Movie Analysis Essay on 13th Documentary

Introduction

The history of the United States has been strongly molded by inequalities of race and discrimination in different sectors. If you ask from people the ideal world that they would wish to have, some would say a world with no crime and pollution, and others will say a world free from terrorism.: however, only a small number wish for a world free from race and discrimination of the minority groups. No matter what side of the continuum one is in, it is evident that the documentary 13th bears a powerful message about inequality. 13th is a documentary directed by Ava DuVerney tracing the ancient roots of black oppression from the figurative ending of slavery by the 13th Amendment of the American constitution to current incarcerations. 13th is a timely depiction of the current experiences that are faced by African Americans in the US. The documentary identifies a stipulation in the 13th Amendment to the constitution of America, which was supposed to offer liberation to the Black American population, erase the notion that criminals are not supposed to exercise liberty. From the documentary, it is easy to evaluate that Black Americans have been re-enslaved by the efforts to prevent full public participation. Ava DuVernay uses the documentary and through rhetorical strategies to inform the public about the schemes of prejudice over the minorities majorly the black population. The director achieves an educational goal through the use of ethos, logos, and pathos to form a convincing argument of the struggle of minorities in America.

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Suffrage and prejudice of African Americans are shown thought film13th documentary. This film opens with an analysis of the eponymous Amendment. As it progresses, the director is keen to touch on several issues that are present in the country that discriminates against minority groups with a significant focus on people with color. Ava DuVarney does not fail to talk about the civil rights movement started by African Americans due to the prejudice showed against them by the government. She goes ahead to present the issue the war on drugs which is used as an addition to the fact that the system is established specifically to target the minorities by the setting up of anti-drug laws by Reagan. To present another impactful goal of sparking of emotions, the film presents the story of police brutality and lynching. 13th Amendment ratified in 1985 states in full that: "Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for the crime of which the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction" (DuVernay, 00: 12:54-00:32:08).As the contributors' underscores, slavery was ended for everyone except for the criminals. Consequently, the liberation of slaves in 1863, with no equal protection under the law, paved an avenue for social and legal conditions with deleterious costs. Nabaro denotes in his Review of 13th by Ava DuVernay that for decades, Black Americans have been subjected to re-enslavement by determinations to prevent their participation in public affairs. Some of the examples that lead to second-class citizenry include Jim Crow laws; poll taxes; voting rights; segregation; and work camps like the Parchman Farm in Mississippi. In summary Ava 13TH, a documentary written and directed by Ava DuVernay and produced by Netflix discovers the loophole in the 13th Amendment to the Constitution of the United States and uses this as a historical representation of racial disparity in the criminal justice of the US.

Pathos is the most potent rhetoric strategy used by Ava DuVernay. The film presents constant imagery, and persuasive facts charmed to the emotional influence of the audience. The audience is sentimentally impacted by the presentation of images of black people in prison. It is emotionally shocking to learn the conditions in which inmates are kept in jail for minor offenses. Additionally, pictures of lynching arouse emotions of anger that appeal to the main focus of the documentary, which is to give provocation on the racial issues that negatively affect people with color. An atmosphere of outrage and sad emotions is created by videos of unmarked black men being gunned down by the police. Clips featuring the KKK and drug usage causes sensitive to overwhelm upon viewing and generates an urge of wanting to take action to the viewer. The director aims to show the audience the many ways of how the American government has turned its back by finding loopholes that keep alive discrimination and racism. An example of this emotional incite is the Jim Crow law that pushed for discriminatory differences such as using different bathrooms, bus seats, or even schools. As a result of these, there is a likelihood of the audience siding with the director's argument that the passing of the 13th Amendment did not necessarily mean that African-American community was liberated and free from discrimination and racism. From the article "A Man And An Amendment Are Re-Examined in 'The Birth Of A Nation' And '13th'reviewed by Mondello, DuVerney uses Griffiths original The Birth of a Nation, whose cinematic intelligence was smudged by its racism, to show the way in which attitudes of discrimination were deliberately shaped after the end of slavery (Mondello). Depiction of blacks as monsters, rapists, and criminals after the end of slavery is used by the director to incite the feeling of melancholy.

