In the past, women weren’t given the same opportunities as men. Men always seemed to have the upper hand. Women used to not be able to vote, work, or even be able to drive a car. To this day, women still are not taken seriously. Women who aspire feminine jobs such as modeling, fashion, and even acting receive an exceptional amount of criticism as well. They also are seen as easy bait for men to take advantage of. Unfortunately, Farrah Fawcett was one of them. Farrah Fawcett was a 1976 Charlie’s Angel, then soon became the decade’s premier poster girl. The 1980’s and on Farrah was an Emmy award winning actress. Nonetheless, the blank on blank video “Farrah Fawcett on Stiletto power” is a powerful eye opening interview about a taxi incident that utilizes compelling imagery, effective sound, appeal to emotion, and exceptional strength, in which Farrah Fawcett is finally seen as something more than a pretty woman in stilettos. Initially, the blank on blank video begins with a preview of Fawcett’s interview. Fawcett’s interview preview uses extreme emotion and …show more content…
The video is solely in the colors black and white, giving a dark and intimidating theme. This creates just the perfect picture to go along with the story that Fawcett begins to tell. She begins to tell Larry Grobel that she was on 5th avenue and 51st trying to catch a taxi with her assistant, whom she didn’t know very well. She had on pants, Maud Frizon heels with a little stiletto heel, and a big shirt (Fawcett). What started the whole ordeal was the rain coming down and how wet Fawcett’s hair was getting. The only thought on her mind was that she was going to have to perform with wet hair because she couldn’t get a taxi. She could not be late and could not miss a performance so she was in a panic (Fawcett). The video shows Fawcett and her assistant with stale looks on their faces standing in the
The documentary Miss Representation describes the struggle of female leadership. It is based on the way the women look, the way they carry themselves, and the way they brutalize themselves to fit in with others. This documentation allow different women to tell their ways that the media have slashed them, and allow others to stand up for women. Women portray themselves to fit as the image that has been altered with to get it to look that way. Margaret Cho explains that her show All American Girl was cancelled because she had problems with the network who aired the show because they constantly said was not thin enough. That is a prime example of today's problems with pursuing your dreams as an actor or pursuing your dreams as a model. You have to change your physical features to fit in, and if you do not you won’t get in.
In The Venus Hip Hop and the Pink Ghetto, Imani Perry argues that the over-sexualized, unattainable bodies of black women in popular culture will lead to the breakdown of feminism and the positive body image of the everyday black women. As hip hop music continues to become more popular, the sexist messages presented in lyrics and music videos are becoming more common to the everyday public, including young black girls developing a self-image. Instead of these girls being exposed to healthy, positive role models who encourage individuality and that there is more to a woman than her body they are given hip hop video models whose only purpose is to look sensual on screen. The strong women that do exist in the hip hop genre are pushed to sexualize themselves or their lyrics to sell records or stay relatively unknown. Although Perry’s arguments are logical, I believe that she is creating a slippery slope of logic. A genre of music cannot destroy the self-image of black women that has existed for generations.
The documentary, “Miss Representation,” is a film about how women are perceived in the media. It is written, directed, and produced by Jennifer Siebel Newsom. She is an actress and a film maker who advocates for women. In the beginning of the documentary, Newsom discusses her struggles as a young woman surrounded by the pressures of looking a certain way. This film is targeting mainly women of all age that has experienced her struggles. Jennifer Siebel Newsom effectively convinces the audience of “Miss Representation” that the media has molded women in a negative way through statistics, celebrities’ and younger generation’s testimonies, and clips from the media.
In the current patriarchal society, modern media – including television shows, television commercials, movies, popular magazines, and even hit songs – often portrays women as tall, thin, and beautiful with perfect skin. If not, women are being told how they can become that ideally beautiful person. From a feminist critic’s perspective, both Colbie Caillat’s song “Try” and the music video that goes along with it offer a distinctly opposite than the societal norm, but still important, message often missing in today’s media.
In the beginning of the movie, the setting took place in color with Marjane at an airport. She was at an airport daydreaming and began to have a flashback of her life story in black and white, which is ...
Her confidence is well illustrated in the music video “Who Runs the World (Girls)” by her fierce, focused expression while dancing in skimpy, feminine clothing. In addition, she embraces her powerful feminine identity by comparing herself to a variety of powerful animals in the music video. These elements combine to illustrate Beyoncé’s acceptance of her own femininity but also show how she allows that to empower her, not weaken her. Her actions in the music video are complemented by her actions in real life such as posing in the GQ magazine in only her underwear. On the other hand, some such as Hadley Freeman feel that Beyoncé is too powerful to need to stoop to posing in such magazines; in Freeman’s words, “It’s another if you are professedly one of the most powerful women in the entertainment business who has no need of such tactics” (4). While it’s true that Beyoncé does not need such tactics, it does not necessarily follow that these tactics are in fact a bad thing and purely a publicity stunt. Rather, these tactics are her way of embracing her feminine identity in order to promote feminism in her own way. While perhaps untraditional in her methods, by fully embracing her feminine body, Beyoncé promotes a confident feminism that empowers women in order to eliminate
The objectification of women in the media and women voluntarily subjecting themselves to this demeaning objectification is rapidly increasing in lieu of feminist ideals and a new age push for women empowerment. The media has long capitalized on women’s sexuality in everything from music videos to manipulative advertisements, appealing to the male gaze while simultaneously instilling a sense of longing in girls of all ages to look like these women. In Lily Allen’s song, “Hard Out Here”, she attempts to bring light to this issue of women being treated as simply sexual objects and how all women are expected to look and act. However, in contrast to her empowering lyrics, Allen’s video takes a turn for the worst when she implements strictly black female dancers as representation of the cliché sexism found in music videos placing them at the butt of the parody.
