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 This archival footage implies that the NRA is outdated and the inclusion is therefore seen as another form of irony or social satire.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…
In particular, even though I appreciate that real people and events were used in this film, not all of the sources were credible especially one family in particular. One family did not want to talk to the media about their water being able to be lit on fire and when Josh Fox wanted to interview them they let him in but would not let him tape their faces and did not share much information with him initially. They later called him back and said money is not worth it and that their health is more important so he was given a sample of their water in a jar to find out what was in the water. Another instance that seemed odd was when Josh Fox was asked by an individual he was interviewing if he had a message he was trying to get across with his film and he did not give an answer to the gentleman he just said “um.” Actual government representation was not present in the documentary to point out what they may or may not be doing wrong with the issue of hydraulic fracking.…
When faced with the task of making changes, referencing individuals in history becomes the norm. The individuals that banded together against injustices for the betterment of others, the individuals who were opposed and wanted nothing more than to see them extinguished and most importantly, the individuals who lost their lives in the fight and are immortalized as the ones who could do no wrong. History is littered with these perfect victims, the ones that evoke sympathy from their studiers. The ones that have somehow crossed from being remembered to being innocent. By honoring their memory, we, as witnesses of their legacy, are somehow absolved of any wrongdoing because its right to empathize with these people. Unfortunately, with documentaries…
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.…
“Documentary: 1968” covered all the usual events of that year, protests over the Vietnam War, the assassinations of Robert Kennedy and Martin Luther King, the race riots, women’s lib, black power, hippies and drugs. This documentary was a little different in that it was more of a personal take on the events as Tom Brokaw was already working as a reporter at that time and these were his personal recollections. Also, he interspersed many interviews with contemporaries of the present year, 2007, and asked them to look back and interpret events of that year.…
A teacher-backed group called the Grassroots Education Movement produced a rebuttal film titled, The Inconvenient Truth Behind Waiting for “Superman”. The film by Real Reform Studios refutes the claims in Waiting for “Superman”. This film also criticizes some public figures featured in Waiting for "Superman" and proposes different policies to improve education in the United States (Resmovits, 1).…
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…
The idea of a documentary being an artistic or even personalised expression of a director is long gone, or so it seems in recent times. In Michael Moore’s latest documentary, Bowling for Columbine, he attempts to get across to viewers his, and essentially only his point of view, on the topic of gun laws. Although what Moore is trying to say is not necessarily wrong, he is at the same time not taking into account the other side of the argument either; all he is trying to do, essentially is hypnotise viewers into thinking his way of thinking is the only way of thinking. In his documentary, it seems that all other arguments are simply invalid.…
The first image of ‘Bowling for Columbine’ is from a film promoting the National Rifle Association. A man dressed in an Army uniform says, “The National Rifle Association has produced a film which you are sure to find of great interest. Let’s look at it.” Then Michael Moore starts to talk, against images of people at work in America. It sounds like a “typical morning in America” spiel, but one of the images shows bombed out buildings as Moore says, “and the President bombed another country whose name we couldn’t pronounce,” and then he refers to “the little town in Colorado two boys went bowling at six in the morning”, it cuts to the bowling and then to a cute chick in a swimsuit as she holds up an M-16. Dissolve to the Statue of Liberty. Moore’s voice-over: “It was a typical day in the United States of America”.…
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…
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.…
Throughout the documentary, the overall theme of violence is displayed and indirectly spoken about. The director employs her theme through multiple close ups and wide angle shots of memorial posters and flyers of the men who were killed by the drug war, recording sounds from radio and television news broadcasters talking about how the war…
The documentary “Bowling for Columbine” is an award-winning documentary directed by well-known filmmaker Michael Moore. The film won an Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature, as well as an Independent Spirit Award, a Cesar Award and many others. This bold movie criticizes America’s large number of gun related deaths annually compared to other countries around the world. He discusses why America seems to have such a problem with violence and how it has led to tragedy’s involving firearms like the imfamous shooting at Columbine high school in Columbine, Colorado. Since the Columbine shooting in 1999 there have been other school shootings that seem to closely resemble it, such as the 2007 Virginia Tech shooting and the recent 2012 Sandy Hook…
In this latest installment in his continuing series of what’s wrong with America, Michael Moore takes aim at his biggest target to date, and the result is a disaster. The documentary is not nearly as funny as his previous films, the music selections seem contrived and flat, and the edits and transitions are clumsy, wooden, and not nearly as effective as what we’ve come to expect from the premiere documentarian (Ken Burns notwithstanding) of our time. And, most importantly, the film’s central thesis is so bad that it’s not even wrong.…
According to this documentary, Michael Moore examines a range of social issues with different countries and trying to come up with a solution to deal with these issues.…