Susan Sontag Miss Representation Essay
Shelby Grimac
English 121: Fashion Institute of Technology
Assignment #5- Miss Representation/S. Sontag
November 11, 2014
In the documentary, “Miss Representation”, themes such as appearance and the importance of beauty in the female gender are clearly represented. It is well known that gender roles play a huge part of society, and the strong presence of the sexualization of women. The facts presented in this film prove that women are truly seen as sexual objects rather than intelligent human beings. Women are relied on to entertain men, not be in government, or play a serious role in a movie. Strong females are usually mocked in some way, shape, or form such as
Hilary Clinton, or or Condoleezza Rice. An essay by Susan Sontag, “A Woman’s Beauty: …show more content…
A Put
Down or a Power Source?” shows similar points in that women only have beauty to show their self worth, that men are more powerful and do not need beauty to be successful.
In both the documentary and the essay, women are revealed to be sexually objectified and mainly judged by their looks.
In Susan Sontag’s essay, she states, “It is not, of course, the desire to be beautiful that is wrong but the obligation to be- or try to be” (Sontag 1). The author clearly poses the question to all women reading this piece is, is it wrong to feel the need to be more beautiful because of social pressures? It is not wrong for women to want to be beautiful, but is there more than that when women feel the need to go to lengths to achieve it? Is it true when someone asks why you wear makeup that it’s just for yourself? The point is that women today and even long ago have always had the most pressure starting at a young age to look a certain way, and that there is a social
obligation to be beautiful. In “Miss Representation”, Lisa Ling states, “As a culture, women are brought up to be fundamentally insecure and always looking for the time when that knight on a horse will come and rescue us or provide for us”. Many women are dependent on men, and enhance their looks because of a male, or to increase their chances in finding a mate. Yes,
men have social pressures too when impressing a woman, or just wanting to look good, but the fact of the matter is that women have it much harder when it comes to this topic. Men judge women on almost every detail of their looks, and in almost every industry, men override women by ratio.
Recently I read an article on Buzzfeed titled, ‘Disney Princesses with Normal
Waistlines’. It was a recreation of the infamous size of the Disney Princesses waists. Although this is mainly for the generation that has sur passed Disney, it was interesting to read and exciting that people were just as infuriated by the original waistlines to make an entire article about it. I think this shows how our society is changing today, and that even though there will still be some ignorance about the most important thing a woman brings to the table (her brains, not body) women are fighting back. “We need to challenge the media conglomerates to value women for more than their youth, beauty, and sexuality, and we must hold these companies accountable”. As a lasting quote from Miss Representation, this was an important line to me because women are taking a stance against this male dominant world. Feminism is trendy right now, and I hope for everyones sake it lasts.
English 121: Fashion Institute of Technology
Assignment #5- Miss Representation/S. Sontag
November 11, 2014
In the documentary, “Miss Representation”, themes such as appearance and the importance of beauty in the female gender are clearly represented. It is well known that gender roles play a huge part of society, and the strong presence of the sexualization of women. The facts presented in this film prove that women are truly seen as sexual objects rather than intelligent human beings. Women are relied on to entertain men, not be in government, or play a serious role in a movie. Strong females are usually mocked in some way, shape, or form such as
Hilary Clinton, or or Condoleezza Rice. An essay by Susan Sontag, “A Woman’s Beauty: …show more content…
A Put
Down or a Power Source?” shows similar points in that women only have beauty to show their self worth, that men are more powerful and do not need beauty to be successful.
In both the documentary and the essay, women are revealed to be sexually objectified and mainly judged by their looks.
In Susan Sontag’s essay, she states, “It is not, of course, the desire to be beautiful that is wrong but the obligation to be- or try to be” (Sontag 1). The author clearly poses the question to all women reading this piece is, is it wrong to feel the need to be more beautiful because of social pressures? It is not wrong for women to want to be beautiful, but is there more than that when women feel the need to go to lengths to achieve it? Is it true when someone asks why you wear makeup that it’s just for yourself? The point is that women today and even long ago have always had the most pressure starting at a young age to look a certain way, and that there is a social
obligation to be beautiful. In “Miss Representation”, Lisa Ling states, “As a culture, women are brought up to be fundamentally insecure and always looking for the time when that knight on a horse will come and rescue us or provide for us”. Many women are dependent on men, and enhance their looks because of a male, or to increase their chances in finding a mate. Yes,
men have social pressures too when impressing a woman, or just wanting to look good, but the fact of the matter is that women have it much harder when it comes to this topic. Men judge women on almost every detail of their looks, and in almost every industry, men override women by ratio.
Recently I read an article on Buzzfeed titled, ‘Disney Princesses with Normal
Waistlines’. It was a recreation of the infamous size of the Disney Princesses waists. Although this is mainly for the generation that has sur passed Disney, it was interesting to read and exciting that people were just as infuriated by the original waistlines to make an entire article about it. I think this shows how our society is changing today, and that even though there will still be some ignorance about the most important thing a woman brings to the table (her brains, not body) women are fighting back. “We need to challenge the media conglomerates to value women for more than their youth, beauty, and sexuality, and we must hold these companies accountable”. As a lasting quote from Miss Representation, this was an important line to me because women are taking a stance against this male dominant world. Feminism is trendy right now, and I hope for everyones sake it lasts.