Miss representation is a 2011 education film, about how men shaped women to be seen in the media. It showed statistics on how in America the media/entertainment/government business is almost all white men dominated. A woman wanted to make this movie to provoke change in America after she gave birth her daughter. She like many others want and NEED change.
When I first watched miss representation it made me feel a lot and clearly none were positive. Looking at the statistics and understanding how men view and show women in media pissed me off. The fucked up ‘ideal beauty’ standards is unreachable and damaging to young girls and women. 51% of girls between the ages of 9 -10 years old feel better about them selfs when dieting. And how showing violence agents woman in entertainment actually makes violence agents woman in the real world much worse, by glorifying it. 25% of college women and 15% of college men are victims of forced sex ( Rape ) during their time in college.
While watching the film it also made me think about how much things need to change in American culture. American media tells woman that to be great and to get far in life is to be beautiful. When Hilary Clinton and Sarah Palin were running for president of America the media constantly only talked about how they looked. None cared about their polices, or how they were going to run the country. And thats the sad thing, that these two smart women were reduced to their appearance over their ability to run a country. And it makes you think and realize how not okay that is.
I never fully realized how bad it was for women in media. Knowing how women are viewed and criticized shocked me. Ii knew woman didn’t have the best time, but I never knew how bad it was. It wasn’t till the Harvey wienstean scandals and actresses coming out about them being raped or sexually assaulted by men who are the ‘gate keepers’. I feel that that alone opened up conversations and peoples eyes. For me defiantly it opened my eyes.
The film made me want to build stronger female friendships. And be closer with my friends. I wanted to educate more women on what happens in American media. Ever since I was young I wanted to be an advocate, especially for transgender women. And this just rekindled that flame I had in me thats been out for a very long time. It made me angry and provoked in the best way possible, made me want change. To do better for women.