Rhetorical Analysis Requiem For The American Dream

Requiem for the American Dream Rhetorical Analysis
Throughout the documentary Requiem for the American Dream, the filmmakers Peter D. Hutchison, Kelly Nyks, and Jared P. Scott channel their proposition through Noam Chomsky, a former MIT professor of linguistics. The documentary was created in 2015, following a time of economic reformation in the U.S. Ultimately, this created the perfect opportunity to address U.S. citizens regarding this topic. The filmmakers were trying to persuade the general public by illustrating how the economy they are a part of has changed for the worse. They conduct this idea through Chomsky by having him state who the economy benefits and who it does not, along with how the corporations of today are taking over the

The documentary began with a broad overall statement, which contained the general motive for creating this film. Then, the filmmakers broke this statement down into ten principles, each containing examples and appeals that would reach the audience and display the filmmakers’ intent. There are numerous examples of this structure throughout the documentary as well. This can be seen in the beginning of this documentary, in which the first principle is stated, exhibiting a solution to keep the distribution of wealth in our economy as far as possible from equilibrium (7:03). Additionally, in the beginning of this film the overall purpose of is also stated. Moreover, this statement is paired with a diagram that displays the distribution of wealth in the U.S. economy (4:46). Furthermore, another principle is stated in the beginning of Requiem for the American Dream, which talks about how our economy has been redesigned into what it currently is (16:43). The structure/syntax of Requiem for the American Dream was the basis of this film, and could easily be seen from the beginning to the end. After the broad goal of the filmmakers was expressed through Chomsky, the creators of this documentary began to split this proposition into multiple examples. These examples were expressed as principles, and each built off of the last. Each principle provided numerous examples of logos, pathos, and other appeals to reach the audience and persuade them to change their economy. Overall, this technique was very effective in supporting the filmmakers’ claims. The structure provided a basis almost immediately in the documentary and then provided numerous examples that supported that basis (their proposal/goal). These examples also provided more appeals such as logos, pathos, and ethos to reach their intended audience. As a direct consequence, the structure of this film provided