User:GinaaHHh/Major Assignment 5

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Representation of Women in the Media & It’s Effects on Society: Welcome to Girl World!

The representation of women in the media has changed dramatically over the decades. Change is a very powerful word within its own context. One can have the power to change the way of the world, and more importantly, the way in which the world thinks; this change is developed by the people we call advertisers. The media and advertisers play a crucial role in today’s society, influencing everything from style to politics. However, some influences may have negative effects on society. Representations of women in the media are negatively influencing the body image and the way young girls and women think in today’s society. Not only do the movies and television we watch impact many of the decisions we make, magazines, the internet, and different advertising campaigns are also playing a part in shaping society’s standards and morals. There is evidence that the proliferation of unbalanced images of young women held within the media is harmful to girls’ self-image by the way in which women represent themselves.

Distorted and unattainable sexist mass images are the inevitable consequences of a social system in which those who are thin benefit most. We, as a society, have created an environment that is materialistically image obsessed, that those with power give approval for being thin and disapproval for being fat; creating a generation of women overtly conscious about their body image that it is affecting both physical and mental health. According to Schur, author of Body Dissatisfaction and Dieting in Young Children, “young girls' dissatisfaction with their bodies at a young age implies that perhaps[ the] ‘slimming’ media messages aimed at older age groups are being ingrained into younger populations to which they should not apply; young girls' bodies still have many natural changes to undergo during the process of puberty.” Puberty is associated with natural weight gain; if a girl who is unhappy about her body shape prior to the onset of puberty begins to gain weight, she may not attribute the change in weight to the process of maturity, and consequently, display disordered eating attitudes and behaviors as a way to deal with this change. In addition, many girls compare themselves to models who have already physically matured, making the changes involved in puberty difficult to accept.

In high school, girls will go to the extreme to fit it and be valued. Why is this? Cliques are formed with a selective number of friends, who all have the same interests. According to a plethora of movies, Hollywood asserts that “normal people” hate cliques because they secretly want to be included too. Socialization is a process that is necessary for every child to be accepted into society, it is important to examine the factors that are internalized at a young age regarding a person's self-concept. A poor self-concept can render individuals insecure about their appearance and in turn can increase their susceptibility to outside influence about how they should look.

“The most hated woman in America is a blonde,” David Denbey, author of High School Confidential: Notes on Teen Movies insists. He continues, “She is tall and slender, with a waist of as supple as a willow… She has two or three friends exactly like her, and together they dominate their realm, the American high school as it appears in recent teen movies. They are like wicked princesses, who enjoy the misery of their subjects. Her coronation, of course, is the senior prom, when she expects to be voted ‘most popular’ by her class. But, though she may be popular, she is certainly not liked, so her power is something of a mystery… everyone is afraid of her, that’s why she’s popular.” Denby’s analysis best describes a group called “the plastics” in the hit movie, and cultural text Mean Girls.

Mean Girls, holds certain truths in the way girls move through high school, it can have a negative effect on audiences of all ages. The film Mean Girls centers on a girl named Cady Heron, ironically pronounced as “Catty,” since it is spelled a different way than the usual “Katie.” Cady’s character is played by Lindsay Lohan. She is a teenager who has been home-schooled in Africa until her junior year of high school, a point when her parents realize that she needs to be socialized. She goes through the typical trials and tribulations of social life throughout high school, until she crosses paths with the "plastics," who are considered the most popular girls in school. Cady was befriended by two people right away, Janice and Damien, who hated the “plastics.” The three planned to sabotage the “plastics,” with hopeful hearts that everyone in school could see how fake and dumb they were.

Mean Girls was written by Tina Fey, a Saturday Night Live cast member, and one of the stars of the movie. She wrote this piece as a commentary on teenage life and drama that occurs in high school. One ongoing battle that is present in everyday high school activity, and that is covered in the movie is the concept of popularity and what it represents to youth. High school popularity in this generation can equate to clothes, make-up, thinness, and money. At actual schools, there is no unitary system of status; there are many groups or cliques to be a part of, many places to excel, or fail to excel, many avenues of escape and self-definition. Denby argues that in most cases, the movies we watch reveal the arcane of high school cliques. He urges that “humiliation is the most vivid emotion of youth, so in memory, it becomes the norm.”

In one scene, the “Queen Bee,” and head of “the plastics” named Regina, played by Rachel McAdams, was trying to lose weight before the school dance. She unwittingly turns to Cady and asks, “Is butter a carb?” Janice and Damien came up with the plan that Cady would suggest a meal replacement bar that would assist Regina in losing weight. In reality, the bar was an obscure Swedish "diet bar" that is used by athletes to gain weight. Cady, Janice, and Damien planned this scheme in order to ruin Regina’s slim figure and flawless complexion. They wanted Regina to know how it feels to be considered the chubby girl. At her favorite store, Regina struggled to get on a dress, but it wasn’t just any dress, it was the dress she planned on wearing to the dance; it was picked out months before. She asks the sales clerk for a bigger size, and is laughed at. The sales clerk responds, "Sorry, we only carry sizes 1, 3, and 5. You could try Sears." The “plastics” also have a rulebook of what is appropriate to wear to school each week. Never wear sweats, and pony tails only once a week, pink shirts on Mondays. They feel the need to look made up every day.

