Miss Representation

            Miss Representation is a documentary about the role of Women in media. Throughout the film women of all kinds are interviewed about their opinion of the role women should play in media. All women agreed that the media business does not give equal chances to women as it does for men, and that women are objectified in films and music videos. Statistics are given in the movie regarding the percentage of women that are used as sexual objects in movies. The movie goes on with telling us how many young girls are being affected by the way women are portrayed in today's world. Though I do agree with a lot of things in the movie, like the fact that women are used as sex objects, I believe this film is way too feminist; the way some of these ladies blame it everything on men is way too exaggerated; though, men are responsible for a lot, women have the choice not to pose on magazines or play roles that minimizes them. Another issue i have with this movie is that it completely avoids the fact that men also go under the pressure of media.

Misrepresentation

I was able to watch the documentary titled Missrepresentation. Coming from a country like Pakistan I was surprised to see that women are abused even in countries like the United States of America. They may not be abused physically or mentally, but the way the media portrays women as sex symbols has destroyed their virtue and chastity. However, media has also caused the portrayal of women to have an adverse effect on the women who view media.
One of the things the documentary addressed that really stood out to me was that idea that when women view media they suppose that what the women in that form of media are doing is something that they should be following. That means that if teenage girls in a movie are wearing really short skirts, then the teenage girls watching the movie will consider wearing short skirts regardless of what others think. Media influences people, in good ways and in bad ways. What media makers fail to realize is that by portraying women as sex symbols they are influencing the women watching to become sex symbols and the reason why they are successful is because they show some sort of positive result that creates a desire in women to achieve the result they have seen.
Overall, I thought the documentary was great. I believe it was an eye opener for me and I understood a lot about women in terms of media. The chastity and virtue of women must be respected in and out of media. I will do my best to preserve the dignity of women in the things that I make in the future.

Miss Representation

Most of the things that were said in the video were somewhat surprising to me. They ran through a bunch of statistics and showed examples of how the media affects girls into thinking they aren't good enough. A lot of it had to do with self-esteem and body image. The video said how we see more violence and sexual behavior in ads on TV, music videos, and movies.

I'm sure every girl has had those thoughts about the way she looks. The purpose of the documentary was to create awareness about this social issue. In my personal experience, I don't recall being subjected to what the media said about how I should act or look like personally. I'm sure it has affected my social and mental development some, but I don't cry myself to sleep every night wishing I looked like Scarlett Johansson or something.

Our society uses media to convey messages. Some can be good, others bad. As consumers of this media, it is important for us to learn how to read these messages carefully and not accept everything blindly.

As I had the magical class of physics Tuesday evening, I did not get to view Miss Representation. However, this film is available on Netflix, and has actually been in my queue for a while. So I watched it last night.
I found the information given in this documentary quite frustrating, and many of the statistics discouraging. Apparently, women make up only 7% of directors and 13% of writers (for the top 250 grossing films at the time the documentary was made). So that sucks. It was also upsetting to find that 65% of girls and women suffer from an eating disorder. If that doesn't lead you to believe that there is a problem, I don't know what else could. Over half of the female population has a mental disorder because of their body image. And I am positive that every single female ever has felt bad about themselves because of how she looks at some point in their life.
I am annoyed by how women are portrayed in media today. Women are very objectified and sexualized in almost everything you see on television and in print. Take Scarlett Johansson's character in The Avengers, for example. All of the other heroes in this film get super-awesome (and practical) uniforms, while Black Widow gets this uncomfortable, skin-tight, low-cut (which is not practical for a girl running around) onesie. 
In one of the promotional movie posters for The Avengers, Black Widow somehow manages to contort perfectly to show off her boobs and her butt all in one shot. Her body is facing the opposite direction of everyone else, while her head is turned the proper way.  If you are preparing to fight evil, why in the heck would you turn your body away? This makes absolutely no sense. Again, this can't be comfortable and unrealistic.
So yeah. Thats all. Please enjoy the image to the right I found on the interwebs. I find it quite hilarious.

Miss Representation

I thought that this documentary was very good and thought provoking. It brought up a lot of ideas that I hadn't really thought of before and based on the conversation after a lot of others hadn’t either. It talked about how romantic comedies and chick flicks are one of the only times that women are the protagonist and they are usually looking for a relationship. I hadn't even really thought about that before.

