Miss Representation

source: Miss Representation

While this movie covers mostly basics of how misconstrued women are in media, and seems to reiterate simple facts - I didn't feel like it was repetitive to the point of being tedious. I personally enjoyed the refresher course the movie provided and it gave me some new insight as well. Although a lot of the information given wasn't surprising (which sadly just emphasizes the point of the movie), the recent extent to which gender plays into media (specifically Hollywood) was a new awareness for me; simply because most of us do not go through life scrutinizing every aspect of media and analyzing its gender biases. The movie does a great job of reflecting on past media presentations to prove its points. I appreciate the statistics given because statistics have a general scientific drive behind them that humans innately trust and can certainly create a larger emotional affect for the audience; however, I felt like a little background on how these statistics were gathered (from where?) would have been helpful for credibility. On the other hand, bringing in producers, actresses, hosts, and many other influential people and having them speak about personal experiences where they have experienced gender bias was very powerful and helpful. I feel as though this would be a great documentary movie to show younger audiences (or even older audiences for a refresher or a starting point of discussion!) because it gives a good overview of the problems that media creates in terms of gender related expectations. The movie created a sense of urgency and motivation needed for both men and women to take action and take a stance, even in small every day scenarios. While gender inequality is a great big problem in many, many societal aspects that is hard to tackle, this documentary briefly mentions the more specific issues/topics that are related for possible further discussion (ie. jobs, leadership, eating disorders, bullying, depression, sexual objectification, rape, validation, etc).

Miss representation offers a range of perspectives on the ever- changing relationship between the media (specifically American) and the social world. Director/producer Jennifer Siebel Newsom feeds us with information without making it feel substantial or overly informative. It is engaging, eye opening and allows each viewer to take away something new from the viewing experience. Rachel Maddow, Geena Davis and Katie Couric are among many of the recognizable faces featured. Who better to listen to concerning women and the media than real woman in the media (rhetorical Q)? Running for 85 minutes Miss Representation covers a range of topics such as women in politics. Comparing the political journey of both Clinton and Palin seems to be ironic and hypocritical since the message echoing throughout the documentary is not to compare powerful women in the media but admire them. This is likely due to their combined popularity in mainstream culture which is just as if not more relevant today (cough… 2017 American Presidential Election). Although the viewpoint is taken from an American stance, it is relevant on an international scale. The United States produce entertainment consumed worldwide which should in turn make the primary creators of the content more self reflective and aware of the power they hold. Miss Representation doesn't ask its audience to nod along willingly but simply to step back and reflect on the intentions of the media and the insidious effects on mental health and on social values. Despite what I had assumed beforehand, I learned that media is not simply a product of our environment, our environment may be a product of the media which is much more distressing.... Overall, I truly enjoyed this documentary. After the American Presidential election, it seems that another piece by Newsom like Miss Representation would be vastly interesting concerning women in politics on a less broad scale. Wherever your political or social beliefs on the topic of women in the media lie, you will take something new away from this. The editing and soundtrack cleverly boosted the tone the whole way through so you don't get an opportunity to tune out. The cast and footage included was engaging and everything tied together. Would recommend worldwide to all genders!

"Miss Representation" gives new light to the ongoing put-down of females as an over-sexualized gender role and sparks in the consumer a need for change. As a whole, this film is long overdue in the revolution to bring back a strong feminist movement to contend with the mass media. Through the personal and intimate interviews with teenage girls, the connection between exposure to mass media and low self-esteem is forged and throughout the documentary is supported. This forged connection includes the link between young women's self-esteem and ambitions to become leaders, which is covered by "Miss Representation" in the form of Sarah Palin and Hillary Clinton's mass media coverage. Both are completely stripped of their political ideals and morals and instead given attention for anything cosmetic or physical attributions. The mass media's focal group of interest is towards young men, thus leaving women with the sexualized female gender-role that exists today. "Miss Representation" does an excellent job in making this concept a viable and very obvious one, and caused me to really open my eyes to what the media is doing to my gender. In conclusion, I believe that this documentary uproots a decades-long issue that lies within the mass media, and that this is only the beginning to the uprising of a new-age feminist movement.

As a female director the first thing I notice about this film is that the women have too much make- up. And their hairs are perfect in every shot. And they talk about misrepresentation of women. But if we philosophically talk about this film and its contents, it's OK, it talks about real and horrible problem of teenage depression, diet obsession and disorders and many other maladies caused by living in a bubble created by media. People of both genders have this disorder and have obsessions with their bodies and look. It's planetary. Maybe even anthropological question since since ever people maimed their bodies to look 'great', from European corsets in the mid-XX century, Chinese wooden shoes, collars that extend necks of African tribal women, to contemporary plastic surgery. I think that problem lies in fashion in general, in human obsession with fashion. In human need to be accepted. Actually the problem is very deep. Focusing on solely media is only a tip of the iceberg.

