film

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Professor David Goldstein

BIS 347 A

21 January 2018

Scene Analysis

Michael Moore’s documentary, Where to Invade Next, is a travel documentary in which

Moore visits different countries in order to experience certain aspects of each country’s

economic/social policies. Where to Invade Next offers many scenes that showcase the differences

between US policy and the policy of the countries that Moore visits. In this paper, I will be

analyzing a particular scene which shows Moore talking to a French teacher who is in the middle

of a lecture on sexual education. Through my analysis, I will explain how Moore uses editing—

specifically video clip splicing— to argue that American schools’ sexual education programs,

which promote abstinence, are a defective form of sexual education.

The scene I will analyze begins with Moore asking the French teacher about abstinence

as a form of contraception. The camera zooms in on the teacher as she answers, then switches

focus to capture the reaction of one student in particular, and finally zooms out to capture the

class reaction as a whole. The teacher answers that abstinence is “too risky” as a form of

contraception, to which Moore sarcastically asks (as a narration, non-diegetic sound) “too risky?

What does she mean by that?” Instead of answering the question directly, Moore shows a collage

of video clips spliced from news reports. These clips show news presenters commentating on

different cases of STD outbreaks in American high schools. The main film making technique

used in this scene is editing. The sound and sights come from the original medium (television)

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that these clips were filmed and presented in. When the clips begin, the first one is given about 5

seconds to play out. As the scene goes on, the editing of each clip becomes faster, and each clip

is given less time to play out. The scene eventually turns into clips of only one or two words

being played rapidly, as the shot changes with each clip. The sounds from the clips play a big

role in proving Moore’s point since the news presenters’ voices change with each clip, but what

each different news presenter is saying is more or less the same – something about some sort of

STD outbreak. The editing done to rapidly splice these clips together and the audio barely

changing with each clip give the viewer a sense of how common these sorts of stories are, which

helps prove the point that Moore is trying to make about the dangers of abstinence programs.

After the collage of news report clips, Moore shows a longer clip of an interview done with Rick

Perry, the former governor of Texas, who is answering questions on the topic of abstinence. An

interviewer is asking the former governor why schools in Texas continue with abstinence

education programs, mentioning that teen pregnancy rates in Texas are among the top 3 highest

in the United States. The former governor keeps saying that abstinence is effective, without

providing any evidence/reasoning.

After the video clips playout, the camera changes back to Moore and the French teacher

briefly, before showing a graphical animation about teen pregnancy rates. As Moore narrates in

the background, the animation helps the viewer visualize what Moore is saying by presenting an

interactive graph which is comparing the USA’s pregnancy rates with other countries. Again

here, editing is used to help Moore prove his point. The graphic shows a horizontal bar which

grows in length depending on the teen pregnancy rates for each country. The bar used for the

USA is red, which contrasts with the black background and the white bars used for other

countries, and draws the viewers’ attention. Along with Moore’s narration an upbeat

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instrumental is playing in the background, which matches Moore’s humorous tone throughout

the documentary. Although Moore does not answer his own question about the risks of

abstinence programs directly (verbally), the editing done to splice the news clips and show the

interactive graph prove the point that he’s making with this scene: the abstinence programs in

American schools are a defective form of sexual education.

The splicing of modern or historic video clips into certain parts of the documentary is

very effective in showing the contrast between the USA and the current country in the scene.

Moore uses this technique not only in my scene, but all throughout the documentary. The spliced

video clips are often accompanied by a total mood change, i.e. in some scenes the music will

change dramatically, often times to something less up-beat, as do the visuals, which may show

sensitive material in contrast to the relatively peaceful on-site footage that Moore films. This

filmmaking technique is used to highlight the difference between American and French sexual

education programs in the scene that I chose. Moore’s use of spliced news clip reports is an

effective way of exposing the flawed nature of the abstinence programs used in American

education. Another film making technique that stood out to me is the use of humor in Moore’s

narration. Although this technique is not directly used in my scene, I still think it is worth

mentioning as it set the tone for a lot of scenes in the documentary. I believe the humor is used as

somewhat of a “comic relief” since a lot of these topics are “heavy”, and show the more

vulnerable/flawed parts of America. I think that the humor made a lot of this information easier

to consume, especially since many aspects of American life were shown in a negative way.

Additionally, the lack of humor in some scenes provides contrast in mood and communicates the

author’s tone towards the given scene/topic.