Documentaries #2- Persuasive Elements

This week in class, we looked at a more controversial documentary, Fahrenheit 9/11 (2004) by Michael Moore. Moore is an American filmmaker, director and political commentator. The documentary looks critically at George W. Bush, the War on Terror and the links between them. It also looked at the media coverage of these events. Intense controversy was caused as this is a very one-sided biased opinion on these events, however it is still the highest grossing documentary of all time. Around 2 million copies were sold on the first day of release.

Here's the trailer-https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Zf2nCiBJLo&list=PL02D9F74117FF1DCE

The main themes I found when watching the documentary where -

• Racism
• Injustice
• Distaste for power combined with his speculations
• Political issues
• Fear
• Death     

These are very sensitive issues and it is important to discuss them with care as many were affected by what happened. 

Technical Analysis
To try to convince the audience on his opinion Moore uses several persuasive techniques:

• Extended Edits- The use of longer cuts seems to emphasise the scene. Either it makes it uncomfortable or awkward as Moore keeps cut long, doubt creeps into an audiences mind about what the person has said. It can also make emotional scenes more intense. This all persuades the audience to his point of view.
• Selective Cutaways are used to emphasise the perhaps falseness of statements made by people in power and then the reality of the situation. This has impact because the audience can see the unreliability of governments, making it a persuasive technique.

For example near the end of the documentary Moore focuses on the bid for oil in America. Moore uses cutaways to show how Government said that the people will profit from the oil, however what Moore shows portrays something different- 

From around 1minute 30 we start to see Moore's cutaways disprove what people are saying making it very persuasive for an audience watching, convincing them on Moore's opinion.

• Emotive Scenes- These are used to shock the audience, persuading them again to agree to what Moore is saying. 

Other techniques he uses as satirical music, the way he represents people he disagrees with and the juxtaposition between shots, for example Bush laughing and then shots of war and the devastation in Iraq.

I found the documentary very interesting to watch as it informed me of information I was unaware of, however as I've said it is very important to be objective as it is someones opinion argued incredibly well, by using evidence that fits to their argument. 

If you would like to find out more about the documentary here is a link to IMBb- http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0361596/