The history of rhetorics in documentary film is a long one. The French brothers Louise and Auguste Lumiére were among the first persons who produced a documentary and their work has had a big impression in the history of documentary during the 1900 century. John Grierson has been called “the father” of documentary film. He produced films in the English speaking part of the world and he is the founder of the concept “documentary film”. Propaganda filming has a big part in the history of documentary film. Most frequently it appeard in Germany before and during the secound WW II, but propaganda films has been produced in Great Britain and USA as well as in other parts of the world. Rhetorics are of current interest today. It effects the news, papers, magazines, books and movies. The purpose with this essay is to investigate the rhetorics in Michael Moores controversial documentary of September 11th, Fahrenheit 9/11. The main question is: what rhetorical tools does Michael Moore use in order to communicate his politcal message in Fahrenheit 9/11? The rhetorical analysis includes exordium, narratio, propsitio, argumentatio and conclusio as well as ethos, logos and pathos. In order to conduct the analysis I have used Kurt Johannesson’s book Retorik eller konsten att övertyga, Maria Karlberg and Brigitte Mral’s book Heder och påverkan. Att analysera modern retorik. And at last a chapter by Brigitte Mral named Retorikanalys in the book Metoder i kommunikationeverenskap, by Mats Ekström and Larsåke Larsson. For the background about the history of documentary film I have used Barsam M. Richard, Nonfiction Film A Critical History and Bjørn Sørenssen’s book Å fange virkeligheten –Dokumentarfilmens århundre.The analysis shows that Moore uses different rhetorical tools in order to point out that George W Bush is the wrong man for the role as the president of United States of America. Some of the most effective tools that Moores uses are his own voice, pictures who awakes emotions, recordings and sharp arguments. His way of using ethos, logos and pathos is very clear. The disposal can also be distinct discern, however there are some exceptions towards the classical rhetoric. One example is that Moore doesn´t describe the arrangement of the movie in exordium.

Esta tese apresenta uma análise sociológica de cinco filmes do cineasta Michael Moore: Roger e Eu (1989), The Big One (1997), Tiros em Columbine (2002), Fahrenheit 9/11 (2004) e Capitalismo: uma história de amor (2009). O principal objetivo da pesquisa foi investigar a particularidade dos filmes de Moore, reconhecido internacionalmente como o cineasta de documentário mais assistido na história do gênero. A partir da construção visual de cada filme, analiso em detalhe: os temas, os grupos formados, os valores sociais, os conflitos, as saídas para os problemas e as diversas construções simbólicas sugeridas para o espectador. Assim, considero que os filmes propõem construções acerca do real que podem ser percebidas e aceitas pelo publico espectador como referências de verdade e de realidade. A tarefa deste trabalho foi desconstruir e mediar o discurso dos filmes por meio de uma leitura sociológica acerca de suas narrativas e das relações sugeridas ao público espectador que conferiu grande audiência as essas obras / My dissertation presents a sociological analysis of five Michael Moores films: Roger & Me (1989), The Big One (1997), Bowling for Columbine (2002), Fahrenheit 9/11 (2004), and Capitalism: a love story (2009). The main objective of this research is to investigate the particularity of Moores films, as he is internationally recognized as the most watched documentary director in history. Through the visual construction of each film, I analyze in detail the film themes, group formation, social values, conflicts, Moores proposed solutions, and the various symbolic constructions suggested to the viewer. I argue that his movies provide a social construction of the real, which can be accepted and perceived by the audience as an accurate description of reality. The task of this dissertation is to deconstruct and mediate the discourse of his movies through a sociological analysis. I analyse the films suggested stories and the social relations presented to viewers that have led to the popularity of his body of work

