A touching documentary, which both men and women need to watch as it goes in depth into the media manipulation, voluntary or not, direct at young people.
In the recent year, media interviews with woman are increased year by year. Lots of woman did plastic surgery with them and tried to get into the media, such as Lady Gaga, Korean superstar Yuna and so on. They tried to get more attention from the media and intent to get famous. For example, I’ve doing club DJ couple years ago, and before that most of the DJs were paying like a school fees to learn how to DJ, but later on most of the nightclubs were having more female DJs than the male DJs, who had learn how to DJ’ing before, but most of the female DJ’s were never learn anything basic in DJ’ing before, they have much more reputation than those seniors. This is why female DJs market are getting famous and famous, most of them were showing their bodies, their beauty more than DJ’ing skills they have.
Reply
J.ming
22/9/2014 07:28:16 pm
Sorry for the first post, I've got it wrong, I'll amend it ASAP
Reply
J Ming
22/9/2014 07:36:43 pm
After watching this documentary film, it's a heartbreaking for most of the woman are boycotted by the media, for example like most of the advertisement often find those model with plastic surgery, I can say that all of the media needs a perfect shape body models rather than those who are talented in modeling. The media recently it's like setting a condition that which type of body shapes only allows you to join certain event, this causes a lot of teenagers started to cut down their food for slimming down their body shapes rather than be in a good health. This is like what I've mention in DJ industry before, lots of nightclubs rather to hire a DJ with perfect body rather than those who are talented.
Syamsinar Kusumawardani
22/9/2014 07:20:52 am
It is really heartbreaking to watch this video cause it tells what women wants to say. Since a long time ago people have this stereotype of woman who has the role for being a housewife and to serve their husband in sexual only. It took a long time for woman to have their rights and proves that they are equal with men. Woman always get in the news about what they wear, why she is getting fat, and its all about their appereance. We barely saw news that talks about what they have done and what kind of achievement woman gets. In media and entertainment world they always showing a sexy, bitchy kind of woman that always think of how to find a true love and being pretty and its usualy woman in their 20’s. It happens because majority the CEO of media and advertisement industries is men. And its from their perspective, woman have to be perfect to get their attention. In the end mostly teenagers got depressed by hating themselves for not being perfect with no support from their environment who always bullied them. It brings them to the solution for doing a plastic surgery which is cost a lot and is not good for mental and physical health. In my opinion people who do this kind of thing is lack of religious or spirituality. if the soul is already strong and belief in themselves being a natural beauty is already a gift so it doesn’t matter if we are not perfect. Parents behavior also have the importance for their children. So give your child more attention and be the friend who they can express themselves comfortably.
Reply
Nicholas Yuen
22/9/2014 08:57:13 am
It’s really sad to see that the today media portrays women in a disadvantage situation. Women are often stereotypically to be portrayed as playing lesser beings, dependent roles or sexual objects. Because of today’s media, women were manipulated to look perfect. They are being sold the concept that women and girls’ value lies in their youth, beauty and sexuality. I feel today media make girls are seen as objects by others and by themselves where there is a higher risk of depression, cutting behaviors, eating disorders, lower GPA, and lower cognitive function. This video shows that the media chronicles the desperate struggle of young women in their quest to achieve an idealized concept of beauty, and how they are discouraged from aspiring to be more than a pretty face and body. Being so, women do plastic surgery to look better and gain more confidence to fit in the society. The shallow understanding of women in today society and media chooses to look at sexuality not only harm women but also men. Often men feel pressure to be better than women. Women are valued in the media only for their physical appearance, media does not only have consequences in terms of how it affects the way that women feel and act, but how they are treated and I feel this is one of the major reason very few women hold position in power in today society.
Reply
Ibrahim Lari
22/9/2014 08:59:18 am
American Documentary film about Miss Representation in 2011, written, directed, and produced by Jennifer Siebel Newsom. It explores how mainstream media contribute to the under-representation of women in influential positions by circulating limited and often disparaging portrayals of women. The film premiered in the documentary competition at the 2011 Sundance Film Festival.
The film interweaves stories from teenage girls with provocative interviews from the likes of Condoleezza Rice, Lisa Ling, Nancy Pelosi, Katie Couric, Rachel Maddow, Rosario Dawson, Dr. Jackson Katz, Dr. Jean Kilbourne, and Gloria Steinem to give an inside look at the media and its message. The film’s motto, “You can't be what you can't see,” underscores an implicit message that young women need and want positive role models, and that the media has thus far neglected its unique opportunity to provide them. The film includes a social action campaign to address change in policy, education and call for socially responsible business.
