Michael Moore Documentary Analysis- Bowling For Columbine

Overview

At first, it seems his answer will be obvious: readily available guns. But what appears to be a simplistic anti-gun polemic broadens in scope, to tar the media, racism, greed and US foreign policy. Michael Moore clearly and convincingly expresses his rage at the way fear, violence and the ignorance has gotten to America when it comes to gun crime.

About 20 minutes into the film, The Beatles song "Happiness Is a Warm Gun" plays during a montage in which the following footage is shown: People buying guns, Residents of Virgin, Utah, a town that passed a law requiring all residents to own guns, People firing rifles at carnivals and shooting ranges and a man who takes his shirt off and is shot during a riot.

Comedic, chilling and provocative, "Bowling for Columbine" is a documentary that works as a hugely entertaining movie, as well as a ‘shot’ at American gun culture and the media.

The director/star is a plain-speaking, sharp-witted everyman, who isn't looking to score cheap political points, but is infused with a spirit of honest inquiry. He cuts straight from the wailing children of Columbine crying over their dead classmates to a triumphant Charlton Heston, lifting a rifle over his head with the shout "From my cold dead hands!"

Evaluation

“Are we just a nation of gun nuts or are we just nuts”; a quote from Michael Moore spoken on his documentary ‘Bowling for Columbine’ where he displays his unique process of integration and analysis to come to the truth about America’s necessity of guns.

Michael investigates the Columbine High School massacre in which 12 students and 1 teacher were shot by 2 students in 1999. The 2 students ultimately committed suicide; 15 deaths occurred from the shootings.

The documentary won numerous awards and Michael Moore gained international attention due to the documentary’s success. Michael is proactive in this as he is shown prominently in the documentary; he is mostly in the shot at all times apart from when archive footage is shown.

He gives his heartfelt opinion of certain matters about gun violence and when he is asking numerous people questions. He does this so that he can get his point of view across in a strong manner which shows his passion.

He honestly inquires about gun crime in America as well as showing his own points of views, at times his theories about gun violence can be seen as bias. He naturalistically asks questions to survivors, celebrities and certain officials about gun violence and the columbine massacre that almost shocks them as he is so straight forward and to the point. He does this to get a straight answer from who he is questioning so he can get their most truthful point of view. Michael is careful when he faces stereotypical views, such as Americans love guns and that most Americans feel that guns are a necessity, although he does paint a stereotypical view when the documentary displays a cartoon about the history of the relationship between American and firearms.

To watch the cartoon click this link: www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zqh6Ap9ldTs

The cartoon implies that America's foundations were built

through the use of the gun. It brings a stereotypical message,

one that makes the assumption that America is a Gun-Loving country.

When he visits an arcade in columbine he talks to 2 people who were bomb suspects, as Michael talks to one of the men the camera cuts to another man playing a gun game which shows the man holding a plastic gun whilst ‘shooting’ at the arcade screen. This could be stereotypically viewed that gun violence links to video games although Michael does not comment on the game.

However he does comment later on in the documentary about video games and gun violence. He does his best to avoid some stereotypes but he does imply stereotypical views some times. As he is making a documentary he has to stay away from stereotypical views so that it he does not give the viewers the idea that he is being biased.

Michael Moore is quite deliberate when he tries to elaborate his point of view with visuals and imagery such as the prominent use of archive footage and music which fits links to the video. He makes fun of some situations with different footage to get his point across. He uses satirical humour such as using spoof videos or humorous footage that is linked to certain topics such as gun violence.

Michael Moore uses editing in some scenes of the documentary to make his point seem more powerful. In some scenes when he is talking to certain people and asking them questions, after he is finished talking to the person he keeps the camera rolling on the person for an extra couple of seconds so that the viewers can see the expression on the persons face to see if they meant what they said.

He creates a rather powerful scene when he goes back to the columbine high school and talks to one of the teachers who witnessed the shootings years ago. Whilst he is walking through the school the police recording plays from the day of the massacre, this creates a certain mood when he is walking through the corridors as if he is thinking, “the massacre happened here” as if in disbelief that something so tragic could happen in a school.

Whilst he is walking through the school with the teacher she becomes upset about reminiscing about the tragedy, when Michael comforts her the background track plays Charlton Heston (a former spokesperson for the NRA) saying “I’ll give you my gun when you take it from my cold dead hands”. This quote when heard in this particular scene makes the viewer feel that Charlton Heston is somewhat a bad person and implies that his pro-gun rallies are one of the causes for gun violence.

It makes the viewer feel that the massacre and overall gun violence in America was somewhat influenced by Heston’s views on guns. The narrative used in the documentary does in some way simplify some issues

regarding gun violence.

Michael Moore’s approach to analysing gun violence does makes it easier to understand his views about issues. Michael Moore’s narrative technique of comparing serious issues of outrage with more general issues is quite prominent for example; the general message of the National Rifle Association, the number one pro-gun organisation in the United States and the incident Columbine High School.

In a very interesting part of the documentary a moral narrative is implied, a shot/reverse shot is used where Michael Moore confronts Charles Heston about a young girl murdered by a gun in his home town of Flint. A medium close-up is used showing Michael Moore holding up the picture of the child who was murdered.

This shot is used to show that Michael is the Hero and Charles is the villain, he confronts Heston with the school photo of the innocent child who got killed by a gun. It shows Charles turning around, he is filmed in long shot this shows the viewers that he may does have regrets what he has said about guns in the past.

The shot makes him look less dominant and rather weak and physically worn out from the accusations that Michael Moore has placed on him. Charles turns around to look at the photo and he is somewhat seeing the error of his ways.

This creates the Moral Narrative of the documentary; it shows that Charles Heston may be wrong about guns and that talking positively about guns is wrong in some manner. This scene however swerves away the general narrative the documentary portrays in previous scenes.

Michael Moore sometimes uses sarcastic comments to accompany footage; he does this to put his point of views across in a humorous matter, as if what he is showing us is common sense. There is somewhat an explicit argument about gun violence, it’s more implied in this documentary by Michael Moore, and there are so many conflicting views about guns in this documentary. He does directly say that there is more gun crime in the US than in Canada and other countries, and he does say that guns and ammunition are easy to obtain the US. Michael Moore’s argument about gun violence is very implicit as he mostly implies that some forms of gun violence are linked to other topics. He uses common sense assumptions to present his views. Such as gun violence may become more frequent if guns are so easily obtainable in the US and in local stores.

Michael Moore puts the viewer in a position in which they can determine their own point of view and compare it to Michael’s views. He gives the viewer a lot to think about, he makes us come to our own conclusion about violence and gun crime.