AP ENGLISH LANGUAGE & COMPOSITION Documentary Film
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Name: _________________________ Period: ________ Date: _______________________ AP ENGLISH LANGUAGE & COMPOSITION Documentary Film Project DRAFT #1 DUE DATE: _____________________________________ FINAL ESSAY DUE DATE: _________________________________ FILM: _______________________________________________ Directions: You will analyze the rhetoric of a documentary film, specifically its rhetorical appeals (logos, pathos, ethos) that are used to reach the audience. Essentially, you are analyzing the argument that the filmmaker makes, how she/he develops it, and the extent to which she/he is successful in achieving her/his purpose. A major part of your grade on this essay will be your understanding of how the filmmaker presents her/his case, e.g., through statistics, expert testimony, personal experience, humor, archival footage, sound track, music, dialogue, etc. The length of this essay should be 4-6 pages. Example 1: Thesis: In Bowling for Columbine, filmmaker Michael Moore wants to reach a large audience, including gun owners, to explain the societal causes of gun violence in the United States, using the specific example of the Columbine High School shooting as a touchstone. 1. Moore establishes the ethos of an objective critic by describing his Michigan childhood and love for guns and by mentioning his lifetime membership in the NRA. 2. He provides factual information about the number of deaths by firearms in the United States compared to other countries, along with anecdotal information about the easy availability of firearms in the opening scene of the film in which Moore purchases a gun at a bank. 3. He appeals to pathos by juxtaposing graphic images of violence with ironic musical selections, such as What a Wonderful World. The audience is meant to feel bittersweet and sorrowful while watching the montage of violent images and listening to the innocent, positive song lyrics. 4. Moore also examines alternative explanations for the violence at Columbine, such as Marilyn Manson’s music, and refutes the opposition’s argument that hard rock music is to blame for violence in the United States. 5. Moore uses his personal connection to Michigan to stress the link between poverty and gun violence by examining the murder of six-year-old Kayla. 6. Moore uses humor by inserting a South Park cartoon, A Brief History of the United States, which explains the racist underpinnings of the origins of the Second Amendment. Conclusion: Bowling for Columbine effectively provokes the audience to consider the connections among poverty, racism, and gun violence in a sometimes humorous, sometimes serious manner, and helps elevate American debate about gun violence. Name: _________________________ Period: ________ Date: _______________________ Example 2: Thesis: The goal of Michael Moore’s documentary film, Bowling for Columbine, is to persuade his white, liberal, affluent audience to believe his theory that Americans (especially Americans living in the middle of the country) are trigger-happy, fearful people who rely on violence to solve problems. 1. Moore attempts to establish the ethos of an “average gun-owning American” by describing how much he loved guns as a little boy and that he is a lifetime member of the NRA, but he undercuts his credibility by choosing to interview members of the Michigan militia, an extremist fringe group, rather than other “average” gun-owning Americans. 2. He crassly appeals to the audience’s sense of “white guilt” through his use of the cartoon, A Brief History of the United States, implying that the Second Amendment was passed so that white, fearful men could keep their guns to use against freed slaves. 3. He intersperses his few factual details, like the total number of gun-related deaths in different countries, with emotional montages, such as the montage showing various American conflicts at the same time the upbeat song What a Wonderful World is playing. 4. His juxtaposition of the Lockheed factory in Littleton and the Columbine High School is a manipulative attempt to get the audience to believe that American militarism caused the shootings at Columbine. 5. Moore manipulates the audience’s emotions by inserting a largely irrelevant and off-topic story about six-year-old Kayla Rowland, a highly sympathetic victim of gun violence, aimed at pulling the heartstrings of the audience. Conclusion: Moore may have a sincere concern about gun violence in the United States, but Bowling for Columbine is not a documentary, but rather a propaganda film appealing to raw emotion, and an affront to the majority of Americans who are responsible gun owners. Important Ideas to Remember: • Avoid using personal pronouns (I, you) • Avoid vague words (thing, stuff, etc.) • Avoid using slang (a lot, hafta, should of, hecka, cool, gotta, pretty much, like, sorta, just, actually, etc.) • Do not use contractions (don’t, shouldn’t, it’s, etc.) • Your essay [rough and final] must be typed, double-spaced, in 12 point Times New Roman font, with one-inch margins (all margins). For the Final Draft: • Use your student id number, not your name on all pages of your FINAL essay. .