Last night my college sponsored a screening of the new documentary film Miss Representation. I expected something dogmatic and preachy. Rather, I got something nuanced, thoughtful, and artistic.
The film certainly had a message, but the documentary did a good job of not choosing a single scapegoat to blame all the world's ills on. Media was certainly blamed to a certain extent, but the documentary presented its case calmly and with evidence to back up its claims, leaving the audience to make its own value judgments.
The use of statistics interwoven with deeply insightful interviews with some of today's leading female politicians, actors, and activists, was superb. From a film-making point of view the documentary was well-paced, never rushed never boring, coming in at just under an hour and a half. The use of music was also particularly affective.
It is sobering that while 51% of the US population is female, women make up only 17% of congress.
"You can't be what you can't see." says Marie Wilson, the Founding President of The White House Project. Ultimately, the film urges those powerful women out there now to mentor the next generation of female leaders.
Change is possible and this is certainly the kind of documentary I hope seems incredibly dated in twenty years. Until then I urge people to check out Miss Representation's website: http://missrepresentation.org/the-film/
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