The greatest movie ever made..!

Excellent, a Must See

This movie was so-so. It had it's moments, but wasn't the greatest.

The story, direction, characters, and writing/dialogue is akin to taking a tranquilizer shot to the neck, but everything else was so well done.

First of all, I am a man. I can hear many of you booing about that. I am however very much supportive of women and what they can accomplish. Often, my wife has earned more money than I have, and I am not bitter about it. My mother has earned more than my father did. It has never bothered me.This documentary however is quite selective in what it portrays and how it is portrayed. For all the times women can be upset about how sexualized they are in media, or how catty they are portrayed, men can be just as upset about how ignorant, dumb, and out of touch they are. How many sitcoms are built around the premise of a dumbed down dad and a smart mom? Meanwhile there have been plenty of representations of smart sophisticated women on television. Where is their mention in this documentary? It's largely ignored.As far as politics go, the vast majority of the women politicians shown are controversial, and not simply because they are women. But that's not the worst of it. Women have been gaining political ground, working as lawmakers, legislators, governors of states, and in some areas heads of states.What irked me the most about this though was for all the pontificating, the documentary actually undermined a large part of its premise. Near the beginning there was anger that "reality" television presents women as being catty, argumentative, and backstabbing. Yet toward the end many of those interviewed called for an end to the cattiness and backstabbing. Which is it because it can't be both at the same time? And then what's with the director of Twilight? Doesn't she know that the novels and the movies make Bella, who is an extremely weak willed girl, into some kind of a role model? That she does anything to get the attention of a voyeuristic vampire? Yeah, great female role model there.I'm going to end by saying this: does objectification exist? Certainly it does, but it's not a one-way street. Movies like "Magic Mike" exist. My sister is completely enamored with Chris Hemsworth's portrayal of 'Thor' in the Marvel movies. Yes it exists. I wish it didn't. But it goes both ways. What we need to do is learn mutual respect for each other, not lists of demands to force on each other.

This film is meant to address the social distortion present in media as it affects women. I feel this doc fails to point out that this happens to youth in general, not just women. Secondly, it should have been stressed that such a focus on sex & marriage leads to increased teenage pregnancies, which, in turn, contributes to young delinquency and uneducated adults having children who will not attend college or even finish high school. Unfortunately, the majority of this doc consists of a woman obviously reading a print out of monologues in a dull, lifeless monotone. Several speakers chastise the media for reflecting the low number of women working in big business and politics in movies, but most of the thoughts presented are fragmented or inappropriate to the topic. These women say such things like 'Women should be politicians so other women will want to be politicians.' 'Women are never leaders and men don't want us to be. Just look at Star Trek.' These statements seemed to defy the fact that England had Queen rulers for over a century and that Star Trek is and always has been a show that shatters social boundaries, and the different seasons have seen Famale captains, doctors, Science officers, ensigns, engineers, psychologists, and a plethora of other positions. It seemed like this documentary was more interested in talking about hurt feelings than any serious issues. It's as if they interviewed the absolute dumbest women available and said, 'Talk about how movies make women look bad,' then showed 15 min worth of UNSCRIPTED REALITY TV clips while the interviewees stumbled through cliché after cliché, generally never making a solid point, cohesive statement and/or expressing conclusions related or even relevant to what was just said. 'I hate bikinis on TV, so I became a politician after a particularly moving episode of Murder She Wrote.' Lastly, some of the issues blamed on media aren't real issues or controlled by media. Why aren't there more women politicians? Same reason there aren't more women trashmen, fisherman, hunters, mechanics, mathematicians, Footballl coaches or construction workers: Most women are uninterested in such professions. Equally interesting is the idea that men are expected to work successfully at a job that isn't embarrassing, or that the media tells youth to hump like rabbits, accumulate debt & go to jail in hopes of turning us all into consumers rather than producers. Monetary slaves providing a financial battery to the rich. Another point left out is that when the youth have teen pregnancies, who will work? Man or Mother? Usually the man, so it is not more surprising to see more men at work than it is to see wives staying home. I feel that this film is highly destructive to the cause it's attempting to address.

