Posted: December 9th, 2022

Rhetorical Analysis of a Documentary

Rhetorical Analysis of a Documentary
Length: 3-5 pages – MLA Format – Times New Roman

Essay Purpose: A rhetorical analysis examines and explains how an author attempts to influence an audience. They typically employ specific evidence from the text to establish a thesis about the text’s rhetoric (how it persuades its audience by employing the rhetorical appeals, research, and in-depth analysis of the subject matter to reach an audience).

Directions: Find an argumentative documentary that intrigues you. It is important to note that a documentary with a specific argument will be much easier for this essay than an informative one (i.e. the biography of a serial killer). The documentary in question should have some sophistication about it and should be potentially effective at reaching its audience. There is no point in analyzing the obvious; pick something that makes an interesting argument that some viewers might be resistant to.

Your analysis should not simply paraphrase or summarize the film. In fact, an essay that merely does so will not pass. Instead, assume you are writing for an audience that has already seen the film. Your purpose is to provide a way of understanding how the film uses rhetorical strategies to persuade its audience. There are a number of ways to approach writing this essay. However, I recommend that you watch the entire film and then choose a scene (or a few) that you feel captures the most important aspects of the rhetoric. You should also watch the ENTIRE film a MINIMUM of two times. Remember, due to the length restrictions of the paper, you don’t have time to discuss everything so you must be strategically selective about which parts you choose to discuss.

First: Choose a Documentary. As a student at SIUE, you have access to LOTS of wonderful content for free, including documentaries and other films. Kanopy.com is an excellent resource through Lovejoy library. You can find the link this site on Bb. Of course, you can also find documentaries on Netflix, Hulu, Amazon, etc. I don’t care where you watch the film, as long as you have access to watch it at least TWICE.
(NOTE: Documentaries on Youtube can be tricky and most likely have not been peer reviewed. I am not saying you CAN’T use one you find there, just making sure you are paying attention to who produced and researched the material and if they are credible.)
Next: Watch and annotate the film (consider using the Guide to Active Reading on Bb from week 1)
Finally: Begin writing.
• Don’t forget to introduce the film and identify its basic claim/thesis in your introduction. Your thesis should then make a claim related to the rhetorical strategies employed to support the film’s claims.
• Write an analysis that will help your readers understand how the film works to persuade its audience. Consider what type of argument it presents and how it goes about creating and presenting that argument (Rhetoric!). How does the film utilize music, set design, camera angles, research, etc. as tools to further develop a claim/thesis?
• Arrange the body of your paper so that the readers move through it in an orderly way. From beginning of the film to the end, or from the most obvious rhetorical examples to the most interesting, etc.
• Throughout the body of your paper, use specific examples from your chosen film to support your claims. Yes, you will describe parts of the film here, but only in reference to your claims about their use of rhetoric. Be detailed, but concise.
• Conclude by making a judgment about the film’s rhetorical effectiveness. Did they achieve their rhetorical goal? If not, why not? What could they have done differently? If so, reflect upon the ways they generally employed rhetoric and if there are any ways to improve the film further AND/OR explain the effect their rhetoric had on the viewer? Etc.

NOTE: Try to avoid using the actual terms LOGOS/ETHOS/PATHOS. Instead, realize that those tools exist and are employed to present the documentary’s purpose and thesis. Notice in the example the much more detailed explanation of how pathos is employed and the expected result.
Example: Avoid “This film uses Pathos by making the viewer cry through images of slaughtered animals.” Consider instead: “This film flashes images of cows and pigs on the killing floor to force the viewer to witness the horrific circumstances these animals face. This causes the viewer to feel something (anger, disgust, sadness, etc.) which could then lead them to reconsider their eating and spending habits.”

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