Bowling for Columbine: A Narrow View of a Complicated Story
The Biased viewpoint of Michael Moore tears viewers away from the actual problem, and perhaps even the film’s intended message itself…
Alexi Heazle
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
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Many examples of Moore using incorrect information can be seen throughout the film. When he puts emphasis on the arrogance of the gun rally which was held eleven days after the shootings, to the ‘naked’ eye, it may seem that the act, was indeed ignorant and immoral, but this portrayal is not actually factual. The truth is that: The Denver event was not an act related to Columbine, but an yearly gathering, whose date and place had been set years in advance. At Denver, the NRA called off all events (normally several days of committee meetings, sporting events, dinners, and assemblies) save the annual members' voting meeting - that could not be cancelled as the state law governing non-profits made it mandatory that it be held. (There was no way to change the place, since under NY law you must give 10 days' advance notice of that to the members, there were more than 4,000,000 members - and Columbine occurred 11 days prior to the scheduled meeting).
This is just one of the numerous misconceptions portrayed. When this film won the Oscar for best documentary, it was not actually supposed to have been able to win – in general terms, a documentary is a non-fiction movie. Although it met the criteria of being a movie, it was most certainly not non-fiction. Another example is when Heston's "cold dead hands" speech, which leads off Moore's idea of the Denver meeting, did not
To begin, Moore struggles to appeal to ethos successfully due to his manipulative methods that raises the audience's skepticism in his credibility, despite using many strong sources such as his reputation, experience, and the values of other experts in a desperate attempt to gain the audience’s trust. Throughout the documentary, Moore is able to tactfully utilize his renowned reputation as a filmmaker to ensure that his audience will believe everything that he presents. By dressing like an “average Joe” and showing his own hometown of Flint, Michigan, a “gun-loving town”, Moore is able to portray himself as the average American citizen who just wants facts and answers from the people. This is successfully used in the film as Moore seems more reliable to the audience, and makes his interviewees feel equal to Moore. Moreover, Moore also interviews many credible people who are able to back
In the movie Bowling for Columbine, directed by Michael Moore, you see Moore talking to many people on why the Columbine shooting happened. He looks for clues on what could have caused this and how easily it may have been avoided.
Documentaries are produced in such a way that positions the audience to accept a version of reality. As Tim Hetherington, a British photojournalist once said, “You can construct whatever story you want to. Documentaries are constructions, as is all journalism.” In Fahrenheit 9/11 specifically, viewers are presented with a critical analysis of the political agenda surrounding America’s decision to wage war on Iraq. Directed by American political commentator and filmmaker Michael Moore and released in mid-2004, the documentary’s central premise is that US President George Bush is, and has been from the start of his term, unfit for office and does not act in interests of the American public. Moore presents the idea that President Bush, as a result
He focuses on the problems his hometown of Flint, Michigan faces after their plant shuts down, leaving the majority of the town without jobs. Following the release of his first film, he set free another documentary in 2002 called, Bowling for Columbine. In this film he examines the gun culture in the United States. He focuses greatly on the shooting held in Littleton, Colorado at Columbine High School and why the two killers performed the terrible act that they did. Both films were slightly different than most documentaries you often watch because he does not remain objective throughout the film. Instead, Moore uses his films to speak passionately about a particular subject. They both were very influential because Moore used tactics that solidified his opinions and arguments. Moore presents information that is impactful and startling. He puts forward many examples that make his viewers elicit the response he wants and in the end makes them agree with his opinions.
Michael Moore’s documentary has a very clear point to make. Moore will persist in asking until he gets the answer he must sense is waiting for him. For example, when he is talking to a friend of the columbine shooter, he continues asking him about why the school would have thought that he would have been likely to create violence. He asks 3 or four times to make sure that he gets the answer he is looking for. Michael Moore allows his subjects to speak, but he is the one forming the questions. Similarly, he chooses what will be shown and in what order so as to create associations and meaning from the raw images as
A documentary is a genre of film that provides a factual report on a particular story, viewpoint, message or experience. In this essay, two documentaries, Bowling for columbine by Michael Moore and Made in Bangladesh by CBC news will be explored to show how persuasive techniques are used to make an audience feel a particular way.
