Introduction
“Sex Trafficking in America” tells the unimaginable stories of young women coerced into prostitution and follows one police unit that is committed to rooting out sextual exploitation. This documentary was produced by Jezza Neumann, and Lauren Mucciolo. The video is featured on the pbs.org frontline documentary “Sex Trafficking in America” base on the human trafficking into the Phoenix area Arizona. For 2 1/2 years, FRONTLINE followed a special police unit in Phoenix devoted to fighting sex trafficking. To capture that hidden reality, Neumann and Mucciolo followed a police unit in Phoenix, Arizona, combatting child sexual exploitation over the course of two and a half years. They talked to FRONTLINE about how they found the story, and what impact they hope the documentary has. Most of the victims do not even know what sex trafficking was before they are taken. Many people were unaware of the American woman and girls being sexually exploited within the U.S. Neumann, and Mucciolo the producer of the “Sex Trafficking in America” do a phenomenal job at displaying ethos, pathos, and logos throughout this documentary that explores the outbreak ad how nations around the world are working to fight against the sex trafficking.
Jezza Neumann and Lauren Mucciolo, the director and producer behind the film on the Frontline documentary “Sex Trafficking in America” realize that most people do not realize that a vast majority of women trafficked in America are American. They thought there’s a film to be made here because we’re always looking to make films where we can give a voice to a vulnerable community, or where we can highlight an issue that seems to be misrepresented or misunderstood. Sexual violence against women is such an important issue that has really been underserved in our conversation, our dialogue in this country. This effect demonstrate in this documentary is the ethos appeal. Ethos is defined as “the ethical appeal, the means to convince an audience of the author’s credibility or character.” (pathosethoslogos.com, 2015). As a way in which someone creates a sense of credibility. Neumann does establish credibility through many ways in getting and apprehending the traffickers. I found each person included to not only be believable but trusted in their field as well. Things that demonstrate credibility is that the two work for PBS, a long-running television station that people trust. Also, the fact that they followed the police department for two years demonstrates first-hand experience and knowledge. Credibility can be seen when they speak with actual victims like Kat or interview the actual officers who work on the computers to find the pedophiles.
Neumann also did a remarkable job of displaying pathos in this piece. Pathos can be defined as an emotional appeal that persuades an audience or reader using emotion (pathosethoslogos.com, 2015). Neumann said Like all films, one really needs strong characters. It is all well and good to find an interesting issue, but issues do not make films. In this instance it needed detectives who were prepared to go on camera and let us into their world, and who were dynamic and could carry a film. So, she decided to go to Phoenix. Look at Kat when she is back home in her room hugging her stuffed animals. Treated like a much older adult, viewers see that she is still just a young girl. The wording at the beginning of the film creates shock. To create this emotion, the director and producer use bold white lettering in all caps against a black background with narrators telling the reality of sex trafficking in America. In between each slide of text is a visual of what is happening. This creates shock which is an emotion that draws the viewer in, especially if they have young sisters or daughters.
The women that are seen in the film became the voice. They were impassioned about this issue. Films have layers. On the forefront, one has a film about trafficking as well as a film about these amazingly empowered women. Further, one is able to witness the work that detectives do doing and the sacrifices they give. They are moms as well, so they are trying to be parents and do this job that is all consuming. And then there is a prosecutor, who is a woman in a strong position. And then you have Kat and Mariah and the other survivors, these young women have been through horrific, horrific situations. But they are coming out of it with strength and not letting it defeat them and using it to better themselves where they can.
The next obvious appeal Neumann uses is the logos approach. The logos approach is defined as “the appeal to logic, means to convince an audience by use of logic or reason.” (pathosethoslogos.com, 2015). Logos, which includes the reason behind the argument and whether it makes sense to the viewer, is evident throughout this piece. Each scene is teeming with enough reason word by the narrator and detectives. Neumann and Mucciolo use logos when the narrator explains that a pimp and a trafficker are the same thing. Usually, they would be referred to as pimps. The very core of what trafficking is, is influencing, inducing, encouraging someone into a life of prostitution. If you are exploiting someone else, and you are using their body and using them to make money, you are a trafficker.
Throughout the documentary: “Sex Trafficking in America,” Neumann used ethos, pathos, and logos evenly and without relying on one more than another. While Neumann is an incredibly talented filmmaker and director with a large amount of credibility, she also uses highly credible detectives and experts in their field in catching and apprehending the traffickers to back up her message. These specialists were able to establish ethos throughout the piece, building a case for themselves and their message of stopping sex trafficking in phoenix Arizona and in U.S at large. “Sex Trafficking in America” was an interesting feature that pulled the audience in from the very beginning through its use of pathos. While this piece was highly centered on facts, places, history, and credibility to prove its point, it also used a large amount of emotion showing Kat explaining how she was brought into the sex trafficking, crying and regretting her actions. The documentary focused heavily on the consequences of sex traffickers of lifetime imprisonment or spending years in prison. Neumann look at both sides, the traffickers and their victims and there was no bias in the film. She used live references and diplomatic facts the most to display logos, but also introduced real-life examples from the girls on the street.
Conclusion
In conclusion, while this documentary is well structured and formatted, it does successfully pull off all the appeals. The ethos appeals are as strong as the pathos and logos appeals, and there are no other views to counter-argue the bias of this documentary. The pathos, appeal to emotion is more as strong in all. However, “Sex Trafficking in America” is an amazing documentary that does successfully pull at people’s heartstrings on how American woman and girls being sexually exploited within the U.S.
