Rhetorical Analysis and Synthesis Documentary Film Project

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AP Language & Composition
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Aditi Kaushik Ashwika Reddy Anya Patil Noa Kosman

General Film Introduction: The financial crisis of 208 caused millions of job losses and a detrimental blow to the
lives of people, resulting in a horrendous economic recession in the United States. Through extensive research and
an ample amount of interviews, the documentary effectively traces the rise of an industry that has corrupted many
institutions. A theme that is highlighted repeatedly throughout the film is the financial industry's influence on the
political process to avoid regulation.
Image of the Film:

Platform of Digital Project: Canva

Technology Options for
project creation

Link to your COMPLETED

Digital Project:

Documentary Title Inside Job Streaming Service MAX/Amazon Prime

Video/YouTube

Release Year 2010 Director Charles Ferguson Producer or Producers: Charles

Name Film Ferguson, Jeffrey Lurie,
Company Audrey Marrs
Film Company: Sony
Pictures Classics

Episode Numbers (If applicable) N/A Running Time 1 hour 48 minutes

Film Thesis In the documentary “Inside Job”, directed by Charles Ferguson, the 2008 financial crisis is broken down and
 explained as the film exposes the flaws in global financial institutions and people in charge of them, and how
they greatly impacted the lives of the public through constant deceptiveness while emphasizing the urgent
need for greater accountability and reform in our economic systems.

Genre: Current Events, social issues, historical Historical Events, Social Issues, Science and Tech
Events, biographies, science and tech, environmental

Main reasons for selecting this
documentary
The main reasons why we selected this documentary is because we are all interested in
the questions that the documentary raises in regards to ethics, the government's role in
regulating large financial establishments, and the responsibility of corporations. We also
wanted to explore how seemingly miniscule issues such as transparency can lead to
catastrophic results.

Stated Objective The objective of the documentary was to explain the systematic corruption caused by financial
institutions and how that corruption had consequences on the lives of the public. The documentary
details how changes to financial policies caused this crisis to occur and exposes the fraudulent nature
of the financial industries.

Rhetorical Analysis & Storytelling Techniques

#1 Primary Rhetorical Persuasive #2 Primary Rhetorical Persuasive Strategy #3 Primary Rhetorical Persuasive
Strategy Strategy

Interviews with experts in the field Discrediting financial investors and Use of graphs, charts, and statistics
of economics and finance institutions

#1 Satyajit Das, a Derivatives Consultant, explains how derivatives, in the world of Timestamp 38:28
Example economics, can contribute to higher financial losses leading firms to go bankrupt
in the long run.

Detail how it was used and why it
was effective with the storytelling
He uses his expertise in the field of derivatives to explain to the audience that the
inability to regulate derivatives can lead to bankruptcy and harm the economic
prosperity of the world. As derivatives foster wealth, investors did not want them to be
regulated and therefore passed laws that prevented their regulation. However,
derivatives allowed virtual-gambling and led to a huge unregulated market. When it
was attempted to regulate it, they received backlash from banks as they depended on
derivatives for earnings. His input within this documentary contributed to how powerful
investors took control over the financial market and selfishly ensured that they gained
wealth without giving a thought to how their actions would impact the economy of the
world.

#2 In one clip, Henry Paulson, the CEO of Goldman Sachs (investment Bank), was Timestamp 48:58-51:
Example chosen to be the secretary of the treasury because he was said to be a man of 26
candor and integrity. However, the documentary shows his true character by
displaying that he bought toxic CDOs and gained wealth through failed CDOs in
the clip right after. Therefore, the documentary effectively discredits Paulson.
Detail how it was used and why it
was effective with the storytelling
First, the documentary showed Henry Paul being praised and elected for the Secretary
of Treasury. Then, it showed his company, Goldman Sachs, buying CDOs and deceiving
the public as the more money the people lost, the more money Goldman Sachs made.
Placing these clips back-to-back effectively discredited Paulson and Goldman Sachs by
conveying their lack of integrity and respect for the public.

#3 The documentary includes a graph of home prices throughout the years to Timestamp 32:02
Example portray their growth.

