Bowling For Columbine The Cove Analysis

In the 2002 documentary Bowling for Columbine, American political activist and filmmaker Michael Moore sets out to explore the primary causes of the 1999 Columbine Highschool massacre, as well as the roots of gun violence in the United States in his trademark provocative yet satirical manner. Bowling for Columbine takes a deep and often disconcerting investigation into the motives of two Colorado student shooters, responsible for the deaths of over 12 people at Columbine High School on April 20, 1999, and examines other gun-related issues as well. From obtaining free guns at a bank, to reviewing America’s violent history, and interviewing a variety of people, Moore demonstrates that the conventional answers of violent national history and entertainment, as well as poverty are inadequate of causing this violence, for other nations share the same factors without the same levels of carnage. In order to arrive at a possible explanation, Moore takes on a deeper inspection of America’s culture of fear, and violence in a nation with widespread gun ownership. Ultimately, the documentary implies that the high incidence of gun deaths in America is caused by the deadly combination of cultural paranoia and easy accessible firearms that is, to some extent, effectively established through rhetorical techniques of ethos, logos, and pathos.

A documentary is film dedicated to recording an aspect of reality for informational purposes. Documentaries can cover a wide variety of topics, such as the wildlife in the world. A major topic that has become relevant is the discussion of endangered species and the human impact on their lives. In the movie, The Cove, the portrayal of Ric O’Barry creates pathos and ethos to gives the audience a sense of urgency to help the fight against the slaughtering of dolphins in Taiji, Japan. Ric O’Barry, in the 1960’s, was a famous capturer and trainer of dolphins for the popular TV show, Flipper.

In the documentary film Blackfish, directed by Gabriela Cowperthwaite, the director debates the rights for sea animals. Cowperthwaite makes the claim that sea animals should be freed from their enclosures in entertainment because they’re harming themselves and the humans that are training them. She uses all rhetorical analysis of pathos, ethos and logos, but pathos trumpets over all. Pathos is such a strong appeal in this documentary because of the animals lives and the peoples’ emotion towards the subject of the matter. Cowperthwaite is able to engage the audience with pathos because of the appreciation of the arguments significance.

Bowling for Columbine film by Michael Moore is a film in which its central argument is that Americans are afraid of each mainly because of the media whose goals are to put fear in the American community. Unlike several documentaries this one is unique; this film is intended to appeal to the audience who are against guns or are pro-gun control and safety. Across this film, Moore’s takes all of the audience through an exploration of the history of guns and violence, and with the big question, we all ask when a young adult commits a violent act, whom should we blame for this? We start off with ethos or credibility.

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.

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

Bowling for Columbine isan interactive or participatory documentary directed by Micheal More ( Farenheight 911, Sicko ) in 2002. In this documentry More explores the 1999 Colimbine Masacare, he investigates what lead up to this masacare as well as how Colombine reacted to it. He reads into the violence in the United States and the fact that america has the highest gun-murder rate in the world, he questions the right that Americans have to acessing guns. It is created with many conventions of the interactive documentry genre; the documentry has direct engagment with the audience, More is a part of the events that are recorded so he has a direct impact on what is happening; we get a clear understanding of the situation from More’s point of veiw.

Documentaries and feature articles are both enjoyed and criticised by the public, because they often provide controversial opinions and shocking evidence. Both documentaries and articles are created with the same purpose; to educate the reader or viewer on a topic and convince them that their particular view is correct. This is done through the use of inclusive language, statistics, anecdotes, bias, clichés and other persuasive techniques. In this case, both The Cove and “Stop Killing Our Dolphins” are similar because they both use emotive language, such as “shameful, all-too-frequent slaughter” and “She was really depressed. I could feel it. I could see it. And she committed suicide in my arms. That's a very strong word, suicide”. Both Topfer

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.

Bowling for Columbine by Michael Moore effectively conveys the idea that the United States of America have a combination of factors that lead to their excessive gun violence. He does this by using the persuasive techniques of archival footage, spurious authority and through the way that Moore is depicted as a person. When first presented to Moore at the beginning of the documentary he is depicted as an average American guy with an opinion on guns. Moore’s history with guns is then presented in a montage of childhood footage of his experiences with hunting firearms. By revealing his background with guns, it establishes his expertise and credentials in the presented topic of guns.

‘It was the morning of April 20th, 1999. And it was pretty much like any other morning in America. The farmers did his chores, the milkman made his deliveries, the president bombed another country whose name we could not pronounce. Out in Fargo, North Dakota, Carry McWilliams went on his morning walk. Back in Michigan, Mr. Hughes welcomes his students for another day at school. And out in a little town in Colorado, two boys went bowling at six in the morning. Yes, it was a typical day in the United States of America.’ (Narrator 2002) In the documentary ‘Bowling For Columbine’ the director, Michael Moore uses a variety of techniques to position the audience to accept the dominant reading that America is gun crazy and a violent history begets violence.

The Techniques of Michael Moore in Bowling For Columbine to Present the Message on Gun Control

Michael Moore’s flawed 2002 expository documentary Bowling for Columbine is ineffective in its goals to open Americas eyes to its very serious gun violence problem. Michael Moore sets out to uncover why the United States can’t seem to end its devastating and reoccurring mass shootings, by using deception as its primary tool of persuasion and effect, Moore attempts to vilify pro-gun activists. The humorous documentary frequently highpoints controversial decisions and actions made by the then President of the National Rifle Association Charlton Heston. Bowling also raises issues such as the ease of buying pointless high powered assault weapons just about anywhere, and American media’s film first ask later attitude towards gun crimes and social and racial issues. Americans are left even more paranoid and hostile than ever before, something the documentary should have set out to end.

A documentary is an expository text that informs its audience about an issue person or event using visual and auditory conventions to convey a message. Documentaries are often used to reveal an unusual, interesting or unknown angle. Topics are limited only by one's imagination. The documentary Blackfish is the story of Tilikum, a captive killer whale that has taken the lives of several people, it underscores problems within the sea-park industry, man's relationship to nature, and how little has been learned about these highly intelligent mammals. This documentary was directed by Gabriela Cowperthwaite. The ideas that orcas are wild and unpredictable, Seaworld’s treatment of orcas are inhumane and Seaworld’s was negligent in their training of their trainers. These ideas are shown throughout the documentary as visual techniques of Celebrity figure, expert opinion, audio codes, the documentary technique of interviews, archival footage and written codes. I think these ideas in the documentary are quite true and are well proven throughout the documentary.

The 2002 film Bowling for Columbine is a documentary written, directed, and narrated by Michael Moore. Moore has won numerous awards including the Academy Award for best documentary feature. The film explores acts of violence with guns and the primary causes for the Columbine School Massacre, where two students shot and killed thirteen people and injured twenty-one others. Bowling for Columbine takes a deep and often disturbing probe into what the motives may have been for the shooters and investigates other gun-related issues along the way. Moore explores different aspects of gun-culture such as receiving free guns from a bank, taking a look at America’s violent history, and interviewing important people like Charlton Heston, former president of the National Rifle Association. The film ultimately comes to the conclusion that the American culture of fear along with the accessibility of guns is the reason why there are so many gun-related deaths. This thesis is supported by many examples Ethos, Logos, and Pathos evidence.