The documentary, “Miss Representation,” is a film about how women are perceived in the media. It is written, directed, and produced by Jennifer Siebel Newsom. She is an actress and a film maker who advocates for women. In the beginning of the documentary, Newsom discusses her struggles as a young woman surrounded by the pressures of looking a certain way. This film is targeting mainly women of all age that has experienced her struggles. Jennifer Siebel Newsom effectively convinces the audience of “Miss Representation” that the media has molded women in a negative way through statistics, celebrities’ and younger generation’s testimonies, and clips from the media. Firstly, Newsom provided a handful of statistics that show how the media has affect women negatively. Girls are exposed to the idea of having the “perfect body” at a very young age due to television. This causes them to become unhappy with their bodies. According to “Miss Representation,” fifty three percent of thirteen year old are unsatisfied by the look of their bodies and as they reach the age of seventeen, that percentage increases to seventy eight percent. This causes eating disorders because women are taught to look a certain way. The characters on tv shows and …show more content…
It is clear that based on the clips provided, women in the media are either praised or scrutinized by how they look. Hillary Clinton, a well known politician was attacked by the media just because she looked tired. Another clip that was shown was a scene from "A Devil Wears Prada." In the movie, Anne Hathaway's character was called fat by her boss, when in reality Anne has a very slim figure. If she was called fat, what will the girls growing up today will think about their bodies? Another example would be the repeated clips of attractive women characters. These character are what girls want to become; tall, blonde, and a body figure to die
Miss Representation, a documentary film produced by Jennifer Siebel Newsom released in 2011, presents a contemporary issue which is the misrepresentation of women’s portrayal in mass media. The media is powerful in shaping audience’s belief in how to be feminine. Women are expected to be beautiful, attractive, and even sexual on the media to attract audience’s attention. Also, the film points out the existence of social system in which men are considered more powerful and dominant than women. Finally, the film tries to increase the awareness of female real value including capability, educational achievement, and leadership. Consuming the media wisely to eliminate gendered stereotypes can help young women build their confidence and be successful.
The documentary Miss Representation identifies the numerous ways women are misrepresented in the media, including in news, advertisements, movies, and television. The title Miss Representation emphasizes that the way we portray women in the media is a misrepresentation, as in it does not do women justice and oftentimes, has a negative impact on the perception of women. Frequently in the media, women lack leading roles and complexity, are held to an unrealistic standard of beauty, and are subject to objectification and beautification (Newsom, 2011). These misrepresentations lay the groundwork for gender socialization, and therefore, shape how women perceive themselves and are perceived by others.
At first, I agree with Goodman’s argument and I think that due to the impact of media, people's aesthetic standard began to change and more and more people begin to pay more attention to lose weight nowadays. And in my opinion, the most obvious part that women are affected by the impact of media, especially for the actors. For example, as Goodman points out, 15% of high school girls who vomited for weight control increased 5 times. It shows girls were worrying about their weight, and it lead to make them to suffer eating disorders. From my personal experience, I also would like to use media to find what is the most fashion hairstyle or cloth brand every month. And it will make me to decide what stuff I want to buy. Also, I think I am a member of control weight, because every day I would like to keep a good image to others. So as a result of control weight, I have the same problem of eating disorders as well. Besides, the...
Miss Representation is a documentary based on women in the media and how the media has affected women today. “The most common way people give up their power is by thinking they don’t have any.” This quote is from Alice Walker, a female, who realized that they e...
In Miss Representation movie, Jennifer Siebel Newsom determined how the society and media affected to women these days. There are many countries which judge women that they are not important in society such as Vietnam, China, and even the United States. The media play an important role in society because it helps us to receive the news every day and entertains. But, the ways media portrayed are completely making the negative effects for women. People usually use the media to illustrate that women are weak and they should not be in the same level with men. Also, women couldn’t get into the high position in government because nobody would listen to them. Jennifer Siebel Newsom made this move because she was fearful that her unborn daughter will grow up in the
The media is a fascinating tool; it can deliver entertainment, self-help, intellectual knowledge, information, and a variety of other positive influences; however, despite its advances for the good of our society is has a particular blemish in its physique that targets young women. This blemish is seen in the unrealistic body images that it presents, and the inconsiderate method of delivery that forces its audience into interest and attendance. Women are bombarded with messages from every media source to change their bodies, buy specific products and redefine their opinion of beauty to the point where it becomes not only a psychological disease, but a physical one as well.