Esta tese apresenta uma análise sociológica de cinco filmes do cineasta Michael Moore: Roger e Eu (1989), The Big One (1997), Tiros em Columbine (2002), Fahrenheit 9/11 (2004) e Capitalismo: uma história de amor (2009). O principal objetivo da pesquisa foi investigar a particularidade dos filmes de Moore, reconhecido internacionalmente como o cineasta de documentário mais assistido na história do gênero. A partir da construção visual de cada filme, analiso em detalhe: os temas, os grupos formados, os valores sociais, os conflitos, as saídas para os problemas e as diversas construções simbólicas sugeridas para o espectador. Assim, considero que os filmes propõem construções acerca do real que podem ser percebidas e aceitas pelo publico espectador como referências de verdade e de realidade. A tarefa deste trabalho foi desconstruir e mediar o discurso dos filmes por meio de uma leitura sociológica acerca de suas narrativas e das relações sugeridas ao público espectador que conferiu grande audiência as essas obras / My dissertation presents a sociological analysis of five Michael Moores films: Roger & Me (1989), The Big One (1997), Bowling for Columbine (2002), Fahrenheit 9/11 (2004), and Capitalism: a love story (2009). The main objective of this research is to investigate the particularity of Moores films, as he is internationally recognized as the most watched documentary director in history. Through the visual construction of each film, I analyze in detail the film themes, group formation, social values, conflicts, Moores proposed solutions, and the various symbolic constructions suggested to the viewer. I argue that his movies provide a social construction of the real, which can be accepted and perceived by the audience as an accurate description of reality. The task of this dissertation is to deconstruct and mediate the discourse of his movies through a sociological analysis. I analyse the films suggested stories and the social relations presented to viewers that have led to the popularity of his body of work

This thesis examines the issue of depicting reality and truth in contemporary documentary. Documentaries are often considered to be a mirror to the real world, but this is not always the case. Filmmakers can manipulate their work in a manner that changes the story to be more interesting for viewers. This thesis introduces a documentary discourse, provides contexts of documentary history in the 20th Century and looks more closely at issues of depicting reality and truth. This is shown through textual and visual analysis of chosen contemporary documentaries made by Errol Morris and Michael Moore.

Michael Moore est une icône culturelle aux États-Unis. Son nom évoque la polémique, la contestation politique mais aussi le film documentaire à succès (Bowling For Columbine, primé aux Oscars, Fahrenheit 9/11, Palme d’Or à Cannes). Les six films du corpus, —Roger & Me (1989), The Big One (1998), Bowling For Columbine (2002), Fahrenheit 9/11 (2004), Sicko (2007) et Captain Mike Across America (Slacker Uprising) (2008) —, posent une triple problématique : la tension entre documentaire classique et documentaire hybride, la présence/absence du documentariste dans son film, et la réception du spectateur organisée par le divertissement et/ou la politique. Trois axes majeurs émergent, autour desquels l’articulation de la thèse peut s’effectuer : le divertissement, la politique et l’autosuffisance. La méthodologie pour rendre compte de cette triple problématique résulte d’un montage quali-quanti. Il s’agit de faire appel à l’analyse de discours mais aussi à l’analyse de contenu (pour mesurer la présence de manière quantitative). L’histoire américaine et l’histoire du documentaire sont également nécessaires pour situer Moore à la fois dans la lignée de certains de ses ainés, mais aussi pour mesurer sa propre influence sur le genre avec ses propres héritiers. Au bout du processus, il est possible de constater que Moore a insufflé un nouvel élan dans le genre du film documentaire en rejetant le modèle classique de type info-argument, rendant ses productions aussi populaires que des blockbusters hollywoodiens. Cette transformation vient de la combinaison inédite des finalités de divertissement et de politique pour créer un documentaire à la Michael Moore du type info-tainment. Avec l’ajout d’une troisième finalité d’autosuffisance, le documentaire moorien se signale aussi par une augmentation considérable de la présence du documentariste à l’écran et une densification de ses interventions au montage. En modifiant le documentaire classique, Moore a mis en place plusieurs stratégies de regard et de récit/storytelling afin de favoriser une assimilation efficace de ces trois finalités dans l’esprit du spectateur. / Michael Moore is a cultural icon in the United States. The mere mention of his name evokes polemics, political protest but also blockbuster documentary films (The Academy award winning Bowling For Columbine and Fahrenheit 9/11 which won the Palme d’Or at Cannes). The six films of this corpus—Roger & Me (1989), The Big One (1998), Bowling For Columbine (2002), Fahrenheit 9/11 (2004), Sicko (2007) and Captain Mike Across America (Slacker Uprising) (2008)—, are problematic in three ways: the discordant relationship between classic and hybrid documentary, the presence/absence of the documentary filmmaker in his own film, and the spectator’s reception of the film along the lines of entertainment and/or politics. Three main areas, thus, emerge around which the thesis can be constructed: entertainment, politics and self-sufficiency. The methodology used to attend to these three matters of discussion comes directly from quali-quanti research. This implies calling on discourse analysis but also content analysis (to measure Moore’s presence quantitatively).The history of the United States as well as that of the documentary film are also necessary to situate Moore not only in the footsteps of some of his predecessors but also to measure his own influence on the genre as evidenced by his very own successors. Ultimately, it can be noted that Moore has breathed new life into the documentary film genre by rejecting the traditional info-argument model, thereby making his films as successful as Hollywood blockbusters.This transformation arises from the unique combination of entertainment and politics to make a Michael Moore info-tainment style documentary. With the added third documentary finality of self-sufficiency, the Michael Moore documentary film is marked by a considerable increase of the filmmakers on-screen presence as well as density of the documentarian’s interventions in the editing room. By modifying the traditional documentary film form, Moore has established several strategies of gaze and narrative/storytelling in order to stimulate the effective absorption of his three main documentary finalities into the mind of the spectator.

