A woman is not a man, but she is just as capable, powerful, and smart. Miss Representation is a documentary that sheds light on how much the media really effects our view towards women. Virginia Woolf 's A Room of One 's Own and Sandra Cisneros 's The House on Mango Street have common themes and would support the documentary’s message. Woolf’s book examines how women in fiction are portrayed, and that inevitably influences TV and Film. Cisneros tells her story through a young girl Esperanza, and her journey to becoming a woman. Adding these books to film with excerpts from the books and even the author’s commentary would be an incredible inclusion. The main theme from Woolf’s book, states that in order to have the freedom to write, you need …show more content…
Esperanza wants to change her name because no one can pronounce it in English. Embarrassed from her own name and embrace her culture from which it comes from. She wants to be “beautiful and cruel” like the girls in the movies that make the guys go nuts. “Her power is her own. She will not give it away.” Esperanza wants to separate herself from the labels that she was born/forced into as a girl. As she gets older, she realizes her identity is through her writing. Esperanza writes books and poems that she shares with her Aunt. Her Aunt once told her to keep writing because it will set you free, and when she understood that, she found …show more content…
This reminds me of Shakespeare 's sister in A Room of One’s Own… even if she is just as talented, if not more than her brother, her talent is squandered because of her gender. Miss Representation shows how the media has influenced us in a major way and helps shape the way we think. In Film/TV, magazines, and billboards, we see photoshopped models in their bikini’s and that can be very dangerous for young girls and boys. We do not see the strong females who are changing the world on covers of magazines. The exposure and attention a woman receives from her body leads to women thinking their value is in how they look. Furthermore, the majority of celebrities and models is the All-American. This simply does not represent our society. In The House on Mango Street, Esperanza talks about how she is the ugly one in the family and envies Sally, the girl all the boys fawn over. If our society was not so superficial and manufactured we would have more women in higher positions. For so long, women were never pushed to be the CEO of a company because that was the man’s job. Speaking of a female taking over a man’s job, ABC’s Commander in Chief was a visionary, but short-lived TV series about the first female president of the United States, starring Geena Davis. I played Geena Davis’s daughter in the show, and at the time the press would ask me about how the groundbreaking concept
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.
Esperanza is a young girl who struggles with feelings of loneliness and feeling that she doesn’t fit in because she is poor. She always wanted to fit in with the other kids and feel like she was one of them. She loves to write because it helps her feel better about herself writing about her life and her community. Writing helps her with
In addition, women can escape their restricted lifestyle by receiving an education. Esperanza, the child narrator, is the only one who escapes this ethnic lifestyle (Mullen 6). In The House on Mango Street, the vignette "My Name," Esperanza, named after her great grandmother, desires a life outside her interior walls of the barrio. Esperanza’s name means hope in English, while it means sadness and waiting in Spanish. Her great grandmother was wild as a young lady, but was tamed by her Mexican husband.
In conclusion, Esperanza makes the ultimate change of becoming independent. As Sandra Cisneros wrote The House on Mango Street, she too further realized her role as an influential woman of her heritage; this realization mirrors Esperanza’s journey to womanhood. Esperanza is “alienated from the rest of society in many ways (Hannon 1).” But she uses this alienation to become “strong and inspirational (Hannon 1).” Esperanza is a very strong woman in herself. Her goals are “to not forget her reason for being . . . so as to achieve a freedom that’s not separate from togetherness
In an earlier chapter, Esperanza meets with a witch, whom she hopes will tell her future only to be told, “Come back again on a Thursday when the stars are stronger” (72). However, when speaking to The Three Sisters toward the end of the story, they tell her to make a wish and say “You will always be Esperanza. You will always be Mango Street” (113). Rather than seek out her fate, the Fates (three sisters from Greek Mythology) have come seeking Esperanza. It has been confirmed that her wish to leave will come true, but remind her to remember her experiences as they have shaped who she is. In the article, “Interview with Sandra Cisneros”, Cisneros will tell her students to “make a list of the things that make you different from anyone in this room...in your community...your family...your gender (1). Cisneros uses this very idea in her writings of Esperanza: Her individuality is key- Esperanza’s identity as a writer and her background give her a unique voice that will allow her to speak up for those who have no
Esperanza dreams of someday having a satisfying life. She doesn't want her path of freedom to be cleared by having a baby or finding a husband. She has no desires to fall into the trap of dependency. As the author writes, "Her power is her own. She will not give it away" (Cisneros 89).
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...
