Miss Representation

My 20 year old daughter and I watched this film last night. Of course, I highly recommend everyone see it. It’s about how the media creates our culture, not the other way around. And the media’s sole purpose is making money for corporations. We saw photos of models, already very thin, photo shopped to make them even thinner than in real life. The statistics about girls dying of anorexia, being depressed, cutting themselves — all have gone way up in the past 10-20 years….due in large part to the media pressure for girls to be a very narrow definition of beauty. It was heartening to hear the high school girls rail against the pressure to be pretty, when their brains are ignored. Also great to see the women mentoring programs!
I could go on and on about all the groups that clearly document that Media Violence = Real Violence — but no policies are put in place (Surgeon General, AMA, APA, etc.) It was painful to watch all the violent images of women sexually brutalized IN ADVERTISING(!), music videos, etc. The amount of money women spend on beauty products every year would fund a college education.
To bring this to a more personal note – I’m going to be 60 next year. Like many women, I criticize parts of my body that I wish were different on a near daily basis. I’ve been dreading the wrinkling of my neck in particular. This movie helped me wake up today curious about how my body is going to age — to see my life’s experiences reflected in my wrinkles. To stop letting other people’s definitions of beauty define me. To love my body as it is, to breath deep in my belly and let it relax. To love my own and others’ wrinkles – wow!
Here’s the extended trailer for Miss Representation (you can find shorter ones – this one is 8:52): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S5pM1fW6hNs