Gender Representation in the Mass Media Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Gender Representation in the Mass Media - Essay Example There are different accounts on how the media makes a representation of women in society through different films in form of documentaries and movies. This is depicted through characters played by women in this movies and documentaries. This study aims at analyzing the representation of women in Legally Blonde with an analysis of the different gender representation of women by the documentaries the Independent Woman and The Merchants of Cool. The Independent Woman The Independent Woman by PBS is a documentary that analyzes the changes in women roles in American television. It traces how there have been changes in the television particularly analyzing how television has represented gender roles. The Independent Woman uses interviews and characterization to bring about the different roles played by women to show the changes in gender representation. The independent Woman gives the role of women as having developed to complex and at times controversial in terms of the characters women ac t and the roles they play. The documentary portents that the days of women being portrayed in a white apron cooking and as house maids are long gone and taken over by further complex and fascinating roles. The documentary makes use of a number of movies with all depicting women as independent, a change from the traditional depiction of women. Independent Woman interviews television stars and producers including Roseanne Barr who acted in â€Å"Roseanne†, Candice Bergen in â€Å"Murphy Brown† Felicity Huffman and Eva Longoria in ‘Desperate Housewives. Felicity Huffman believes that the portrayal of women is about creativity â€Å"as it pertains to television and how it gets to be created†. She acted as Lynette Scavo in Desperate House wives where she breaks up with her husband Tom and contends that motherhood can be hard. This is the first evidence as Lynette is portrayed as having been more independent after the breakup and was able to make her on judgment and decisions. Julian Marguilles, Robert, and Michelle King in the â€Å"Good Wife† are also interviewed. Julianna Marguilles, in Good Wife, struggles to juggle being a mother, working, maintaining a relationship and keep her integrity. James Brooks and Mary Tyler Moore in â€Å"The Mary Tyler Moore Show† and Shonda Rhimes and Sandra Oh of â€Å"Greys Anatomy† were interviewed in the Independent Woman. The other evidence given are the views of actors, producers, influential people in the television industry, creators, and writers giving their insights on their shows, roles and the main topic on the female portray of women on television. The main reasons for the interviews were to get the opinions from the producers and characters as they give to the life to these characters for the benefit of viewers who identify with the character. The conclusion on the independent women is that the portrayal of women by the media has been changing over history. The change is given as the portrayal of women as independent and equal to men. The Merchants of Cool The documentary, The Merchants of Cool, mainly deals with the commercialization of youth’s culture by marketers through studying their culture and amplified then sold back to them through a reverse loop. It documents the actions of manufacturers and advertisers in ensnaring the youth to purchase their products by making them use these items popular culture hence, augmenting the level of consumption of these products by the youth. The Merchant of Cool presents the idea that the people have the idea that others are good looking or trendy, hence the need for them to purchase for them to fit in the group. The other way the marketers and the media