Pages

Thursday, December 20, 2012

Miss Representation


Over the weekend I was lucky enough to catch a Documentary called Miss Representation. My initial reaction to the first few scenes (Oh no, another feminist flick) stands to validates the ultimate point that the movie sets out to prove: "There is a glaring reality we live with every day but fail to see". And that is: Main Stream Media and the advertisers funding it are affecting our society in ways we can no longer ignore

The film begins by stating the obvious: The Media has become a sensationalized, hypersexual carnival. We are all slightly aware of this but very rarely do we stop to think about the actual CONSEQUENCES of this phenomenon. People like myself, like to believe that because we take small, deliberate acts of defiance (I chose at 16 to not purchase or even open anymore women's magazines- even if I did have to wait half an hour to see my Dentist) that we are not affected by these covert, mysogynistic messages. The film does a great job at putting into perspective how much Media affects our daily lives and even scarier, how destructive and far reaching the consequences of this new "normal" have influenced not only the psyches of our men , women & children and our cultural identity - but ultimately our political landscape and entire society. I encourage you to watch the extended trailer I have provided here but I will summarize what I understood to be the important points made:





“The Media is delivering content that shapes society: It shapes our politics, our natl discourse, [our] lives and emotions” - Jim Styer 
  • Between TV, Music, Magazines and Internet, American teenagers avg 10hrs & 45 min/day
  • “People learn more from media than any other source of information; So, if we want to understand what is going on in our society in the 21st Century, you have to understand media”  
  • The Platforms today are more diverse and have less & less legal restrictions.
"From a very early age, the Message is clear..."
  • The Message for girls: whats is most important is looks; your value & your worth depend on it 
  • The Message for boys:  this is what is important about girls, despite her achievements. 
  • ^For example: Hillary Clinton/Nancy Pelosi/Condi Rice
  • There is very little to no appreciation for women intellectuals in society today
Derogatory portrayal of women in Media creates widespread biases
  • Critics are all too quick to pin weaknesses on "PMS & Mood Swings" - this is offensive
  • By portraying Women in Media/News in extremely derogatory fashion we create biases (among men AND women alike- I am guilty of this) that women are "not fit".
  • This leads to very few women in high up positions; less than 3% of Women with clout positions in Telecom in the US and as we'll see later, gross underrepresentation in government. 
There is a political economy within the Media 
  • The Media gets revenue from Advertising and….SEX SELLS a lot of stuff!  For men, Women and children.
  • “This is all about capitalism. Exploitation of women’s bodies to sell products, magazines, etc."-Lindy Devokan, former exec vp of NBC
  • “The argument that media outlets are “just giving people what the public wants” is false. It is 100% controlled by the advertisers. They give it to you and make you believe it is what you want
The effects of advertising are largely subconscious and very harmful
  • Advertisements are intended to produce anxiety, insecurity to sell products.  This is most evident in school aged girls and adult women of all ages.
  • In an attempt to "one-up" each other, advertisers must be more shocking with less words: more & more demeaning, shocking & violent images.
  • We are socializing boys by presenting them with what is “manly”; they are bombarded by unnaturally hyper-masculine & misogynistic images earlier and earlier
  • This translates into decline in female youth ambitions: statistics of # of girls & boys who "want to be president" is 50/50 in school age children but steadily declines with age
This results in a lack women’s voice in public forum
  • Women comprise 51% of US population but only 17% of Congress
  • The US is behind Cuba and China, Iraq and Afghanistan in women in government
  • US is 90th in the world in terms of women in national legislatures
  • Our National Leadership is representative of only 6 % of the country: White, Married, Male,  Over 35 & College Educated

The effects are REAL and do merit further review. But all is not bleak; the movie does an okay job of picking you back up off the floor by asking the question: How can this change? They advise us to allow equal opportunity on screen to "See, Show and Appreciate Women Leadership" or at least announce the possibility (in movies, TV, News)!!! Geena Davis shares how inspirational the film ‘A League of Their Own’ was to young girls who reached out to her, sharing that the movie inspired them to fulfill their passion and purse sport. We also need to elect positive female leaders and paint a more realistic picture of society for our kids. 

As far as I am concerned, the most important way to change this is to stay grounded in my true-self that tells me 'I AM ENOUGH' and never play into the hedonistic treadmill of materialistic consumption or self-esteem bashers I see and hear on TV. Oh, and run for office someday!!!!  :)  Thats enough for today, Im out y'all!


No comments:

Post a Comment