Gasland Movie Essay
Introduction
The documentary film “Gasland” made by Josh Fox narrates the story of environmental degradation in the USA and its reasons. In particular, the author conducted his own investigation across the country in order to find out whether the grim rumors concerning the hydraulic fracturing were true. The film provides experts’ opinions, witnesses’ recollections and calculations based on observations in order to show that the matter is serious and it must be confronted as soon as possible. It also employed emotional appeals (like love for Nature and desire to be healthy and happy) to peoples values and code of ethics in order to cause a resentment and disgust concerning the terrible things which some people deliberately make.
The author uses the technique of vivid imagery to enhance his argument – each event, location or technological process which could be unknown to its audience and therefore – hinder to view the film without constant interruptions for respective inquiry – were explained.
It has a lot of strong points and only a heartless or a mad person cannot be convinced by this film. As for me, several aspects of this film convinced me that “fracking” is a very dangerous practice and that it should be prohibited. First of all, the film is the result of a natural suspicion which everyone would experience if he or she suddenly received such a tempting proposal.
Second of all, it is filled with testimonies of victims of “fracking” and evidences given by experts in the field of environmental protection, chemistry and so forth. Fox even managed to get the insider information from whistleblowers from institutions which were supposed to regulate the problem in question. And finally, it is clear that Fox had no commercial interest in making this film and that purely ethical reasons forced him to make this research and present it to others.
