For this week\'s response paper, you may rely less on the reading assignment and

Question

For this week's response paper, you may rely less on the reading assignment and more on the viewing assignment. View a feature-length documentary of your choosing. After viewing, write a short review on the film focusing on the depiction of "truth" in the documentary. Example - did the director give all sides to the topic/story? Was the message persuasive and effective? Was the editing manipulative to the audience? Was your opinion/thoughts about the topic changed as you watched? What elements of film form are evident in the film? Be very detailed in your supporting evidence for arguing the documentary as a reliable, ethical depiction of reality Feature length documentaries should be at least 75 minutes long, and not created for television. Many are found instantly streaming on Netflix if you search the documentary category. Quality documentaries are streaming on Kanopy, linked through the Hege Library (search A-Z databases). If you need help choosing a title or unsure about the eligibility of a documentary, please contact me. Eile Unload Google Doc Atomic Learning LTI Google DriveOffice 365 Upload a file. or choose a fle you've already uploaded. File: Choose File No file chosen + Add Another File

Explanation / Answer

Introduction / Review

The documentary that i watched is called Betting On Zero, directed by Ted Braun. Its about an activist investor Bill Ackman and his role in exposing a multi level marketing scheme called Herbal Life. The company was publicly listed and Bill Ackman took up a short position betting that the company's Stock would plummet and that investors would force the firm to restructure its business model post the stock dump.

Yes the director gave all sides of the story

while the director did give screen time to former Herbal Life CEO and its major Hedge Fund Backers. it did not give them as much screen time as Bill Ackman. The primary reason being that this documentary was about Bill Ackman more than Herbal Life. The documentary not only questions the intentions of Herbal Life but it also questions the ethics of Activist Investors. Since they're betting against the company they're naturally prone to be biased. In order to counter this Bill Ackman said that he would donate all his proceeds after expenses and taxes to a fund for the people who lost their money through herbal life.

Yes the Message was persuasive and effective

The film exposed un regulated crony capitalism at its finest. This was the next biggest documentary after the documentary on Enron called Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room. It showed how herbal life dodged regulation after regulation and found loop holes in the SEC policies and continued to operate through third party promoters and distributors. The film also exposes how hedge funds bet for or against companies. For EG Carl Ichan took a long position on Herbal Life since he know Bill Ackman was over invested in his short position, in order to hurt Bill Ackman's reputational and financial interests.

No the editing was not manipulative to the audience, the time line and context were accurate.

No my opinion did not change as i watch the documentary since i was well aware of the scenario well before i watched the documentary. My opinion was that Herbal Life. Multi Level Marketing Schemes were wrong and that Bill Ackman was right .

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