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Michael Moore's theory of transactional distance, developed in the age of correspondence schools, contributed greatly to theory building in distance education. The theory needs revision, however, when applied to web-based learning environments, specifically by defining transactional distance to include students' relationships with other elements in the learning environment that prohibit their active engagement with learning. The new theoretical model of transactional distance has four dimensions: transactional distance between student and student (TDSS), transactional distance between student and teacher (TDST), transactional distance between student and content (TDSC), and transactional distance between student and interface: online course management system (TDSI). A preliminary item pool of more than 200 items to measure the constructs of TD, TDST, TDSS, TDSC, and TDSI was generated and sent to a panel of experts for review. Items that the reviewers considered weak or very weak in terms of relevance to the constructs and/or clarity and conciseness were eliminated. After a pilot test and further revisions, the proposed scale of transactional distance was administered to a sample of 100 college students. Confirmatory factor analyses and exploratory analyses indicated that the measurement models, especially after modifications, possessed good fit for the data, and the modified scales possessed factorial validity. Reliability analyses indicated that the scales possessed strong internal consistency, with Cronbach alpha coefficients ranging from 0.8169 to 0.9530. Structural equation modeling procedures tested for the causal relationship between the four dimensions and students' general sense of transactional distance in web-based courses. Results indicate that the proposed model of transactional distance is acceptable. The strongest factor that affected students' sense of transactional distance and engagement with learning was found to be transactional distance between student and students (TDSS), followed by transactional distance between student and teacher (TDST), and then by transactional distance between student and content (TDSC). The findings have implications for the development of a revised theory of transactional distance in online education, and provide strong support for constructivist learning theories and social learning theories, reinforcing the importance of establishing learning communities in online learning environments.

This dissertation addresses the phenomenon of 'radical commodities'-commercial products which advance an oppositional politics. Examples of such include the products of Rage Against The Machine, a 'revolutionary' rock band; Michael Moore, a best-selling author and award-winning documentary filmmaker; Naomi Klein, a journalist and author of the international bestseller No Logo; The Body Shop, a multinational manufacturer and retailer of 'natural' cosmetics and toiletries; Freitag, a company which manufactures bags, wallets and other fashionable accessories from recycled materials, and; the Adbusters Media Foundation, publisher of Adbusters magazine and producer of Blackspot shoes. Radical commodities are fundamentally paradoxical objects whose apparent ethic would appear to be at odds with the fact that they are commodities. This dissertation asks: can a commodity-object legitimately serve as a vehicle for social and political critique? It is reasoned that the problem of radical commodities is principally structural. Marx's seminal writings on the commodity accordingly represent the logical point of departure. The Marxian analysis illuminates not only the commodity-structure, but also the political problematic which emerges from that structure-for Marx, the commodity is a mechanism of exploitation. From an orthodox Marxist perspective, the idea of a radical commodity would therefore be most contradictory, or indeed impossible. It is argued, however, that the Marxian analysis is inconclusive. This dissertation traces a genealogy of analyses of the commodity, which variously advance or diverge from the orthodox Marxist position. From a perspective of the consumption of commodity-objects, the radical commodity would appear to be possible. Yet, the relationship between the commodity-structure and the capitalist ideology runs deep. The question of the radical commodity is therefore markedly more complex than it might initially appear. With regard to the ideological consequence of the commodity-structure, however, certain streams of post-Marxist analysis are themselves problematic, for they ultimately short-circuit historical critique and destabilise the very possibility of politics. In contrast, this dissertation seeks to reaffirm a place for politics and, in so doing, to establish the theoretical possibility of radical commodities. To contend that the idea of a radical commodity is not fundamentally contradictory, however, says nothing of the political potency of such objects. These are undoubtedly complex objects, whose peculiarities cannot be ascertained by abstract theorisation alone. For this reason, this dissertation also employs empirical analyses of a number of radical commodities. In sum, it is argued that the sphere of commodities should be admitted as a possible site for the expression or implementation of a radical politics, and thus that radical commodities should be understood as a legitimate vehicle for social and political critique, but that such objects are by no means free from contradiction, and that the political efficacy of these products is anything but guaranteed.

