Well...

I think that media images played a huge role in Ortiz Cofer's story. The whole essay is about how her perceptions of herself changed after moving to America and dealing with other people's perceptions of her. She talks at length about comic book superheroes, and her wish to be Wonder Woman. The media image of the attractive and muscle bound superhero capable of doing anything resonated with the unattractive, short, and skinny outcast. She wanted to be that. With the media advertising things like "Wate-On," she was convinced that she could in fact, do this. She begged her mom to buy it for her so that she could put on some pounds, but of course that idea was shot down quickly. While these media images didn't necessarily cause all the problems Ortiz faced in being in America, they certainly contributed a huge amount. Its arguable that the same media images that made her feel inadequate about herself also influence her peers to think of her as inadequate. Without these influences of the American media, her life would've been a little less bumpy.