Ethos refers to the use of integrity and authority to assure the audience of a view or belief. The director Ava DuVernay exposes some events in the history of America that have continued to validate this subject. From the American past, events such as the war on drugs and Jim Crow laws are some of the events used to prove the credibility of the situation of black American discrimination. Additionally, for reliability, the director uses credible speakers such as Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, and Dr. Martin Luther King throughout the documentary. All these are influential leaders that have had a significant impact on the ruling of the United States. The director also proofs argument by presenting other speakers that disagree with her stance. This is an important part that shows that DuVernay acknowledges views that are different from hers as a way of presenting an argument. To help the audience be more informed in taking their own stances, the director uses these speakers with conflicting views to provide broader reasoning that can be used in decision-making. The use of historical figures such as Angela Davis and Martin Luther King creates trust since they are known to the public and the public can verify their struggles as a minority. Presentation of ALEC is to make sure that the audience understands the credibility of her sources (Nabaro). According to the New York article by Dragis 'Review: ?13TH,? the Journey From Shackles to Prison Bars', Ms. Alexander is used in explaining the fact that mass exists on the range with John Crow and slavery. Alexander presents the adversity of Jim Crow rule, where there were different rules for blacks and whites. The director uses Ms. Alexander at this point because of her best seller book "The New Jim Crow," which is deemed entirely relevant in this discussion (Dargis). Richardson of Film Forward also adds that credible facts are presented by Du Vurney through the tracing the story from all the way back the history of the United States that resulted in the high incarceration rates in the world. The past is also extracted from Griffith's Birth of a nation. Ethos is used through the documentary not only to represent raw facts but also the credibility of the source is used.

A quote by John Ehrlichman state that Nixon only two enemies who were blacks and the antiwar hippies (DuVernay, 00: 01:15-00:02:09). The effect of this is to uncover the manipulation of the Nixon rule to suppress the two groups of people that they despised. Du Verney also uses logos to persuade the audience to side with her argument on American racism in today's history. Use of numbers and facts gives credibility and strength to the case that makes it less likely to be repeated. For instance, DuVernay, Provides detailed information on rates of incarceration crime and demographics in the prison population. The documentary presents the fact that one in three Blacks were going to be imprisoned at one point in their life. Also, another quantitative fact is that, even though black men made up 6.5% of the United States population, they make up the 40.2 percent of the total prison population (DuVernay, 01: 00:15-01:05:20). The effects of these quantitative facts on the audience bring shock through putting of the disproportionate incarceration figures into the numbers that represent rates that people can easily understand. She goes ahead to say even though the United States "holds only 6% of the world's population; it houses a quarter of the population in prison" (DuVernay, 00: 00:43-01:02:34). The director incorporates the use of logos such as in prison statistics to achieve the goal of successfully educating the audience.

Conclusion

In conclusion, the use of logos, pathos, and ethos in this documentary is to educate the audience through the different effects that they bring. 13th documentary film shows suffrage and prejudice of the African American people in the United States. To increase the intense feelings, the director gathers and uses many influential people such as Dr. Martin Luther King and Richard Nixon. Although the documentary film is presented powerfully in many ways, like any other film about a sensitive subject, it has its flaws. One major flaw is that the documentary, not all sides of the viewpoint, is well represented. This is because the director measures her Focus on her standpoint and beliefs about discrimination and racial segregation. Despite the minor flaws, the director was able to represent facts by use of influencers and emotional factors to prove her point successfully to the public. 13th is a documentary that will forever change the view of people on the subject of prejudice and discrimination of the minority groups in the United States. Through the film, Ava DuVernay managed to reach her Focus of informing the public about the sensitive topic of racial discrimination of the African American people. Also, the audience is tested by 13th to refuse the prison industrial complex as a body of Impartiality and fairness and to recognize a faulty and dwindling system that unethically targets African-Americans.

Work Cited

13th. Directed by Ava DuVernay, Kandoo Films, 2016.

Dargis, Manohla. "Review: ?13TH,? the Journey From Shackles to Prison Bars." The New York Times - Breaking News, World News & Multimedia, 30 Sept. 2016, www.nytimes.com/2016/09/30/movies/13th-review-ava-duvernay.html?referrer=google_kp.

Dilley, Andrea Palpant. "How to Watch a Documentary." UTNE Reader. utne.com. 2010. www.utne.com/arts/how-to-watch-a-documentary. Accessed on 30 Jul. 2019.

Mondello, Bob. "A Man And An Amendment Are Re-Examined in 'The Birth Of A Nation' And '13th'." Review of Performance 13th by Ava DuVernay. National Public Radio, 7 October 2016. www.npr.org/2016/10/07/497065092/a-man-and-an-amendment-are-re-examined-in-the-birth-of-a-nation-and-13th. Accessed 30 July 2019.

Nabarro, Patrick. "13th." Review of 13th by Ava DuVernay. pnabarro.wordpress.com, 12 February 2017. pnabarro.wordpress.com/2016/10/14/13th/. Accessed on 30 July 2019.

Richardson, Rania. "13th NYFF 2016." Review of 13th by Ava DuVernay. Film-Forward, 8 October 2016. film-forward.com/star-reviews/13th-nyff-2016. Accessed on 30 July 2019.