'Miss Representation' is a film that has been created to bring about awareness of how women are negatively portrayed in the media; social media; television; news;newspaper; advertisement; politics. This film informs people that the media has a great impact on our society and the messages it sends. It impacts society by creating this illusion that woman's looks are what's most important instead of other achievements that have been accomplished. This is an highly dangerous message that the media is sending out to young people. Which in my opinion is contributing to street harassment and rape culture. 'Miss Representation' shows the importance it is to expose the media's stereotypical portrayal of women. I would recommend this film. I find it very interesting and educational.

Excellent documentation about how women are seen in society. I know it's unfair to judge any media or source based on it itself, but from watching numerous documentation of the same subject I would consider this to be one of if not the best documentation about women in society. It addresses female stereotypes in society, which is so overlooked today. I am shocked that this documentation only has a rating of 6.9 when I came to IMDb. To be honest (and not trying to be rude, I know not everyone is the same or have the same ideas) but I assume most people that gave this film a good rating were female, and the men probably rated it quite low. What is more disturbing than others (mostly men) speaking out against women who don't look a certain way are the silenced thoughts created from the portrayal of the media to every single person in society. I strongly recommend this documentation.

This documentary doesn't break new ground for people already interested in the issues discussed, but I think that it gives a good perspective on why the representation of women in media is so important in our society, and why the way women are often portrayed is damaging - to media consumers of all genders (ie. all of us). I especially liked the focus on how female stereotypes in media affect young girls' self-esteem and ultimately their chances of growing up to be leaders. Obviously the documentary was US- centric, but these problems exist pretty much all over the Western world, where girls see very few really good role-models in mainstream media and where the few that exist are always heavily scrutinized and criticized. Since media has changed so much in the past 20 years, I agree with what was also said in the movie: That media literacy, the ability to understand media as products (created by humans with their own biases and agendas), has become almost as important as the ability to read. After all, these days it's pretty much impossible to shield children from harmful media messages, so it's vital that they have the tools to deal with those messages. This is true not just for girls, but also for boys.

This film is meant to address the social distortion present in media as it affects women. I feel this doc fails to point out that this happens to youth in general, not just women. Secondly, it should have been stressed that such a focus on sex & marriage leads to increased teenage pregnancies, which, in turn, contributes to young delinquency and uneducated adults having children who will not attend college or even finish high school. Unfortunately, the majority of this doc consists of a woman obviously reading a print out of monologues in a dull, lifeless monotone. Several speakers chastise the media for reflecting the low number of women working in big business and politics in movies, but most of the thoughts presented are fragmented or inappropriate to the topic. These women say such things like 'Women should be politicians so other women will want to be politicians.' 'Women are never leaders and men don't want us to be. Just look at Star Trek.' These statements seemed to defy the fact that England had Queen rulers for over a century and that Star Trek is and always has been a show that shatters social boundaries, and the different seasons have seen Famale captains, doctors, Science officers, ensigns, engineers, psychologists, and a plethora of other positions. It seemed like this documentary was more interested in talking about hurt feelings than any serious issues. It's as if they interviewed the absolute dumbest women available and said, 'Talk about how movies make women look bad,' then showed 15 min worth of UNSCRIPTED REALITY TV clips while the interviewees stumbled through cliché after cliché, generally never making a solid point, cohesive statement and/or expressing conclusions related or even relevant to what was just said. 'I hate bikinis on TV, so I became a politician after a particularly moving episode of Murder She Wrote.' Lastly, some of the issues blamed on media aren't real issues or controlled by media. Why aren't there more women politicians? Same reason there aren't more women trashmen, fisherman, hunters, mechanics, mathematicians, Footballl coaches or construction workers: Most women are uninterested in such professions. Equally interesting is the idea that men are expected to work successfully at a job that isn't embarrassing, or that the media tells youth to hump like rabbits, accumulate debt & go to jail in hopes of turning us all into consumers rather than producers. Monetary slaves providing a financial battery to the rich. Another point left out is that when the youth have teen pregnancies, who will work? Man or Mother? Usually the man, so it is not more surprising to see more men at work than it is to see wives staying home. I feel that this film is highly destructive to the cause it's attempting to address.

My wife and I watched this documentary last evening. We were disappointed because the film seems extremely shallow and repetitious. It presents a single simple message over and over ad nauseam. Also, we would have liked to have seen some average young women being interviewed - perhaps, some even with conflicting views - rather than the litany of older celebrities who all appeared to being saying the same thing. Unfortunately too, the photos and videos used as examples of how women are depicted as sex objects in the media seem very dated - they looked like they were from the 1980's. This film was a huge disappointment mainly because we were anticipating an intelligent, in-depth treatment of the subject - something the subject deserves.