Internationally, there is concern among judges and organisers of documentary film festivals pertaining to the lack of a proper storyline in documentary films. According to certain documentary film producers and theoreticians, however, there is a solution. They are of the opinion that the three-act structure that was originally applicable to fiction films can also be applied to documentary films. The three-act paradigm serves as a guideline for the writing of successful fiction film screenplays. Should the three-act structure be applied to documentary films, the three-act paradigm could possibly achieve the same measure of success. Therefore, the research questions are, firstly: What are the basic elements of successful screenplay writer, Syd Field’s three-act structure? Secondly, to what extent do the three selected films by Michael Moore namely Bowling for Columbine (2003), Sicko (2007) and Fahrenheit 9/11 (2004) adhere to the requirements of Syd Field’s three-act structure? The research for this study was performed by means of a literature overview of Field’s three-act structure; secondly, by means of semi-structured interviews with four South African documentary film producers; and thirdly, a qualitative content analysis of three of Michael Moore’s films. The interviews consisted of semi-structured questions about the problem pertaining to story structure in documentary films, and how Syd Field’s three-act structure can make a contribution to the success of the documentary film. The study entails a qualitative content analysis of three selected documentary films by Michael Moore. The three-act structure of Syd Field was analysed by means of a literature study and seven main elements were identified as the important elements for a three-act structure. The three films by Michael Moore were analysed by means of a qualitative content analysis based on the seven elements to determine whether the three films adhere to the three-act structure elements. The findings of the study are as follows: The three documentary films by Michael Moore, namely Bowling for Columbine, Sicko and Fahrenheit 9/11, possess all seven elements of the analysis framework that was composed according to Syd Field’s three-act structure. The conclusion can therefore be drawn that a large part of the success of the three selected films by Moore is based on the three-act structure elements that can be found in all three films. / MA (Communication Studies), North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2014

Internationally, there is concern among judges and organisers of documentary film festivals pertaining to the lack of a proper storyline in documentary films. According to certain documentary film producers and theoreticians, however, there is a solution. They are of the opinion that the three-act structure that was originally applicable to fiction films can also be applied to documentary films. The three-act paradigm serves as a guideline for the writing of successful fiction film screenplays. Should the three-act structure be applied to documentary films, the three-act paradigm could possibly achieve the same measure of success. Therefore, the research questions are, firstly: What are the basic elements of successful screenplay writer, Syd Field’s three-act structure? Secondly, to what extent do the three selected films by Michael Moore namely Bowling for Columbine (2003), Sicko (2007) and Fahrenheit 9/11 (2004) adhere to the requirements of Syd Field’s three-act structure? The research for this study was performed by means of a literature overview of Field’s three-act structure; secondly, by means of semi-structured interviews with four South African documentary film producers; and thirdly, a qualitative content analysis of three of Michael Moore’s films. The interviews consisted of semi-structured questions about the problem pertaining to story structure in documentary films, and how Syd Field’s three-act structure can make a contribution to the success of the documentary film. The study entails a qualitative content analysis of three selected documentary films by Michael Moore. The three-act structure of Syd Field was analysed by means of a literature study and seven main elements were identified as the important elements for a three-act structure. The three films by Michael Moore were analysed by means of a qualitative content analysis based on the seven elements to determine whether the three films adhere to the three-act structure elements. The findings of the study are as follows: The three documentary films by Michael Moore, namely Bowling for Columbine, Sicko and Fahrenheit 9/11, possess all seven elements of the analysis framework that was composed according to Syd Field’s three-act structure. The conclusion can therefore be drawn that a large part of the success of the three selected films by Moore is based on the three-act structure elements that can be found in all three films. / MA (Communication Studies), North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2014