Miss Representation - Grade: 85 PDF

Preview

Summary

paper written based off of the film Miss Representation...

Description

Jade Colon Media Popular Culture Miss Representation Analysis October 22, 2018

1. Briefly describe what Miss Representation is about. Do you agree with the message of the film? Why or why not? Miss Representation is a documentary that focuses on how women are misrepresented within the media and advertising techniques. I feel as though the first line of the film was very important, “the media is the message and the messenger”, especially how as that was being said, flashes of iconic sexualization of women appeared on the screen from popular music videos and television shows that most of us have seen before. This film also focused on a lot of political aspects; how politics have been made into a man’s world and it’s not that encouraging of women in the field, how girls have translated that into a deep gender bias due to these influences. This film delivers a very strong message to the audience. Miss Representation points out how the way that we portray women affects them tremendously, sometimes more than we even realize. The media is constantly sexualizing women (mostly), because well of course, “sex sells”. A very important message that was conveyed throughout the film was that young girls are taught early on, that it is important how they look and that their value and worth is linked to that. This concept comes from young girls being exposed to the media and how we choose to portray women in general to the world. This is something that young boys will pick up on and then they act accordingly, creating more stereotypes of what a woman should be. I would have to say that I do agree with the film overall, because while watching this, it made me question a lot of things I never paid too close of attention to beforehand. Especially with women making up 51% of the population, women deserve to be portrayed more so as a real woman with all the different attributes that come with us. It is true, women are

Jade Colon Media Popular Culture Miss Representation Analysis October 22, 2018 usually put into a box and usually generalized as what they referred to in the film as a “fuck toy”. In TV shows, films, video games, etc., women tend to always be sexualized. If you think about it most films revolve around a man’s life and even within chick flicks, women’s role still revolves around finding a man, making a man happy. With that being said, I would definitely have to agree with the film; we put too much focus on men, meanwhile our women are suffering of depression, anxiety, eating disorders, self harm and so much more, all due to the images we see on a daily basis and basically being brainwashed that, that is what we should look like or act like when we are a woman. 2. Describe “objectification”, and then describe what that means in advertising. Why does the self-objectification of women matter? Describe its psychological effects. Objectification is when someone is degraded to an object. In this instance, women are what is being objectified. In advertising, this means the same but it’s portrayed much more severely. Within ads, we tend to take an average woman and photoshop her in order to make her look unrealistically beautiful. This isn’t to show real beauty at all. The goal of these advertisements is to make women feel less then or inadequate. In this sense, women are not treated as a human being anymore, we have just become an unrealistic image for girls to look up to and a sex symbol for men to enjoy. For instance, there were many cases of women actors that were objectified. The directors of the shows and films (mostly men), would basically turn a woman into an object; they were never good enough the way they were. In Jane Fonda’s case, her director actually asked her to pull her back teeth in order to help with the role. Another actress was asked to do a face lift or to get collagen injected, which she said was painful and that she would never do it again because she doesn't want to conform to what the idea of a woman is. Self-Objectification of women matters because when women do this, there is a very high

Jade Colon Media Popular Culture Miss Representation Analysis October 22, 2018 chance of depression, eating disorders, lower confidence, lower ambition, lower cognitive functioning, and lower GPAs. When women start to believe their only value is within their body, this leads to disempowerment. In this sense, it is ourselves who are turning ourselves into an object. We see these images throughout active and passive consumption of the media throughout our everyday lives, so much so that we hardly pay any attention to it. We just soak in the information and what we see and then compare ourselves to that figure, which is so unhealthy for the mind. This may be the harshest sense of objectification, since we are our own worst critic. 3. Describe some gender stereotypes (both feminine and masculine). What are the positive and negative effects of these stereotypes? There are many gender stereotypes, both feminine and masculine. For instance, when you think of women stereotypes, you tend to think: emotional, a mother, caregiver, not handy, stupid, golddiggers, manipulative, not to be trusted, hoes, etc. However, when it comes to men, the stereotypes are the complete opposite: emotionless, smart, powerful, entitled, hard worker, handy, leaders, empowered, higher status than women. Within these gender stereotypes are also stereotypes of gender roles. Women seem to come second; it is always about the man’s needs. His needs have to be met before a woman’s needs are even taken into consideration. These are the same stereotypes portrayed over and over again throughout the media (films). To be honest, I’m not really sure if there are positive effects of these stereotypes. Yes, it helps to inspire little boys that they can be powerful and go for what they want because if they want it as a man, then it will be much more attainable than for women. However, it seems to be mostly negatives that come along with these stereotypes that we are constantly portraying to our youth. For instance, the stereotypes for women are all things seen as negatives besides being a caregiver, or a mother. Again, it is important to keep in mind, not all women want to be

Jade Colon Media Popular Culture Miss Representation Analysis October 22, 2018 considered a caregiver; there is so much more than we tend to ignore due to these stereotypes that are shoved in our faces. These patterns also affect how boys/men think of girls/women, not just how we start to think of ourselves. 4. “You can’t be what you can’t see” - What does this mean? In what ways do you agree or disagree with this statement? - Marian Wright Edelman This quote from Marian Wright Edelman is just another way to point out that if we can’t see those images of what we are supposed to be, how can we be it? As a response to this, a woman named Carol Jenkins; the Founding President of the Women’s Media Center, said “it’s what you see that inspires your idea of what is possible”. For example, if young girls weren’t exposed to models and celebrities that had unrealistic expectations of a body, then these young girls would have no reason to think that is what they have to have or be, in order to be considered good enough. These expectations lead girls to be very harsh on their own bodies, both mentally and physically. Now, don’t get me wrong, that is not the only way that, that quote can be interpreted. In some ways, I do not agree with this statement. I feel as though it is up for anybody’s interpretation. Someone could take that statement as meaning, if you can’t see it, it’s not possible. For instance, if you don’t ever see an astronaut then you can never be one. However, this may be considered discouraging to chase dreams they may not have been aware they had before. 5. What is your favorite TV show or film? Make sure to include a sentence or two briefly summarizing what the show or film is about. Explain how gender roles and gender relations are portrayed in the show, using concepts from the readings from Week 6 as well as concepts from the documentary.

Jade Colon Media Popular Culture Miss Representation Analysis October 22, 2018 My favorite film at the moment is the new Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle. This film has many well known celebrities/actors such as Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, Kevin Hart, Jack Black, Karen Gillan, Nick Jonas, and so many more. 2017 Jumanji is the recreation of the original Jumanji but in present day. So instead of Jumanji being an old board game that brings the aspects of the game to real life, this version was more so focused on playing Jumanji as a videogame that sucked them into it until they had completed the game. Nick Jonas played a kid that had been trapped within the game for over 20 years because he wasn’t able to pass a level; this kid was actually missing in real life because this game had pulled him in. Basically, when the kids get sucked into the game, they become the characters they picked. I feel as thought this is the perfect film to explain how gender roles and gender relations are portrayed within the film. Once the kids are sucked into the game and have now become the characters they chose with little knowledge, one of girls chose a male character that didn’t match with her ‘popular girl attitude’. She was so obsessed with her looks that once she was a man in the game, she was so concerned about her body and what her friends would think, since she no longer was “perfect”. Later on in the film, there is a part of the game that they have to get passed and in order to do so, they send in the awkward girl that became the “hot” girl in the game, to distract the men. That is an extreme example of gender relations; portraying women as an object just for men’s pleasure. Right before they send her down to distract the men, the girl that was turned into a man gave the other girl tips on how to be a woman, how to use our looks in order to distract men. This gives the idea that women are manipulative in a way, but also sexualizing ourselves for men’s pleasure....