The word ‘Rhetoric’ refers to the use of symbolic artifacts (including words, phrases, images, gestures, performances) to influence and persuade an audience.
A rhetorical analysis breaks down the artifacts used by an author or speaker into parts and then explains how the parts work together to persuade an audience.
This is accomplished, in part, by examining traditional rhetorical appeals, including ethos, pathos, and logos.
These rhetorical appeals are often utilized in documentary films to influence and persuade the audience. This assignment asks you to view a documentary film and analyze the filmmaker’s rhetorical strategies in the construction of the film’s argument.
The paper should not be a summary of the film or a review based on your personal reaction to it. Instead, the project aims to identify the film’s argument and analyze the rhetorical strategies used to develop the film’s specific purpose, i.e., thesis.
The paper will be 3 to 5 full pages in length, with an additional Works Cited page containing the documentary and any other sources you may use. The paper will follow the guidelines of MLA. You will turn the paper in on Canvas.
The assignment is worth 50 points; a 10 percent grade penalty will be applied for each day late.
Follow the writing guidelines of MLA 9, including using Times New Roman 12-point font. The following two links are helpful resources for MLA guidelines.
MLA Example (Links to an external site.)
MLA Guidelines (Links to an external site.)
Canvas will be running this paper through the Turnitin App plagiarism checker. We are not using the website turnitin.com as turnitin.com is already built into Canvas. Once you submit your paper through Canvas, you will be given a Similarity Percentage Score. Your similarity score needs to be 25% or below. You may submit your paper as many times as you would like, up until the assignment’s due date, until you are under 25%. As such, I suggest submitting the paper early so you may check your similarity score, thus allowing you to re-submit it if your score is over 25%. One tip to reduce your similarity score is to take any direct quotations you have, rewrite the quotations in your own words, then provide an in-text citation, parenthetical citation, or both. Additionally, any use of AI Authorship tools, including (but not limited to ChatGPT, QuillBot, etc…) to write entire sentences, paragraphs, papers, or to complete any class assignment will be considered cheating and will result in both a 0 for the assignment and automatic referral to the college’s disciplinary process.
Throughout Module 14, I have included several documentaries you are welcome to use for this assignment, or you may select a documentary from the following list of Downloadable: Documentary Suggestions.
The paper will include the following:
A brief summary of the film’s basic plot: summarized in your own words and not copied and pasted from the internet.
The documentary’s specific purpose, i.e., thesis; what claim is it making (what it is trying to persuade us to do).
Specific examples of rhetorical theory used to influence and persuade the audience; including:
Ethos: Credibility of the documentary’s character.
Competency:
Exterior influences found outside of the film: the documentarian’s reputation, experience, and background.
Internal influences found inside the film: the credible sources used, i.e., the experts interviewed and what makes them an authority on the subject as witnessed in the film, including their reputation, experience, and background.
Character:
How the documentary displayed its intentions and the concern it has for the audience. How the documentary appeared trustworthy, objective, honest, and similar to the audience. Were any of the fallacies discussed in the textbook evident? If so, what effect did they have on the ethos of the film? How the film handed opposing views (if applicable).
Charisma:
Personality and likeability of the documentary and or documentarian. Consider the documentary’s tone, the way the subject matter, audience, Americans, etc., are portrayed.
Pathos: Emotional appeals
Use of emotional narratives (stories) that creates sympathy that attempts to affect the audience’s attitudes, values, beliefs, and or behaviors.
The films use of images, words, sounds, music, set design, camera angles, and other various film techniques as tools to affect the audience’s emotions.
Logos: Logical appeals
Statistics, facts, and expert testimonies presented in the film.
You must use the terms ethos, pathos, and logos in your writing.
Conclude by making a judgment about the film’s rhetorical effectiveness.
