Miss Representation: Media's Influence On Gender

Miss Representation is an American documentary that was released in 2011. The film discusses the media's immense influence on sexism in American society. Miss Representation implements gratuitous images of women, interviews from distinguished women in notable positions, and stories from high school girls in order to advocate its position that the media has a primarily negative impact on women and men in terms of gender standards. The documentary begins by informing the viewer on how much time the average teenager is exposed to some form of media. As the film progresses the viewer eventually learns that young girls, boys, women, and men are all impacted by the way the media depicts gender stereotypes. Continuing on, Miss Representation uses the interviewees to discuss how and why women are exploited in media. Finally, the documentary ends on a high note as promise is shown in the next generation of women as they continue to seek progress. Miss Representation introduces the viewer to numerous surprising and sometimes depressing facts. It is discussed and presented as a fact that women spend more money on beauty products than their own educations thanks to advertisements depicting only a certain look on women. This makes the viewer aware that the media is impacting women in a negative way by influencing them to spend more money on

Even Miss Representation, a form of media itself could be considered harmful. The film attempts to empower women while also putting down a certain type of woman. The majority of the women that are interviewed during the film are conservatively dressed and well educated. They are shown in contrast to the vulgar, scantily clad women that the film routinely flashes around to raunchy music. The film seems to make a certain type of woman appear better than another type of woman while also trying to appeal to all women, and it just did not make