The documentary Miss Representation was released in 2011 and directed by Jennifer Siebel Newsom. The central theme of the documentary is based on the system of patriarchy in which a male person dominated the family and considered as the head of the family. In this system, women are not allowed to take decisions of the family and excluded from the decision making process. The theme of the documentary also includes the negative representation of media about women that exists in the societies from the 20th century.
The movie portrayed several facts including that the women in the world are facing gender biases over decades and in the media, women are used as the hypersexualized people. The media is not only representing the images of women negatively but also showing the demeaning images of women that are faced by the women and young girls in the media today. The documentary also highlights the media pattern in which it uses women as objects mainly focus on their bodies. The media representation of women increases the women anxieties regarding their physical structure. The women who are interviewed in the movie described that the media wants women as sex objects and for the media women are objects to attract the male viewers.
The documentary also depicted that women are also humiliated by other women. In the perceptions of the women, other women are bitchy, catty, and also manipulated mostly women are the ones who do not trust other women in most societies of the world. The concept of patriarchy is targeted in the movie and reflects that how it positively impacts men and negatively impacts on women. In most societies, boys are socialized with the concept that being a man means being in power and the one who can control the women. This behavior is not only genetic but also learned the behavior of the societies. The message of the movie, in the end, is that the women need to empower themselves as well as encourage other women so that the patriarchy system could be tearing down from the societies in the world (Miss Representation, 2011).
Direct Link to Documentary to Course Concept
Media is an important part of any society, and in the modern world today, it plays a vital role to develop the social norms in the societies. The different forms of media help the society to develop their behavioral pattern by different advertisements, films, talk shows, documentaries, and other elements. Gender roles are linked with the media, and the media is perpetuating their roles. In the United States of America, more than 90 percent American families own TV (Lantagne, 2014). Almost in every advertisement women are available and usually represent their body structure to promote the products. This shows that women’s representation matters when it comes to work of media as their perfect bodies are the reason behind their employment. It leads to dissatisfaction of women who are not having the perfect bodies and want to join media. In the United States, more than 53 percent of 13-year-old girls are not satisfied by their bodies because they are attracted towards the bodies of women who are shown in the TV commercials. Also in the United States, almost two-thirds of women and girls are suffering from eating disorders with the facts that they want a perfect shape of their body that led them towards starving.
The other aspect that is targeted in the movie is that the patriarchy system is spread around the world societies in which the people consider men as the dominant male part of the family system (Napikoski & Lewis, 2017). The dominant part is linked to power, and it leads towards the concept of privilege. In the patriarchy system, the power is linked with the man and women are excluded from the decision making processes. In these societies, men are the heads of families, leaders of social groups, employers at the workplaces, and politicians in the government systems. These societies are the ones that are ruling the world’s most areas but needs attention to empower the rules of women as they also should be involved in the decision-making process as well as should be given a chance to work equally with men.
Personal Reflection to the Documentary
The documentary is based on several ideas that persist in the most world societies today regarding the role of women. Media is no doubt using the women to attract the male viewers also the representation of women is the most important factor in the media today. The women who particularly want to join the media needs a perfect body and a glamorous look so that the viewers could be attracted towards their body. It is a true factor and in my opinion, the women who are a part of the world media mostly having the perfect shape and glamorous look. This will create issues for the ones who are viewing these women such as teenage girls and adult women who start considering that they should have a body like the one they had seen in the advertisements. It will lead to distress if they have not the perfect body and in the case of teenage girls, they start strict dieting procedures so that they could have a body like the girls shown in the advertisements. Moreover, the patriarchy system should be replaced by the system in which the women have equal rights, and the power pattern should be divided into men and women equally.
References
Lantagne, A. (2014). Gender Roles in Media. HuffPost. Retrieved 5 April 2018, from https://www.huffingtonpost.com/allison-lantagne/gender-roles-media_b_5326199.html
Miss Representation. (2011). Retrieved from https://www.netflix.com/pk/title/70167128
Napikoski, L., & Lewis, J. (2017). What Is a Patriarchal Society and How Does It Relate to Feminism?. ThoughtCo. Retrieved 5 April 2018, from https://www.thoughtco.com/patriarchal-society-feminism-definition-3528978
