Postmodern Rhetoric and An Inconvenient Truth Analysis
This paper applies postmodern and deconstructive rhetorical theory to Al Gore's documentary An Inconvenient Truth (2006). Drawing on Foucault's and Derrida's critiques of fixed truth, the signifier-signified relationship, and systems of power, the paper examines how the film deploys metanarratives of science, the mythic messenger figure, and environmental nostalgia to construct its persuasive argument. The analysis reveals ideological fissures beneath the documentary's apparent coherence, demonstrating that even a documentary framed as objective fact relies on culturally embedded predilections and rhetorical strategies that a postmodern reading can productively interrogate.
- Introduction: Postmodern Rhetoric and Documentary Film: Establishes postmodern and deconstructive framework for analysis
- Truth, Power, and the Foucauldian Framework: Foucault's regime of truth and relative knowledge
- The Messenger Figure and Ideological Metanarratives: Al Gore as mythic messenger and everyman figure
- Science as Authority and Rhetorical Legitimacy: Science ideology as persuasive metanarrative in film
- Visual Rhetoric and Environmental Nostalgia: Images and nostalgia as rhetorical and emotional strategies
- Conclusion: Postmodern deconstruction reveals ideological fissures in documentary
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What makes this paper effective
- Grounds its film analysis in a clearly articulated theoretical framework before examining specific textual evidence, giving the argument a principled foundation.
- Moves systematically through distinct rhetorical strategies — the messenger myth, the authority of science, and environmental nostalgia — applying postmodern theory to each in turn.
- Uses direct quotation from Foucault, Derrida, and secondary critics to anchor claims, rather than relying solely on paraphrase.
Key academic technique demonstrated
The paper demonstrates applied ideological critique: it uses poststructuralist theory (particularly Foucault's "regime of truth" and Derrida's critique of the signifier–signified relationship) as a lens to expose the hidden assumptions and cultural predilections embedded in a popular documentary. This shows how abstract theoretical frameworks can generate concrete analytical insights about specific media texts.
Structure breakdown
The paper opens with a theoretical introduction that establishes postmodern and Foucauldian premises, then moves into a two-part analysis covering the film's rhetorical strategies — the messenger figure, scientific authority, visual rhetoric, and nostalgic imagery — before concluding with a synthesis of what the deconstruction reveals about the documentary's ideological construction. The structure mirrors a classic essay format: frame, analyze, conclude.
Introduction: Postmodern Rhetoric and Documentary Film
Carl Burgchardt, among others, refers to the extended perception of postmodern rhetorical criticism and the view that deconstructive and postmodern critical discourse includes cultural artifacts other than the written word, such as popular culture and cinema. The substratum of ideological metanarratives that constitute and validate cultural norms and perceptions in modern society are often found in a deconstruction of modern films and documentaries. In this regard, the documentary An Inconvenient Truth will be discussed in terms of postmodern and deconstructive theoretical views of contemporary reality. This will include a brief analysis of the rhetoric as it pertains to the master narratives that constitute the "truth" of contemporary culture.
The title of this film brings to mind the typical Foucauldian view of modern rhetoric. As Foucault asserts, "we must call into question our will to truth, restore to discourse its character as an event, and finally throw off the sovereignty of the signifier" (qtd. in Foucault, Derrida, Women's Speaking Justified). As Derrida also asserts, postmodern discourse regards a logical and one-directional relationship between the signifier and the signified as extremely problematic. This relationship is central to the post-structural and postmodern debate about language, but is equally applicable to other forms of modern discourse such as cinema. This dislocation of the expected relationship between signifier and signified opens up a vast liminal area of critique in modern rhetoric. As will be discussed, truth is never simple but is tantalizingly complex, and the postmodern analysis of modern forms of discourse and representation reveals certain fissures and areas of contention in what would otherwise be accepted as culturally normative.
Truth, Power, and the Foucauldian Framework
The above must also be related to the views put forward by Foucault, who argues that intellectuals often serve as "agents" upholding the status quo and preserving the "regime" of truth in society (Hendricks). Foucault suggests that this creates "a system whereby '[t]ruth' is linked in a circular relation with systems of power which produce and sustain it, and to effects of power which it induces and which extend it" (Hendricks). A central aspect forming the fulcrum of this discussion is Foucault's assertion that there is no absolute truth. Rather, truth is created through power systems and their relations within society — in essence, truth is relative to the dominant perceptions that prevail in a given culture.
Works Cited
An Inconvenient Truth. Directed by Davis Guggenheim, Paramount Classics, 2006.
Foucault, Derrida, Women's Speaking Justified and Modelling Legal Argument (Book Review). 26 January 2010. <
Hendricks, C. "Foucault's Prophecy: The Intellectual as Exile." 2005. 28 January 2010. <http://www.manitowoc.uwc.edu/staff/awhite/christ00.htm>
Murray, R. and Heumann, J. "Seeing is Believing: Information Visualization and the Debate over Global Warming." 2007. 27 January 2010. <
Womack, D. "Al Gore's An Inconvenient Truth and its Skeptics: A Case of Environmental Nostalgia." 28 January 2010. <http://www.adobe.com/designcenter/thinktank/womack.html>
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