Zac Uberoi
Environmental Docs
The goal of Sandy Cioffi’s film, Sweet Crude, is to tell the untold story of oil in the Niger Delta. Coiffi intended to persuade her audience to think deeper and differently about the issue, instigating a fight for global awareness and non-violent political solutions. Joe Berlinger’s film, Crude The Real Price of Oil, attempts to send a very similar message. Examining the case between Chevron and Ecuador, Crude tells a story about Ecuadorian disenfranchisement and exploitation through oil. With its authentic first person perspective, Sweet Crude most successfully convinces its audience of its thesis by inciting a strong appeal to ethos and a sense of urgency. On the other hand, both films could have been enhanced more information about with historical context. …show more content…
Sandy Cioffi aims to keep her film authentic, telling her viewers a story the way it unfolded in front of her eyes. Cioffi begins her film by explaining that she came to Nigeria to make a documentary about building a library a remote village. However, she switched her perspective as the hidden story of oil in the Niger Delta began to unfold in front of her (Wolf and Cioffi, 2009). This initial transparency works towards the appeal to ethos. Aristotle writes, “persuasion is effected through the speech itself when we have proved a truth or an apparent truth by means of the persuasive arguments suitable to the case in question.”(Aristotle 2009). Sweet Crude documents Cioffi’s experiences in Nigeria the way they really happened. This authenticity builds a layer of trust between the audience and the speaker. This is a critical trait in a first person narrative because trust will allow the audience to be more willing to accept the bias and personal perspectives
Environmental Docs
The goal of Sandy Cioffi’s film, Sweet Crude, is to tell the untold story of oil in the Niger Delta. Coiffi intended to persuade her audience to think deeper and differently about the issue, instigating a fight for global awareness and non-violent political solutions. Joe Berlinger’s film, Crude The Real Price of Oil, attempts to send a very similar message. Examining the case between Chevron and Ecuador, Crude tells a story about Ecuadorian disenfranchisement and exploitation through oil. With its authentic first person perspective, Sweet Crude most successfully convinces its audience of its thesis by inciting a strong appeal to ethos and a sense of urgency. On the other hand, both films could have been enhanced more information about with historical context. …show more content…
Sandy Cioffi aims to keep her film authentic, telling her viewers a story the way it unfolded in front of her eyes. Cioffi begins her film by explaining that she came to Nigeria to make a documentary about building a library a remote village. However, she switched her perspective as the hidden story of oil in the Niger Delta began to unfold in front of her (Wolf and Cioffi, 2009). This initial transparency works towards the appeal to ethos. Aristotle writes, “persuasion is effected through the speech itself when we have proved a truth or an apparent truth by means of the persuasive arguments suitable to the case in question.”(Aristotle 2009). Sweet Crude documents Cioffi’s experiences in Nigeria the way they really happened. This authenticity builds a layer of trust between the audience and the speaker. This is a critical trait in a first person narrative because trust will allow the audience to be more willing to accept the bias and personal perspectives