The Culture of Thin Bites Fiji by Ellen Goodman

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Rhetorical Analysis
In the essay “The Culture of Thin Bites Fiji,” the author Ellen Goodman claims that because of the influence of media, women in the Fiji islands have suffered eating disorders. As Goodman points out, before 1995, people believed their culture that big meant beautiful and bigger meant more beautiful in Fiji. And the Fijians were a reverse image of American culture. But after 1995, while American television came to the island, and it gradually entered their lives. Then the media made their belief totally changed, and they started to believe that fat is disgusting. And the Goodman shows her argument that due to the public media destroyed the culture of Fijian and caused a social issue about people were chasing to control their weight, but it also caused eating problem.
At first, I agree with Goodman’s argument and I think that due to the impact of media, people's aesthetic standard began to change and more and more people begin to pay more attention to lose weight nowadays. And in my opinion, the most obvious part that women are affected by the impact of media, especially for the actors. For example, as Goodman points out, 15% of high school girls who vomited for weight control increased 5 times. It shows girls were worrying about their weight, and it lead to make them to suffer eating disorders. From my personal experience, I also would like to use media to find what is the most fashion hairstyle or cloth brand every month. And it will make me to decide what stuff I want to buy. Also, I think I am a member of control weight, because every day I would like to keep a good image to others. So as a result of control weight, I have the same problem of eating disorders as well. Besides, the...

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...ight control went up to 15 percent, and 74 percent of Fiji teens said they felt too fat. Those statistics have been shown that during media popularization, teenagers have suffered the problem of eating disorders, which are shown to support Goodman’s attitude towards the negative effect of public media to Fijians.
In conclusion, Goodman shows her points of views about the social media and eating disorders in Fiji. She also shows how the social media can affect eating problem and caused a social issue, and she persuades people to pay attention to girls and solve the eating problem before it out of control. And she thinks Fijians still belong to “vulnerable population” and need attention and support from the publics.

Works Cited

Goodman, Ellen. “The Culture of Thin Bites Fiji”. Everything’s an Argument. 6th ed. Boston Bedford St. Martin’s, 2013. Print.

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