...Review Bowling for Columbine: -by Kasper Jørgensen Rating: Michael Moore’s documentary “Bowling for Columbine” is inspired by the school massacre at Columbine High School back in 1999. The film explores what Michael Moore suggests could be the reasons behind such a tragedy. An early scene of the movie shows how Michael Moore gets his hands on a hunting rifle, simply by opening a bank account (!) Just before leaving the bank, Moore asks, "Don’t you think it's a little dangerous handing out guns at a bank?" A clear indication of his point of view, so early in the documentary. Michael Moore uses several effects to affect us, the whole setup of the movie is so messy and cleverly cut, that you have to be a true-blood American and blissfully unaware about things around you, not to feel that he has a point with this documentary. He uses the shock effect many times, best illustrated by the video montage of some of the awful American foreign policy decisions. Along with this montage of video footage, the song: What a Wonderful World” by Louis Armstrong is playing, which of course is ironic as hell. His strongest argument for all the gun violence in the U.S.A. is the fear that gets thrown at the Americans, throughout their entire lives, all broadcasted by the media. He also shows the American history, through a hilarious animated movie, with a bullet as the narrator. All in all, if you want a good laugh, try to understand other countries mentality or just want some possible...
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...Rhetorical Analysis Michael Moore’s documentary “Bowling for Columbine,” was an eye opening look at violence and the causes of it in America. Before watching this film I was already aware that there is a problem in America when it comes to gun related violence and watching it helped to reiterate this fact to me. However, because of the overall confrontational style of this film and all of the facetious undertones implied by Michael Moore, the message it carries with it could have more of a negative than positive effect on the viewer, as it did on me. To start, I would like to focus on what was positive about the film. As a whole, the film focused most on connecting with the audience on an emotional level, the “Pathos” side of things. The most heart-wrenching and pitiful examples are the interviews of victims and those most personally affected by each gun related tragedy. The level of emotion expressed by each victim was enough to make any viewer feel a lump grow in his throat, the most poignant include a realtor choking on his words mid- sentence at the very mention of the Columbine Shooting (:23), live footage of children running and screaming in a cafeteria while listening to distressed 911 calls (:30-:32), and interviews with individuals and victims involved with each of the tragic events focused on, one being the Columbine shooting (:34), the other being the incident in Flint involving the death of a six year old girl (1:23-1:25). Every one of these interviews included...
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...Capitalism: A Love Story includes all the above. Even those who count themselves hostile to Moore (and they are legion) would admit he has the courage to tackle big subjects. After railing against America’s gun laws, its healthcare system and the Iraq war, Moore now zeroes in on the capitalist system itself. It’s an unwieldy subject and, predictably, it’s a mixed bag: on the one hand, Moore effectively tells small-scale stories illustrating how the rich and powerful screw the little people, while also indulging in windy, sentimental generalising. Thus he offers poignant scenes of decent people having their homes re-possessed by banks (shockingly, we learn there’s a foreclosure on an American home every seven and a half seconds). He reveals the appalling details of the squalid “dead peasants” insurance scheme, under which large corporations receive sizeable insurance payouts whenever one of their employees dies. And he talks to airline pilots so badly paid that they qualify for food stamps. Yet Moore stumbles in analysing the big picture. He dutifully points his finger at his bad guys: Reagan, Dubya, Alan Greenspan, and, of course, Goldman Sachs and Wall Street. Yet it’s unclear what his remedy would be. He toys with the word “socialism” without quite endorsing it, settling instead for a more woolly option: “democracy”. He seems to forget that, like it or not (and many of us did not), it was a democratic process that saw Bush the younger re-elected as president in 2004...