Detail how it was used and why it The graph was used to show the extent of home price growth as a result of predatory
was effective with the storytelling lending and wide accessibility to mortgages. It was effective as it highlighted the
impact of corruption within the financial industry and emphasized the control it had
over daily life of the public.

Define and identify a minimum of 1 instance for each of the following 3 techniques that played an essential role in effective
storytelling: Score, cinematography, sequencing. Include the timestamps for specific examples provided.

Score The film’s score helps set a mood of danger and tension. When the film first mentions Timestamp: 23:45
the concept of financial weapons of mass destruction, the score becomes tense and
foreboding. The dark music contributes to the seriousness of the potential consequences
of those financial products, effectively showing the audience the dire circumstances.

Sequencing Using footage directly from credible individuals helps convey how economic Timestamp: 22:59
decisions and lack of federal responsibility played out overtime, while also
allowing the audience to understand the cause-and-effect of certain events that
led up to the situation. For example, one clip said that investors expressed the
safety of the markets when in reality they made them more unstable. This
instability is clearly explained through a specific example in the clip right after:
Mathematicians, and physicists applied their expertise on mass producing
weapons of destruction which contributed greatly to the instability of the financial
market. This financial crisis was very complex and was unstable in a plethora of
ways. Therefore, the effective use of sequencing helped explain how the lack of
proper federal action added on to the crisis.

Cinematography During an interview with former US Treasury Secretary, Henry Paulson, they Timestamp: 48:00
use close-ups to show his facial expressions, and overall body language to
help gauge if he was being sincere during the interview. They do this in all
interviews with important figures. This adds an extra dimension of depth due
to how we can identify the authenticity of each person with each visual cue.

Write a rhetorical analysis thesis statement articulating how effective this film was in achieving its purpose and conveying its
thesis.

In order to thoroughly convey the story of the 2008 financial crisis the documentary, “The Inside Job” directed by Charles
Ferguson, effectively employs interviews with experts in the field of finance to establish credibility and gain the audience's
trust, consistently discredits financial institutions and people in charge of them to emphasize their lack of responsibility in the
financial industry to the audience, and incorporates graphs and statistics to portray to the viewers that this crisis immensely
changed people's’ lives for the worse.
Questions to Answer:

What questions and It features many issues, including the government's role in regulating large corporations,
or issues does this and the influence of a conflict of interest within government, education, and the financial
film raise? industry. In addition to this, the documentary raises several questions regarding the
ethics of large financial institutions, because of the factors that were time and time again
overlooked. This film also raises questions about the level of transparency between these
financial institutions and their investors. Due to the improper disclosure of information
about the risky practices used by the financial organizations, it also prompts a question
about the level of knowledge and accurate information the investors should have had.

What is the impact The documentary reveals the importance of ethical-decision making, effective regulation,
and importance on and responsible borrowing. It does a good job of capturing the severe consequences that
society of this follow when a nation lacks in these areas, such as high rates of unemployment, homes
question(s) or issue going into foreclosure, and banks going bankrupt. By doing so, it is successful in
that this film conveying the need for financial transparency in society. This film also lets us know how
presents? in the dark we are about processes going on over our heads. The public had no idea
about the corrupt actions being taken. It brings about the realization of how fragile the
nation’s economic balance is, and how easy it is to break it.

What question(s) or It offers information about the Recession that occurred in 2008. It features the timeline
issues does this film of the events, what caused it, its effects on society, and the aftermath. The filmmakers
answer? emphasize the part that the lack of transparency between financial institutions and their
investors, the failures in regulation, and unethical risk taking, played in the financial
crisis. As well as the tremendously negative effects it had on people, and public
institutions, all across the globe

What question(s) or It barely touches the extent of the potential criminal activity, there were very few criminal
issues were left prosecutions, and convictions. For example, the documentary mentions that the
unanswered? - any government regulators who were in charge of protecting the people, did not follow
mysteries, through with their duty. In addition, The Securities and Exchange Commission, the
conspiracies or federal agency that was supposed to regulate investment banking, had also done nothing
suspicions? to prevent this crisis. As there was no mention of the specific repercussions that these
people and institutions underwent, it makes one wonder if more misdeeds went
unpunished. Furthermore, this documentary does not explore the issue of political
influence as much as we’d have liked, while they do touch on how much influence was
exerted by the financial industry, they don't explore the government’s perspective of this
situation and how they allowed this to happen for many years.

