Documentary Analysis

Analysis of the documentary:
The Secret

“The Secret” is a feature length documentary presentation which reveals the Great Secret of the Universe. It is a 2006 film directed by Drew Heriot, produced by Paul Harrington and Rhonda Byrne, the author herself of the book (the Secret), and was distributed by Prime Time Productions. The film entails a series of interviews designed to demonstrate that everything that a person wants or needs can be satisfied by believing in an outcome, repeatedly thinking about the outcome, and maintaining that positive emotional states to attract that outcome. The said film was distributed through DVD and through online. It has attracted criticisms from the mainstream press but has fascinated famous individuals as well such as, Oprah and Ellen DeGeneres. This film offers by far the best description of the Law of Attraction because it presents the principles of the law crystal clear and evident. The law of attraction states the theory that anything and everything you want to attract in life, you will attract in theory. It implies that we control everything that we cannot comprehend as anything as a natural balance.

Working on the rhetorical appeals, I have observed the use of emotional and motivational appeals in the documentary.  Perhaps the most common way of conveying a pathetic appeal is through narratives or stories and this was used in the documentary. Such as in the case of the woman diagnosed with breast cancer but was immediately healed not because of any treatment or surgery. But because she just had faith, believed and told herself every single day that she is already healed. Another was the story of a man being hospitalized and paralyzed but was then able to move and got out of the hospital within a span of a few months because just like what the woman who has breast cancer did, he also believed that he will be out of the hospital and get back with his life immediately. Lastly, was about the story of the man who possesses “a gratitude rock”, a rock that has somewhat kind of a power to heal and change your life. These stories have an emotional and imaginative impact on an audience, and the use of such stories can move the audience either to decision or action or can change the way a person believes. I also observed the use of vivid language, emotional language and numerous sensory details in the documentary, which was effectively used to persuade the audience and affect the audience’s emotional response. This overall is the pathos of the film.

Moving on, the documentary is by far the most convincing documentary I have ever watched. It was great, probably because of its content and power of being able to be so direct and convincing at the same time. It maybe because of the series of interviews and speeches or teachings made by the philosophers, priests/pastors, doctors, psychologists, and distinguished writers/authors in the documentary. The way they speak and emphasize their points or their strong convictions were really the factors in convincing the audience, not to mention that they were experts in their own fields. But I somehow question the credibility of the statements made by these people, if they really have that sufficient knowledge about the issue in contention, or if the things that they keep telling the viewers in the documentary are nothing but their own beliefs and opinions. This particularly was the use of ethos in the film.

Indeed, attaching reasons to an opinion is the key method of arguing. And this was used by the experts in the documentary. In this case, the rhetorical appeal logos is used. They have used deductive and inductive reasoning to back up their claims. However, none of these so-called experts presented any facts or statistics to help support most of their claims. They did not present any kind of document as proof. Another is that the film claims that the Law of Attraction is kept secret, but there is no proof offered and no conscious effort has ever been made to keep the law a secret. Lastly is the presentation of electromagnetic waves/ vibrations as the explanation for the said law. There are many things wrong with this assertion according to the critique of Alexander Kjerulf. It is primarily the fact that while thoughts are at least part, electromagnetic waves, there is no scientific evidence or explanation that our brain waves alter the universe around us in any significant way.

To sum it up, the Law of Attraction itself is real, I endorse the teaching it presents, and can think of many events in my life of which can prove its validity and workability. But the arguments and explanations made and put forward in the documentary are alternately unscientific, nonsensical, or just plain wrong. No electromagnetic waves will emanate from our heads, magically transforming the universe and no mystical vibrations affect our surroundings. Remember that the universe does not always stand ready to fulfill our every wish. Rather, we change ourselves and then we change our circumstances. In the end, we can infer that “the Secret” offers precisely no scientific evidence for proof; instead it just proposes a number of unscientific and unproved explanations. So while the Law of Attraction is real, the documentary itself is simply fake.