In her article ‘Sick of impossible princesses, real girls fight back’, (The Age 19/01/2008), Jill Starks presents that the media does not present realistic images of woman in the media. In a discrediting tone she persuades the reader by firstly having a visual as well as anecdotes and real people’s experiences.…
“Miss Representation” is a documentary film written, directed, and produced in 2011 by Jennier Siebel Newsom, a filmmaker, an actress, and an advocate for women. The film focuses on how the American women have been wrongly portrayed by the media; hence, it results in the gender inequality, the lack of female in politics, and women’s misperception about their identity. The targeted audience of this film is all American people, who are convinced to change their mind about stereotypes of women. Jennier effectively convinces the audience that the mainstream media has mainly contributed to the under-representation of women through the use of statements claimed by highly educated, experienced cast members, emotional appeals to its target audience,…
Women struggle daily in order to meet the unrealistic standards of beauty. In the beginning of the music video, Beyonce and the other women are seen doing their hair and makeup and choosing their outfits. In the article, “No More Miss America,” feminists protest that, “women…
Miss Representation was an accurate depiction of the media’s influence in our society, especially in women. The film showed how women are subjected in the media, in particular the mass media, and how the development of young women is altered by the media. This film was entered in the 2011 Sundance Film Festival and achieved praise from many viewers and critics. This is why I selected to review Miss Representation.…
Media has a big influence on society and the way media provides this information shapes what is the norm. The young women of today spend most of their free time on the Internet. Young women see what the media produces as the norm and convert it into their own lives. Therefore, mainstream media negatively influences women. According to this documentary, 53% of thirteen-year-old girls are displeased with their bodies. This can lead to eating disorders, cutting, or self harm. Women have a difficult time dealing with confidence when they are not allowed by society to feel powerful or influential in their own…
Media depicts women in a subordinate role in relation to men. Media objectifies hyper-sexualized representations of women in order to appeal to the male viewer. Codes of Gender unveils methods used in photography to perpetuate the idea that females are dehumanized subordinate objectified figures. These codes or methods include various actions, poses, or positions female models are forced to perform. For example, the feminine touch, the bashful knee bend, the head tilt, poses lying down, etc. all of which subordinate the female figure in relation to men. Miss Representation gives a broader view into society’s representation of women within media. The film emphasizes the impossible ideal standard, the hyper-sexualization, the objectification, and scrutinization, women must undergo to achieve any type of success in our current society. Miss Representation focuses on the average viewer, whereas Codes of Gender appeals more to intellectual viewer. Although each film takes a different perspective, both address issues women face in society as represented and visualized through media. One thing is clear; media is directly linked to societal beliefs. In order for one to change, we must address and change the…
Miss Representation, the 2011 documentary about how the mainstream media depicts women negatively in the United States, educates the viewers on the harmful media representation that is brought upon women. Females who are featured in the media are often depicted as a sexual image to men. When the film states that “the media is selling young people the idea that girls’ and women’s value lies in their youth, beauty, and sexuality and not in their capacity as leaders.” it informs the viewer that the media is a dangerous tool used to explicitly demand what women should do, say, buy, and look like. The audience is directed towards anyone who is interested in learning more about the ways the media adversely portrays women. The tone of the film alters…
Katie Couric explains that “The media can be an instrument of change, it can maintain the status quo and reflect the views of the society or it can, hopefully awaken people and change minds” (Miss Representation). The Media has the potential of awakening people about the problems around the world, but has so far made women only question their potentials. The only way for change to occur is if media is challenged to value women’s smarts, achievements, and goals rather than just their beauty. However, “if the media is solely used to send girls the message that their only purpose and value is to serve the world their bodies, it can only disempower and distract them from obtaining power and leadership in their future” (Miss…
In more casual contexts, women who demonstrate more stereotypically male characteristics may be seen as “tomboyish” or “down to earth”. In the domains such as the home where women are more typically associated, it is more acceptable to take a place of authority (although these positions are often inherently more “gentle”). However in positions of power such as in politics, women can be subject to scrutiny both for being not feminine enough and for being too feminine (such as in the case of Hillary Clinton’s cackle). As shown in Jennifer Siebel Newsom’s documentary “Miss Representation” (2011) portrayals of “powerful” women are often involve using their sexuality or their bodies as a means of gaining power; even in positions of power, much more emphasis is often on the appearance of the woman compared with…
A representativeness heuristic is when an individual judges a situation based on a stereotype rather than on actual probability. An example of a representative heuristic that I have experienced from my own life experiences happened when I was playing basketball ball with some friends. While we were playing one of my female friends came and asked if she could play basketball with us. Because she was a female me and my friends wouldn’t let her play because we thought girls weren’t as good at sports as boys, and she wouldn’t be able to keep up, and paly as well as us.…
Media has been the one to make these stigmas become real in our society’s minds. Media has given women the role as weak, emotional and codependent of men. Nowadays, females are being used to sell products by using their bodies or by performing sexual acts. Companies are persistent on selling their products by utilizing women’s “perfect” bodies and by sexualizing them. Media is the one to distribute to the world the image they have created among women and how powerful has men become over the other sex. With these ideas, women have had to live in a society that judges all the time, making them pursuit the image of a perfect body, which implies physical pain and damage, as well as psychological problems, healthy problems, economic issues, and even death. Kilbourne also states that these problems also lead to violence towards…
Even though, the modern media has had many positive impacts on our lives, when it comes to women’s image, especially in commercial advertisements and programs, it usually has such misleading interpretations about the perfect images of beauty and the happiness of women. Thus, many women who have already been struggling with their uncertain self-identities have become even more insecure and unsatisfied with their “imperfect” physical appearances and their unrealized “ideal” life styles. Therefore, the conflict about who they really are and whom they wish to be has caused such confusions that some women would lose touch with reality, and make decisions which can never bring them true happiness. In this paper, I will discuss the impact…
Women are constantly unrealistically portrayed; they are objectified and hyper sexualized in the media. The documentary features the difficulties women have to go through when their ideals are unobtainable and the pressure they feel when people want them to look a certain way. These images allow women to think that their body is the only voice they have, it’s the only tool to identify themselves and that this is their worth. Jean Kilbourne quoted beautifully, “Girls are being encouraged to achieve that ideal at younger and younger ages all the time. They end up measuring themselves against an impossible standard and feeling themselves wanting as a result of it.” Miss Representation showed ordinary high school students speaking about the issues they felt about the negative perceptions of women. We were able to understand the pain and pressure young women have to face everyday to conform to this ideology of beauty. It makes it difficult for teenagers because if they do not look…
The most sensitive and controversial topics from time to time is gender representation. Gender representations in media often portray male and female stereotypically, in which they are depicted differently (Doring 2006, p. 173). Even though the representation of gender in media has already been developed lately, but women’s representation in media are still portrayed stereotypically in various ways. According to Amancio (1993), he stated that gender stereotypes are seen as social representations or collective ideologies defining model of behavior. Media do not simply reflect the reality in society about the gender stereotypes; it supports the ruling class’ ideology of patriarchy which controls the issue of gender all over the world by producing…
In today’s society, the image that is thought to be ideal is not necessarily the image that is ideal. There is a growing problem in the misrepresentation of people in the world and it influences the lives of everyone. From a very young age people are taught, whether it be overtly or subconsciously, that there is an ideal image that must be obtained so that they can fit in with the high-standards that society has set. In the films, Miss Representation and The Mask You Live In, both try to address these issues that society has created and inform the viewer that the ideal image displayed is not something that has to be achieved. These films are similar in a way but are also opposite to each other. Miss Representation centers around the female…