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Miss Representation Summary

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I found the Miss Representation documentary took a feminist approach in analyzing media representations of women (e.g.: in Hollywood, Reality TV, and magazines). There was also plenty of discussion on how women are limited in positions of power (especially in politics), due to sexist representations and ideologies. I believe the film was arguing that feminism is still needed (and that we are not in a state of post-feminism). For example, I found the social media campaigns at the end of the film to be promoting feminism.
As discussed in lecture and the textbook, feminism is aimed at achieving gender equality by being critical of hierarchal systems and practices that oppress and undermine women (Keller, 2017; Mills & Barlow, 2012). Miss Representation is a media text based on feminist ideologies, because it challenges many of the hierarchal and patriarchal systems/practices which benefit men and undermine women. For example, there were lots of statistics presented about how women are severely underrepresented in politics, film, and positions of power. In addition, many cringe-worthy clips were presented where men were saying things …show more content…

A perfect example of the male gaze in the documentary was the very alarming clip of the old news anchor who was obsessed with rolling footage of Paris Hilton, despite his female co-anchors desire to actually report news. As discussed in the film, the hypersexualization of women and the continual emphasis on a woman’s appearance seems to be reducing women to simply being objects. The media continues to reinforce and promote patriarchal ideologies, as opposed to continually promoting ideologies that represent women as strong, capable contributors to

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