Preview

Bowling For Columbine Essay

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
977 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Bowling For Columbine Essay
Michael Moore's documentary, 'Bowling for Columbine', highlights the devastating state of gun violence within the United States. He also examines the events leading up to the tragic events that occurred at the massacre at Columbine High School as well as the impacts this had on society. The film was released October 11th, 2002 and was met with both critical and commercial success. It is now considered to be one of the best documentaries to ever be created, according to The Guardian.
The premise of this film is to uncover the reasoning behind America's huge issue with gun violence and how this has contributed to the Columbine High School shooting. It also aims to question the motives of the two perpetrators and discover what is really to blame for this devastating event that accounted for the death of fifteen people and the injuries of more than twenty others. Moore's techniques into uncovering and delivering information include interviews, statistics, the juxtaposition of information during montages and in specific the use of irony and sarcasm during narration which creates an odd mixture of humour and tragedy throughout the film.
Moore's commentary heavily focuses on the use of irony and sarcasm. In this film,
…show more content…
Using statistics proves the validity of the points being made and offers evidence as to why certain topics are issues that must be addressed. For example, during 'Bowling for Columbine' shares the scary statistics of the rates of gun violence from country to country, showing that the United States is unusually high for a developed country. This helps prove the fact that America is more trigger-happy than any other nation. It also shows us that there is no real reason as to why America needs these guns, if every other country is able to function with much stricter gun laws than why can't the USA? It contributes to the idea of pro-gun opinions being dangerous and highly

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    Bowling For Columbine starts with archival footage of the National Rifle Association. It is included to imply that the film is endorsed by the NRA but as the footage is in black and white, compared to the rest of the film it seems that Moore has already begun positioning us. This archival footage implies that the NRA is outdated and the inclusion is therefore seen as another form of irony or social satire. A short sequence then plays with Moore narrating, showing milkmen, farmers doing their everyday rituals, children going to school and “the president bombing another country whose name we couldn't pronounce” This ironic understatement juxtaposes with the mundane routines established before and after the statement. By presenting this in such…

    • 287 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Klebold Vs Harris

    • 129 Words
    • 1 Page

    Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold murdered their classmates and teacher at Columbine High School on April 20, 1999. (Cullen“The Depressive and Psychopath”). Harris and Klebold have planned for a year about what they wereare going to do. They wanted to do the shooting on the same day as the Oklahoma City bombing (“Columbine High School Shooting”). Their hatred led them to seek revenge on the people at the school whomthat they both hated. In Harris’s journal, his opening sentence was “I hate the f---ing world” (Cullen“The Depressive and Psychopath”). In theirthere massacre they targetedaimed towards athletes but, when bombs went off they would gun down any and everything fleeing the school. It was just as much of a bombing as it was a shooting (“The…

    • 129 Words
    • 1 Page
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Have you ever really loved a sport, game, or activity so much that you would do anything to succeed? Well this amazing chess team from I.S. 318 did the impossible and won nationals. While having to face many challenges along the way. A school from Brooklyn, NY has a great chess team, but is experiencing money loss. Which can put the team in danger. Many of these student don’t have a lot in there personal lives, so chess can give them many new opportunities in having a better life.…

    • 408 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    This movie goes into deep investigation on the causes of mass shootings, particularly the Columbine incident. It goes over gun laws, guns in America and other countries, and possible causes for shootings. This movie is a professional documentary film which interviews several known people, such as Matt Stone, Charlton Heston, and Marilyn Monroe. This film is unbiased and has a lot of different pieces of evidence and views on gun laws, making it a reliable source for my…

    • 497 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    In the “Zero Hour Columbine” video, the behaviors of Erik Harris and Dylan Klebold are driven or understood through three different perspectives, Psychodynamic, Behavioral, and the Cognitive perspective. Each perspective has terms that help explain the reaction and actions of the two murderous teens. These perspectives allow us to get into the minds of these two boys to try and understand them, so this event doesn’t happen again.…

    • 585 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    Two documentaries that use two different styles of portraying bombings are 4 Little Girls and Bowling for Columbine.4 Little Girls by Spike Lee is a documentary on the 1963 Birmingham bombing of the Sixteenth Street Baptist Church. This bombing is infamous for the killing of 4 innocent little black girls. Spike Lee uses his style to portray the feelings of the families of these girls as well as influential leaders during this time. Bowling for Columbine by Michael Moore is also a documentary about the killing of innocent people, but Moore uses a different style. Moore describes reasons for violence in America rather than getting personal with people in which the bombing affected. These two different styles are both documentaries, yet they are just presented to an audience in two different ways. A documentary is a source of information for citizens about certain events that are portrayed through film. These views of the events are bias towards one side of the issue. Even though the events are bias they use true footage, not necessarily fact, in order to make sure that the viewers have a reason to believe their…

