In 2011, the Sundance Film Festival premiered Jennifer Siebel Newsom's documentary film Miss Representation. This film discussed the effect of the mainstream media on women in the modern age and how media has been used to create a narrow stereotype of what a women is and looks like. There were a number of fascinating parts of this film, but I thought that the most interesting part of the documentary was when it talked about the impacts of media on both women and men through the portrayals of women and men most commonly shown. Thus, we'll be looking at what the impact of media is on women and what the impact of media is on men.
First, we must look at the ways that media has impacted women in the modern world. One of the main ways that media has impacted women is through their standards on physical appearance. With computer programs able to "edit" models' pictures for advertisements until they are "perfect," the media creates a standard of beauty that is unattainable for any woman. This creates problems as girls and women feel the need to change themselves to reach a bar that they will never be able to reach. The documentary reports that 78% of 17 year old girls feel insecure about their physical appearance and 53% of women experience an eating disorder at some point in their lives. The media is teaching our mothers and sisters to look in the mirror and see nothing good. The other main way that media has impacted women is through representation. When women aren't shown in positions of power, whether in politics or business, it becomes harder for girls to grow up and fill these roles as they have no one to look up to. This is especially true when the few women that make it to these positions are shown as evil or petty (i.e. Hillary Clinton, Katie Couric, Nancy Pelosi, etc.). As the saying goes, "seeing is believing" and when the youngest generation of women has no one to watch in the positions that need more women, the chances of them dreaming of someday filling that job are slim. Ultimately, the media has mostly impacted women negatively in the modern world, creating impossible shoes to fill and taking away representation from the areas that really need them.
Now, that we have analyzed how media has impacted women, we must also look at how media has impacted men. The documentary makes the case that through the media's portrayal of women as weaker, more emotional, and less powerful than men, it has simultaneously taught men that they must be strong and powerful and that they can never show emotion. It is this idea that teaches society that men who cry are weak and that you should never break down, only shrug off your feelings and push through. I definitely can relate to this as I feel that just the world I was raised in taught me to not show a lot of emotion, something that has stuck with me to this day. Ultimately, this is a problem as emotions and weakness are not only natural, but are also often a necessary step to becoming a better and more successful human.
In the end, Miss Representation effectively breaks down the problems that the media creates for both women and men when they characterize women as an impossibly specific thing. While some changes have been made since the release of this documentary, still too many pieces of media look at women only from the male perspective, boxing them into a tight guideline. All we can do now is hope that awareness projects like this one will lead to more change within our society, ultimately leading to some semblance of equality within the media world.
First, we must look at the ways that media has impacted women in the modern world. One of the main ways that media has impacted women is through their standards on physical appearance. With computer programs able to "edit" models' pictures for advertisements until they are "perfect," the media creates a standard of beauty that is unattainable for any woman. This creates problems as girls and women feel the need to change themselves to reach a bar that they will never be able to reach. The documentary reports that 78% of 17 year old girls feel insecure about their physical appearance and 53% of women experience an eating disorder at some point in their lives. The media is teaching our mothers and sisters to look in the mirror and see nothing good. The other main way that media has impacted women is through representation. When women aren't shown in positions of power, whether in politics or business, it becomes harder for girls to grow up and fill these roles as they have no one to look up to. This is especially true when the few women that make it to these positions are shown as evil or petty (i.e. Hillary Clinton, Katie Couric, Nancy Pelosi, etc.). As the saying goes, "seeing is believing" and when the youngest generation of women has no one to watch in the positions that need more women, the chances of them dreaming of someday filling that job are slim. Ultimately, the media has mostly impacted women negatively in the modern world, creating impossible shoes to fill and taking away representation from the areas that really need them.
Now, that we have analyzed how media has impacted women, we must also look at how media has impacted men. The documentary makes the case that through the media's portrayal of women as weaker, more emotional, and less powerful than men, it has simultaneously taught men that they must be strong and powerful and that they can never show emotion. It is this idea that teaches society that men who cry are weak and that you should never break down, only shrug off your feelings and push through. I definitely can relate to this as I feel that just the world I was raised in taught me to not show a lot of emotion, something that has stuck with me to this day. Ultimately, this is a problem as emotions and weakness are not only natural, but are also often a necessary step to becoming a better and more successful human.
In the end, Miss Representation effectively breaks down the problems that the media creates for both women and men when they characterize women as an impossibly specific thing. While some changes have been made since the release of this documentary, still too many pieces of media look at women only from the male perspective, boxing them into a tight guideline. All we can do now is hope that awareness projects like this one will lead to more change within our society, ultimately leading to some semblance of equality within the media world.
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