Misrepresenting on Miss Representation

So we have continued to watch Miss Representation  in class and I as sit here, writing this, I am asking myself why we should listen to anything that documentary said. In my last post about this documentary, I talked about why they didn’t put any media sources of women being portrayed as holding position of high power. And most of you are thinking, “Well that’s because it doesn’t support their claim.” Right. Okay. But now, taking that into consideration, what makes these people are reliable sources? Why should we believe what they are saying is true?

          Think about it; when you are trying to make someone believe you, wouldn’t you say anything to prove your point? Even if what you are saying isn’t true? Most of us would probably answer yes to those questions. And that’s my point. If these people are trying to get us to buy into what they are saying, they are going to say anything—most likely the worst things, too—to prove it.

           Most of the speakers in this documentary are women. Better yet, all the women have very specific feelings towards how women are being treated in the media. One of the speakers is Margaret Cho. To make her point in this film, she talks about her experience with her first TV show and being told that she was too fat by her network. To me that makes her very biased to how things actually are. How am I supposed to believe her when she is only speaking from one side?

          Another reason to question their sources of information is the fact that they are deliberately going to choose the worst or most extreme pieces of evidence to show us. They do that so we when we watch it, we just sit there, shocked. But then again, how are we supposed to believe the numbers they show us? Advertisements say things like 9 out of 10 dentists recommend this toothpaste. And then in the fine print it will say that the survey consists of only 10 dentists. Well, that’s not very representative of the thousands of dentists in nation is it? So why should we believe any numbers they are showing us?

          There are so many things that people will do to make you believe them. It happens every day; whether it’s an argument between two best friends or an advertisement for a new medication on TV. So when I hear all these negative results and complaints about women being portrayed in the media, it makes me take a second to think if this stuff is an accurate representation of what it is actually like. And, yes, this documentary definitely pointed out all the most extreme cases of women being degraded, but what about all the times that they were being looked up to?

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