The documentary ‘Miss Representation’ was born of Jennifer Siebel Newsom’s anxiety in relation to the world she lives and grew up in and how that world would treat and shape the person her daughter would come to be, inspired by Newsom’s own struggles growing up in the entertainment industry.
One of the most interesting aspects of sexism that Newsom deals with in the film is how out if touch multi-billion-dollar advertising industries do not pay attention to the female half of the population. Instead focusing on the niche market of males aged eighteen to thirty-five. I myself identify with this niche market of males aged eighteen to thirty-five and as such benefit from entertainment that feels more targeted to me. While this could be seen as a good thing, as I directly benefit from this targeted advertising, it would be selfish to say that this is fair or justified. Focusing on and prioritising the feedback of a single group as a society is backwards in that no one group should be put ahead of any other at all. One could argue that the documentary deals with this from an entertainment point of view and that no real harm is done by focusing on one group. I would argue that putting one group, males between eighteen and thirty-five in this case, above all other groups reflects the way society views the marginalised groups that those in entertainment or advertising don’t seem to care about.
Miss Representation argues effectively that all groups should be represented fairly in media through using the example of the mistreatment of women. One example of this is the replacement of Catherine Hardwicke in the second movie of the Twilight film series. A woman was replaced as the director of the film series as soon as the producers recognised the money-making potential of the film series, reflecting the view of women in society. It would not be a stretch to say that Catherine Hardwicke would have greatly enhanced the quality of the Twighlight Saga had she continued working on the series. Newsom uses this example of mistreatment to highlight the problems that we as a society seem to have with women in positions of power, highlighting the inequality at play, while also telling us that society as a whole would benefit by people being judged for what they have done or what they can do rather than their race, gender or sexual orientation.
Newsom goes on to describe the indoctrination of the children of today at the hands of television, citing that children today consume around ten hours of media per day, a number that has surely grown since the release of the documentary. Children are being fed these ideas that women are inferior and should be subservient to men. The media tells children how they can express themselves and shuns them for going against the grain. Similar to the other films I have watched as a part of this module, the power of media and the control it has over our lives is present here. The key takeaway here is acceptance and equality. We should stop teaching children mindless stereotypes and let personality take center stage over appearance.
REFERENCES
- Miss Representation. Directed by Jennifer Siebel Newsom, Girls’ Club Entertainment, 22 Jan 2011.
- Twilight (2008). Directed by Catherine Hardwicke.
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