Rhetorical Analysis: Border War: Battle over Illegal Immigration

1028 Words3 Pages

Recently illegal immigration has become a very pressing issue among people. Many people around the borders are being greatly affected by the issue and think immediate action needs to be taken to put a stop to the issue. The Documentary Border War: Battle Over Illegal Immigration takes a stand on the issue using many examples of pathos, ethos, and logos to try and persuade people that illegal immigration is a very serious issue and we need to put a stop to it. This documentary follows the lives of people who have been affected by illegal immigration, and explains how they feel about the issue. Another way that people can look at the issue of illegal immigration is through the eyes of the immigrants, and the reasons why they might be trying migrate to another country. The documentary Wetback: The Undocumented Documentary focuses on the issue from this point of view. This documentary uses pathos and logos to show the lives and hardships of those people who are trying to migrate to a new country. Although Wetback used many examples of pathos and logos to show the struggles of the migrants, Border War did a better job showing pathos by following the lives of people who were affected by the illegal immigrants they were also very persuasive with ethos by following credible people.

They did a very good job of incorporating ethos into in the documentary Border War by following the lives of people who are credible and whose point of view can be trusted. The first guy the documentary followed was federal agent Jose Maheda. Jose worked on the border between Mexico and the U.S. in Arizona. The fact alone that he is a federal agent gives him credibility, but another things that helps his credibility is the fact he was still respectful to the i...

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...ust their opinion on things and not giving the other point of view. It would’ve been better if they would’ve given the opposite side of the story as well not just their point of view because it makes one wonder how much of it can be trusted.

Both of these documentaries did a good job incorporating pathos into their stories, but the lack of ethos in Wetback made it lose credibility. The way that Border War portrayed the lives of those people who have been personally effected by illegal immigration, and the way the people they followed where very credible resources added much to the documentary making it very persuasive.

Works Cited

Border War: The Battle over Illegal Immigration. Dir. Kevin Knoblock. Genius Entertainment, Citizen’s United, 2006. DVD

Wetback: The Undocumented Documentary. Dir Arthuro Perez Torres. National Geographic, Open City Works, 2005. DVD

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