More Miss Representation

Since we have finished Miss Representation, I have more to say about the message of the documentary overall. There were questions that we should've been considering, and I'd like to touch on them now.

The main impact that the documentary presented was to show that women are considered inferior in the media, and that women basically just revolve around the standards of men. The media makes this possible by presenting women a one-sided, stereotypical characters that could easily be replaced. Or, the media shows women as sex objects that are driven by beauty alone. This has been a problem ever since television and social media were invented.

This is an incredibly true message, but it wasn't delivered in the strongest fashion. The documentary had many examples and statistics showing that women are being undermined, but Miss Representation also had many assumptions. One assumption that stuck out to me was that many men are out to ruin women. Obviously, this is not true. There were men in the documentary who were talking about the need for more women's rights! Another assumption was that all women deeply care about their appearance. This may have more truth to it, but that seems like a stereotypical statement. Also, this documentary is slightly aged, so I wonder if the statistics have changed since the documentary was made.

So, it's obvious that the whole women's misrepresentation is an issue, but it's a complicated issue to solve. I don't think that we should just try to bash men instead, because that is only fighting fire with fire. I agree with the solution that people should start boycotting media that depicts women in a negative light. However, it would take a lot of people boycotting to make an impact worth noticing. If all the feminist supporters would band together, I think boycotting companies and keeping their money could really lead to a solution.

Lastly, I don't think that commercializing women or yourself is a good thing. Even though almost everyone does it, I believe it putting the real you out into the world. If people don't like that, then you don't need those people in your life. Miss Representation has only proved this point, and it seems that edited media (like photoshopped pictures and autotune) only have a negative effect on people's self-confidence. In order to be happy, I think you need to focus on how you see yourself; not how other people see you.