I give this a 4 because it was professionally done, in terms of editing and photography, but in terms of content, it really is sub par. Basically this documentary tries to build the case that media is an insidious influence, whenever it is convenient to their case, but ignores any evidence that doesn't fit their theory. For instance if media were so influential, Americans would be thin and fit, but we all know that isn't true. But more to the point the issue with this documentary is that it is not concerned with looking at its arguments in any depth, instead a cheap slogan type of declaration or testimony is put out by some talking head and in a few minutes of selective media clips they try to cover the lack of depth by jumping from topic to topic flooding you with a barrage of clips and speakers. It reminds me more of a political campaign advertisement than a serious documentary really interested in honest examination of an issue.They make points claiming that other countries have had women leaders before us because we don't depict them in the media, but does that even pass quick inspection? Benazir Bhuto who was a female prime minister of Pakistan lead arguably one of the most sexist countries on earth. So how does that argument even pass muster before they put it in the documentary? It epitomizes the level of thinking in this film.Margaret Cho for example claims that sexism was the reason her sitcom failed, but is that really true? Maybe she just isn't funny. It doesn't matter to this film because all they do is throw these statements out there one after another. Statements claiming that shows like jersey shore are sexist because they show women in a bad light are made entirely ignoring the fact that the male cast in those shows are hardly considered respectable either. This type of poorly thought out argument is the basis for the entire film sadly, and because it is so paper thin, they cut from topic to topic in a hyperactive manner.TV networks like FX have even been known to do things like pass on hit shows like Breaking Bad because they rejected the show based on their quest to break into the lucrative female demographic. Apparently the middle aged white lead was enough for them to pass on the show. But such facts do not matter to this film, which assumes sexism is always the answer to every question in the most simplistic way.My problem with films like these is that they are more about employing techniques of propaganda with selective evidence and shallow one sided argument rather than encouraging critical thought about a subject. To promote this as a feminist film is really to give women no credit at all.If one is going to claim that media does women a disservice, I would suggest this film is the most harmful of all. To use the words of Erika Falk PhD from the documentary against herself and the film itself, women like her and this film paint themselves as "more fragile, emotional, and more gullible than men, therefore they are irrational and cannot be trusted in positions of power".

Some will see Miss Representation as a bunch of hack women complaining about a problem and are not willing to do anything about it. It's an understandable reaction. I've seen so many documentaries that bathe the viewer in paranoia and fear without providing valid solutions or ways that they could fix potential problems. Food, Inc. for example; a well-made, yet somewhat heavy-handed documentary on the exploitation of how our food is made.Miss Representation's goal is to inform people about the blatant sexism in Television, advertising, society, politics, and film. It does a very nice job at providing each of their subjects with material and substance, also giving them enough time to get their point across. I believe more than eight minutes is devoted to the political aspect, and several more to Television and film. For an eighty-eight minute documentary, it covers a lot of heavy territory, and even, gasp, includes efficient solutions during the end credits.The interviewees are Geena Davis, Condoleezza Rice, Lisa Ling, Nancy Pelosi, Katie Couric, Rosario Dawson, Jim Steyer, Dr. Jackson Katz, and Gloria Steinem, who all comment on the media's insidiously harmful portrayal of women. Comments are made on how advertising has evolved from genial snippets into racy, sexploitation spots begging to be noticed and controversial. It has been proved in the field of advertising that sex sells, and companies race their commercials and magazine advertisements to an invisible finish line to see who can be more daring and provocative.But what are the consequences for imposing such demeaning pictures of women? For one, there's the obligatory "striving for unsustainable beauty" argument. I don't think there is one person who believes that what they see on the front cover on a tabloid or a magazine has not been digitally altered or photoshopped in some way, shape, or form. Most likely, all three of those things have been changed on a picture of a woman, and it's not hard to find out. How many women do you know have pearly white skin and don't occupy a single blemish, mole, pimple, or scar? I remember on KISS FM's "DreX in the Morning" radio program they discussed how parental browbeating and mediocre, sometimes abusive relationships affect a woman's already fragile self-esteem and worth. They brought up how on a magazine cover, Brittney Spears' face was photoshopped onto the body she occupied in the nineties.Miss Representation doesn't break new ground or uncover anything that wasn't pretty much known before, but will likely be useful to teenage girls who are perhaps unaware of the media bias. I unfortunately missed a screening of this at my high school and a lengthy lecture following it. It would've been nice to see audiences reactions in the flesh. I can see some dismissing this as mock-feminist propaganda and I can see people being truly informed and moved by this documentary. Me, I stand where I usually am; in the middle. This is a well made documentary, but not without my personal quibbles and questions. For one, the film mentions that there are very few women directors, screenwriters, cinematographers, etc. Okay, but are women being forced out by the big, bad man, or are they just not showing a genuine interest in the behind the scenes aspects of the film industry? Another thing I must bring up; maybe it's not the studios' fault that women are portrayed so dimly in film. You can't tell me that actresses like Megan Fox and Jessica Simpson don't contract themselves to basically flaunt their stuff in films like The Dukes of Hazzard and Transformers. They know what they're getting into, and appear to have no problem showing what they have. I'm not saying it's right, but maybe the film is too quick to point figures at the provider rather than the person signing the contract and giving consent to be used as a basic caricature.Director Jennifer Siebel Newsom has done a bold and admirable thing releasing Miss Representation, not only letting it glide its way around the country in screenings, but by giving the distribution rights to The Oprah Winfrey Network. This is an informative and amusing documentary showing us that our biggest source of information also serves as our biggest influence on people, good and bad. I'll leave off with a quote from Jim Steyer, one of my favorite speakers in the film; "It's not a Liberal or Conservative issue; it's an American issue and an American problem." Starring: Geena Davis, Condoleezza Rice, Lisa Ling, Nancy Pelosi, Katie Couric, Rosario Dawson, Jim Steyer, Dr. Jackson Katz, and Gloria Steinem. Directed by: Jennifer Siebel Newsom.