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Title: Mirror, mirror Rating: 2.2 out of 4 Reference: Director & producer, Jan Krawitz
Library of Congress subjects: Body image Self-perception in women Sociology subjects: The body Reviews and Numerical Ratings 3 This is a good choice to show to an introductory sociology or gender course. The video is very visually stimulating - in its informal format, it uses women’s voices & personal stories that are engaging & will resonate with students. The downfall of this video is that the concepts are fairly simple, mainly because there is no theoretical discourse within the video. If a good discussion began after the video it could lead to excellent sociological discourse. Very enjoyable & interesting to watch - has an emotional pull. (Note that the library has another video called Mirror Mirror: Blood and Belonging so be sure to request the video by call # and not by title, so as to avoid confusion.) Tara Franz 1.5 Confusing as to why they decided to use such dated footage to discuss body image today. The ads and the music used in the video were very dated. The analysis of body image was very juvenile. “I feel good about this” and “I would like to change this” was about the extent of the critique offered. Anorexia and bulimia were never even mentioned!!! There was no discussion on dangerous surgeries like liposuction or the taking of all types of unsafe dieting pills by women. Absolutely, the struggles and dangers of women trying to achieve the ideal body type were not well presented at all. Dated images were used to show how hard it was for women to live up to the “glamour girl” image. However, the “ideal body image” in advertising, today, is much thinner than it used to be. Therefore, it would have been more appropriate to show newer advertisements that present a body image type that is much harder for females to achieve. Body contests were used to demonstrate the “glamour girl” image but, yet, it was never discussed how such contests and images could and ARE incredibly detrimental to the emotional/psychological and physical health of women. Essentially, nothing of significance was ever problematized and this makes this video very poor. Suitable difficulty for students at any level. Belinda Godwin 2.5 Quite powerful - a provocative juxtaposition of the mannequins & women’s bodies. Interesting historical footage. However, no sociological analysis - this would need to be done in the classroom - and no representation of women with disabilities. Riley Olstead & Fiona Whittington-Walsh 2 A series of masked women speak about their body image by compiling lists of their self perceived “flaws”. This process is interspersed with some early clips from weight reduction advertisements and beauty contests. These remind us of the links between this process of dissembling of the physical self & the marketing of the ideal form, the latter of which is accomplished through intense scrutiny & measurement of women’s individual physical features. Debi Brock 2 The speakers are wearing masks for much of the video.
Sujatha found this scary and really wanted to see the women’s
faces; Kathy thought it was first a clever statement about the unpleasantness
of perfection, and then boring & disorienting to watch. Generally
interesting visually, especially the old video clips from beauty contests.
But...it is slow, uncritical, covers the same points as a class discussion
easily could generate, has no speaker who felt passionately in any way
about her body, & ends on a liberal “I just want to be me”
note. Women with disabilities & young women are omitted, & the
video assumes a heterosexual gaze. Kathy Bischoping & Sujatha Varghese
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