Throughout history, women have been portrayed for their looks rather than their intellect. Women have always been interrupted as the weak ones when compared to men. “Miss Representation” is a documentary that examines different issues that evolve around gender inequality. This documentary discusses how women are falsely misrepresented through politics and media. Jennifer Siebel Newsom directed and produced this film in 2011 to show how the media contributes towards the view of women in society today. Throughout the films concrete use of ethos, logos and pathos, the documentary accurately convinces to present an effective argument. The film shares many statistics, interviews, and experiences to help persuade the audience, whom are women
Fast forward to the present day. Now we are exposed to 24 hours a day of not only magazines and television, but the internet. We depend on media for information and communication. The media also affects our beliefs and values, whether we realize it or not. The hyper-sexualization of women seen everyday affects society in ways many don't stop to consider.
The director, Jennifer Siebel Newsom, in her documentary, “Miss Representation,” asserts the gender inequality in the US which is affected by mainstream media. Newsome’s purpose is to promote that people should pay conscious attention to the skewed images of women in the media and bring about changes in the portrayals and perception of women in the media. She adopts serious and motivational tone in order to appeal to the gravity of the issue and challenge to change the media in her audiences. Jennifer Siebel Newsom effectively convinces the audience of Miss Representation that the degraded image of women in the media should be changed for gender equality through the array of the shocking statistics, interviews with the experts, and disparaging
Mass media has evolved over the years and is heard to have many effects on body image. Does mass media have an effect on body image? To answer this question, I have explored academic articles for different social science disciplines. This particular discipline is Psychology. The discipline of psychology will show how body images affect people and what causes them to be affected. The articles being reviewed are Barlett, Christopher P., Christopher L. Vowels and Donald A. Saucier. “Meta-Analyses of the Effects of Media Images on Men’s Body Image Concerns.” Journal of Social & Clinical Psychology. 27.3 (2008) : 279-310., Hayes, Sharon and Stacey Tantleff-Dunn. “Am I too fat to be a princess? Examining the effects of popular children’s media on
The media uses women to bring attention to it, using them as sexual objects, meaning that people will not longer see them as human beings but as objects. Women as sexual objects are usually young, posing passively, often dumb and beautiful. This happens a lot in media when the target is men, looking to satisfy and exploit men’s sexual desires. According to Julia T. Wood “the irony of this representation is that the very qualities women are encourage to develop in order to meet cultural ideal of femininity contribute to their victimization” (p.36). When the media represents women like this, they impact the whole women gender in the real world. Being pretty and having a great body should not instantly make you not a person. What usually happens due to the idea of women as sexual objects is that men will no longer treat them with respect but will expect them to give in to them. This encourages men to behave a certain way towards women, women are mostly victims of sexual harassment, commented about their physical appearance either in a negative way or an irritating way, and it also tends to transform this into
The film Missrepresentation, by Jennifer Newsom, is about the underrepresentation of women by the media (2011). The film challenges the viewpoints of media that are constantly depicting females as to being dependent on males. Furthermore, even when females are displayed as lead characters, the plot will ensure that their life’s will surround the life of a male. Examples of these include, a lead female falling in love with her “prince charming” as he saved her from great dangers. We rarely see a female character saving a male in the media (2011). According to the film the media continues to encourage the ideology that a women’s power is associated with her youth, beauty and sexuality, instead of her knowledge and intelligence (2011). The film also provides starling statistics, for instance by the age to 18 78% of females are unhappy with how the look. Also of the 8 million people with eating disord...
The title Miss Representation garners its power and significance through the play on words of “misrepresentation.” It gives context to the documentary as whole, and primes the viewer with the underlying position that the media holds women back when it misrepresents them. The media’s portrayal of women creates a chain reaction of gender socialization that has lasting effects on the way women are treated and how they treat themselves. Misrepresentation in the media-be it oversexualization of women, negative depictions of high aspirations, or public backlash against the progress of the women’s movement-has very tangible consequences that begin with self-objectification and end with a lack of political efficacy. In between lie compromised mental
In today's world, what we see in the media dictates our world. Media, by definition, is a form of mass communication, such as television, newspapers, magazines and the internet. Since the beginning of this media phenomenon, men and women have been treated very differently, whether it be through advertisements or news stories. As women have gained more rights and social freedoms, the media has not changed their views on women. They are often viewed as objects, whether for a man's pleasure, or for as a group to sell only cleaning products to.The portrayal of women in the media has a highly negative impact on the easily shaped young women of today. Women of power are often criticized, others hypersexualized. The media also directs advertisements for household things at women.
Media representations of women remain wrong. However, the status of women has changed significantly. Representations of women across all media tend to highlight the following: beauty (within narrow conventions), size/physique, sexuality, emotional (as opposed to intellectual) dealings and relationships (as opposed to independence/freedom).