Comparing the Film Elephant, and the Columbine Massacre
Analysis
The film Elephant, by Gus Van Sant is often compared to the events of the Columbine Massacre, however not directed connected, Van Sant has admitted it to be the topic behind it. Watching this as though it was a depiction of the event, I did not feel that it acted as a recount. I would compare the film to a badly plagiarized essay, all the details were correct, but some main points were nowhere to be found. I would also think that this movie was trying to stir up some more controversy over the event than was there, and the end almost showed a favour of one of the killers by the writer. Some parts of the film were done quite well since it was supposed to be a fairly realistic movie. Elephant was not badly done, only in the sense of what it’s supposed to relate to.
This film could easily be seen as the biggest coincidence. Despite different names, locations, and circumstance there were tiny details that were kept to a T. In Elephant, the subtly, but still notify you of dates and times, the boys arrive to the school around 11 in both the movie, and in the actual event. They also show the clocks several times during the shootings, and just as the true events they end with the spree around 12:10. In the film they also have a moment when they’re going over all the final plans and making sure everything is ready, during this they list all the guns that each other will have with them. The guns they list are the same as the guns they had for the actually massacre, minus a few that were added for dramatic influence. A really heart warming part of the movie to me was when Alex and Eric first walked up to the school and ran into John. When he asked what they were doing Alex replied “just leave, stuff’s going down” as a warning to save John’s live. However, later when I did some deeper research, it turns out that before Dylan and Eric began to enter the school they ran into a long time acquaintance, Brooks Brown, and also warned him to leave, as to save him. One
The film Elephant, by Gus Van Sant is often compared to the events of the Columbine Massacre, however not directed connected, Van Sant has admitted it to be the topic behind it. Watching this as though it was a depiction of the event, I did not feel that it acted as a recount. I would compare the film to a badly plagiarized essay, all the details were correct, but some main points were nowhere to be found. I would also think that this movie was trying to stir up some more controversy over the event than was there, and the end almost showed a favour of one of the killers by the writer. Some parts of the film were done quite well since it was supposed to be a fairly realistic movie. Elephant was not badly done, only in the sense of what it’s supposed to relate to.
This film could easily be seen as the biggest coincidence. Despite different names, locations, and circumstance there were tiny details that were kept to a T. In Elephant, the subtly, but still notify you of dates and times, the boys arrive to the school around 11 in both the movie, and in the actual event. They also show the clocks several times during the shootings, and just as the true events they end with the spree around 12:10. In the film they also have a moment when they’re going over all the final plans and making sure everything is ready, during this they list all the guns that each other will have with them. The guns they list are the same as the guns they had for the actually massacre, minus a few that were added for dramatic influence. A really heart warming part of the movie to me was when Alex and Eric first walked up to the school and ran into John. When he asked what they were doing Alex replied “just leave, stuff’s going down” as a warning to save John’s live. However, later when I did some deeper research, it turns out that before Dylan and Eric began to enter the school they ran into a long time acquaintance, Brooks Brown, and also warned him to leave, as to save him. One