It also talked about how men aren't as interested in a female protagonist. This was seen as sexist but I can relate with it. I have seen plenty of movies that I really liked that had female leads but I do prefer a male protagonist. Its not sexist, men just relate better to men and its not that I can't get into a film with a female lead but its easier to do so with a film that has a male lead since I already have that in common with them.

I agreed with a lot of what the film had to say and it brought up a lot of good points about a important issue but there were a few things I didn't fully agree with.

One part of the film I really liked was when they talked about how men get pressure from the media too. The objectification of women is so often solely blamed on the men in our society but this film doesn't brush over the pressure that women put on each other and the media does as well. I liked that this film wasn't just an attack on men like I had thought it could be when I came into it. The part that talks about the pressure put on men was what really stood out to me. It talked about how men are taught to keep their emotions inside and that they need to me manly and do manly stuff. They talked about how this is part of the problem. You see adults acting this way and when you grow up you think thats how to act. Its how men learn to objectify and its how women learn to accept objectification.

 This film did a good job talking about the issue and how we need to fix it instead of just blaming men for it happening. That made it possible for me as a man to watch the film and walk away thinking about it and discussing it instead of just dismissing it and feeling attacked. It was very well done.

Miss Representation

Last night was the premiere of our screening of Miss Representation, a documentary about objectification and discrimination in society as we know it today. The film, narrated by someone who's been in the film/television industry (Jennifer Siebel) starts off by stating something like"Is this the kind of world I want my daughter to grow up in?" The film covers the perspectives of multiple women, ranging from high school students to high ranking officials, professors, actresses, and talk show hosts about how high of an impact media has on our life and what impact it's making about women. They describe it as women are being objectified and treated like things instead of people, thanks to the influence of media. Music videos and commercials display half naked women being promiscuous because it sells. The speakers say how we care less and less for what accomplishments a woman makes or what she has to offer to society. I don't disagree, I think they're right; we've let media morph our opinions of women and change how we see them.
That in turn changes how we interact with women, as a man would and as another woman would. Media has given women unbelievable standards to try and live up to, taught us to look down on each other based on our appearances, and to care less about others as people and what makes us special; only focus on how everyone looks. And it's not only women, but men have been given standards like this too. I'm not saying it's worse for men, because I don't think it is. But I've felt the same stimulus media tries to push on me. Its a struggle we all have to suffer, and its one we need to stand up against and change for our generation. By leading by example, future generations will have hope and can hopefully better what we've done. Films like this are a good calling card for people to recognize our issues so that we can change them in ourselves.

Miss Representation

Thursday night I watched Miss Representation which turned out to be a big eye-opener. I needed to watch this, for the reason that I was ignorant to the extent of just how powerful the media has, on controlling who we are as a people. Not only that but I was unaware to the magnitude of content in the media that has been falsely betraying women as only a sex object. I think a film like this is more geared toward men than it is for women. It is so easy for anyone, not just men, to overlook something that doesn't affect them. By not taking seriously the power of the media and the true role women offer to society, we have unknowingly triggered a bizarre form of self distract on ourselves and more importantly we are missing out on the potential women have to offer the world. I like how this film was presented, through the eyes of a new mother (Jennifer Spebel Newson)and the questions to raising a daughter. For any parent, to bring a daughter into this world seams cruel. To invest that much love into your offspring, knowing that society will hold her back from her true potential and treat her like trash, is criminal. Everyone in the media business should watch this film. I think single-handedly, if just the media changed the way women is perceived, the rest of the world would eventually follow.

Miss Representation

Miss Representation was a film that talks about media and how our society views women in and because of media. It is a documentary with different women (and a few men) talking about how media has portrayed women as these sex objects, or less equal than men. It talks about how it portrays women as a weaker sex and how they can't really do the same thing as men.

This film was pretty good I would say. It was an eye opener of how we have not only become, but allowed ourselves to become, desensitized to the way media portrays women. It really struck a cord because that is one of the reasons I am interested in going into film. I am tired of the phrase "Sex Sells" and how you can't see a good action movie or comedy without seeing a naked girl, if not half naked. 

As creators of media we have the ability to teach the younger generation and have a say in what goes on in the media these days. Women are not on this planet with us as objects of our pleasure, and they are not incompetent to do the same thing us males are capable of doing. Women can, and are just as much capable of doing anything and everything we can. We as males need to help encourage and lift up the women in our lives and give them the opportunity to step up in their role as leaders in this world and society.