After watching the film ‘Miss Representation’ I come to realise a serious issue in our society today. The director Jennifer Siebel Newsom portrays the idea how women should not be advertised in today's media as ‘sex objects’ and how this affects most women and teenage girls. I strongly agree with this idea because women and teenage girls should not compare themselves to bodies that have been digitally altered to make them inhumanly perfect.
Women are photographed in minimal clothes considered to be sexy and have ‘perfect bodies’ to sell brands/products. This makes women and teenage girls feel as if they have to have these anorexic bodies to be called ‘beautiful’. In the film, Jennifer Newsom says “If the media is sending girls the message that their value lies in their bodies, this can only leave them feeling disempowered and distract them from making a difference and becoming leaders.” They should not feel as if they should change their appearance to be accepted in today’s society. In the film it describes that 48% of teenage girls wish they were as skinny as models but what most people don’t realize is that most of advertising in social media and in magazines has been edited and photo shopped. Girls are being encouraged to achieve that ideal at younger ages than ever before. They end up measuring themselves against an impossible standard and which makes them feel as if they aren't good enough for society. Portraying women as if they are all perfect also gives men the idea that all women must look like this.
Another idea that is portrayed in the film is how women should not be brutally judged on their appearance in social media. I agree with this idea because it’s not about what people look like, it is about the actions they make and what they believe in. Margaret Cho says “When I did my first television show… I had a lot of problems with the network because they were constantly telling me that I was too fat.” She then later adds after that her show got dropped which was then replaced by Drew Carrey, who isn’t exactly a stick figure either. If women are ‘overweight’ or ‘aren't pretty’, society judges them even if they are doing or saying the right things. Men don’t have this same standard to keep up with. In the film they also talk about how News Reporters that are Men are never given negative feedback about their appearance, however Women’s critical feedback is always about ‘Was she showing too much leg?’ or ‘What did you think of that white blouse?’ Standards of beauty have in fact become harder and harder to attain, particularly for women. The current media ideal of thinness is achievable by less than 5% of the female population. The more people that judge you, the more obliged you feel you should judge others. This creates a constant negative cycle between women and they begin to compete for male attention.
Another idea that the director portrayed in the film is how the government is run by a large percentage of men in America and how wrong this is. They explain how women can’t be leaders without being put down, judged or looked upon as weak. I completely agree with this idea because women are as intelligent, strong and trusting as men so why should women be judged differently. When women try to be leaders they are judged on what they look like not about what they know. For example Nancy Pelosi ran for Public Office she kept getting asked, “So who’s going to look after your kids?” They would talk about the clothes she wears, what her hair looks like. However when men run for Public Office the media is not concerned about these things, they care about what they had to say. Women are being treated differently from men and it is unfair. The reason behind all of this leads back to the media.
This film has taught me that society really judges all women because of the media and how they portray women. This really affects women’s lives, mostly teenage girls. It lowers their self-esteem, causes women and teenage girls to dislike their body which distracts them for more important things, and it makes men believe they have all the power. Women need to make a stand for themselves and show the world what we can achieve.
