Miss Representation Thoughts and Connections
While I am very aware that women face more difficulty and are often times treated as unequal to men, there were several part so of the documentary that I was quite skeptical of and or disagreed with. For example, I was a little bit unsure of when it was claiming that women are stereotyped by men and are expected to look and be a certain way and that this is only something women deal with. Men oftentimes face similar issues, men are expected to pay on first dates, and initiate most things, in addition to having women scrutinize men's looks as well. In addition, most of these issues were blamed on media and the way it portrays women, yet towards the end of the film it talked about how women have the majority of purchasing power and consume media the most, and that it is probably more fun to watch reality tv for hours instead of reading (this was when it was talking about how women should empower themselves towards the end). What confuses me Ian why women are the lead consumers of the media even though many consider it to be derogatory?
On the other hand, I did learn some new things from this movie. For example I knew that most media appealed to men although women watch the most television, however I didn't realize that movies that seem to empower women are actually made for a male target audience. For example, the recent WonderWoman movie featured a dominant powerful female protagonist who was strong not just because off looks but because of her superpowers and stuff. While on the outside this seems empowering to women, it's still appealing to men because the actress is still portrayed in a way that some might consider "revealing".
On the other hand, I did learn some new things from this movie. For example I knew that most media appealed to men although women watch the most television, however I didn't realize that movies that seem to empower women are actually made for a male target audience. For example, the recent WonderWoman movie featured a dominant powerful female protagonist who was strong not just because off looks but because of her superpowers and stuff. While on the outside this seems empowering to women, it's still appealing to men because the actress is still portrayed in a way that some might consider "revealing".
This is wonder woman^
Also, the film revealed some shocking statistics about the under representation of women in government and media. Although I New men were the majority, I had no clue how skewed it truly was. There was something like 97% of media being ckntrolled by men in the U.S. while 51% of population is women. There is no debating that is under representation.
To answer you question, i think the reason that women consume more media than men despite its bad messages is because of that vicious cycle between media and people. Media tells people how to act and that they should be cool or pretty or something else based on the values of consumers in the real world. These values are then fed back to the media who repackages it and sends it back the the public creating a loop of expectations influencing reality and visa versa.
ReplyDeleteI agree with this. I see women every day being subjected to offensive behavior that objectifies them for their body or societal roles. I am not denying this is a major issue, but I am also trying to acknowledge issues that affect men, as in recent years, there has been more and more judgement aimed at men based on their body, sexual orientation, or place in society. I feel that too often men's rights are overlooked because of the prevalence of women's issues in the media.
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ReplyDeleteI too think that men tend to be focused on less in terms of issues they face in society and women's expectations. However, there are a few reasons why it was completely overlooked in Miss Representation: 1. Miss Representation is a documentary about women, not men. 2. Although men do face judgement from women based on looks and physical features, it is no where near the amount that women receive from men. At the end of the day, both sexes' issues should be recognized. However at the moment, and throughout all of history, women have been the receivers of much more harsh judgement/punishment/discrimination based on their looks.
ReplyDeleteMy bad there was a typo my man.
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