The Representation Project is a movement that uses film and media content to expose injustices created by gender stereotypes and to shift people’s consciousness towards change. Interactive campaigns, strategic partnerships and education initiatives inspire individuals and communities to challenge the status quo and ultimately transform culture so everyone, regardless of gender, race, class, age, or circumstance can fulfill their potential.
Reply
I PUTU ADITYA PRABAWA BUDIASA
22/9/2014 09:40:03 am
In this video explaining how media take a huge contribution on how women should look. It creates standards on how girls and women should look like. From time to time, women’s life style are changing, again because of the media. It badly misrepresented how women should appear and accepted in front of the public. This phenomena has effect girls and women mentally and physically. Eating disorder is one of the common disease attack women, followed by depression, lack of confidence, low self-esteem and low GPA, concerning this matter. Some even engage in cutting and self-injurious behavior. It is because how the media ‘convince’ women that a person who are strong, smart and accomplish was not enough for the rest of the world. The media has created the criteria on how women should look like and give an image to men on how the expected women to appear. The main target in this situation are teenagers, as they are still emotionally unstable to judge how they are suppose to look like and who are they suppose to be. Unsurprisingly, the rates of depression among girls and women have doubled between 2000 and 2010. Based on some of high school girls, they are sometimes are forced to change the way they look and the way they life just to try to fit in.
In this modern era, technology are more advance. In this case, software made the thing get worse. It creates and impossible standard for women. And still plenty of them are trying to measure themselves based on this impossible standard. Being pretty are to die for. The media ‘teach’ people how to see girl as object, and in the other hand, girls are ‘learning’ to be an object. In the U.S. there are only few number of women who took position in politics and be the actual leader. This happen because the Hollywood makes women looks pretty but dumb. Make somehow women’s voice are invalid because women are depict to be less strong than men. This has become an epidemic around the U.S.
What’s important to be a women is what’s happening on the inside. To follow on our main purpose on life. And to be heard. Forget the stereotyping and start to stand up for women.
Reply
Sepi Tambuza
22/9/2014 10:12:31 am
I didn't know what to expect before watching Miss Representation, but I'm glad I watched it. It is an eye opening documentary highlighting how women being misrepresented in the media and throughout society.
It shows light on many different area, such as the issue with female politicians being insulted on national television, we see Sarah Palin and Hillary Clinton being called harsh names and criticized for their appearances on national television where as the male candidates do not systematically go through this. These women were being judged based on their appearance and not on their merit to handle to role were running for. The attitude of these news anchors is very similar to the way young people may act in all the way up to university, which says a lot about their majority levels.
The separation between a person a a product is non existent, Big Media seems them as the same, they're both object that need to be marketed and sold. There is no restriction on what should be put out and don't seem to be interested in the repercussion it has on the masses. Turning a person into an object makes it much easier for a person to emotional detach themselves from that person and if violence occurs the offend is less likely to feel any compassion towards their victim.
The recurring theme of this video is the objectification of women, putting them down but they also show women in positions of power. I was surprised to find out that women occupy very few posts on the boards of major companies when statistically speaking there should be a lot more of them, this just shows how contrary media is to reality.
I was touched by the interview segment with the young girls who were giving us their accounts and the things they've seen. When Maria talked about her younger sister cutting herself I was sad because I have younger sister and I couldn't imagine them doing this.
We let ourselves be told what to think by a box with strangers in it, and I don't think that it's a good thing.
Reply
Hasmidar Binti Jaafar
22/9/2014 10:15:11 am
Initially when I received the task to watch a documentary I was not interested because I'm not a massive fan of that genre. However,based on what I've seen I'm so impressed with that documentary film. It was great and 'Beautiful' !
Basically the intention of Miss Representation is to reveal how the media affects the way America's women, men,teens perceive beauty, sexuality, values, and self-worth.
What particularly struck me in the beginning was Maria, high school student who was really sad about her younger sister who cuts herself because she gets teased in school just because she doesn't have the perfect figure. She was depressed on that incident and thinking of the solution so the little sister won't be getting hurt by the media. So many women having a lack of confidence when they see themselves
Imperfect. They don't realise that their lives is bound to be limited in some way, and this can lead to a person having anxious or depressed feelings.
