Harlan County, USA depicts a new kind of documentary that we have not seen in this class. The narration is dictated through the coal miner's and their families. Barbara Kopple's decision to do this greatly helps the audience understand and sympathize with the miner’s struggle against Duke Power Company.

Kopple captures the lives of the coal miner’s and their families. The scene with a coal miner’s wife bathing her little girl in a tin bucket because they don’t have hot running water gives the audience an understanding of how bad their circumstances were. Much of the footage in the documentary is raw in a way that the audience understood how greatly they wanted to win and get better wages and insurance. Kopple and her crew filmed the miner’s and their wives at the “picket line” protesting to the people in charge. The film crew put themselves in imminent danger while filming at the picket lines because of the "gun thugs" that were constantly brandishing weapons and ready to fight. But the fact that the miner's and their supporters still showed up greatly heightened the realistic drama in the documentary. It also established Kopple's credibility because she decided to use the unedited scenes where the crew were pushed and shoved or talked back to to make the point that they weren't holding back the truth.

Another element that helped progress the documentary's argument was the blue grass/ folksy soundtrack. The hauntingly powerful voices of the singers drove home the point of the miner's suffering and the 13 month battle with the company. Some of the lyrics were directly related to the scenes that they accompanied.

SicKo

Michael Moore’s prime argument in his documentary SicKo is advocating towards universal health care in the United States. He really emphasizes on appealing to the audience’s emotions through the testimonies of Americans who have been denied care for different reasons, mostly because of pre-existing conditions. He takes the audience through a roller coaster ride of emotions from empathizing with a 79 year old who still works for his medication, to feeling envious of countries like France and Cuba who have free universal health care.

Although Moore greatly appeals to the audience emotions throughout the film, he establishes credibility when he interviews the insurance company workers and doctors from other countries. I noticed however he focused on interviewing many people from other countries or Americans who live there.

As always Moore has a certain style to his films, it is evident with his biased side comments of Bush, 9/11, terrorist attacks, his sarcastic montages, and his appearances in his own film. He rounds up the Americans he met along the way of making the film and leads them to Guantanamo Bay for the only place in America where health care is free. Since they couldn't go in they go to Cuba where there is free health care. Those scenes when the Americans are thanking the Cuban doctors for their care and realizing they don't have to pay, it really drives the point Moore is trying to make.

An Inconvenient Truth

I've seen An Inconvenient Truth numerous times in high school. The last time I saw it was in my Environmental Science class but I saw the documentary with a scientific mindset. This time I saw the film in a different light. I noticed how Al Gore presents his arguments to the audience in the film and to the viewer's watching the film. Gore establishes his credibility throughout the film and utilizes the appeals of logos from the beginning till the end.
Essentially the documentary is about Gore giving his global warming presentation around the country and the world. Interjected between those scenes of him presenting are montages of his personal life. These personal accounts include losing the 2000 election, losing his young son, visiting his home at a tobacco farm and his activism in finding solutions to the global warming problem. The personal footage is intimate and contains Gore's voice over in a whispery sullen kinda tone that makes it seem personal. At first these montages may seem irrelevant or just to get an insight to Gore’s life, but they are used to build his credibility. These scenes were meant to point out that Gore actually cares about the environmental problems and trying to find a solution. To also boost his credentials is the audience familiarity with his political career. The final touch to Gore establishing his credibility is we constantly see Gore in business attire, pressed collared shirt, suit and a tie.
Most of Gore’s arguments are based on evidence he has gathered such as photos, scientific research, diagrams, charts and graphic simulation. He focuses more on the consequences of the global warming issue rather than the root of the problems or the solutions. Gore also uses various techniques to make his point. In one scene he uses a small elevator to emphasize his point of how high CO2 levels have reached and potentially how high they can reach at the current rate in less than 50 years. He tries to break up a bombardment of facts or points with short animations like he did for one scene with an inane frog video. I think he also chose to use the short video animation to appeal to younger viewers, like teenagers in high school to help them understand his point.
Although most of the documentary is based on logos, Gore has a few scenes that appeal to the audience's emotions. One of them is at the very end of the Gore's presentation when he shows a picture of the Earth several light years away. He uses the photo to illustrate that that little blue dot is our only home and it contains all of our triumphs and tragedies. His conclusion is a call to action to tackle on the issue. This leaves the audience feeling like they should take action because in a universe so huge they feel a sense of ownership for this tiny planet.