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Miss Representation

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Wikipedia article




'Miss Representation' is a 2011 American documentary film written, directed, and produced by Jennifer Siebel Newsom. The film explores how mainstream media contributes to the under-representation of women in influential positions by circulating limited and often disparaging portrayals of women. The film premiered in the documentary category at the 2011 Sundance Film Festival.

Apart from interviewing many powerful women in media, such as Jane Fonda, Rachel Maddow, and Katie Couric, it also gives these women a chance to tell their story and why their personal experiences have made them so passionate about better portraying women in media. Newsom also uses this film to further her social action campaigns through The Representation Project that was started due to her frustration with how the under-representation of women in media is contributing to the under-representation of women in American politics. #RepresentHer is one of Newsoms campaigns that is a branch of the Representation Project, focusing on inequality in the workplace.

Synopsis



The film interweaves stories from teenage girls with provocative interviews to give an inside look at the media and its message that underscores young women need and want positive role models, and that the media has thus far neglected its unique opportunity to provide them. The film includes a social action campaign to address change in policy, education and call for socially responsible business. The movie brought along a lot of positive movement and encourages those who viewed the film to take the pledge against gender misrepresentations by using hashtags like #RepresentHer and #DisruptTheNarrative.

Screenings



The film previewed on October 18, 2010, at an awards luncheon hosted by the San Francisco Commission on the Status of Women. The film premiered on January 22, 2011 at the Sundance Film Festival, followed by screenings at the Athena Film Festival at Barnard College in New York City in February.

Cast



The cast consists of over 109 subjects, appearing as themselves. Raw footage of teenage girls telling their stories is shown alongside direct interviews with a multitude of influential celebrities, prominent political figures, activists, and accomplished filmmakers. These interviews included Katie Couric, Condoleezza Rice, Lisa Ling, Geena Davis, Marissa Mayer, Jean Kilbourne, Cory Booker, Rachel Maddow, Rosario Dawson, Jim Steyer and Jackson Katz.

Soundtrack



The film's soundtrack includes music from Metric, Alan Moorhouse, Van Phillips, Jules Larson, Chinatown, and Randi Skyland.

* "Help, I'm Alive" Metric

* "Gold Guns Girls" - Metric

* "In The Swing" - Alan Moorhouse

* "Tom Fool" - Van Phillips

* "I Want It All" - Jules Larson

* "Drive Me Crazy" - Chinatown

* "This Is My Life" - Randi Skyland

Recognition



The Oprah Winfrey Network acquired broadcast rights for the film following its premiere.

; 'Audience Award' from

* 2011 Palo Alto International Film Festival.

* 2011 Sonoma Film Festival.

; 'Official Selection' at

* 2011 Atlanta Film Festival.

* 2011 Dallas Film Festival.

* 2011 Denver Film Festival.

* 2011 Newport Beach Film Festival.

* 2011 New Zealand Film Festival.

* 2011 San Francisco Film Festival.

* 2011 Silver Docs Film Festival.

* 2011 Sundance Film Festival.

; Other

* 2011 Maui Film Festival: 'Movies Matter Award'

* 2011: Nominated for the Grand Jury Prize, Sundance Film Festival.

* 2012 Gracie Allen Awards: 'Outstanding Documentary'.

* Won WFCC Award for Best Theatrically Unreleased Movie by or About Women.

Advocacy efforts



Miss Representation was the film to inspire The Representation Project, a non-profit organization using celebrity ambassadors to spread the messages of the film to the community and media. This organization was founded in April 2011 and has since created the award winning documentary 'The Mask You Live In', as well as built an online platform to provide tools and information for how to make a difference in your community.

A call-to-action campaign grew out of the film, including a Twitter campaign to call out offensive media, a crowd-sourced list of media that represent women and girls fairly, a virtual internship program to recruit representatives, guides for media representation conversation starters, guides for electing females for political office, weekly action alerts, gender equality principles and resources & tools for taking action.

Filming locations



Most filming took place in Los Angeles, California and San Francisco, California.

Online activism



In March 2017 for the International Women's Day, Jennifer Siebel Newsom and The Representation Project (formerly Miss Representation.org) launched a campaign against hate speech ("#NotBuyingIt") asking Amazon to stop buying ads on website Breitbart and using the crowdspeaking platform Daycause to create a tweetstorm.

The #NotBuyingIt campaign is a movement meant to empower others and call attention to the misrepresentations of men and women in the media. Newsom encourages youth to go against dangerous and negative messages that come along with the influence of the media. Stereotypes that the media promotes is what Newsom hopes the youth will overcome through the campaign. So far more than 60 million people have been inspired with the campaign and have expressed their views on Twitter. Newsom wants to make it as inclusive as possible for anyone involved in the campaign. There are many small things people can do each day. Newsom claims that they lead to a larger impact. Newsom believes that standing up to the injustices seen in daily lives is how we are going to put a stop to it. Another action Newsom wants to take is adding media-literacy classes in schools. By doing this, Newsom believes this is another way to educate the youth about how to understand the media and its messages.

See also



* Celluloid ceiling

* 'Killing Us Softly'

* Media and gender

References




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