Media Grrrls
I won't lie to you, I've been sitting here trying to think of media that represents or reflect the real lives of women for a LONG TIME. To me, it seems that a lot of shows either misrepresent women completely or display "half-baked" representations.
So much of media show women as flighty, overemotional and very dependent. Jess from New Girl comes to mind. We watch Zooey Deschanel portray a teacher in the early years of the show; the whole premise of the her moving in with her male roommates is due to a bad break-up, which renders Jess useless essentially. All she can seem to do is sit on the couch and cry. Her mood seems to change only when the guys have to peel up off of the couch and force her to stand up for herself. In edition to being super dependent, Jess is the quintessential girly-girl, all polka dots and vibrant colors. Of course, she's built like a tiny pixie with long flowing locks, which only works to reenforce the beauty standards of our day. Even through all of her quirky woes, Jess has a pretty good life—she has a good home, good friends, and a good job. If she does have any issues, they're typically resolved by the episode's close.
This imperfectly perfect representation is flawed because for a lot of women, life is actually perfectly imperfect. Our issues don't often resolve themselves within a day. In real life, we have to work extra hard to be successful and happy. Jess makes it look effortless when really, it's anything but.
If I had to pick something close to an accurate representation of women, I would have to pick the documentary Sexy Baby, which follows an ex-adult film star, a 12-year old girl and an average 22-year-old looking to get a surgery on her vagina. The documentary exposes the extreme judgment, censorship and overall sway that the media has on women's sexuality. We see real-time reactions and opinions from these women, oftentimes unfiltered and powerful. One major caveat, though, is that all of these gals are white and cisgender, so they don't represent all women.
The media is making certain steps forward in their representation of women, but for every step forward, they seem to simultaneously take steps backward. It'll be interesting to see how they continue to evolve/devolve.
So much of media show women as flighty, overemotional and very dependent. Jess from New Girl comes to mind. We watch Zooey Deschanel portray a teacher in the early years of the show; the whole premise of the her moving in with her male roommates is due to a bad break-up, which renders Jess useless essentially. All she can seem to do is sit on the couch and cry. Her mood seems to change only when the guys have to peel up off of the couch and force her to stand up for herself. In edition to being super dependent, Jess is the quintessential girly-girl, all polka dots and vibrant colors. Of course, she's built like a tiny pixie with long flowing locks, which only works to reenforce the beauty standards of our day. Even through all of her quirky woes, Jess has a pretty good life—she has a good home, good friends, and a good job. If she does have any issues, they're typically resolved by the episode's close.
This imperfectly perfect representation is flawed because for a lot of women, life is actually perfectly imperfect. Our issues don't often resolve themselves within a day. In real life, we have to work extra hard to be successful and happy. Jess makes it look effortless when really, it's anything but.
If I had to pick something close to an accurate representation of women, I would have to pick the documentary Sexy Baby, which follows an ex-adult film star, a 12-year old girl and an average 22-year-old looking to get a surgery on her vagina. The documentary exposes the extreme judgment, censorship and overall sway that the media has on women's sexuality. We see real-time reactions and opinions from these women, oftentimes unfiltered and powerful. One major caveat, though, is that all of these gals are white and cisgender, so they don't represent all women.
The media is making certain steps forward in their representation of women, but for every step forward, they seem to simultaneously take steps backward. It'll be interesting to see how they continue to evolve/devolve.
Elaina,
ReplyDeleteI really like how you break apart New Girl, because I couldn't agree more. When I first saw this show, it drove me nuts. While people (not just women), feel the pain of a break up, everyone deals with it in different ways ... not just feeling the deep, heavy cry and immobility. BUT, this is all too often how women are portrayed after a relationship ends -- one giant mess. Then, when she is motivated to get up and back out in the world, she has to fit a certain standard and image that is expected of women. While I did find this show entertaining, I quite often caught myself rolling my eyes.