Miss Representation (2011)

As a female director the first thing I notice about this film is that the women have too much make- up. And their hairs are perfect in every shot. And they talk about misrepresentation of women.But if we philosophically talk about this film and its contents, it's OK, it talks about real and horrible problem of teenage depression, diet obsession and disorders and many other maladies caused by living in a bubble created by media. People of both genders have this disorder and have obsessions with their bodies and look. It's planetary. Maybe even anthropological question since since ever people maimed their bodies to look 'great', from European corsets in the mid-XX century, Chinese wooden shoes, collars that extend necks of African tribal women, to contemporary plastic surgery.I think that problem lies in fashion in general, in human obsession with fashion. In human need to be accepted. Actually the problem is very deep. Focusing on solely media is only a tip of the iceberg.

While this movie covers mostly basics of how misconstrued women are in media, and seems to reiterate simple facts - I didn't feel like it was repetitive to the point of being tedious. I personally enjoyed the refresher course the movie provided and it gave me some new insight as well. Although a lot of the information given wasn't surprising (which sadly just emphasizes the point of the movie), the recent extent to which gender plays into media (specifically Hollywood) was a new awareness for me; simply because most of us do not go through life scrutinizing every aspect of media and analyzing its gender biases. The movie does a great job of reflecting on past media presentations to prove its points. I appreciate the statistics given because statistics have a general scientific drive behind them that humans innately trust and can certainly create a larger emotional affect for the audience; however, I felt like a little background on how these statistics were gathered (from where?) would have been helpful for credibility. On the other hand, bringing in producers, actresses, hosts, and many other influential people and having them speak about personal experiences where they have experienced gender bias was very powerful and helpful. I feel as though this would be a great documentary movie to show younger audiences (or even older audiences for a refresher or a starting point of discussion!) because it gives a good overview of the problems that media creates in terms of gender related expectations. The movie created a sense of urgency and motivation needed for both men and women to take action and take a stance, even in small every day scenarios. While gender inequality is a great big problem in many, many societal aspects that is hard to tackle, this documentary briefly mentions the more specific issues/topics that are related for possible further discussion (ie. jobs, leadership, eating disorders, bullying, depression, sexual objectification, rape, validation, etc).

Some will see Miss Representation as a bunch of hack women complaining about a problem and are not willing to do anything about it. It's an understandable reaction. I've seen so many documentaries that bathe the viewer in paranoia and fear without providing valid solutions or ways that they could fix potential problems. Food, Inc. for example; a well-made, yet somewhat heavy-handed documentary on the exploitation of how our food is made.Miss Representation's goal is to inform people about the blatant sexism in Television, advertising, society, politics, and film. It does a very nice job at providing each of their subjects with material and substance, also giving them enough time to get their point across. I believe more than eight minutes is devoted to the political aspect, and several more to Television and film. For an eighty-eight minute documentary, it covers a lot of heavy territory, and even, gasp, includes efficient solutions during the end credits.The interviewees are Geena Davis, Condoleezza Rice, Lisa Ling, Nancy Pelosi, Katie Couric, Rosario Dawson, Jim Steyer, Dr. Jackson Katz, and Gloria Steinem, who all comment on the media's insidiously harmful portrayal of women. Comments are made on how advertising has evolved from genial snippets into racy, sexploitation spots begging to be noticed and controversial. It has been proved in the field of advertising that sex sells, and companies race their commercials and magazine advertisements to an invisible finish line to see who can be more daring and provocative.But what are the consequences for imposing such demeaning pictures of women? For one, there's the obligatory "striving for unsustainable beauty" argument. I don't think there is one person who believes that what they see on the front cover on a tabloid or a magazine has not been digitally altered or photoshopped in some way, shape, or form. Most likely, all three of those things have been changed on a picture of a woman, and it's not hard to find out. How many women do you know have pearly white skin and don't occupy a single blemish, mole, pimple, or scar? I remember on KISS FM's "DreX in the Morning" radio program they discussed how parental browbeating and mediocre, sometimes abusive relationships affect a woman's already fragile self-esteem and worth. They brought up how on a magazine cover, Brittney Spears' face was photoshopped onto the body she occupied in the nineties.Miss Representation doesn't break new ground or uncover anything that wasn't pretty much known before, but will likely be useful to teenage girls who are perhaps unaware of the media bias. I unfortunately missed a screening of this at my high school and a lengthy lecture following it. It would've been nice to see audiences reactions in the flesh. I can see some dismissing this as mock-feminist propaganda and I can see people being truly informed and moved by this documentary. Me, I stand where I usually am; in the middle. This is a well made documentary, but not without my personal quibbles and questions. For one, the film mentions that there are very few women directors, screenwriters, cinematographers, etc. Okay, but are women being forced out by the big, bad man, or are they just not showing a genuine interest in the behind the scenes aspects of the film industry? Another thing I must bring up; maybe it's not the studios' fault that women are portrayed so dimly in film. You can't tell me that actresses like Megan Fox and Jessica Simpson don't contract themselves to basically flaunt their stuff in films like The Dukes of Hazzard and Transformers. They know what they're getting into, and appear to have no problem showing what they have. I'm not saying it's right, but maybe the film is too quick to point figures at the provider rather than the person signing the contract and giving consent to be used as a basic caricature.Director Jennifer Siebel Newsom has done a bold and admirable thing releasing Miss Representation, not only letting it glide its way around the country in screenings, but by giving the distribution rights to The Oprah Winfrey Network. This is an informative and amusing documentary showing us that our biggest source of information also serves as our biggest influence on people, good and bad. I'll leave off with a quote from Jim Steyer, one of my favorite speakers in the film; "It's not a Liberal or Conservative issue; it's an American issue and an American problem." Starring: Geena Davis, Condoleezza Rice, Lisa Ling, Nancy Pelosi, Katie Couric, Rosario Dawson, Jim Steyer, Dr. Jackson Katz, and Gloria Steinem. Directed by: Jennifer Siebel Newsom.

I just wanted to write a response to the Review floating around from TVGUY that said it was "OK". First off, just because you're showing images of sexualized women, doesn't mean it's going against what the film is for. THEY'RE showing you the exact images that are being consumed by the masses, and THEN backing it up with evidence of how detrimental it is to women and men. If you don't want your girl seeing it in the context of it being negative then that's your prerogative; but at least they aren't glamorizing it... you think your little girl won't see it somewhere else? It's basically PLASTERED in our minds.This was a great movie... it broke down the stereotypes and misogyny in the industry and really dissects the machine that controls the masses; media. Not only does it focus on Women's oppression, but also on the monopoly that the media has become... it's quite scary how controlling and how much dominance this institution has on the masses and consequently the public realm and government. This is no man hating by any means, they even draw the connections on how men are oppressed because of the oppression of women. EVERYONE should watch this... truly enlightening. If you think misogyny and female oppression is the only thing the Machine pushing and is the only problem going on then you're wrong... Oppression and violence will not be rid of in societies until we begin to hold the media and said institutions accountable. Anything corporations get a hold of turns into complete crap. Start thinking with your own minds, maybe then will you truly live a happy life and provide a safe place for both daughters AND sons.