Rhetorical Analysis

The following sample essay on “Rhetorical Analysis”: Michael Moore, a left-wing political activist, is an American filmmaker. He is acknowledged for his thought-provoking and unscripted documentaries; Moore takes risks and questions everyone wants the answers to. Moore is an astonishing political reviewer and knows accurately how to take advantage of the art of language, film, and actualities to influence his onlookers and to get them to follow in his lead. Released in 2004, Fahrenheit 9/11 is a documentary directed and produced by Moore.

This film is a great example of how Moore uses appeals tragedy, logic, and ethics to obtain more verification and supportive details to make his argument evident. These appeals are composed to strengthen Moores arguments and support his theories in politics. Moore uses these appeals to convince his audiences to agree with him on the controversies that, in his opinion, led to the terrorist attack on September 11, 2001. In the film, Fahrenheit 9/11, Michael Moore efficiently uses tragedy, ethics, and logic as tools to influence his spectators to have confidence that the Bushs Administration was immoral.

Rhetorical Analysis: MOVIE

In attempt to influence the audience, Moore does an outstanding job of conveying an expressive response. Tragedy is presented as soon as the screen becomes pitch black and the only sound is the noise from September 11, the day planes were commandeered by terrorists and crashed into the twin towers, placed in New York City. The viewer can hear the shock in the peoples voices and the lurid explosion from the planes striking the buildings.

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This scene was immensely powerful. Moores purpose for this scene was to start the film off was to encourage his audience into having the same sensation that the director felt and to understand how horrifying this tear-jerking incident accurately was. Also, an interview with a woman who lost her husband during the occurrence on September 11 was additional technique that Moore used tragedy in Fahrenheit 9/11 to convert his audiences. There was a purpose that this interview was filmed close up, Moore desired the audience to witness the wretchedness in the widows eyes, to feel the aching that she had felt and to display the emptiness she had. By screening the widowers emotions in this way, Moore opened the door and composed the viewers sympathy. However, he still left every single scene open-ended for the viewers to accumulate their own judgement on the attack that happened on that horrendous day.

Another thing to know when presenting ones opinion is that, in order to have a true argument, a person should demonstrate equality; they should be fair to the other objective viewpoint, and show that there is an understanding of both sides of the argument. This is the second appeal, ethics, a form of persuasion used by Moore to show that he is a fair and knowledge man. Ethics is all about being credible; presenting oneself as a trustworthy person to convince an audience and make an argument applicable; or to show that another person is not credible by using manipulation. When using ethics, the speakers character is really revealed and observed by the audience. It is important to have ethics when making a claim or assuring an argument.

In the film, Fahrenheit 9/11, Moore made sure to use ethics so thats his audience would be persuaded to believe his theories. Moore wanted his audience to see how credible his information was and to let them know that he was a trustworthy person; in this case, he wanted the audience to believe he was more trustworthy than President George W. Bush and his Administration. To show that Moore was a credible source and to question Bushs character, Moore used real footage of Bush and the events that was touched upon. He showed the footage of the time when Bush was first told about the terrorist attack on September 11, 2001. This footage showed Bushs reaction; really Bush did not react and instead continued to read to a class that he was visiting that day. This helped manipulate the audience to believe that Bush was not a fit president and had no idea what to do in this situation. Other video that was shown was of Bush in meetings with members of the Bin Laden family. This footage made it apparent that Bush was fraternizing with the so called, enemy the ones who were believed to be behind the attack. This makes the audience look at Bush in a very poor light and was a tool used to persuade the audience to judge Bushs character based on this fact solely. Moore also used this appeal again when he presented facts about President Bushs National Guard records. Moore showed that Bushs records were tampered with in the beginning to hide a certain name, James R. Bath, a Texas money manager for the Bin Laden family. Bath was just another involvement that connected Bush to the instances with the Bin Ladens. Moore showed what the original and uncensored records looked like before they had been edited. This showed that Moore was fair, but he was also very trustworthy with the information that he was presenting, unlike Bush who did not present accurate records.

In the final appeal, reasoning is used to persuade an audience; when a person gives a certain level of value to an argument. Facts and statistics help to gather and conclude the reasoning to support the main idea of an argument. Logic is used when explaining a resulting conclusion of a position, view, or argument; it is used to establish the reasoning and good logic that supports the final conclusion.

Finally, in Moores attempt to manipulate and persuade his audiences, Moore uses the appeal logic to show his reasoning and how he has come to think negatively about Bushs Administration and the event of the terrorist attack on September 11, 2001. Moores first valid point made was about the controversy surrounding Bushs election, and his win over his opponent, Al Gore. Moore believes that the sole reason for Bushs win was due to his help from his political allies along with the help from his friends and family. Moore first presents that Al Gore was initially said to have been the winner over Florida, but then Fox News reporter, John Ellis, Bushs first cousin and the main in charge of the decision desk that night, called the election in favor of Bush. Moore then discusses the other reason for why Bush won the election. Moores reasons were that Bushs brother was the former Governor of Florida, the state in questions and the place that the election controversy was at its most heightened. Also, Bushs chairman of his campaign tabulated the votes and it is a fact that her state hired a company that knocked the votes of African Americans off the record. Moore then touches on the details about the numerous independent investigations that were held and revealed that Gore was the true winner of this election. Stated in the film, Fahrenheit 9/11, Even if numerous investigations prove that Gore got the most votes, it won’t matter, just as long as all your daddys friends on the Supreme Court vote the right way. It was evident that the Supreme Court, which consisted of friends of Bushs father, was the true deciders of the winner of this election. One last reason for why Bush became President of Elect was also influenced by the missing senate on the day that the joint session was to verify the election results. Plenty of African Americans attempted to appeal the election results due to overwhelming evidence of misconduct, but no senator was located to sign the objection and come to the aid of the African Americans.

To con clude, Moores film, Fahrenheit 9/11, was a thought-provoking documentary that presented an effective argument that was supported by Aristotles three appeals tragedy, logic, and ethics. Tragedy was a remarkably effective tool that Moore used multiple times to really sway his audiences in an attempt to get people to really pay attention to what he was saying. For instance, the emotional response that was drawn from the audience was brought about from the scene of the attack on September 11, 2001 was extremely influential on the audience. Continuing, Moores credibility shown through documents and certain facts, along with his laughable manner and tactics used to question Bushs character, was just another form of appeal that Moore used to support his argument. Also, logical reasoning supported Moores point and really helped to move the viewers to make their opinions concerning these political issues. These appeals helped to enhance Moores main viewpoint and helped to convince his audiences that Bushs administration was corrupt.