Roger and Me

I've seen "Roger and Me", by Michael Moore, before but after recently watching the documentary again I appreciated it more than I did last time because I was able to rhetorically analyze what he was doing and why. His documentary is about how there thousands of workers were laid off in a small town when a General Motors decided to close its car plant there. This act almost completely destroyed the small town economically. Moore makes extensive use of pathos and logos in his documentary as he travels around the little town with his camera. His use of logos is especially apparent and helps his case a great deal.

Moore’s most evident use of logos in the film is how he brings up the point that after the auto plant closed the town saw a drastic increase in crime, poverty, and welfare. The best illustration of this is when Nightline tries to do a live news story on the plant closings somebody steals their van which halts the broadcast. Additionally, the sheriff is filmed evicting many of the residents of the town and Moore interviews a woman who sells rabbits as pets and food to be able to scrape by. These are both rhetorically good scenes because the make use of the logos by showing the cause and effect of the plant closing and they evoke a strong emotional response via the pathos at the same time.

The strongest part of the film comes at the end when the GM’s CEO, Roger Smith, is giving a speech near Christmas about generosity. While playing the speech, Moore intersperses scenes of families being evicted from their home as a result of the layoffs. This ending emphasizes the irony of what Smith is saying and reminds the audience that his decision caused a great deal of poverty. Overall, I think that “Roger and Me” was a good documentary and an excellent piece of rhetoric.