Creating Perceptions of ME

          Its a hot summer day, you are outside, tanning on the grass and some kid with a camera wants to read you a quote by John Berger.  You are immediately touched and you offer your personal stories to the conversation.  You were positively impacted by this young student as a repercussion of him positively being effected by his Women and Media studies professor.  The last thing they expected that day was to have a conversation about the highly stigmatized issues that affect them every day of every month.

I am getting emotional because I know this is probably the last piece I will write on this blog, however I am not so sure this is the last time I will talk about feminism or its potential to change an unjustifiably altered social ladder and reconstruct the world view of equal rights to one that favors women just as much as it favors men. Before taking this class, I did not understand feminism.  I thought it only existed among activist groups comprised of women whom wanted to overthrow men out of power.  I first "saw" feminism when I was in Sweden, but my friends laughed about it. Since it was an issue that did not concern them, it was no issue.  So every Monday during this semester, after class I would literally be in awe, as I went home, rerunning the conversations we had in class through my head over and over trying to comprehend it as a reality because I just could not believe that the issues we discussed this semester had pained some of the women in my class so immensely. Finally, in this class they were relieved to express them.  But still, this was the only place where I really was exposed to the harshness of such problematic ideals in our socio-economic culture that were otherwise not spoken of or even noticed.

This final project means so much to me because I was allowed the opportunity to discuss with women who have not taken this Women and Media class, initially prepared to enlighten people about the issues I had learned about in class.  I chose to discuss how the advertising medium affected women in their day-to-day lives by its misrepresentation of them, but I thought perhaps it was not so obvious to them as it was to me.  I was wrong.  The women I interviewed actually were really aware of its affect on them growing up, the children that they are close with and even on them now as secure adult women who should not have anything to worry about, but yet it still exists in the back of their minds.

One of the women I spoke to(Shalwah Evans) actually informed me of the icons and role models that negatively influence young girls in their maturity into strong independent women yet the “strong” and “independent” aspects are not present. 

          Exploring the controversial ideas that advertising suggests, these women in my film describe how advertising personally affects them.  An ongoing theme, advertising's origins as an oppressive medium are unknown to the average woman and its future does not imply much hope for the representation of women. It traces back for centuries of women being ornamented and sexualized through literature, stories and concepts.  Women share their self-doubts as they are undermined by advertising's false hopes.  The women I interviewed know that even today, they are still affected, even as they have become fully aware of every intention and misrepresentation that advertising attempts.  They subconsciously know that in the back of their mind advertising to sell a product has become a part of the way they have become objectified.  Even the most prominent role models persists in keeping these ideas afloat while they disassemble the wholeness of a woman.

            John Berger says, "Men act and women appear.  Men look at women.  Women watch themselves being looked at...Thus she turns herself into an object..." The extent to which women are portrayed in the media and in advertising is unconsciously damaging to strong independent women.   "69% of girls in one study said that magazine models influence their idea of the perfect body shape," according to womaninads.weebly.com. 

         My initial goal during my group presentation for this class was to interview real, everyday people and to find out just how seriously advertising affected women off the screen.  And so now, I captured the most raw and sentimental footage I could have ever expected that portrays women outside the classroom EXPRESSING what they feel.  The energy in their voices dignifies their appearance on camera, it being one of the first times I opened up a discussion for women to express their thoughts with me, detailing the affect ads protrudes onto them 24/7 in selling a product that objectifies women.     
            I never expected these interviews to be as mind-boggling as they were, I thought that I had finally learned feminism in taking this class, but the affect of interviewing these people who voluntarily shared personal accounts of their identification that was both astounding and real. Rather than continuing to allow advertising businesses to enforce oppressive social roles by which analytical criticism is taboo, it has negatively impacted womanhood, which the women I filmed discuss. Talking about it critically on camera was an experience that everyone I interviewed really enjoyed and I was lucky enough to be included in this conversation. It may have been the first time some of these women were asked to talk about these issues on camera and the flip of this medium's subjective role inspired the discussion. 

Here is a link to my documentary, Creating Perceptions of ME


Bibliography:

Berger, John. Ways of Seeing. London: Penguin, 2008. Print. 36-64.

Cortese, Anthony Joseph Paul. Provocateur: Images of Women and Minorities in Advertising.          

          Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield, 1999. Print. 45-76.

 Hooks, Bell. The Will to Change: Men, Masculinity, and Love. New York: Atria, 2004. Print. 115-131.

Kile, Meredith B. "Kim Kardashian on the Perfect Selfie: 'Lighting Is Everything'" Entertainment      

          Tonight. CBS Television Distribution, 5 May 2015. Web. 11 May 2015.

Oshmyansky, Rosalyn. "Did Beyonce Photoshop Her Thigh Gap Again?" Entertainment Tonight. 

          CBS Television Distribution, 17 Sept. 2014. Web. 11 May 2015.

"Statistics - WOMEN IN ADVERTISEMENTS AND BODY IMAGE." Statistics - WOMEN IN 

          ADVERTISEMENTS AND BODY IMAGE. N.p., n.d. Web. 11 May 2015.

Steinem, Gloria. Sex, Lies, and Advertising. United States: Publisher Not Identified, 1990. Print. 112-120.