Bowling for Columbine is a documentary directed by American filmmaker and activist, Michael Moore. The political documentary focuses on the 1999 school shootings that occurred in Columbine, Colorado, and Flint, Michigan and the correlation of guns to the high homicide rates in America. Moore argues that the number one problem the United States faces is gun control. Moore effectively uses ethos, pathos, and logos appeals to present an unbiased and informational view of the issue of gun violence in America. He also uses the fallacious argumentative strategy, ad hominem. Moore does not put his own direct bias into the film, he instead shows both sides of the argument to allow the viewer to decide for themselves which side they are on.
In the film, Bowling for Columbine, the director Michael Moore takes an extent look at what could have made these teenagers to do such a thing. He doesn’t just look at the terrible event at Columbine High School, but also at the NRA's effects on people, the 2nd amendment, other school shootings, and how the United States compared to other countries gun-control explanations such as Canada. Michael Moore looks as a sociologist would such as C. Wright Mills in which he explores the outside factors of the individuals, but how the personal troubles of the two teenagers involved are related to immense conditions of our society. He doesn’t look at the intellectual make up of each person who creates a crime, but instead looks at how our society as a whole views guns and their uses.
Michael Moore tries to bring some extremely imperative points and the closer view of American culture and to some degree succeeds. In order to achieve this, Moore utilizes particular references to it and utilizes rhetorical and convincing devices to develop his contention for changing weapon laws; thus, one unmistakable expository request he utilizes as a part of the film is, besides the recurrent pathos, ethos. In any case, by controlling distinctive things and misleading the viewer in this film make it disputable to completely concur with what he needs to say. The presentation of Bowling is a purported footage from a NRA film, declaring that the viewer is going to see a National Rifle Association film. Clearly, Bowling is not a NRA film,
The point of Bowling for Columbine isn’t to be biased as Michael Moore would want you to believe, no, the point is that Bowling is purposefully, and consistently deceptive. After the tragic shooting at Columbine, the documentary shows haunting vision of distraught children outside of the school, then, cuts quickly to a billboard advertising a NRA meeting in Littleton, Denver. Moore then narrates “Just ten days after the Columbine killings, despite the pleas of the mourning community,
The Columbine Shooting has solidified itself as a tragic event in America’s past, and was a real wake-up call to the nation’s age-old gun problem. Michael Moore looks into this issue and decides it provides a great premise for his next documentary, his next crusade to flush out the evils of this world. The problem is, Bowling for Columbine is far from the truth; it is rather a distorted representation of reality, carefully sequenced to push Michael Moore’s agenda. If we look past the film techniques, conspiracy theories,
The obvious bias illustrated throughout Michael Moore’s film certainly does detract from the messages conveyed however when presented in the right circumstances it adds more value to the messages. The obvious bias leaves many people questioning the credibility of the director’s message as it doesn’t show the full spectrum of the situation, which is what documentaries are for, and ultimately this detracts the films message. However, in some circumstances the obvious bias brings more light on important aspects which should be acted upon thus adding more value the message being portrayed. Michael Moore has directed over 12 documentaries and a handful of them have been awarded with prestigious film awards. “Where to invade next”, “Sicko”, “Bowling for Columbine”, “Capitalism: a love story” and “Fahrenheit 9/11”, these are just half of the documentaries in which Michael Moore has directed. The purpose of a documentary is to present a nonfictional motion picture which aims to promote or
Documentary films in particular have been the preferred channel for the diffusion of propaganda because of its association with ‘a truthful cinema.’ John Grierson, coiner the term documentary, defined it as “the creative treatment of actuality.” However, Hilmar Hoffman talks about film’s illusory power by explaining that what exists to the viewer is only what the camera ‘sees,’ and due to the absence of alternate perspectives, the viewer conventionally perceives the images shown as reality. In this regard, documentary films are able to influence, represent, and create a particular consciousness by doctoring events, thus making it untrustworthy and, ultimately, the ideal medium to communicate
Bowling For Columbine is a well-directed documentary that informs people about gun violence in America. Michael Moore is successful in showing that America has been going through many gun tragedies; and portrays the sense that America’s problems are out of control. He conveys this through informative facts, images, and comparisons.
Michael Moore is a wonderful director but, I honestly don’t think he deserve this award for Best Documentary Feature Film Because during his documentary he chose two random interview that so ever had no significance to each other. Moore takes seven different sentences from five different parts of Heston’s speech and splices them together to create one speech. Not to mention the infamous line “from my cold, dead hands.” This line was actually taken from a speech a year later when Heston was presented with a hand made musket, One of those scenes was Charles Heston holding a gun wearing a different type of tie with a different color at the rally conference.