The title “Miss Representation” is a sort of play on words on the vast underrepresentation and misrepresentation of the Misses and Mrs. in American media and the conditioned idea that their appearance and how they come across to men are the most important things about them.
This is evident in a number of ways. For example, the focus on women’s bodies and aesthetics, in television, movies, and advertisement serve as pervasive agents of socialization that propagate the idea that a woman’s value and power is directly linked to her sex appeal and whether or not she can adhere to the body ideals that we have been conditioned to believe are worth attaining (slender physiques, long legs, and large breasts) (Anderson). Another example of the misrepresentation …show more content…
By and large, the roles and characters women played in the 1920 to 1940s were more complex, multifaceted, and riveting. As stated by Paul Haggis in the film “we allowed women to really embody all the contradictions that make up a human being back then”; they weren’t simply one-dimensional characters mainly present for the male gaze. However, the roles and characters of women in the past decade or so, have more or less been just that. Even action films with female leads, that appear to celebrate the power and agency of the character, are shown to simply revert to the classic means of objectifying them through revealing and skin tight clothing, sexualized shots and movements, and the peculiar way in which they run, take part in hand to hand combat, and overpower enemies in heels and seemingly without a hair out of place.
With the rise of first wave feminism, started by in 1960 with the approval of oral contraceptives and propelled with Betty Friedan’s The Feminine Mystique, which questioned the notion that a woman’s sole purpose was to be at home tending to their husband and children, …show more content…
Instances of heteronormativity, examples of what men and women find interesting and should consume in (noting the differences in commercials on ESPN and the Lifetime Network), and body ideals, covert or not, only serve to further reinforce what men and boys should like and what girls and women should.
The power of these messages can be shown in the commentary of the young girls throughout the film. The pressure to look like the people that are lauded as beautiful and given attention has remarkable effects in a teen’s self-esteem, body image, and mental health. For example, the film notes that 53% of girls under the age of 13 are unhappy with their bodies and
78% feel the same by the time they are 17. The fact that such an overwhelming amount of girls suffer under the weight of trying to conform to often unattainable beauty ideals, shows the impact of a thin scantily-clad woman being depicted as a sex siren and people in the media berating celebrates about their appearances.
As a result of these widespread feelings of hate and discontent, the pernicious effects of the media spreading ideas of what it means to be a woman and how one should look can lead to young girls developing depression, harming themselves or developing an eating disorder.
This is evident in a number of ways. For example, the focus on women’s bodies and aesthetics, in television, movies, and advertisement serve as pervasive agents of socialization that propagate the idea that a woman’s value and power is directly linked to her sex appeal and whether or not she can adhere to the body ideals that we have been conditioned to believe are worth attaining (slender physiques, long legs, and large breasts) (Anderson). Another example of the misrepresentation …show more content…
By and large, the roles and characters women played in the 1920 to 1940s were more complex, multifaceted, and riveting. As stated by Paul Haggis in the film “we allowed women to really embody all the contradictions that make up a human being back then”; they weren’t simply one-dimensional characters mainly present for the male gaze. However, the roles and characters of women in the past decade or so, have more or less been just that. Even action films with female leads, that appear to celebrate the power and agency of the character, are shown to simply revert to the classic means of objectifying them through revealing and skin tight clothing, sexualized shots and movements, and the peculiar way in which they run, take part in hand to hand combat, and overpower enemies in heels and seemingly without a hair out of place.
With the rise of first wave feminism, started by in 1960 with the approval of oral contraceptives and propelled with Betty Friedan’s The Feminine Mystique, which questioned the notion that a woman’s sole purpose was to be at home tending to their husband and children, …show more content…
Instances of heteronormativity, examples of what men and women find interesting and should consume in (noting the differences in commercials on ESPN and the Lifetime Network), and body ideals, covert or not, only serve to further reinforce what men and boys should like and what girls and women should.
The power of these messages can be shown in the commentary of the young girls throughout the film. The pressure to look like the people that are lauded as beautiful and given attention has remarkable effects in a teen’s self-esteem, body image, and mental health. For example, the film notes that 53% of girls under the age of 13 are unhappy with their bodies and
78% feel the same by the time they are 17. The fact that such an overwhelming amount of girls suffer under the weight of trying to conform to often unattainable beauty ideals, shows the impact of a thin scantily-clad woman being depicted as a sex siren and people in the media berating celebrates about their appearances.
As a result of these widespread feelings of hate and discontent, the pernicious effects of the media spreading ideas of what it means to be a woman and how one should look can lead to young girls developing depression, harming themselves or developing an eating disorder.