Moira Kaluzienski

AP Lang PD 5
10/20/17

The Untold Story of Emmett Louis Till

Rhetorical Analysis

In the documentary directed by Keith Beauchamp, The Untold Story of Emmett Louis

Till, there are many devices used to convey the author’s purpose. Along with many other things,

the most important of these are visuals, such as pictures and video clips from that time period,

the music choice, and the camera movement during interviews. Keith Beauchamp is arguing

that even today we should not forget about what happened so history doesn’t repeat itself.

Included in the documentary are many pictures and video clips that were taken during

the time of what happened. Showing these things brings a reality into the viewer’s head about

what life was really like during that time period. For example, many pictures of people who were

hung to their death were shown in the documentary. There is a difference between hearing and

seeing things and seeing these pictures confirm to the viewers who had only heard that blacks

had it bad, that they really were victims of atrocious things. With people being aware and

seeing what happened, they will know how bad it can be. When people know how bad

racism was, the likeliness of things happening like this again would be very slim to none

because no one wants to go through something like this again.

The music choice in the documentary sounded like typical sad, funeral music. Hearing

this type of music at certain key times was a trigger of emotions, not only seeing horrible

pictures but on top of that, sad music. In addition, it did not just trigger the emotions of the

audience but also the emotions of the people who were living through the situation. The song

that was chosen to be played when it came time in the documentary of Emmett’s actual death,

gave off the emotions and how people felt at the time. The music choice was an effective way

to trigger emotions that no one should ever want to go through. Along with emotions,

people should never want to see things like this on national news as well. With people
today sensing the feelings of people at that time, everyone is more aware and more likely

to not let this history repeat itself.

Most of the documentary was either interviews of people telling the story or video clips

that correlate with parts of the story. When the interviews were being shown, the camera

movement was completely still. There was no zooming in or out or changing angles. The

camera was constantly focused on the person speaking. Because there was no camera

movement and it was completely still, it had an effect of how important and serious the situation

is. The stillness of the camera and people show to the audience how the people felt at that time,

especially the ones closest with Emmett, that their hearts were still and their lives were put on

pause with what happened.

Keith Beauchamp’s documentary, The Untold Story of Emmett Louis Till, uses many

devices to make an argument. Visuals, including pictures and video clips, the music and song

choice, and the camera movement among many other devices are used to make an argument

about how this horrible story should not go untold and forgotten because history repeats itself. If

people ignore this story then tragic events like this one will continue to happen. The argument

made by Beauchamp was effective because of the emotion he brought into it with interviewing

Emmett’s mother and other family members who can really only tell what the whole situation

was like.