"The Hunting Ground"
Shenea Best
Docmentary Analysis
Thesis
The documentary, '"The Hunting Ground" convinces the audience that there is a lack of consequences for sexual abuse on college campuses through the use of personal interviews, statistics, and pathos.
Interviews
The interviews in the documentary were a good way to show the lack of consequences for sexual assault on college campuses because the interviews included victims, parents of victims, college employees and administrators. Throughout the film as the interviews were being shown you could see a pattern in the answers they would give. Parents and victims would state that colleges didn't do anything about the situation and the administrators would try to give an explanation as to why colleges didn't want to be associated with a crime such as sexual assaults.
Statistics
In the documentary the statistics that were shown helped prove that many of the sexual assaults reported on college campuses aren't justified. For example, "More than 100 colleges and universities are currently under federal investigation for their handling of sexual assault complaints". Many colleges wont do anything especially when it comes to athletes until after they get what they need from them. Like when two basketball players from the University of Oregon were accused of being involved in gang rape, the school still allowed them to play in the NCAA tournament and then after the tournament they were expelled.
Pathos
In the documentary the rhetorical appeal pathos is being used throughout the film. While watching the documentary I noticed myself feeling sad for the victims because nobody deserves to go through something as traumatic as sexual abuse. I got really emotional when Tom Seeberg, the father of Lizzy Seeberg, told her story and then at the end said that Lizzy killed herself. It is very upsetting to know that a father loss his child because due to the effect of sexual assault.
Conclusion
In conclusion, the documentary, '"The Hunting Ground" convinces the audience that there is a lack of consequences for sexual abuse on college campuses through the use of personal interviews, statistics, and pathos. As a viewer I felt very sad for all of the victims because nobody deserves to be taken advantage of like that. American should continue to be told about this problem so that we make sure colleges change how they handle situations as serious as sexual assaults.