Examining Visual Rhetoric in Environmental Documentaries

• In Event: 18.043 - Assemblage Thinking and the Mobilization of Education for Sustainable Development Policy Within a Canadian Province

Abstract

Environmental issues are a growing, global concern. As we contemplate how best to engage people in reflecting on what it means to live in a sustainable fashion, it is important that we consider the merits of particular rhetorical modes in environmental communication. One form of environmental communication that relies on images, and that is growing in popularity, is documentary film. Using video annotation software, participants from this study were asked to comment at points they felt to be particular striking or evocative. In response to jeremiad rhetoric (attributing faulty human behaviour as the cause of environmental crisis), participants expressed feelings of “disconnection,” which allowed them to reflect on environmental issues.

Author

• Claire Ahn, Queen's University