MIss Representation

I've thought about the ideas presented in this documentary before, but not with the same intensity as they are presented here.  All in one place, it was pretty eye-opening. As a teenage girl, I feel as if lots of the ads about who women are and what they should look like are directed at people like me, so it was interesting to think about all of this from this perspective.

Lots of the facts from the film have stayed with me, like that 53% of girls feel bad about their bodies, and that only 16% of the protagonists in movies are women. One of the ones that really stood out was the fact that only 17% of the people in Congress are women.  Since it hasn't been that long since I studied about the development of the Constitution and democracy in America, it is amazing to me that one half of the population is pretty much left out of the decision-making. Instead, they are left to feel "too fat" and "not pretty enough." When you think about how many really intelligent women there are in the world, it is ridiculous to me that women are treated this way.

I was impressed with all of the women in the film like Geena Davis, Katie Couric, Lisa Ling, and Jane Fonda, who all talked about how powerful the media is in presenting ideas about women. they talked about how the media sets people's values and that it really is "an instrument of change." These are women who really know because they are in the media and they have had to deal with the way women are presented in movies and on television and in advertising. I also thought it was interesting that the movie discussed the way that people like Hillary Clinton and Sarah Palin have been presented in the media. Not only are women treated as just beauty objects. They are even criticized and viewed as nothing more thsex symbols even when they are running for national office.

I was impressed with the fact that Jennifer Siebel Newsom made this film. It seemed like she worked really hard on behalf of women to show how they are presented in the media and in the real world.