'Miss Representation' Review: It's What's on the Inside that Counts
Jennifer Siebel Newsom’s documentary “Miss Representation” is a cut-and-dry movie on a hugely important subject. She tackles the lack of and misrepresentation of women in the media. There are eye-opening facts, informative interviewees, and inspiring messages packed into a more or less cookie-cutter documentary.
Newsom starts with a flashbang of an intro that immediately makes clear the gravity of our current society and how influential the media is. It is well-edited and fast-paced, but the rest of the movie only occasionally reaches the editing heights of the first section.
The director connects her own life to the story she wants to tell, revealing her pregnancy with a baby girl. This is a good idea, of connecting this issue that affects us all to herself, but her narration is very monotone so the connection isn’t as emotional as it could be.
The visual style is bland at best, using low-quality footage from popular movies and tv shows, and featuring interviews with numerous acclaimed voices, most of which take place in front of a plain white background.
For all of its understylization, “Miss Representation” thrives on its subjects. The problems it brings up are clearly pervasive in our society, and the documentary does an excellent job at explaining the connections between the media and capitalism, the media and body image, and the media and underrepresentation of women in congress.
One of the first statistics we learn is that the average American spends 10 hours and 45 minutes per day consuming media of all forms. This central piece of information guides the thesis, because it essentially posits that media has a ginormous impact on our culture of patriarchy and misogyny.
Newsom is especially good at the impacts of mis and underrepresentation. At one point early on, the concept of self-objectification is brought up and it is shown that this leads to young women being less likely to run for office and less likely to vote. It is also shown how negative body images, which 78% of 17-year old girls have, lead to higher rates of depression, attempts at suicide, and eating disorders.
The movies also excels in choosing its subjects in another way. The talking heads Newsom has gathered together are a ferocious combination of prominent women in places of power and knowledgeable men and women who have written a lot of content on these issues. There are also many women directly involved in the fight for representation. Geena Davis, Jane Fonda, Rosario Dawson, Nancy Pelosi, Katie Couric, Dianne Feinstein, Cory Booker, and Jim Steyer are just a few of many examples of the powerhouses brought on to educate and motivate us.
That is one thing this documentary perhaps does best. It inspires its audience to take action in a way most movies try but can’t quite succeed at doing. Over the closing credits, each of the interviewed subjects offers their advice on what can be done, and this is infinitely more helpful and inspiring stuff than any one writer can manage to do. The founder and director of Women in Media & News, Jennifer Pozner, said in her bit, “We need media literacy as much as we need to learn to read.” This struck me as the most important piece of advice in our current day and age. We have to learn to filter, fact-check, and, if needed, frown upon the media we consume.
“Miss Representation” isn’t ground-breaking or transcendent in any filmmaking terms. It doesn’t have visual flair, creativity, or resonance. But what it lacks in appearance, it makes up for in substance, ultimately becoming an informative, inflammatory, and inspiring critique of our media culture.
{★★★☆}