Essay: Documentary – ‘Miss Representation’, portrayal of women in media

Agenda Setting Theory was developed by Maxwell McCombs and Donald Shaw. Their hypothesis was that the media has the ability to control what the public focuses their attention on, but not what they think about that particular subject. Basically, if the media places importance on one singular story, then the public will then believe that the story deserves their attention and concern. The media looks to news broadcasters to push whatever their agenda may be, so that the public gives that subject all their attention to possibly even distract from other issues occurring at that time. In addition to pushing their own agenda, various media outlets will frame stories to better fit that agenda using language that does not change the fact of the story but provides an alternate way of thinking about it. McCombs and Shaw define framing as, “selection of a restricted number of thematically related attributes for inclusion on the media agenda when a particular object or issue is discussed” (Griffin, Ledbetter & Sparks, 2015, pp 380). Every day in the media, women are framed differently than men. They are described with words such as bitch, slut, and overdramatic. As the consumers of the agenda the media pushes, we need to step forward and recognize that women do not deserve the same respect and reverence as men. Miss Representation, a documentary about the portrayal of women in media, addresses this issue.
In the documentary, Miss Representation, the issue of women in media is brought forward. Many women of high social status, such as Nancy Pelosi, Condoleezza Rice, and Katie Couric, gather to discuss how this issue came about and how it can be fixed. In the documentary, many examples are brought forward to support this claim. Including how male newscasters analyzed Sarah Palin and Hillary Clinton during their political races. Many of the newscasters disregarded the issues they were fighting for and only paid attention to their physicality. Sarah Palin embraced her femininity and was called a ditzy whore. Hillary Clinton took an alternative route, embracing the masculinity of the political word and she was called a shrill bitch. It is also discussed how female newscasters are expected to dress to show off their bodies, wear heavy makeup and have perfectly tousled hair in order to present the news. Other examples were provided including various movies, TV shows, ad campaigns, and music videos where women were objectified and only cast for these parts because of their fit body type. Young girls are exposed to the images of these women and develop issues such as eating disorders and body dysmorphia disorder because the images they aspire to look like are not what they see in the mirror, and that to them is wrong. The narrator and speakers for this documentary highlighted that not only does this provide an unattainable image for women and young girls to strive for, but also provides young boys with an unrealistic expectation of what women should look like and their place in the world. How the media portrays women as these sexual objects has affected the way people view women physically, in their personal lives and in the professional world.
Jennifer Siebel Newsom, the director and creator of the film, gained inspiration for this film after she became pregnant with her first daughter. She began to realize that the picture the media paints of what a woman should be is not something she wanted her daughter to fall victim to, so she began actively raising awareness of the stereotypes the media pushes. Following the release of the film, she created The Representation Project. The mission of the organization is, “Using film and media as catalysts for cultural transformation, The Representation Project inspires individuals and communities to challenge and overcome limiting stereotypes so that everyone – regardless of gender, race, class, age, religion, sexual orientation, ability, or circumstance – can fulfill their human potential.” (The Representation Project, 2017). It strives to eliminate gender stereotypes for both men and women. The film Miss Representation focuses on the negative ways women are portrayed in today’s media and sheds light on how limiting these portrayals can be to their careers and other endeavors they choose to take on.
McCombs and Shaw’s hypothesis for agenda setting states, “mass media have ability to transfer the salience of issues on their news agenda to the public agenda” (Griffin, Ledbetter & Sparks, 2015, pp 376). In Miss Representation, it is evident that the news media has an agenda that does not support women in places of power and high leadership roles. Nancy Pelosi, former speaker of the house, was labeled a bitch, and when she had a grievance with a policy she was “complaining” rather than just stating her stance on the issue. When running for office, Pelosi was asked who would take care of her children if she was elected—a question a man would never be asked. These articles and questions asked by journalists not only supported the agenda that women are unfit for positions of leadership, but also framed Nancy Pelosi as emotional and dramatic. Labels that are commonly used by the media to describe women in place of words like passionate and driven that would be used to describe a man. This allows the media to not only control what we knew about Nancy Pelosi, but what to think about her as well.
The agenda setting of the media that provokes the thought of women as objects affects society in many different ways. Not only are women viewed as objects by men, but their own mental health is affected as well. Aside from eating disorders and body dysmorphia, women who strive for positions of power that a man would typically hold are discouraged. A study conducted by Eagly in 2007 calls this the “leadership labyrinth” which is, by definition, “the unsanctioned barriers obstructing women from reaching higher status job positions” (Eagly, 2007). In other words, this is the adversity women experience in striving for leadership roles that men do not experience. Women can also be afraid to compete for these positions because they believe it is not their place to hold such a role in society or they are afraid of how they will be viewed. Fedi and Rollero state that, “negative stereotypes can provide the main framework to interpret the behavior in a given domain” (Fedi, A. & Rollero, C., 2016). This study supports the claim that women are not only affected by their negative stereotypes in their appearances, but in their capabilities as leaders and other roles in the professional world.