Rhetoric First Draft

Blood Diamond

A blood diamond, or conflict diamond, is a diamond that is mined in a war stricken area, typically in Africa, and is sold to finance rebels who are against their country’s government. The film Blood Diamond was released in 2006 as a way to educate the public about blood diamonds. Hopefully, through this movie, the public will become more contentious about the history behind the diamonds they purchase.
Currently in Africa there is an unruly organization, the Rebellion United Front (RUF), that is at war with their own African government. In the movie, the RUF tears through the Vandy family’s village, killing and kidnapping many innocent people. Among those kidnapped are Salomon Vandy and his son Dia Vandy. Salomon is taken to work in a diamond mine, while Dia is kidnapped and forced to become a member of the RUF army. One day, while working in the mines, Salomon finds a diamond that is worth an estimated 100 karats. Salomon pretends like he needs to go to the bathroom in the forest, in the forest he digs a hole and hides the diamond in it. Despite his sneakiness, the overseer of the mine saw the diamond that Salomon discovered and also witnessed him hide the diamond. But right when the overseer is about the confront Salomon, the African army comes in and arrests the majority of the RUF and the enslaved miners. The African army then takes them away to jail. In jail, the overseer confronts Salomon about the diamond and Danny Archer, a conflict diamond smuggler, overhears them and automatically becomes interested. Danny and Salomon make a deal that, in exchange for the diamond, Danny will reunite Salomon with his family.
In the movie, rhetoric is applied through the use of all of the rhetorical appeals: pathos, logos, and ethos. Through the use of the rhetoric appeals, a powerful story is created that addresses the issue of conflict diamonds while appealing to the audience. All the rhetorical appeals are used to evoke a reaction in the viewers to potentially inform the public about blood diamond’s history in Africa and, hopefully, by informing the public through this film, diamond consumers will cease to purchase and support blood diamonds.
Pathos, “the pathetic appeal”, is used in order to evoke an emotional response form the viewers. According to our book, “the speaker attempts to put the audience into a particular emotional state so that the audience will be receptive and ultimately convinced by the speakers message.” (Alfano, Christine. Envision in Depth : Reading, Writing, and Researching Arguments. New York: Longman, 2007.) In this case, the sad story of the Vandy family and of all the African people is portrayed. The ultimate display of pathos is shown in this movie through many emotional situations.
The African rebel army, RUF (Rebellion United Front), pillages the Vandy’s village and kidnaps Salomon Vandy and his son Dia. The way the RUF come through town and shoot innocent men, women and children is nauseating and defiantly evokes a very powerful emotional response from the audience. Also, the RUF’s line up the village’s men, women, and young adults, make them kneel, and then cut off their arms. The RUF’s reasoning behind this is that if they have no arms then they can not vote. They do not want the people to vote because they are hoping to over throw the government. This scene evokes an extremely powerful emotional response from the audience. When I watched the movie for my first time I was so distraught after this scene that I was not sure if I could watch the rest of the film, for it induces a very intense despondency in the audience.
Pathos is also displayed in a more optimistic way through Leonardo DiCaprio’s character Danny Archer. Danny finally realizes what he has been fueling by smuggling conflict diamonds. He forgets about the diamond, even though, at first, that was the only thing he was truly after, and focuses on finding Salomon’s family. Danny finally pulls through and is able to reunite the Vandy family, but in doing so he ends up sacrificing his own life for Salomon. The relationship that blossoms between Danny and Salomon truly touches the audience, making them feel happy and hopeful. The movie also evokes an emotional response from the viewers when Salomon reunites with his family.
Logos is a rhetorical appeal that applies rationality. According to our book, “it appeals to reason and an attempt to persuade the audience through clear reasoning and philosophies”. (Alfano, Christine. Envision in Depth : Reading, Writing, and Researching Arguments. New York: Longman, 2007.)The “logical appeal” is used in this film through statistics and facts. The statistics at the end of the film state that in 2003 there was a draft called the Kimberley Process to combat the flow of blood diamonds. The end of the film also mentions that the war in Sierra Leone is over but there are still child soldiers in Africa. Logos also applies to the movie because it is based on real events but told through the fictional characters of Danny and Salomon.
Ethos plays a huge role in the film because the topic of conflict diamonds is addressed through a Hollywood film and uses famous actors such as Leonardo DiCaprio and Jennifer Connelly. By using famous names and the Hollywood market the affect of the movie is significantly more persuasive. It also brings a typically overlooked controversial subject into the public eye.
The use of rhetorical strategies adds to the effect of the movie, making it more powerful and persuasive. Obviously narration is used since the movie tells the story of Solomon Vandy and Danny Archer. The use of cause and effect shows the consequence of when consumers are unaware and demand diamonds, not caring whether they are conflict diamonds or not. This result of consumers continuing to purchase blood diamonds without a care is that, unfortunately, innocent Africans will continue to suffer and be enslaved to mine the diamonds. Hopefully, the effect of this movie will be that people will be well informed about the history behind the diamonds they purchase and therefore boycott the blood diamond market.