Miss America (film) explained

Miss America is a 2002 American documentary film directed by Lisa Ades that chronicles the Miss America pageant from its beginnings in 1921 to the present-day pageant.

The film was released as an episode of American Experience season 14 in January 2002.

Premise

The documentary explores how the Miss America pageant has reflected the country’s views and where the country was moving towards by whom it chose as its winners each year. As the categories became more substantial and the requirements to participate more rigorous, the Miss America Pageant became much more than just a national contest to be America’s female representative to the world. The pageant, hosted in Atlantic City every year since it started, transformed into a place where sexual politics as well as the position of women were subtly fought and battles against antisemitism and racism were won.

Commentary cast

• • • Julia Alvarez Margaret Cho William Goldman
• Isaac Mizrahi

Interviewed pageant winners

Bess Myerson won Miss America in 1945 and, after refusing to change her name, became the first Jewish Miss America in the same year that World War II ended.^[1] Lee Meriwether won Miss America in 1955 and was nominated for two Golden Globe Awards and an Emmy Award for her acting career following Miss America.^[2] Mary Ann Mobley won Miss America in 1959. After continuing on to acting, Mobley was awarded the Golden Globe Award for New Star of the Year-Actress in 1965 and the Outstanding Young Woman of the Year Award by Claudia “Lady Bird” Johnson in 1966.^[3]

Festivals

• Sundance Film Festival
• South by Southwest Film Festival
• Full Frame Documentary Film Festival
• Sheffield Doc/Fest

Critical reception

• “Refreshingly evenhanded, ‘Miss America’ tackles the pageant’s intersection with race, sex and women’s liberation—among other things—without sinking into gratuitous pageant-bashing.” (John Curran, Lexington Herald-Ledger)^[4]
• “... this critical but balanced American Experience documentary acknowledges the pageant’s status as a national institution.” (Review by Terry Kelleher, People)^[5]
• “‘Miss America’ [is] a film that may be the definitive documentary of the pageant.” (Review by Charlie McCollum, San Jose Mercury News)^[6]
• “PBS' Miss America is the model of brevity, covering 80 years and the changing role of women in under two hours.” (Hal Boedeker, The Anniston Star)^[7]
• “There's an abundance of feminine icons and anti-female outrages in Miss America, the outstanding beauty-pageant history by award-winning documentarian Lisa Ades.” (Peter Howell, The Toronto Star)^[8]

External links

• • Miss America at Women Make Movies
• Film Website: Miss America on PBS

Notes and References

1. "1945." Miss America. Miss America Organization, January 1, 2015. Web. April 22, 2015. Miss America : 1945 . January 13, 2015 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20150213110152/http://www.missamerica.org/our-miss-americas/1940/1945.aspx . February 13, 2015 . >.
2. "1955." Miss America. Miss America Organization, January 1, 2015. Web. April 22, 2015. Miss America : 1955 . December 20, 2009 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20091212075829/http://www.missamerica.org/our-miss-americas/1950/1955.aspx . December 12, 2009 . >.
3. "1959." Miss America. Miss America Organization, January 1, 2015. Web. April 22, 2015. Miss America : 1959 . May 12, 2015 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20150510035452/http://www.missamerica.org/our-miss-americas/1950/1959.aspx . May 10, 2015 . >
4. Curran, John. "Reign or Shine- There It Is, a Documentary About Miss America Pageant." Lexington Herald-Ledger January 25, 2002, Weekender ed., Final sec.: 27. Print.
5. Kelleher, Terry. "Picks and Pans Review: Miss America." People January 28, 2002. Print.
6. McCollum, Charlie. "Evenhanded Portrait of Miss America." San Jose Mercury News January 25, 2002, Morning Final ed., Arts & Entertainment sec.: 1E. Print.
7. Boedeker, Hal. "Are You a Pageant Person? Don't Miss ‘America'" The Anniston Star, January 22, 2002, Entertainment sec. Print.
8. Howell, Peter. "Reel Women-This Year's Sundance Film Festival May Be Remembered Most For Its Portrayal of Females in Popular Culture." The Toronto Star January 13, 2002, Ontario ed., Entertainment sec.: 1. Print.