As our second fieldwork, the Women in the Media group contacted and scheduled a trip to the Paley Center For Media. Since our group is about the portrayal of women in the media, we thought this would be a great place to visit. We first called and contacted an official that worked at the center and we scheduled a visit! We had gone on a Monday, so the center was closed, making us, and our tour guide (and security guard) the only people in the building. Our tour guide was a woman named Rebecca, and she did a great job talking with us about our topic and helping us learn about. When we arrived, Rebecca took us to a small-ish theater. The five of us took a seat in the front row and Rebecca stood in front of us on the stage, which was located underneath the theater’s screen. She first asked us to tell her about our project and what we do. So, we explained how each year our school’s eighth grade forms groups of people with similar interests in certain issues in our world today. We went on about how we go on fieldworks in the real world, how we teach a workshop in March and etc. Then, Rebecca showed us a compilation of clips from advertisements, tv shows, movies, and music videos that were shown in the media from the 1960s to 2015. She came back and we discussed what we saw, what we thought about the women in the videos and how they were shown, and what we thought about the message it could send to the viewers watching them. One video that stuck out to me was the similar plot in TV shows that involves teenage girls changing themselves in order for a guy to like them. I think that it is extremely important because it was so common on comedy TV shows that were very popular. Lots of people saw these shows and it probably impacted them without them realizing it. Media influences people’s behavior because it leaves a mark on their memory and it becomes natural for them to think in that certain way. It’s especially tricky because young girls–or children–are highly susceptible to being influenced a certain way because they have not lived long enough for them to know what they truly, truly believe. Or at least, what they believe about things that aren’t as obvious. I also think that another video had a big impact on my group because it was very moving. The video was an advertisement for the brand Always. The had brought in multiple subjects and asked them to act out how a girl runs or throws or fights. Each subject had acted in an extremely sexist manner. They acted as if a girl could not accomplish any of the simple tasks Then, they brought in younger girls and asked them to do the same thing. These children performed the tasks as if they were just doing them regularly. Then, the ad said that a girl’s self-esteem drops during puberty and ended with asking how we could make doing things like a girl a positive thing. I think that since it was the only truly empowering video we had been shown, we were moved by it. Or at least I was, but I bet my group was too. I think that going to the Paley Center was an amazing experience that I wish I could do again. I am sure that my group will show some of the videos we were shown at the Paley Center when we present our workshop in March.
Screen in the theater room at the Paley Center
The photo that we took with Rebecca