    • 1159 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    The use of satire used by Michael Moore in his docudrama “Bowling for Columbine” helps the audience engage on the concept of tackling serious issues like the Columbine massacre and the influences to enlighten or mirror the feelings of how and what society has on the thoughts of a particular environment. Moore uses a variety of technique, ranging from exaggeration, irony, parody and juxtaposition to reveal various answers to questions raised by the society involving the use of guns and to represent its concerns.…

    • 459 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Even looking at this murder issue through the lens mentioned earlier regarding taking the population gap and gun possession gap into consideration, the fear is a major influence in the paranoia surrounding ‘the land of opportunity’ regarding the murders, if not a factor in the gun murders themselves. The author of the ‘Culture of Fear’ says as much in the documentary when talking about his favourite statistic: “In all the research I did, discovered that the murder rate had gone down by 20%. The coverage – that is, how many murders are on the evening news – it went up by 600%.” The marketing strategy conveyed, “keep everyone afraid, and they’ll consume”, was mentioned by Marilyn Manson in his interview with Moore regarding the blame media companies and experts pinned on him. During this interview, Manson says “The president was shooting bombs overseas, yet I’m a bad guy because I, well I sing some rock and roll songs, but who’s a bigger influence, the president or Marilyn Manson?”. The argument is quite difficult to argue against and makes the audience agree with Manson’s point of view. Manson also says that “in the end, I’m a poster boy for fear”, implying the media found a scapegoat in him because it best suited their interests. Moore’s discrediting of the fear tactic is effective because it shows the funny side and presents well-chosen interviews to best suit his interests. By using a news segment of Killer Bees coming to ‘the New World’, the absurdity of the media and the extent to which Americans are pumped full of fear is highlighted. Yet despite raising issues about the fear tactic used widely by the US media, ‘Bowling for Columbine’ ends its screen time without giving a solution to the mess highlighted. Moore attributes the difference between American and Canadian gun murder rates to the fear tactic used by the US media, a very compelling result at first until the…

    • 1801 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    The lives of many were to change on the day of April 20th, 1999, at Columbine High School. With the death of twelve students and one teacher, it was to be the deadliest mass murder committed on an American high school campus. The massacre, committed by senior students Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold, sparked debate over gun control laws; whether the availability of guns across the United States, especially to young people such as these, was socially acceptable. This event is what sparked Moore to create his documentary, ‘Bowling for Columbine’.…

    • 767 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Bowling for Columbine

    • 1334 Words
    • 6 Pages

    I’m here to talk about Michael Moore’s film ‘Bowling for Columbine’ and some of the techniques that are used in the film. Michael Moore uses persuasive film techniques to position the audience to accept his version of the truth. Some of the techniques used by Michael Moore to position the audience are editing, sequencing and music. He uses them by editing parts of the film to marginalize the NRA and gun owners. He sequences the film into a certain position to make the movie more effective and uses music to position the audience to feel a certain way.…

    • 1334 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Columbine High School while the audio consists of a intertwined variety of voices for example parents, reporters, teachers in the school, and 911 operators. A documentary technique that Moore uses is found material which is used to convey fear and the horrors that occurred in the Columbine massacre. Moore extensively uses footage from the…

    • 147 Words
    • 1 Page
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Hey you think Dylan’s and Eric’s parents go in jail for what the kids did? The columbine shooting happened at the high school where they all went to school. The parents of the two boys should go to jail because they did nothing to stop them.…

    • 262 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    It was Tuesday, April 20, 1999. It was an exciting day for me in the fourth grade when I turned 9 years old. However, the people of Littleton, Colorado remember that day as something more and definitely less exciting than my birthday was. On April 20, 1999 Littleton Colorado experienced what we now know as the Columbine Massacre. Two seniors at Columbine High School, Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold completed this act killing 12 students, 1 teacher, and injured 21 others before committing suicide. Why would anyone want to commit such a horrific crime? Today I am going to talk to you about the boys and their preparations, the massacre itself, and the aftermath.…

    • 1006 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    Viewing this film for the first time, I learned how appalling gun violence is in the United States. I had no idea how simple it was to purchase a gun. I also learned about how the U.S. trained Osama Bin Laden and all the weapons that we gave to other countries that we are not fighting against. I also learned about reasons why people think the Columbine shootings occurred. The film presents some theories about gun violence but does not give us an answer. In my opinion, I feel the film was meant to…

    • 776 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    LaPierre Gun Control

    • 2163 Words
    • 6 Pages

    PATHOS: In the transcript of the “Newton Shooting “speech LaPierre utilizes the rhetorical strategy of pathos EXPLAIN PATHOS by relating his speech to his audience by speaking of the “most beloved, innocent and vulnerable members of the American family—our children who are being left utterly defenseless”(65). In hopes of hitting…

    • 2163 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Powerful Essays