Based on my point of view, I believe that so many people out there willing to resemble their inspired celebrities or beautiful people who are most often with a sexy body, and flawless skin by making changes. From my perception I just believe in myself how important to be beautiful inside and out, no matter what the media are telling us. I have a friend who is fat and dark skin. She knows that she has her own specialty, although she doesn't have fair skin and a skinny body. She always says to herself to be grateful.
I was curious why people typically thought that women can be easily criticized, mocked and oppressed. Why women can't be in the highest position such as President, politician, general Manager, team leader an so on? There is nothing impossible in this life. The Major thing I can see based on the video is the quality of a person in terms of personality, character, self esteem, motivation , and outlook.
However, some women they get depressed about how to improve their personalities and outlook to be more than what they naturally have.
For example, I think young men now expect every woman to have sexy body which is definitely not always possible. I'm not really fine with how women are portrayed. Another example, Corazon Aquino is a former President of the Philippines. she is the first woman to hold that office and the first female president in Asia. Despite she have had much experience and obstacles during her leadership, but she made all women proud of her as a powerful and strong leader.
Well, it is not a simple thing to be like men who always have power,position, confidence, and so on. However , it's important to understand that confidence can come and go. All depends on individual to decide their choice . Women can be at the same level with men if they wish to.
The film tells about the unfair equality women are supposedly given in this world that is controlled by Men. Well , men aren't to be blame . All is about ourselves. How much we trust ourselves to be a leader that can manage and control what we wish to do and how much people expect from us. Outlook is important but all women should believe in themselves and don't need to change . The improvement of thinking and confidence are the most essential .
Reply
Chrystal Lee D
22/9/2014 11:51:14 am
This documentary is indeed changed my perspective regarding true beauty and how women are perceived in the society nowadays. Basically this video is about the injustice that has been happening up to this moment regarding women equal rights and value in the society.
Women are usually perceived as some sort of degrading objects by the media. From music video to video games such as Grand Theft Auto (GTA), women are freely abused and exploited.
Teenage girls are becoming more and more insecure as they grow up, and they are not comfortable in their own skin; some even hurt or cut themselves because they are being bullied at school.
Even most presidents in America are male, which makes it harder for women to stand out among such crowd.
This documentary is trying to say that women don’t need to be perfect. They don’t have to have perfect body shape, fair skin just to be beautiful. Inner beauty is much more important, which the media won’t admit.
Basically the media is one of the main tools that shape people’s minds. Without us realizing it, we are actually being brainwashed by the way a woman looks in a TV commercial, which is unrealistic and airbrushed. Most people would suddenly have the urge to look exactly like what they see in magazines, TV commercials, etc.
This documentary is extremely interesting, because it is not afraid to tell people the truth about beauty, which comes from within. Being smart is more important than looking beautiful, because eventually looks fade, and what’s left is our attitude and character.
Reply
Debyani Pradhan
22/9/2014 06:02:45 pm
Miss Representation mostly talks about how people (both male and female) look at female, consciously or unconsciously, like what they should do, shouldn't do, wear and behave. Females are criticized a lot no matter what they do; e.g. If some is fat they tell them to lose weight but if that person turns anorexic, they still criticize her which results in depression and self-harm to name a few. You don’t really see that with men in general. In most part of the world you see women being portrayed quiet vulgarly just to grab attention of viewers and after watching it they tend to think everyone behaves in that manner. Personally I think that women are not really respected by others (even though they say they do) and it’s more like they have to earn it. Even if she is good at what she does and is better than others, she isn’t given credit for it and men they get that job even though they are not as good as her. They have this stereotype that only men can do that ‘thing’. Many think that the world is changing or more like they don’t have those stereotype anymore, but that’s not the case, as you see few celebrities who support girls, try and encourage them to like and respect themselves, be comfortable in your own body and try not to be someone else but there are times when they are shut down by public by saying they are acting in the name of feminism; e.g. They say things like females, they fight for equal rights but there is a brawl between two genders they scream that they are being abused and all sorts of things and they should just sit at home. Media plays a major role in pressuring girls to be who they are not. In ads they totally change how the talent look, creating those superficial human, and kind of force females to be like someone who doesn't even exist. As a result girls aren't comfortable being themselves and they go through lots of process like plastic surgery to look like someone else and dieting, and self-harm themselves.
Reply
Leave a Reply.
Author
We are here to promote social change through creative thinking.