When The Levees Broke Rhetorical Analysis Essay On August 29th, 2005, Hurricane Katrina made landfall on the coasts of southeastern Louisiana. Shortly after, New Orleans’ flood protection system failed, causing floodwalls and levees to topple and break. Covering major points in the film, as they broke, the lives, spirits, and thoughts of many Americans were also broken as well. In a documentary released on August 16, 2006, director Spike Lee utilizes rhetorical strategies to produce a profound vision into the city and it’s citizen’s internal devastation, grievance, and recovery of spirit, and our nation’s failure to assist; when the levees broke. The numerous incorporations of the emotional appeal strengthen Spike’s opinion in a unique way. The references and inclusions of the Mardi Gras celebration, political events, and eyewitness accounts and stories from citizens of New Orleans curates an emotional response within the audience - whether it be the imagery of starving men, women, and children - or the irony of the government’s statement of preparedness. These emotions and feelings of desolation and resentment help empower and unite Spike’s views of our country’s failure and dishonesty towards it’s own proactivity. …show more content…
Spike’s decision to interview those from New Orleans and Louisiana offers a much larger quantity of information, and also can introduce the aspects of traditions and civilization of that region that were not completely destroyed by the storm, such as Mardi Gras. To fuel the interest gained from the audience, “authoritative” peers were interviewed to provide more factual and historical information aside from domestic opinion, as well as including media from political meetings, and news