Documentary Films: Making Statements through Imagery

Climate change documentary filmmakers are well-versed in utilizing powerful images to appeal to pathos.

(Dumlao, 2018)

In addition to using strong narratives, climate change documentaries present vivid images that help to evoke emotions of personal loss and hope. A study by Bieniek et al. (2019) showed that imagery is crucial to involve the audience because strong emotional reactions in response to evocative imagery increase the chances of people to act. This effect was found to be useful by Banchero et al. (2020). Their film involved interviews with local fishermen and shots of locations of Alaska which made it more relevant for the audience and exerted a better impression.

According to Hammond & Breton (2014),“ the experience of personal loss, the potential for future loss, and the emotions associated with loss are fundamental to affective engagement” (p. 304).

I Want You to Cry for Me...

Environment documentaries thrive on eliciting the feeling of uncertainty about the future to drive political action. The Age of Stupid, for instance, incorporates images of disappearing snow caps, ruined landscapes, and destroyed infrastructure with the purpose of invoking regret and shame in the audience (Hammond & Breton, 2014). Likewise, the inclusion of a shot of wounded flamingos and walruses in the documentary, Our Planet made the audience empathize with the creatures (Ahn, 2021). These scenes were meant to convey the message that beauty will be lost if action is not taken. Again, such imagery strengthens the idea that unless the present is taken control of, the future will be lost to global warming.

Besides eliciting the response of fear, these films project global warming occurring as a result of the loss of society's moral compass. They make the point that this loss is personal in nature but is shared by all of humanity. Hammond & Breton (2014) suggest that this can be seen in the film, The Age of Stupid. It involves a montage of interviews with individuals who lost something meaningful because of global climate change. They also discuss examples from The Day After Tomorrow which connects receding glaciers with weakened familial ties. Likewise, An Inconvenient Truth takes a relational approach to link Gore's loss of his son, sister, and the election with the purpose of bringing change. In this way, the viewers come to sympathize with the people involved in the film. They are instilled with a sense to mitigate the pain associated with the loss. And for this, they must work in order to eliminate the root of this agony - global warming.

Thus, climate change documentary films downplay the political nature of the subject and present the problem as a story to elicit emotional reactions. Two visual rhetoric strategies that they use involve strong narratives and imagery. By making the issue more about moral loss, the audience is able to identify the roles they need to play in the story. Appealing to emotions, in this way, becomes easier as they come to experience anger, shock, and fear. These emotions push them in the direction of change.