Born in 1954, Michael Francis Moore is an American documentary filmmaker. His opening documentary, Roger & Me, “launched his career as one of America’s best-known and most controversial documentarians” (In IMDB). However, his documentary that studies the events of the Columbine high school massacre is what put him on the map. Bowling for Columbine won the Academy Award for Documentary feature in 2002. His notable films also include Fahrenheit 9/11, the highest-grossing documentary of all time that presents a contentious view on the presidency of George W. Bush. His latest documentary, Where to Invade Next, premiered in the US on October 2, 2015.
Apparent in all his films, Moore is unafraid to make use of entertainment to discuss political, economic, industrial, cultural, and social concerns that informs, provokes, and sometimes, manipulates its audience. Moore utilizes the documentary form of filmmaking that adapts to the shifts in popular culture where entertainment value is crucial. Though his chosen subject matter are commonly treated in a scholarly and profound manner, he remains critical by treating these topics in a comedic and sardonic manner.
Apart from being a filmmaker, Moore is also a television screenwriter through his political comedy show TV Nation, an author of eight books, journalist, actor, and a political activist. Perhaps Fahrenheit 9/11 is considered Moore’s most intriguing documentary. Premiered in the 2004 Cannes Film Festival, Fahrenheit 9/11 is
Wes Moore the author of The Other Wes Moore has been very successful in life, he’s youth advocate, Army combat veteran, social entrepreneur, and host of Beyond Belief on the Oprah Winfrey Network. Moores life hasn’t always been this easy growing up he lost his father and he did witness his fathers’ death, “His body
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
Fahrenheit 9/11, creates many good points and provides the public with an inside look into the corruption of George Bush’s presidency and what could have possibly led to the attacks on 9/11. However, the documentary overall argument is extremely weak. It is not convincing to anyone, other than those already suspicious of Bush’s involvement in 9/11, because of the ineffective ways of argument shown throughout the film.
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
On Tuesday, April 20 1999, Columbine High School located in Columbine Colorado an unfortunate massacre happened and many teens lost their lives. The two students responsible for this incident were Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold. These two senior students were responsible for killing twelve students and one teacher; they were also responsible for injuring an additional twenty one students on their rampage. A few other students were injured while trying to escape the school. Columbine is considered the fourth deadliest school massacre in history. It was said to be that there was not one target but everyone was a target on Eric and Dylan’s rampage through the high school
This is because, after so many experiences with the law, gangs, and even the military, Moore started to question his ideas from the past. He had lacked strong personal values when he was younger, as he let others influence him and his actions (spicing his story up to be seen as tough, getting caught up with the vandalism and almost arrested) and letting himself fall into trouble (bad grades in school, absences from class, an incident with a smoke bomb), all stated on page 87 of The Other Wes Moore. Now, he values education, responsibility, work ethic, and growth as a person. These values make up his identity; now he is in control of his identity and personality and, ultimately, his legacy. Just like Moore, each of our personalities are created because of what we value. If you’re doing something or are endorsing something, chances are, you value said thing. People are gamers because they value gaming. People are theatre nerds because they value theatre. People are kind because they value kindness. People are religious because they value their religion. “We are not in control, principles control. We control our actions, but the consequences that flow from these actions are controlled by Principles.” stated author Stephen R. Covey. Our principles prove to be the most important thing to
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
peel back the curtain and take a long hard look at the wizard (In the
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
Cullen, Dave. “The Depressive and the Psychopath: The FBI’s Analysis of the Killers Motives” The Columbine Alamac (20 April 2004)
The September 11 attacks were tragic events that had spread shockwaves of horror and grief across the United States. The tragedy became the subject of controversy as some skeptics began to doubt the details reported to have transpired that day. Some people question its legitimacy, theorizing that the Bush administration devised and orchestrated the attacks to further its agenda. Filmmaker Dylan Avery discusses and promotes this prevalent conspiracy theory in his documentary, Loose Change 9/11: An American Coup. Avery argues that the government possessed foreknowledge of the attacks by comparing them to precedents of similar situations. He challenges the official explanations and provides his analyzations of evidence from the reports and media. Avery effectively appeals to pathos, ethos, and logos in his film, but his compelling argument is ultimately undermined by fallacies.
Michael Moore was born on April 23rd 1954. He’s An American film maker, author and a liberal political commentator. He has directed and produced four of the eight highest grossing documentaries of all time. In 2005 Time Magazine named Moore one of the world’s ‘Hundred most influential people’. The documentary ‘Bowling for Columbine’ explores the possible causes for the Columbine High School massacre. It has won the ‘Best Documentary feature’ at both the Academy and Independent Spirit Awards, together with the César award for ‘best foreign films’.
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.
Moore is a very well known documentary filmmaker, journalist, actor, and left wing political activist. Although, many audience members may have a preconceived idea on how credible Moore is, he does a great job in re-establishing credibility to his audience throughout the film. One example is his appearance in the film in general. Moore appears a number of times throughout his film, especially when he goes on “hunts” in other countries to de-bunk
The documentary begins with the narrative in which Moore states that sometime before filming the movie, he invited citizens to send in their health-care horror stories and within a week, his website was inundated