In today's society there are many stereotypes of women in the media and what they are supposed to represent. This movie effectively portrays what women have to go through to be remembered for their story rather than their face. As a young reporter, Tally Atwater walks into the Miami station ready to do whatever is asked of her. Because her dream is to become a news ancho...
One of the factors that heavily influence the continuing propagation of these ideas associated with the sexuality of racialized women is the production and dissemination of media images, symbols and narratives (Brooks & Hébert, 2006, p. 297). As a society who is constantly consuming media culture through various media outlets, television uses a combination of methods in imagery, symbolization, and narration to represent our social realities. Notions of what beauty means are further dictated by fashion and reality television shows, which includes shows that discuss trends, makeovers, modeling, and more. In turn, these television programs often targeted at young women themselves, continue to shape how society views women of color, particularly how women of color are superfi...
I chose these four journal writings because I believe they are the strongest pieces I have written from the second half of the semester. The main focus of these journals was based on readings under the women as objects topic. The oppression of women has led to females being objectified and used as gratification for men. A woman’s body and appearance have become a commodity, especially in the media. Films, television shows, music and advertisements use women’s bodies to attract their audience and sell products. The movie watched in class “Killing Us Softly 4,” highlights this fact while presenting how women are represented throughout the media. The media has set and perpetuated a particular standard of beauty that is restrictive, but for some many women completely unattainable. The women represented in the media are young, thin and have western or European characteristics. Where does that leave the majority of women that do not fall under this category? This leads to women developing eating disorders to achieve an ideal body image that is manufactured through Photoshop and other picture editing systems. Women of color, women with disabilities or any woman that does not follow this standard is not represented within the media. When a few women do break this mold and become famous, they are set at a different standard. These women’s differences become the highlighted feature of their fame. However, the one constant in the media when it comes to women is the objectification and sexualization of women. This sexualization can lead to aggression or violence against women and the perpetuation of rape culture. The images viewed in the media directly impact how women view themselves and how others view women. By examining the issues women f...
Miss Representation, a documentary film produced by Jennifer Siebel Newsom released in 2011, presents a contemporary issue which is the misrepresentation of women’s portrayal in mass media. The media is powerful in shaping audience’s belief in how to be feminine. Women are expected to be beautiful, attractive, and even sexual on the media to attract audience’s attention. Also, the film points out the existence of social system in which men are considered more powerful and dominant than women. Finally, the film tries to increase the awareness of female real value including capability, educational achievement, and leadership. Consuming the media wisely to eliminate gendered stereotypes can help young women build their confidence and be successful.
Instead, women are being discriminated and treated as inferior due to the stereotypes that are portrayed in the media. The media creates and reproduces ways of seeing that at a minimum reflect and shape our culture. We can look at the media to understand more about a culture’s values and norms, if we realize the limitations of looking at the media. For example, one may ask, does the news based in the United Sates represent what the American culture is like, or only what stands out from everyday American culture? The answer to that is no. Instead, the media represents what it thinks it will be able to sell and is supported by advertisements. This includes violent acts, the sensationally and inappropriate. Jhally reminds us that “it is this male, heterosexual, pornographic imagination based on the degradation and control of women that has colonized commercial culture in general, although it is more clearly articulated in music videos” (Jhally 2007). Therefore, “media content is a symbolic rather than a literal representation of society and that to be represented in the media is in itself a form of power—social groups that are powerless can be relatively easily ignored, allowing the media to focus on the social groups that ‘really matter’” (Gerbner,
Along with new roles for women within a growing society, unrealistic standards and expectations have also followed. It took years and years of fighting and feminist movements for women to receive the same rights as men within a male dominated society. Although women are continuing to stand up for equal rights, women now have big roles within society and the idea that men are “better” than women is long gone. Women are now seen in every profession and businesses, holding high positions and leadership roles. However, due to growing roles of women, they have also had to endure a growning industry that has set unrealistic standards for them. Magazines, tv shows, social media outlets, adds, and commercials have all begun to objectify and sexualize women. The culture has set standards for women by putting the skinniest, flawless, tallest, and overall most sexually appealing women out for the world to see. Social media has become
From past to present, men have dominated women in media. Media is a big part of people’s everyday lives. It influences how we see ourselves and the world. There are many different types of media like movies, television shows, newspapers, advertisements, etc. In these different forms of media, there are images of men and women who are represented in different ways and characteristics. In both films, Changeling (2008) and The Prize Winner of Defiance, Ohio (2005), a woman, not a man is the main character. These two movies are based off of a true story from a woman’s perspective. This type of genre portrays women in the past and very well may be the same as the present. This movie shows the life of a mother in Los Angeles in 1928 who works constantly
Media and communications are a central element of today’s society, yet the thought that media has little to no effect on gender and sexuality shapes how each individual views their own self-identity. Over the years we have witnessed the launch of social media sites, music sites such as YouTube, new genres of music, and other forms of media, that all contribute to the outlook of gender roles and stereotypes. The media contains countless standards based on how the genders should act, look, and feel, that is seems almost ordinary to satisfy these stereotypical demands of society. For example, Meghan Trainor’s “Dear Future Husband,” is a catchy song with a 50’s themed video that portrays standards of a feminine woman spoiled by strong, caring and masculine men. Now, it is unusual to catch the issues between the lyrics and video at first glance, but, the controversy shared between the two are quite focused on gender roles, stereotypes, and