The Hunting Ground
Documentary Analysis
Purpose
The purpose of the documentary was to show that colleges are covering up or not acknowledging sexual assaults that occur on campus. It also shows the victims of the crime not being able to get the justice they deserve and having to fight for their rights. The college campuses are covering up these crimes for their own image and status so that they won't loose money or benefits.
Thesis
The purpose of the documentary "The Hunting Ground" was to show how colleges cover up and deny the sexual assaults that happens on campus for their own image and they do not care about the victims, the purpose was achieved by personal interviews, appeals to Ethos, and Statistics
Element 1: Personal interviews
One way the film achieved it's purpose was through personal interviews with victims, former assistant dean of colleges or Universities, and parents of victims. The victims were able to impact the audience with their personal stories of the horrors they went through when they became victims. Former assistant deans' of colleges and universities caused me to become angry at the universities and colleges because of what they would say to the assistant deans about how to act if a person went in and reported a sexual assault in the campus. Finally the parent's of the victims because,other parents and the rest of the audience including me were able to see what it would be like if there kids turned out to be victims of sexual assault, and the parent's victims were also able to show how it also has a negative impact on friends and family surrounding the victims of sexual assault.
Element 2: Appeals to Ethos
The second way the Hunting Ground was able to achieve its purpose was through appeals to ethos, ethos was shown during the film by having interviews with experts who have done research or written books on the subject of sexual assault, victims of sexual assault and a former security guard of a university who witnessed the injustice of the response to sexual assaults in college campuses. These examples made me believe the information that was being presented to me by having people who have witnessed it, and have gone through it , and have the knowledge to back up the information.
Element 3: Statistics
The final way the Hunting Ground achieved it's purpose was by statistics that showed a variety of shocking facts about sexual assaults in college campuses. One of the examples is that "More than 16% pf college women are sexually assaulted while in college". A second example is that "Repeat offenders commit an average of six or more acts of sexual assault. The final one is that "2% to 8% of sexual assault claims are false". This affected me as part of the audience by convincing me that rape culture does exist, that it is a problem and that colleges are not that safe and that they will keep not being safe if college officials don't start punishing the perpetrator and taking rape culture seriously and that the percent of sexual assault claims that are false is a lot more lower than the percent of sexual assault claims that are real.
Conclusion
After watching this film i feel sad and shocked about an issue that i know little about. It definitely opened my eyes to what is going on in college and university campuses and i learned about an issue that i had no idea that it was happening. As a viewer it made me angry and my expectations for what i thought college?university was going to be like changed drastically, i learned about what colleges?Universities really care about which is their own image and money, they honestly don't seem to care that much about their students. I am definitely going to be more careful with which college or university i choose to go to when i graduate high school.