What question(s) or We would definitely like to ask about the measures that were taken to prevent a crisis
issues would you like like this arising again. Transparency is a recurring issue throughout the film, and it would
to ask the filmmaker, be interesting to hear about how the filmmakers were able to get the truth from a
or an expert in this situation shrouded in lies. Where did they find the beginning of the string to unravel the
field? background of the crisis? We’d also like to ask for the inspiration behind the film. Were
filmmakers impacted by the recession? What industries did the recession most impact?

Article/Film Connections & Supplemental Materials:

What have you learned We have learned about the causes of the event -which included the increased
about this topic of borrowing by bankers and investors, regulation and policy errors, and excessive risk
study? taking- as well as the effect it had on the world. The documentary highlights the
 unethical behavior, and risk-taking manners of large economic institutions, and how it
heavily affected the lives of individuals by raising unemployment, declining state
financing of higher education, and inflating house prices. We have gained a greater
perspective of the complexity of a nation’s economy and how institutions such as
banks, insurance companies, and financial services all worked together to selfishly
generate wealth by deceiving the public into making poor financial decisions.

What would you like to We would like to learn more about global economic systems -for example how
learn more about? different countries approach regulation, and financial stability- and about the
psychological aspects that influences an individuals economic decisions. We are also
interested to learn more about how the world recovered from this crisis and how the
financial institutions re-established their credibility and gained the public’s trust. This
scandal had a global impact on people’s lives and emphasized the amount of control
that the financial sector has on the world. Therefore, it would have been more
insightful to include the specific measures that were taken by the government to
better regulate economic/financial industries.

Taken together, what One of the key factors in the outbreak of the 2008 financial crisis was economic
claim can accurately be institutions engaging in risky loans, by lending money and offering mortgages to
made about your topic individuals and companies with limited financial stability. We also concluded that
based on everything institutions are very easily corrupt. Pure capitalism is a very volatile system, and it is
you’ve read and seen so very easy for certain industries to exert influence over other aspects of the nation in
far? order to avoid regulation, and to stay in power. It only takes one corrupt industry to
bring down entire portions of a nation’s livelihood.

Identify 2 additional “The 2007-2008 Financial Crisis in Review” by Manoj Singh

supplemental material Updated March 19, 2023
resources (Written
articles and or books) https://www.investopedia.com/articles/economics/09/financial-crisis-review.asp#:~:t
that are directly related ext=The%202008%20financial%20crisis%20began,their%20savings%2C%20and%2
to the issues connected 0their%20homes.
in your documentary
and share information This article, and short video feature the timeline of the event. It emphasizes how the
you learned in reading financial crisis developed gradually, but eventually led to the collapse of several
them. (Include the title, economic institutions.
author, publication date,
link to the document)

“What Was the Financial Crisis of 2007–2008? Causes, Outcomes & Lessons Learned”
by Laura Rodini
Updated May 19, 2023

https://www.thestreet.com/dictionary/f/financial-crisis-2007-2008

This article highlights what the 2008 Financial Crisis actually was. It also discusses
the root causes of the event, the global effect it had and what major
stock/investment companies, employees and even governments can learn from the
breakdown that occurred.

Provide Works cited Works Cited

within your project itself
citing the documentary Singh, Manoj. “The 2007–2008 Financial Crisis in Review.” Investopedia, Mar. 2023,
and the 2 additional
supplemental resources. www.investopedia.com/articles/economics/09/financial-crisis-review.asp#:~:text=T
(Place it in this box for
the reference) he%202008%20financial%20crisis%20began,their%20savings%2C%20and%20thei

r%20homes.

Rodini, Laura. “What Was the Financial Crisis of 2007-2008? Causes, Outcomes & Lessons

Learned.” TheStreet, May. 2023,

https://www.thestreet.com/dictionary/f/financial-crisis-2007-2008