The Culture Of Thin Bites Fiji Analysis

Do television shows portraying thin female actresses influence girls to develop a negative body image? Ellen Goodman’s, “The Culture of Thin Bites Fiji” makes a persuasive argument about how people's opinion of their physical appearance changes throughout the years. Goodman blames television for changing of teens and adult’s view of weight. Goodman uses the appeal of logos, ethos, and pathos as a persuasive technique in her article.
“You look wonderful! You’ve put on weight.” Goodman states that Fijians really did compliment one another about weight gain in their culture. Before1995 food was love and being thin was considered to be an indication of social problems that a person was not eating enough food. Goodman calls Fiji an "island paradise" (502), but Goodman uses this phrase because the people of Fiji do not worry about weight and instead welcome being heavy. She also calls the Fijians "a reverse image of our culture" (502), and for her this is changed once television comes to the island. Goodman speaks the character of
Why does television have effects on women and not on men? Goodman assumes that her readers have an awareness of the statistics of any eating disorders prior to the introduction to television in 1995 to Fiji. While Goodman says that our culture is molded by television, in actuality the way we view our self-image existed before television was a factor and uses the appeal of pathos to create an emotional response.
The purpose of Goodman’s argument is to use the appeal of logos, pathos, and ethos. Goodman gives an effective argument how a person’s opinion of their physical appearance can be significantly influence by western entertainment industry. The Fijian culture believed to be big was to be beautiful but was changed once television was introduce to the island which led to insecurities in the