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...viewers of this film are fans of Michael Moore’s work or not, he keeps viewers guessing throughout about what he is going too pursued upon them next. It is almost hard as a first time viewer of this documentary to believe everything that is provided throughout the film. Moore has ways of convincing his viewers into what he exactly wants them to believe but sometimes he is lacking the credibility of where this information is coming from. Obviously there are parts of the film that viewers cannot argue with, in cases where there is footage of political officials or general public talking on a certain subject. But at the same time Moore usually doesn’t include what he is always asking the interviewee, so once again is he just showing his audience what is needed to be heard in part will make the viewer believe in what he wants them to. One of the most catching parts of the film as a viewer is Moore’s choice of music in particular scenes. While showing live clips he would play songs that take the scene to another level. He makes the viewer really focus on what he is trying to impose through the music playing in the background. As a viewer it is easy to see that when Moore is using a specific song in the scene it is simply adding to the situation that is being viewed. In all the cases whether it is some type of beat or tone, even those humorous songs playing he is intensifying the scene to keep the viewer intrigued. Right in the beginning of the film Moore is showing a blank black screen...
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...an Oscar for the best documentary. “Michael Moore's "Bowling for Columbine" won the Oscar for best documentary. Unfortunately, it is not a documentary; by the Academy's own definition He means Bowling for Columbine makes its points by misleading the viewer and the statements the film is made which are false. “The point is not that Bowling is biased. No, the point is that Bowling is deliberately, seriously, and consistently deceptive.” David T. Hardy mean that Bowling for Columbine is deliberately and seriously but he also mean that the documentary differently are deceptive. To deceptive someone is to give someone the wrong perceptions by tricking them or give them false information. Hardy means Michael Moore differently give us wrong information. This argues Hardy by telling us that Michael Moore for example have changed in Heston’s statements. Michael Moore has taken audio of seven, from five different parts of the speech. Actually is one section giving in different speech. It is first after the weeping victims, Moore using the quoted “I have only five words for you…. Cold dead hands” David T. Hardy means Michael Moore use that statement it should seem directed to the victims. Another fact David T. Hardy uses is Michael Moore’s comparison with Ku Klux Klan and NRA. “This sequence is intended to create the impressions either hat NRA and the Klan were parallel groups or that when the Klan was outlawed its members formed NRA” Michael Moore says NRA is subsequent organisation...
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...“Bowling for Columbine” Film Analysis On April 20, 1999, many people’s lives drastically changed. An incident that occurred in Littleton, Colorado created a jaw dropping event that disrupted all of America. It also stopped Michael Moore right in his tracks. Not long after the incident, Michael Moore decided to make a documentary called “Bowling for Columbine,” a film that acknowledged many important points that are usually ignored and overlooked. This documentary focused on a school shooting that never should have happened. This tragic incident lead Moore to ponder many questions and create an extremely interesting documentary. Michael Moore has been in the film industry for quite some time. He’s created numerous documentaries that have received a large amount of public attention. He is also a filmmaker, author and political activist that not only knows how to work a camera, but also an audience (Deming). In his documentary “Bowling for Columbine”, Moore uses facts, interviews, and personal stories to really get the viewers undivided attention. He also uses multiple statistics to prove his points throughout the documentary. In 2002, Moore won an Oscar for the Best Documentary Film for “Bowling for Columbine” (Ecksel 1). This film not only touched the hearts of many Americans, but also created an argument for several businesses and associations that were involved. On April 20, 1999, the halls of Columbine High School changed forever. Dylan Klebold and Eric Harris altered...
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...The author and filmmaker, Michael Moore, insists he wants to be taken seriously as he challenges America’s gun culture with his documentary ‘Bowling for Columbine’. Bowling for Columbine was released in 2002 and addresses an issue that still exists today, seemingly more in the U.S. The film involves a mix of tongue-in-cheek interviews as well as confrontational interviews with celebrities as he attempts to deceive the audience with false statements and inaccurate data to persuade the audience. “I don’t know what truth is. Truth is something unattainable. We can’t think we’re creating truth with a camera. But what we can do is reveal something to viewers that allows them to discover their own truth.” (Brault, Michael) Brault’s statement appears...
