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Introduction
It is quite common for most American cities to have homeless persons living on the streets and needing to ask other people for money, shelters, or food. In Sacramento, this problem is becoming more severe, so it is extremely significant to raise public awareness and create more opportunities to help these individuals. In most cases, they are not lazy or alcoholics but are left without homes due to adverse events or circumstances. A YouTube video, California Homeless | Seniors on the Streets, is devoted to this issue. Overall, it is possible to say that the filmmaker effectively demonstrates through the use of ethos, pathos, and logos in the short documentary that the problem of the increasing number of homeless seniors in the city is too disturbing, and there are several reasons for this issue.
Logos
Though the video is quite short, the filmmaker effectively uses implicit and explicit premises, which makes the majority of the viewers agree with the main argument. For instance, the first implied premise is that severe raises in rent are one cause of the increased number of homeless seniors, which is also supported by Rukmana in their article (301). It is not stated directly in the episode but demonstrated on the example of Nancy Overman, who lives in a house provided by Sacramento Self-Help Housing (SSHH) ( California Homeless | Seniors on the Streets 00:03:14-00:03:26). The reason why she found herself in a shelter was that she could no longer afford to pay her bills due to higher rent.
Another implicit premise is that the carelessness and indifference of relatives, especially children and grandchildren, lead to the fact that their elderly parents and grandparents find themselves on the streets. This is demonstrated in the story of Eula Jones, whose daughter sold their house and did not care about her mothers destiny ( California Homeless 00:02:30-00:02:42). Further, an explicit premise is that the seniors themselves do not allow these care programs to address the problem and reduce homelessness (Rukmana 299). As noticed by CeeCee Coleman, an SSHH navigator, many elderly persons pride does not allow them to ask for their childrens help, and they dont want to burden the younger generation ( California Homeless 00:00:25-00:00:40). Overall, it is possible to say that these are just some of the premises from the video, and the filmmaker supports them with real-life stories and facts.
Ethos
Further, it is essential to talk about the use of ethos in the documentary episode. The video shows the places that CeeCee talks about, as well as the homeless people themselves, who either roam the streets or line up at the entrance to the shelter ( California Homeless 00:01:08; 00:02:52). Consequently, the viewers are more likely to believe the information they hear if they actually see it happening. In addition, in order to draw the audiences attention to important information voiced by the voice-over, facts and figures are duplicated by text on the screen. Background music, interviewing techniques, and the film style are chosen successfully for this type of topic.
The filmmaker always provides relevant, accurate, and sufficient evidence, referring to statistics or the data from SSHH. For example, Sacramento self-help housing says theyve seen a dramatic increase in homelessness among elderly residents in Sacramento County ( California Homeless 00:00:43-00:00:49). However, the video would be more trustworthy and convincing if references to the government or academic sources were provided. Finally, the filmmaker does not attempt to represent and refute the oppositions arguments.
Pathos
Pathos is also used in this video to affect the emotions of the audience. To begin with, the episode shows almost no bright colors, only muted shades, which creates an atmosphere suitable for perceiving the seriousness and desperation of the situation. When background music is played, it is calm, quiet, and a little sad, which again affects the audience. During the interview, the audience can see the homeless senior sharing their story and the interviewers sincere reactions ( California Homeless 00:03:11), which also prompts the viewers what emotions to experience from what they see and hear. The premise about childrens carelessness mentioned above is also used to make the viewers more emotional. Allowing ones parents to live on the streets and ask various charity organizations for help is inappropriate and immoral, so mentioning this personal story is a good choice made by the filmmaker. Finally, emotion is used responsibly in order to raise peoples awareness of the issue.
Conclusion
To draw a conclusion, one may say that the filmmaker presents a rather effective argument and proves it by successfully using logos, ethos, and pathos. The video provides facts and homeless peoples personal stories, mentions specific data and numbers, influences the viewers emotions, and supports premises. Therefore, the main argument that homelessness in Sacramento is quite severe and has many causes is proved. At the same time, it would be possible to make the video more effective and argumentative. For instance, mentioning and addressing the oppositions argument would show the other side of the situation and prove that the point of view discussed by the filmmaker is stronger. Further, providing references to authoritative sources like government data or academic statistics would increase the trustworthiness of the episode.
Works Cited
California Homeless | Seniors on the Streets: More Older People in Sacramento Are on the Brink. YouTube, uploaded by ABC10.
Rukmana, Deden. The Causes of Homelessness and the Characteristics Associated with High Risk of Homelessness: A Review of Intercity and Intracity Homelessness Data. Housing Policy Debate, vol. 30, no. 2, 2020, pp. 291-308.
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