An Inconvenient Truth Analysis

Your assignment is to do a rhetorical analysis of a documentary film. That is, analyze the purpose of the film, the audience to whom it is geared, and the strategies that are used to reach that audience.

Documentary: An Inconvenient Truth (featuring Al Gore)

Thesis: The purpose of Al Gore's presentations on global warming is to bring attention to the public that global warming is an actual condition that is currently in progress, and to show that if something wasn't done to stop the situation, Earth would one day be destroyed.

I. As a previous presidential candidate, Al Gore already has a certain ethos built up; his continued work on global warming and his efforts to persuade both the scientific and non-scientific communities even after he wan't elected for president showed that he is earnestly concerned with the issue of global warming.

II. The other way for Al Gore to boost up his ethos in the documentary is by using anecdotes of his own life; by saying that he is concerned with global warming not because of the hopes for getting elected to be president but because he himself is concerned with the issue due to his own life experiences, he gives off the impression that he is sincere and earnest. Within the anecdote, Al Gore uses the appeal to pity: he shows just what he and his family had been through to make his audience sympathize with him and his cause.

III. Al Gore's logos is boosted up by the theories that he presented, along with statistical information as evidence to back up his point that global warming is now becoming a crucial problem; the statistical information comes from sources with strong ethos, and are presented in easily understood graphics and charts.

IV. The documentary itself plays on the audience's pathos by using a heavy, dramatic tone during the narration, which creates a mood that is serious and heart moving. Al Gore's presentation plays on his audience's pathos by images showing how wonderful nature used to be and how it is destroyed now. He emphasizes this by using juxtaposition, a compare and contrast of then and now.

V. In order to keep the audience focused and entertained, Al Gore uses a strong and effective persuasion technique: humor. First, he uses his personal experiences to make some jokes, such as the fact that he was once a presidential candidate. Second, Al Gore shows an ironic video (similar graphics to the Simpsons, but a different story) to show an exaggeration that may be somewhat related to reality. Finally, Al Gore uses the lift (something to rise him up and down) to physically entertain his audience as well as to make a point on how high the statistics were going to be on a graph.

Conclusion: Al Gore uses the ethos, logos, and pathos elements as well as other persuasion techniques such as humor in order to convey his concerns about the vitality of solving global warming and persuade his audience that decisive actions must be taken.