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...SOC 101 2/18/2014 Bowling for Columbine Response In all of Michael Moore’s documentaries, he demonstrates ironclad points with distinguishing examples. He appeals to the emotions and morals of the audience. While tugging on heartstrings and caressing the laws of society, he manipulates the viewers. In fact, every documentary is made to so do, not just Michael Moore’s. In the documentary, Bowling for Columbine, Moore uses the age old documentary techniques to lead each viewers to a more polarized battlefield; he quoted the National Rifle Association. The National Rifle Association struggles to protect the right to bear arms. The NRA gets a little extreme, like most organizations. Associations are polar, life is polarity. You will have the extreme in every one you meet. Peta for example, (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals) is a great cause solid beliefs that we, as a world, needs to protect the interests of animals. Who wouldn’t want to save puppies from cruel, unnecessary testing? However, when Peta activists line the streets in lettuce bikinis, people begin to see them as extremist. The NRA is the same way. When Charlton Heston expresses his extreme views publicly after the Columbine tragedy with the exclamation, “From my cold, dead hands,” the NRA starts to get a bad reputation as well. Michael Moore used Heston’s mistake of leading a rally right after the tragedy to his advantage. Moore portrayed the NRA as inhumane, cruel people who don’t care about the tragedy...
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...“Bowling for Columbine” filmmaker Michael Moore says that fear-mongering perpetuated by American media is what supplies our endemic gun violence. Moore supports this argument by providing expert testimony of how the media attempts to make the audience fear whatever they are covering that night, citing research, citing statistics of how many guns murders that America has opposed to other major developed countries, and sharing personal anecdotes of things such as Canadians not feeling that it is obligatory to lock their doors to things like one first grader shooting another. Moore intends to lower the gun murder rate in America by showing that the problem isn’t what everybody thinks it is, rather it is the media...
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...Capitalism: A Love Story, which opened in 962 theaters earlier this month, is Michael Moore’s most ambitious work yet – taking aim at the root cause behind the injustices he’s exposed in his other films over the last 20 years. This time capitalism itself is the culprit to be maligned in Moore’s trademark docu-tragi-comic style. And by using the platform of a major motion picture to make a direct assault at the root of the problem, Moore has created space in the political mainstream for a radical conversation (radical meaning “going to the root”). It’s a conversation that is desperately needed as the economic crisis continues to devastate low- and middle-income Americans in spite of President Obama’s and Congress’ efforts to stop the bleeding by throwing trillions of dollars at the banks. Yesterday, Democracy Now! reported that while the Dow Jones topped 10,000 for the first time in a year, foreclosures have reached a record level of 940,000 in the third quarter. But with this film airing in major chain cinemas across the nation, the normally taboo topics of how wealth is divided, who owns Congress, and how vital economic decisions are made are now open for discussion in a way they haven’t been in the U.S. for decades. In Capitalism, Michael Moore features the reality of the economic crisis for America’s usually-invisible poor and working class. The movie begins with a family filming their eviction from their own home. In a terrifying scene, we watch from inside their living...
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...The Columbine High School massacre in Littleton Colorado will always be remembered as an unforgettable horrific event that still leaves a mark on the town today. The controversial filmmaker Michael Moore took his take on it and ventured into the creation of events that took place that day. The documentary that was produced, directed, and written by Moore deconstructs the events of this particular decimation and uses his techniques to compose a use of visuals, sounds, editing, and political messages. He portrays his viewpoints as well as cultural perspectives through archival footage, interviews and intertextuality. He makes sure to have a purpose for each shot to leave a harsh yet defying impression in our minds. "In Moore’s eyes, the Columbine...
