Film Reflection 13th, a film by Ava DuVernay, explains the 13th Amendment and how it has become a modern version of slavery. 13th helped me better understand the concept of systemic racism within the United States. Specifically, how the criminalization of Black people has become instilled within American society. DuVernay uses pathos, logos, and ethos to convince audiences of her claim. A strong presence of pathos can be seen in the film, 13th. 13th presents its argument in multiple ways that text can not. DuVernay uses various visual sources such as video clips and photos to emotionally move the viewer. Photos and videos are attached to audio sources which can vary from a speech made by a presidential candidate to a rap song from the 80’s. …show more content…
13th has a numerous amount of credible sources such as college professors, politicians, authors, activists and businessmen and businesswomen. The credible sources that DuVernay manages to include in 13th lower the possibility of there being fallacies within her arguments. Additionally, 13th also manages to include people who have been previously incarcerated in the United States. Although college professors, politicians, authors, activists and businessmen and businesswomen all add academic credibility to 13th, the inclusion of people who were previously incarcerated not only adds a sense of closeness but also instills a notion of reality to 13th. Nonetheless, DuVernay and her use of rhetorical strategies definitely make efforts to create arguments and persuade audiences on how the criminalization of Black people has become instilled within American society. DuVernay used visual aids to assist the use of pathos within 13th. Along with pathos, logos and ethos were also used. Logos was used to state jaw-dropping facts which would nonetheless shock audience and ethos was used to give the statements within 13th a sense of credibility. Without the use of rhetorical strategies, DuVernay could not have created an argument or persuaded her