Instructor Emerson assign us write about the 13TH documentary. The assignment was to see what strategies the author uses to achieve her purpose of writing using the rhetorical elements.
13thDocumentary
Ava DuVernay made the United States look at criminalization for African Americans and the prison population in a different way. Watching this documentary is a real eye opener, for some people because they never knew how much of an issue what African Americans go through or just the prison population increasing over the span of time five to ten years. Over the course of the year not only is mass incarceration a big issue so is police brutality. Hundreds of people have been killed for police thinking their resisting. This documentary was not persuasive because it wasn’t persuading to buy or change anything. This documentary uses ethos, pathos, and logos. She uses the voice of Barack Obama, Clinton, Trump, Angela Davis, and more. When she uses pathos, she gives snippets of Birth of a Nation, videos of people being hosed and beating, and very visual pictures. Logos she gives statistics that surprises most people because people never knew how much of an issue of mass incarceration and racism is in this society.
The 13thamendment grants freedom to all Americans. That would be sentenced to minor crimes. Once your criminal your basic rights have been taken. Now which leads us to Birth of a Nationas DuVernay stated, “They would say the negro was out of control and there is a threat of violence to white women (DuVernay).” Viewing African Americans is seen as criminals, which transitions to segregation and Jim Crow. The Civil Rights granted people there rights back. The use of drugs and minor crimes in increased the prison population. The system started calling blacks super predators and police brutality became a big issue. “If Black lives matter, then everybody lives matter.” (DuVernay)
Ethos is the “credibility and good character of whoever is making the argument.” (Lunsford et al.390). Former President Nixon wanted law and order. He felt that if there was no progress in America then they have no respect for America. During his term the crimes would be place for their race. Former President Clinton wanted to help the people who were addicted to drugs. He created the “3 strikes our out law, which means after 3strikes you would be put in jail for the rest of our life.” (President Clinton). He created the federal crime bill, which tried to get people of drug users off the streets and put in jail. Angela Davis wanted to know what does it mean to be a criminal in this society? President Nixon and Governor Ronald Regan wanted to send her to the death chamber in order to make a point.
Pathos is the “appeals to emotions which steers feelings and the value that the audience is assumed to hold” (Lunsford et al. 389). The images from this documentary were very graphic. The snippets of Birth of a Nationshowing a woman running and then getting raped by black man. They killed Emmett Till because he was accused of whistling at a white woman. The type of music was inspirational and sad all at the same time. The police brutality in this day in society is a big issue. Watching this documentary is so shocking because many people have been killed by police. Oscar Grant, Eric Gamer, Philando Castile were all killed by police. It’s a shame that young man can’t even walk down the street without someone thinking their do something wrong.
Logos is the “logic or statistics appeals to the mind.” (Lunsford et al. 394) “3,000 Negroes” were denied the right to vote. (DuVernay) The prison population took a jump in the 1970s making a turn for the worse. The 1970s was called a time of Mass Incarceration. U.S. prison populations in the 1970 was “357,292.” (DuVernay) Federal spending for local law enforcements doubled. In 1980 the prison population jumped up a whopping “513,400” people. (DuVernay) “Mandatory sentencing started which stated that a person with one ounce of cocaine would get the same amount of jail time as someone who has 100 ounces of powered cocaine.” (DuVernay) In a span of only 5 years the prison population went up again to “754,100.” (DuVernay) So far 1970-1985 the prison population went from “357,292 to 754,100” in only 15 years and still increasing.” (DuVernay) Once again, the population of the prison increased to “754,100 to 1,174,200.” (DuVernay)
ALEC the American Legislative Exchange Council and CCA, Correction Corporation of America have been blamed for mass incarceration. They make it so that people can’t afford to go on trial, so they settle for a plea bargain. These organizations benefit and make profits as long as the prisons are full. They make it racially designed for prisoners to remain incarcerated. They set laws so that once your charged with a felony, it will be difficult to vote, get employment, or housing. It is racially designed so that no reform is offered for criminals.
In conclusion, the 13thwas an inspiring documentary the way they used ethos, pathos, and logos. They did great with using ethos by using some very important people like President Nixon, Angela Davis, and President Clinton. Throughout this documentary the pathos was very much expressed the from pictures and little video clips were very much visual for example the picture of Emmett Till, the video of Birth of a Nation, and the videos of black people getting hosed. After, watching the film it was really pulled on the heart strings by showing all the beating and the lynching takes time to really process that black people really went through a lot. Lastly logos was demestared in a good way by showing how the prison population just keeping raising and raising and showing you how much of a problem the crack cocaine was in the time. All in all, this was a very powerful film to watching very educationally and great film to watch.
Rhetorical Analysis Reflection:
Looking back on the Rhetorical Analysis I had trouble writing this particular paper. If I knew more about writing a Rhetorical Analysis I could have gotten a better grade. I think my biggest problem with this paper was writing the rebuttal. Also, I procrastinated when writing this paper and ended up rushing through the paper. When writing I wrote a summary instead of writing an argument to argue. Another problem I had was using the Rhetorical elements I feel as if I didn’t express it like I should have when going into deeper details when trying to make an argument. When writing I also felt that my points wasn’t strong enough when making this argument. I feel as if I rushed the paper and. that I didn’t get all my ideas on the paper. If I had to rewrite the paper. I would take the time out to go into deeper details. Realizing what I did in the paper will help me in future papers