At one point the “plastics ” stand in front of a mirror, in Regina’s master bedroom, admiring themselves at first, then the audience hears, “God, my hips are huge… oh, please. I hate my calves… at least you guys can wear halters, I've got man shoulders. ” Cady reflects to herself, "I used to think there was just fat and skinny, but apparently there's lots of things that can be wrong on your body." They continue, “my hairline is so weird… my pores are huge…my nail beds suck.”

The media has capitalized on the notion that American’s have a fixation with beauty of the human body, and therefore advertisers bombard us with different messages, many of which try to sell the idea that thin is in. There is always a new product designed to fix the imperfections women find with themselves. Women tend to find flaws, sometimes created in their head, and often look to models or celebrities. This is where women are able to find an “ideal self,” which is what they would like to be. Discrepancies between the “actual self” (what they actually are) and the “ideal self” often arise when women compare themselves to media moguls, which can result in low self-esteem. The further a woman is from her “ideal self” will result in a more profound form of body dissatisfaction. The same holds true to the movie Mean Girls. Many of the younger girls in high school hate the “plastics,” but secretly want to be them. After gym class, Cady cut two circular holes in Regina’s shirt, exposing her bra. This was planned by Cady, Janice, and Damien to make Regina embarrassed; they were wrong! The following day, every girl in the entire school is walking around with two circular holes cut out of their shirts, acting like it’s not unusual.

Women are all too often described in terms of what they look like, rather than what they think or do. In another scene of Mean Girls, Cady is depicted as a smart math student, always getting good grades. One day, a test is handed back with a low score, her teacher, Tina Fey, with a surprised look on her face. Cady then asks Aaron, the cute boy who sits in front of her, who is also Regina‘s ex-boyfriend:

“Hey, I'm totally lost. Can you help me? - But I wasn't lost.”

“Yeah,” replied Aaron.

         “ I knew exactly what Ms. Norbury was talking about.”
         “It's a factorial, so you multiply each one by N. 
          “Wrong… is that the summation?” 
          “Yeah, they're the same thing.”
          “Wrong. He was so wrong. Thanks. I... I get it now. ” 

Cady willingly played dumb and accepted lower grades, all for the attention of a boy. This scene can negatively affect the way in which younger girls think and act around boys. The impression that Cady’s character gives off does not set a good example for the audience .

There are many women these days in the limelight who are making a living “playing dumb,” just as Cady did. Many celebrities make a name for themselves by putting up a front, or playing the role, the same way Paris Hilton and Nicole Richie exhibit on their hit television show The Simple Life. If little girls are emulating such women by dressing up and trying to act like them, there is no doubt that women in the media have an effect on girls’ behavior. Celebrity-influenced trends spread widely and rapidly; constantly changing. The Beauty Myth, a concept thought through by author Naomi Wolf , examines female aesthetic standards. The myth pits beauty, sexuality, and intelligence against one another, making it impossible for women to possess all qualities simultaneously. Wolf demonstrates that the concept of “beauty” is like a weapon used to make women feel badly about themselves; not everybody can live up to the “ideal” image depicted by our society.

I must admit that my weight has never been an issue for me; however, being a girl myself, I am acutely aware of the media's tremendous influence on young women. It is hard to not want a Victoria’s Secret models body! The malleability of girls is something that popular media and marketing often take advantage of in order to perpetuate an impossible image of female beauty. After examining this topic, I can assert that the media and other people may have more to do with shaping an individual's body image than the person herself, which is a scary and sad reality to face in a culture that puts emphasis on uniqueness and individualism. In effect, our culture assesses to young girls to "be yourself, as long as you look like everyone else."

Change; we don't like it, we fear it, but we can't stop it from coming. We either adapt to change or we get left behind. It hurts to grow, anybody who tells you it doesn't is lying. Changing who you are can be scary; it can bring out different sides of you that were never thought imaginable. The representation of women in the media is all about change. Without it, how boring would celebrity gossip be? Women conform to the “latest fad,” it is something that we cannot get away from. We are a society obsessed with consumption of products that have the ability to change the way we look and feel, products that “make you beautiful.” Everywhere we look unattainable images are swarming us, whether it be bill boards, movies, commercials, or something heard on the radio. Our natural desires to adapt to societies standards prevent us from being who we are and maintaining our individuality.

Bibliography: Some old, some new!

Barrett, K. & Bean, A. (2003). The Simple Life. Bunim/ Murray Productions. USA Fox Network.

Denby, D. (1999). High-School Confidential: Notes on Teen Movies. In Signs of Life in the USA: The Hollywood Sign (pp343-348). Boston/New York: Bedford/St. Martin’s.

Pecl, J & Loken, B. (2004). When Will Larger Sized Female Models in Advertisements Be Viewed Positively? The Moderating Effects of Institutional Frame, Gender and Need for Cognition. Psychology & Marketing, 21(6), 425-442.

Schur, Ellen A. "Body Dissatisfaction and Dieting in Young Children." International Journal of Eating Disorders 27 (2000): 80.

Waters, M. (Director). (2004). Mean Girls. Paramount Pictures. Wolf, N. (1991). The Beauty Myth. In Signs of Life in the USA: We’ve Come a Long Way, Maybe (p486-494). --GinaaHHh 10:15, 14 December 2007 (EST)