Analysis of "Celebrity Bodies" (CRR)

Celebrities are the role models and important figures that shape our world and society. They appear all in the media and news, surrounding us everywhere we look. For example, female celebrities such as Nicole Richie or Victoria Beckham, with their slim figures, show up on magazine covers around the world, in which many teenage girls may read. Often times, looking at a magazine cover model may influence girls everywhere to try and look just like her, taking extreme measures to do so. This could also lead to eating disorders such as anorexia or bulimia being acquired more and more by teenage girls who read these magazines. Cultural critic Daniel Harris argues this position in his essay "Celebrity Bodies." Harris uses rhetorical devices such as logos, rhetorical question and ethos to strengthen his argument that "stick thin" celebrities can have a large influence on the general public.

Harris uses logos to further prove his argument, that celebrities have a large influence on the public. He uses facts and statistics to appeal to the audience's logic. For example, he states "The typical American woman is 5'4", weighs 140 pounds, and wears a size 14; the typical fashion model is seven inches taller, twenty-three pounds lighter, and twelve to fourteen sizes smaller." By providing the audience with a fact about the average body shapes of women, the audience can get a better understanding of the background information that makes up the argument. With this example, Harris is using a simple fact to begin his argument. Now, the audience can understand the difference between an average woman and an average fashion model and why an average girl could feel pressured to look like a fashion model. Next, Harris brings to the audience's attention, "as many as one hundred thousand teenage girls suffer from excessive dieting, two out of three Americans, are overweight and an estimated sixty million, or 20 percent of the population, are obese. Are Hollywood and the fashion world responsible for our ever-increasing girth?" First, in this example, Harris gives statistics about numbers of people in our population that suffer from conditions such as excessive dieting or obesity. These specific numbers bring to the audience's attention how many people in our country could be influenced by fashion models and celebrities. Harris is trying to make us understand that the girls that are "excessively dieting" could be because of the strong influence and the images that surround us of models everywhere. The second part of the example is a rhetorical question that leads the audience into thinking about if Hollywood is influencing girls to diet to the point of starvation. This question is introducing the audience to the argument and is getting them thinking as preparation for the rest of the essay. Finally, Harris uses a rhetorical question that also serves as logos when he asks, "Does Lindsay Lohan's waspish waistline make us skip meals and induce vomiting?" This example is logos because he is providing an example of a skinny celebrity which helps the audience to better understand his point. The purpose of this rhetorical question is to challenge the audience to consider his idea and think about whether it could be reasonable or not. Overall, the use of logos helps to strengthen Harris's argument. Using specific, facts, statistics and examples help the audience to understand the argument better and they help to further prove the argument as well. The use of logos also helps build the author's ethos because by providing these facts and examples, it shows the author is knowledgeable on the subject matter and is credible. By using such specific examples and statistics, the author is showing that he knows what he is speaking about and that he can be trusted. Several devices work together to strengthen Harris's argument, that Hollywood influences the general public to take extreme measures to look like a fashion model.