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...Even with prior knowledge of the American healthcare system and the corruptness of insurance companies, the documentary Sicko by Michael Moore was still able to shock me about the harsh realities people actually endure concerning their health and well being. I was so blown away with the stories that I actually imagining myself in those people’s situations. C. Wright Mills would say I was using the sociological imagination, which is the ability to see how individual experiences are connected to the larger society. In America we are raised to believe that our nation is the best in the world in every category. This documentary serves to tell otherwise. “People who like to avoid shocking discoveries, who prefer to believe that society is just what they were taught in Sunday school, who like the safety of the rules and the maxims of what Alfred Schuetz has called the “world-taken-for-granted,” should stay away from sociology” (Macionis and Benokraitis, 7) That quote can also be used to describe this film. We need to think outside of our own experiences in life, to truly understand society as a whole. Otherwise we will remain ignorant and heartless as most of health insurance companies in America. The U.S. healthcare system is ranked 37 out of 191 countries in the world. We need to use our sociological imagination to understand the different people affected, especially people like me who have had good enough insurance to cover my medical needs thus far in my life, of course nothing...
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...Story by Michael Moore he suggests that our free market economic system is corrupt and polluted with greedy corporations. Michael Moore uses pathos, logos, and ethos to persuade the viewer to believe his rhetoric. In my opinion he does a pretty good job on making me realize on what Moore’s beliefs. When it comes to pathos Michael Moore is a master in its use throughout the film. One example is when he shows job loss amongst Americans and when they evicted from their homes. So when Michael Moore shows these images in the film it evokes a great sense of empathy for those people. This makes the viewer side with Michael Moore and his rhetoric without much of a struggle on part of Michael Moore. I think its fair to say that when we see people struggle that we have a sense to see the people, or in this case the evil corporations, become the bad guy. Therefore, making us the viewer side with Michael Moore and his rhetoric. Another technique he uses very well is when he uses logos to persuade us. In the film when Michael Moore shines a light on Ronald Reagan’s time in office he affectively uses logos to convince us on what he is preaching. With Michael Moore’s great use of statistics to make the Ronald Reagan presidency look like a bad one to the poor demographic of the Unites States; he therefore, makes the viewer feel like they were the evil ones who cause it. Even though looking back in history yes the poor struggled but the economy was greatly improved. Michael Moore also uses...
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...The setting of the movie, “Bowling for Columbine” takes place in a little town country. Two boys are having a game of bowling when suddenly a pretty faced girl appears wielding an M-16 type of assault weapon. It is just a normal typical morning in America. Even though, the scenery is bombarded with ruins of buildings demolished after the bombing approval by the president. The USA is recording high numbers of people killed by small firearms and yet there is no civil war at present. Michael Moore then sets out to explore this phenomenon and why it is in play. Within our society today, media and stereotyping takes over human loves, people fear different ethnic races, children are growing to be more violent and America is growing to be more corrupt. His answers reveal strange and shocking findings, there is a very easy availability of shotguns and light firearms, which results to a rampant all over the States. America’s national history also proves to contain and entail a violent form of culture-imprinted into people’s way of thinking. Forms of entertainment are also partly to blame as they give the viewer a certain incitement including poverty levels, they are also to blame for this way of living but all these factors are not...
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...Bowling for Columbine This movie is a documentary of what the narrator Michael Moore believes is the cause for the Massacre in Columbine high school in 1999. This movie was written and released in 2002. The Massacre in Columbine high school was committed by two students: Dyan Klebold and Eric Harris. These two students attended classes for bowling and were absent from school the day they murdered 12 students and a teacher. This also left 21 people injured at the scene. The narrator Moore starts off the documentary talking about “bowling” in Massachusetts could be a big factor in these two seniors’ students committing this crime. “Bowling” is when shooters use bowling pins as their targets and helps target vital points on the human body in case you ever had to shoot one. Furthermore, Moore went through out the documentary assuming that anger and being in the suburban environment when bomb making etc. is very popular could have caused the very shocking murder act. Therefore, Moore believes the problem in America’s society is that guns and weapons are too easy assessable, shown early on in the documentary by the use of a skit from Chris Rocks standup comedy saying “the price of bullets should be increased because there would be a smaller killing rate and less innocent by standers”. This quote reveals that Moore agrees with Chris rocks point and it conveys messages that if you are going to keep guns so easily accessed then at least have the decent to increase the prices. Although...
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