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<p>Michael Moore’s documentaries have been central to the development of the contemporary political documentary and have served as an instrument of political activism or, as some argue, even propaganda. Delving into the underlying mechanisms, in this article, I examine the ways in which documentary subjects are persuasively deployed in Moore’s documentaries. An analysis combining close reading, qualitative content analysis, and rhetorical analysis points to key rhetorical categories of documentary subjects. These subjects’ embodiment of six main rhetorical categories displays a correlation with Aristotle’s cornerstones of rhetoric: ethos, logos, and pathos. Further, the categories demonstrate how moral emotions are utilised in constructing the ethos of documentary subjects. In addition, the article addresses the significance of identification in Moore’s persuasive rhetoric. This research participates in deconstructing the mechanics of persuasive mediated communication and contributes to outlining a theory of audiovisual rhetoric.</p>
</abstract>

Michael Moore’s documentaries have been central to the development of the contemporary political documentary and have served as an instrument of political activism or, as some argue, even propaganda. Delving into the underlying mechanisms, in this article, I examine the ways in which documentary subjects are persuasively deployed in Moore’s documentaries. An analysis combining close reading, qualitative content analysis, and rhetorical analysis points to key rhetorical categories of documentary subjects. These subjects’ embodiment of six main rhetorical categories displays a correlation with Aristotle’s cornerstones of rhetoric: ethos, logos, and pathos. Further, the categories demonstrate how moral emotions are utilised in constructing the ethos of documentary subjects. In addition, the article addresses the significance of identification in Moore’s persuasive rhetoric. This research participates in deconstructing the mechanics of persuasive mediated communication and contributes to outlining a theory of audiovisual rhetoric.

Persuasion through people: The rhetorical categories of documentary subjects in Michael Moore’s films

Nordic Journal of Media Studies

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

Michael Moore’s documentaries have been central to the development of the contemporary political documentary and have served as an instrument of political...

Film	Witness illustrators	Media	Experts	Emotion stimulators	Emotion transmitters
Roger and Me	44	13	2	6	5
The Big One	29	10	2	0	1
Bowling for Columbine	79	34	23	4	6
Fahrenheit 9/11	65	35	24	14	8
Sicko	88	11	14	10	9
Slacker Uprising	29	36	4	8	2
Capitalism: A Love Story	40	28	13	4	7
Where to Invade Next	77	21	16	11	1
Michael Moore in TrumpLand	8	1	0	0	0
Fahrenheit 11/9	89	86	24	1	4
Total	548	275	122	58	43

Persuasion through people: The rhetorical categories of documentary subjects in Michael Moore’s films

Publié en ligne: 21 juin 2023

Pages: 154 - 171

DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/njms-2023-0009

© 2023 Ilari Kellokoski, published by Sciendo

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

Number of documentary subjects per film and rhetorical character