Women in the Media #5

Today in class we watched a documentary called Miss Representation. Miss Representation is a 2011 America film that is a documentary. It was directed and produced by Jennifer Newsom. The film works to explore and expose the under- representation of women in the United States through the mass media. The documentary especially focuses on the under-representation of women that hold significant occupations such as political positions. The film explores how we inaccurately portray women as well as do not include them in our media production decisions.

The film interviews and displays the ideas and opinions of very powerful women throughout the film  including: Lisa Ling, Nancy Pelosi, Katie Couric, Dr. Jackson Katz, Condoleezza Rice, and many others.

I really enjoyed the film because I could relate to it so much. The film’s main theme or idea is that, “We can’t be what we can’t see”. Since I was age 12 I have been reading Seventeen magazine, Vogue, Glamour, watching chick flicks, and having social media’s such as tumblr, twitter, and facebook. The amount of media I have been bombarded with every single day since I was young in enormous. However, before watching this film I hadn’t exactly realized how much it effects your unconscious mind and how it can alter your self esteem, emotions, self worth, confidence, and body image. I could relate a lot to this film because I have had body image problems since I was young, and have always had that feeling that I am never enough. After watching this film it made me understand that I am not alone in the fight between my body and that over 75 percent of teenagers girls are dissatisfied with the way they look. I agree with the film that the main reason why many women feel this way and struggle everyday with these inner battles is because we are constantly surrounded by images of beautiful, skinny, and unrealistic women. These women are the ones we are looking up to when we try to compare ourselves to them. We give the media the power to control our minds by hating ourselves and striving to look like what we see. The sad truth is that these bodies are not attainable for many people and when they are, they are attained in unhealthy ways and by going to extremes with food restrictions or exercise which leads to eating disorders and psychological problems. Furthermore, the documentary talks about how it is hard for us to stop this problem because almost every single TV network’s CEOs and directors are men. Because men are the ones feeding us everything we see, we only see what they think is ideal, and what makes money.

·       We should be looking up to women who are not afraid to be who they are and who realize that there worth lies in what they make of their lives through their career, volunteer work, and relationships, not just their body. We should be looking up to women in congress who strive to make differences in the way people think. The film pointed out a startling fact to me that,  “Women make up 51 percent of the population.. however women comprise only 20 percent of congress”. It is apparent through statistics like this that we must strive to get women to be equally represented in all jobs as well as paid equally.  I would highly recommend this film to not only women but to all men as well. It is important for men to see because they need to realize that real women who are healthy and have kids, a family, a career, do not look like the models that they are constantly being showed. The only thing that I would possibly add to the film would be to discuss a little bit more about how women in other careers such as medicine, law, etc. are also under-represented, since the film discusses a lot about women in politics. Over all I would give this film a five out of five. It was very interesting and grabbed my attention from the very beginning. Also, it is probably one of the most important issues to be talked about since the problem is only getting worse due to more and more media.