The Use of Rhetoric in Documentaries

The explicit teaching of rhetoric can provide a useful framework through which students can better understand persuasive texts. In the case of documentaries, narratives are constructed with the express purpose of manipulating an audience. It is via the major modes of persuasion that this is best facilitated, often referred to as the 'rhetorical triangle'. The use of the rhetorical triangle is perhaps relevant in some way for all texts but, in the case of the documentary, it is hardwired into the very fibre of the genre. 

Your mileage will vary in terms of which cornerstones of rhetoric you want to touch on. The most popular approach is to teach the aforementioned rhetorical triangle - Ethos, Logos, Pathos - but this isn't necessarily where things need to end. If we think of communication as a rhetorical process, you can quite easily stretch this to six cornerstones - making space for Kairos, Telos, and Topos (a rhetorical hexagon, I guess) 

This will require the teacher to have an awareness of their class and which persuasive element might be a Greek word too far. At the moment with Stage 5 I tend to stop at four (Ethos, Logos, Pathos, Kairos) but will always re-assess depending on the cohort being taught and how enthusiastic they are about rhetoric. I'm unlikely to ever teach all six, I think.

Some useful definitions:

• Ethos - Appealing to an audience through the use of authority, ethics, and credibility.
• Logos - Appealing to an audience through the use of logic, evidence, and factual-sounding claims.
• Pathos - Appealing to an audience through the use of emotion, particularly through triggering an emotional response.
  
• Kairos - Appealing to an audience by picking the best time and place to make an argument.

Today's activity is designed for use with the documentary Blackfish. 

1. I would project this document onto a board for students to see. 
2. Students draw up a table and sort the examples into whether they work as examples of Ethos, Logos, Pathos, or Kairos. 
3. Come together as a class to discuss which rhetorical cornerstones students matched each of the examples to.
4. Students can then be given a paragraph prompt - Account for Blackfish's ability to challenge the beliefs of audiences. This question essentially requires students to discuss the way in which rhetoric has been used to convince or persuade the audience, I would give a Year 9 or Year 10 class eight to ten minutes to complete the paragraph - this time limit will keep them focussed, and also works as the average amount of time it should take students to write ONE essay body paragraph in timed conditions. 

(The answers for the sheet are, with the key reasons underlined...)

Ethos

• An official from the Occupation Safety and Health Administration provides opinions that contradict SeaWorld's official lines regarding the lifespan of Orcas.
• A police report is included near the beginning of the documentary.
• A whale expert explains that Orcas have never harmed any humans in the wild.
• Many official news reports are shown in regard to some of the events that happened at SeaWorld.

Kairos

• Director Gabriela Cowperthwaite filmed and released Blackfish just 2-3 years after Orca trainer Dawn Brancheau was kileld.
• First screened at a variety of American Film Festival ahead of the international 'award-giving' season.

Logos

• Computer simulation is used to recreate the strategies used to hunt and capture Orcas. 
• An incredibly lengthy autopsy report is shown, including factual explanations of many specific details of Dawn's death.
• A graphic of Tilikum's family tree demonstrates how Tilikum is responsible for the breeding of 54% of the SeaWorld franchise's Orcas.

Pathos

• Quote about Orcas, "When you look into their eyes you know somebody is home."
• Dramatic, sad-sounding music in a 'minor key' is often played at key moments.
• Whale Hunter remorsefully describes what he did as being "like kidnapping a little kid away away from their mother."
• Details of death by Orca are explained in graphic and gruesome detail.
• The former trainers talk about crying upon seeing Orcas in the wild for the first time.
• Trainer, talking about an Orca being separated from its child, "That is heartbreaking. How can anyone look at that and think is is morally acceptable? It is not. That is not okay."

Disclaimer: The above resource was created specifically for this blog.