Gender inequality is defined as “unequal treatment or perceptions of individuals based on their gender”. In our society there are a plethora of gender inequality related issues, and it is vastly important that these issues are brought to light, and ultimately resolved. In society today, the feminism movement is at an all-time high while lots of gender oriented issues are being questioned and analyzed. The portrayal of women in the media is a major issue in todays world. Various issues such as female athletes not being adequately compensated for their efforts, the media portraying a master image for all females to meet, as well as slut shaming are all vast issues in todays world that must be acknowledged. However, contrary to popular belief,
At first, Esperanza is young, insecure, and immature. Her immaturity is apparent when she talks about her mom holding her, saying it is, “sweet to put your nose into when she is holding you and you feel safe” (Cisneros 6-7). This shows Esperanza’s insecurity because her mom is still a big comfort source to her. She feels a false sense of comfort because her mom is there and will protect her. In addition, Esperanza’s immaturity is shown through her dislike for outsiders of the neighborhood when she says, “They are stupid people who are lost and got here by mistake” (Cisneros 28). This indicates how defensive and protective Esperanza is towards her barrio by calling outsiders stupid for reacting the way they do, even though she dislikes Mango Street....
According to Deluzain, the meaning of a person’s name is symbol of identity of the individual and represent the history of the future life (3). Hope is what Esperanza has in her soul. Cisneros writes that Esperanza should own a proper house, and it is not the one her parents has already, actually she is waiting for something better (7). Esperanza builds an image of a passive woman, defined by the destiny in a clearly macho society. The name of Esperanza is a very positive connotation, where wait means progress, jumping obstacles, confident that the change is positive.
...present powerful characters, while females represent unimportant characters. Unaware of the influence of society’s perception of the importance of sexes, literature and culture go unchanged. Although fairytales such as Sleeping Beauty produce charming entertainment for children, their remains a didactic message that lays hidden beneath the surface; teaching future generations to be submissive to the inequalities of their gender. Feminist critic the works of former literature, highlighting sexual discriminations, and broadcasting their own versions of former works, that paints a composite image of women’s oppression (Feminist Theory and Criticism). Women of the twenty-first century serge forward investigating, and highlighting the inequalities of their race in effort to organize a better social life for women of the future (Feminist Theory and Criticism).
Introduction: If esperanza has the choice to be anyone she could have been Lucy or like her grandma the wild horse of a woman, but she turned out great with her own house and no man to control her. In addition, In the chapter The Three Sisters ‘p.103” she has to remember to come back for the others. Also if esperanza leaves the people behind mango can't get any better because no one will help mango change. Next if esperanza did not meet the three old ladies she would have left sooner making bad choices. In addition, I believe esperanza is supposed to help the women from the men abusing them. Last Esperanza really deals with
Throughout the 21st century we have been immersed in a world in which is almost wholly dominated by the media. It is appropriate to say that many ideologies have been indeed challenged by the media, including the ideology of feminism, which I aim to focus on in this essay. Firstly, it is necessary to think about what the founding concepts of feminism actually are and how the ideologies of post feminism and antifeminism are using the contemporary media to question feminism. Texts such as Bridget Jones’ Diary and Desperate Housewives are fitting examples of how post feminism has penetrated through the media challenging feminism. Similarly elements of anti-feminism are evident when looking at films such as the new adaptation of Cinderella .
In the past women have suffered from inequalities where women have been stopped from achieving their goals and dreams. One can argue that this is not true, they can simply say it was a different time period, a different set of social norms, different traditions, but the reality is that women back in the days compared to today are still facing many issues with inequality it can also be seen in the way female characters are displayed among television and film. For instance, in the film “Fifty Shades of Gray” Anestia is a female character that is portrayed as a female who has no voice for herself and has to learn how to be submissive just so she can remain by the side of the man she claims to love which is Christian Gray. Anestia eventually learns to not have a voice as to what she truly wants and desires from him, and becomes okay with the idea of following his orders. This film has sent a message to young females that it is okay to not take a stand and not have a voice for themselves with situations they are not happy with. This film is a perfect example to demonstrate how female inequality is still being persuaded among our society through films and television. But films like Amelie are changing females life into encouraging females to take action and follow their
Many female writers see themselves as advocates for other creative females to help find their voice as a woman. Although this may be true, writer Virginia Woolf made her life mission to help women find their voice as a writer, no gender attached. She believed women had the creativity and power to write, not better than men, but as equals. Yet throughout history, women have been neglected in a sense, and Woolf attempted to find them. In her essay, A Room of One’s Own, she focuses on what is meant by connecting the terms, women and fiction. Woolf divided this thought into three categories: what women are like throughout history, women and the fiction they write, and women and the fiction written about them. When one thinks of women and fiction, what they think of; Woolf tried to answer this question through the discovery of the female within literature in her writing.