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Analysis Of Miss Representation

Decent Essays

The documentary “Miss Representation” deals with and discusses the sexualization of women within the media. It showcases everyone from movie stars to political leaders, and broadcasters to fifth graders. With such a wide range of women being showcased in the documentary, it goes on to prove that all women (and men), are affected in some way by this major problem within our media. The documentary showcases the sexualization of women in the media, the lack of powerful and independent women role models in the media, and the constant advertisements of sexual women throughout the world. The documentary “Miss Representation” deals with the idea that women are taught from a very young age that their looks and appearances are one of the most, if not the most, important aspects of themselves. Not their character nor their achievements, but how they dress and present themselves. The article Hetero Barbie?, By Mary F. Rogers, deals with this idea as well, and can be related back to this documentary. In schools, young girls are sexualized and feminized from a very young age, due to the media that surrounds them. These young girls are practically forced by society to “pay increasing attention to the size and shape of their bodies, the range and contents of their wardrobes, the styling of their hair, and the making up of their faces” (Rogers 128). The fact that these young girls are supposed to focus on their appearances in school, rather than their academics or on the desire to become a better human being, is taught to them by society and the media. The documentary mentioned previously discusses a lot on this topic. The idea of female characters being sexualized is common throughout every source of media, including child-like cartoons. The amount of female characters in rated-G Disney movies that are wearing scantily-clad clothing is profound, and is highly impressionable to the young viewers that may end up watching these films. The majority of these female characters are on a mission of sorts to win over a man’s true love. The commonality here is that if young girls see other females on the big screen being swooned over by men while wearing little clothing, they begin to understand that appearances are more important

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