Minimalism, a newly developed way of living that focuses on living life in the most simplistic way possible. This means no extra materialistic goods like unnecessary clothes and multiple cars. Instead, minimalists prefer to spend their time with loved ones and only purchase things that add value to their life. In “Minimalism: A Documentary About the Important Things”, Joshua Fields Millburn & Ryan Nicodemus use the rhetorical appeal of pathos to connects with their audience on a personal, emotional level. Joshua explains how before he became a minimalist, he was working his way up the corporate ladder. As a businessman, he was always preoccupied with work and spent little time with his mother, who became an alcoholic when he was just a child. Although that in itself sparks pity and compassion for Joshua, he doesn’t stop there. He continues to build this emotion connection by further explaining how one day he received a call from his mother, which he didn’t answer at first. Eventually she leaves several voicemails and when Joshua calls his mother back she sadly reveals that she has stage four lung cancer. His mother passed away shortly after and the one thing Joshua wished he did was spend more time with her instead of being caught up in this world of constantly wanting more. This tear jerking story is what further connects the audience to Joshua and makes them realize that he may have a point. Pathos is also employed when Ryan explains how he grew up in a household with a drug dealing mother who was addicted to crack. The explicit details he chooses to include such as the SWAT team busting through their home when him and his siblings were young children serves to shock the audience emotionally and feel bad for Ryan. He then explains how living through that type of childhood is what motivated him to pursue a profession that guaranteed success. He eventually became so tied into buying more things to make him happy and spending his trying to live a “better” lifestyle that he was blinded by the fact that none of that really mattered. None of the things he purchased made him feel happy. When he became a minimalist however, his life completely shifted in a very positive direction. He became much less stressed and for the first time, he was actually happy in life.
This documentary also uses the rhetorical appeal of logos to convince the audience that minimalism is a way to make their lives a lot less stressful and cluttered. There are numerous clips of a neuroscientist explaining how humans by nature crave more. Humans are never satisfied with what they have in the run. In other words, human beings are always seeking to improve our lives somehow. This provides a logical explanation of why we act the way we do with factual information and studies. By including this in the documentary, the audience gains a further understand of the real reason we want to shop until we drop and begin to reconsider the possibility of living a more minimalist lifestyle.
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