Analysis of "Hunting Ground"
Eric Tucker
Thesis/Purpose
"Hunting Grounds" was very effective in using pathos and ethos to provide knowledge on rape in college, however, the documentary fails to appear unbiased when the producer excludes interviews of the suspected sexual assaulters.
Thesis/Purpose (Continued)
The reason for the documentary is to educated both parents and future college students on the dangers of university life. By successfully educating these groups of people "Hunting Grounds" hopes to prevent rape, and give victims the courage to stand up to victim blaming and their assailants.
Examples:
Pathos
Emotional accounts, victim blaming, and reactions of victims and people who blame the victim.
Statistics
More than sixteen percent of college women are sexually assaulted while in college.
Bias
Accused were not interviewed, any men that were interviewed were not given the chance to tell their sexual assault story, and directors of the campus' principles were not directly interviewed.
Pathos
Using emotional accounts of victims gives the audience a sense of sympathy and makes the audience more emotional as the victim continues their story. Many times the story includes victim blaming to show the ugly side of people and have the audience disassociate themselves with the blamers.
Statistics
Using statistics and ethos to support claims on rape were very effective when persuading the audience to step up. With "more than sixteen percent of college women" being sexually assaulted yearly but not reporting their assailants, this degree and amount of rape is truly and epidemic. Not only are sixteen percent raped but out of ninety percent that are raped, and raped by the same eight percent of repeat offenders.
Bias
By excluding the stories of male victims, the documentary produced fail to be unbiased. Throughout the whole documentary only two male victims were interviewed, however, the interview was not long and the victims were only given enough time to say they were raped. In this sense the producers lost credibility and support from male victims as female victims were the full focus of the documentary.
Conclusion
In conclusion, although having short coming with bias and only presenting males as the perpetrators, the documentary expressly uses statistics and pathos to educate people on the epidemic. In all the documentary successfully portrayed the emotional effects of rape on college campus' and the students education. Statistically proving the rate rape happens and how college' report their cases better aids in making emotional connections between the audience and the anti-college rape activists. Even though the documentary focus' on female victims, the documentary capitalizes on the publics ability to both sympathize with them or make their protective instincts react to the interviews. Personally, it made me realize how frequent and problematic college rape has become.