scenes of the College itself are indeed fantastic.
The movie included beautiful shots of Severance Hill,
which was the site of sledding during the winter, the
Galenstone Tower, from where the carillon chimed out
lovely tunes on gorgeous New England days, Next> |
