Miss Representation

           Contrary to what people all throughout history have said and tried to accomplish, men and women are still not completely equal in all aspects. Men are still seen as being the strong leaders, women are still the kind negotiators. Is it impossible for a woman to be a strong leader, too? Can't a man be kind and gentle as well?

            As we've noticed in class as we view Miss Representation, it's clear that the media shows women in a different light than what the everyday woman on the street looks like. TV shows and movies portray women as statuesque beings with the perfect body, clear, glowing skin, flowing, perfect hair and tons of money. Just by walking through my school, or looking outside as I'm driving through downtown, I hardly ever see "the perfect woman" as seen on TV, if at all.

            The part that really frustrates me about the media, as mentioned also in the video, is that the portrayals of women influence how young girls and women see themselves in a negative way, and they feel the need to look like the glowing figures on TV and in movies. A scene in the documentary that stood out to me was when a girl was talking about how her younger sister would cut herself because she was being teased for not being very pretty. I find that sick; no one should cut themselves, but especially not because someone told them they weren't "pretty enough".

            Harmless-looking forms of media such as Barbie dolls are also showing girls what society views as 'beautiful'; if girls don't look like Barbie and dress like Barbie, does that mean they aren't beautiful? I don't think so. To get rid of this controversy, toy makers could make a larger Barbie to represent bigger girls, or shorter Barbies to suit short girls, just so there is a doll to fit every type of girl. They have Barbies with different ethnicities, why not shapes and sizes?

            Not only does the media simply make women look trashy and bad most of the time, those women who are trying to make a living for the media, such as actresses and other positions behind the scenes of movies and TV shows, aren't having their fair share of the spotlight. According to an article I read on jobs in the filmmaking industry, women are vastly outnumbered by the amount of men there are in top-rated movies; they make up 18% of the staff directing, producing, editing, or filming the movies themselves, not just acting. Of course most of the women are placed in front of the cameras so men can look at them, not behind the camera where no one can see.

            Mentioned in the article, actress Meryl Streep comments that although the top five movies released in the last five years, all with major female roles, have brought in a lot of profit, the fimmaking industry still neglects to make many "big-time" movies aimed toward a female audience. This doesn't make sense because the movies made the industry a lot of money, yet they don't continue down that path to make more of such movies because they're for women.

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