Grizzly Man Rhetorical Analysis

Register to read the introduction… Timothy was an outgoing man who had a passionate love for animals, mostly bears. He displays strong emotion for them on camera so that the audience can get a taste of that feeling as well. He pushes the subject of how bears are some of life’s greatest creations based on the feelings that he himself feels. He constantly shoots videos of him directly in front of the camera so that his emotions can be shown and the excitement of being so close to a bear is clear. Nichols writes, “Performance here draws more heavily on the tradition of acting as a way to bring heightened emotional involvement to a situation or role” (203). This quote is used to describe the performative mode and it reflects the work that Treadwell had done while he was on camera. He performs close-up shots and distance shots in order to capture the emotions that he felt were around him, and distribute that to the audience for them to feel as well. The quote, “If they set out to do something, it is to help us sense what a certain situation or experience feels like” …show more content…
This gives the audience a break from the story being told by Treadwell and back to reality. He sums up his opinions on Treadwell by claiming that his view of the bears clouded his thinking and led him to underestimated amounts of danger that resulted in his death and his girlfriend’s death. You are persuaded by the interviews to feel like Treadwell was insane for wanting to be out there in the wild for 13 summers. In some of the videos that Treadwell released, it also showed that he was a bit crazy due to the lack of human contact that he lacked for months at a time. Because the audience views him as crazy, they are more likely to side with Herzog’s logic which is ultimately the standpoint of why this is a good performative