TOW Post #2: Documentary Rhetorical Analysis

            In 2006, Eugene Jarecki released a film titled Why We Fight. Filmed during the Iraq War, this documentary dissects America’s military machine with a keen eye to answer the question: Why does America engage in war? Through personal stories of soldiers, government officials, scholars, journalists and innocent victims, the film examines the political, economic and ideological factors, past and present, behind American militarism and involvement in wars. Why We Fight describes the rise and maintenance of the United States military–industrial complex and its 50-year involvement in wars led by the United States, especially its 2003 Invasion of Iraq. The documentary asserts that in every decade since World War II, the American public was misinformed so that the government could take them to war and fuel the military-industrial economy maintaining American political dominance in the world.

            In his documentary, Eugene Jarecki argues that we fight in order to make our defense companies rich and because of our desire for world domination. Jarecki constructs his documentary to show the American public just how militarized our government has become since World War 2 and to persuade viewers that the wars we enter are downright wrong. The most prominent rhetorical strategies Jarecki uses are archival footage and expert testimony. Rather than guiding the film with narration, Jarecki features interviews with foot soldiers, Army recruits, Pentagon personnel, decorated veterans, members of Congress, national security advisors, top military strategists, and many more that talk about the core philosophies of American military strategy and how they have changed since the end of the Second World War. For example, the documentary opens with Dwight D. Eisenhower’s farewell address that warned America about the dangers that may arise from the growing militarized nation saying, America "must guard against the acquisition of unwarranted influence...by the military-industrial complex." Additional archival footage is seen when Jarecki includes video from several different wars and military events ranging from the dropping of the atomic bomb to the March 19^th, 2002 bombings of Baghdad. Although in various forms, the archival footage interspersed throughout this documentary serves as evidence in Jarecki’s argument. Once archival footage is placed into the larger context of a documentary film to support or refute an argument, it shows the audience that what he is arguing has been going on for a long time. The expert testimony from various historians, and presidents such as Reagan, Kennedy and Bush had the same effect of tying various time periods together in one argument: America has the tendency to fight unjust wars.

Additionally, the director uses several points of juxtaposition in comparing various aspects of wars. For example, Jarecki juxtaposes the apparent need for war versus the true realities and horrors of war. By doing so, the audience sees that the wars we fight really are not worth it because we walk away with worse than what we stared with. Additionally, Jarecki constantly juxtaposes various presidents in the context of those who enjoyed war and like to show-off America’s power (Truman), and those who were not the biggest fanatics of war (Eisenhower). In doing so, Jarecki makes presidents like Truman look like the “bad guy” and completely immoral. Finally, Jarecki uses various metaphors to convey his opinions. For example, Jarecki gets himself into a pattern of setting the United States up as an imperialistic bully who will do whatever it wants, when it wants, and whoever tries to defy her will be in trouble. By create images like the one described above, Jarecki creates a specific tone and makes his audience feel a certain way about a given person, place or thing. In this case, Jarecki makes people almost despise the United States for her cruel behavior towards the rest of the global community. 

Overall, through the use of several rhetorical strategies including archival footage, expert testimony, juxtaposition, and metaphors, Jarecki was able to create a documentary that showed his audience that war is completely unnecessary and a huge time waster to say the least. He used the power of rhetoric to make his audience feel a certain way and think a certain way. In the end, Jarecki made it so a counter argument seemed nearly impossible. 

Citation:
Why We Fight. Dir. Eugene Jareki. Perf. Joseph Cirincione, Richard Perle, Chalmers Johnson, John   
       McCain. Sony Pictures Classics, 2006. DVD.