Effect of Television on Self Image of Teenagers in Fiji Essay example -

Television plays an important role in influencing people. It is one of the main arms of media. The teenage girls in U.S.A idolize popular actress like Mary-Kate Olsen, Calista Flockhart and Victoria Beckhem. Teenage girls want to look like them. So to attain such skinny body they tend to eating disorder. It is not only the case in U.S. Ellen Goodman in her essay â€Å"The Culture of Thin Bites Fiji† has used Anthropologic research and its statics to show the eating disorder of Fijian teenager to look like actress in popular U.S television show. Ellen article focuses on how television changed the views of technological inferior Fijian society and the role it played in changing Fijian culture. Before television was introduced, as Goodman states: women in Fiji greeted one another with their ritual cultural compliments such as â€Å"you look wonderful! You have put on weight†. And if you looked thin it was considered to be a sign of some social problem or indication that pe rson was not getting enough to eat. So gaining weight and becoming fat and bigger was beautiful in Fijian culture (Goodman 608). Ellen uses the research done by Anne E. Becker, an anthropologist and associate professor of medical anthropology at Harvard medical school to back her claim as to how the Television had an impact on teenage girls of Fiji in the way they viewed their body. The eating disorder which this teenage girls practice to look like actress in popular Television shows. Although media houses do not want to recognize the fact that it has a role in creating the above mentioned effect. Goodman states, â€Å"Something happened in 1995. A western mirror was shoved into the Face of Fijian. Television came to island (Goodman608).† Television was introduced and teenage g... ...y giving example of Calista Flockhert. Goodman is effectively limiting her claim by stating â€Å" I’m not surprised by research showing that eating disorder are cultural byproduct ( 609).† The writer’s argument in this piece is epideictic in nature. It deals with current issues and addresses questions of blame, Ellen Goodman proves with her essay that drastic cultural change in Fiji was because of Television. Works Cited Goodman, Ellen. "The Culture of Thin Bites Fiji." Everything’s an Argument. Boston, New York: Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2010. 608-609. Magill, J. H.. "Eating Disorders Statistics." South carolina department of mental health. DMH, 2006. Web. 9 Apr 2012. . "Teenagers with Eating Disorders, Facts for Families."aacap.org. American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatr, 05/2. Web. 9 Apr 2012.