Essay On Bowling For Columbine Shooting

The filmmaker Michael Moore sets out to explore the reasons of why America has such high records of gun violence, compared to other countries. He takes some looks into America’s violent history, violent games, ethnicity, and poverty, in which he finds other countries with similar factors, but not the same records of gun violence. He then investigates the American culture of fear and its effect on gun violence.

Michael Moore is a documentary film maker known for his controversial opinions and subject matter. This documentary, Bowling for Columbine (2002), is Moore’s second major film. It was named in response to the 1999 Columbine High School massacre in which two boys went on a shooting spree, thirteen people were killed and upwards of twenty were wounded. The two boys were reported to have spent the morning before the massacre bowling. Despite its title, Moore’s documentary focuses on the broader issues of gun control and gun violence in America rather than just the case of the Columbine boys.

On the morning of April 20, 1999, Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold approach Columbine High School, in Jefferson County, Colorado. Armed with one 10-shot Hi-Point model 995 carbine rifle, one Intratec AB-10 (TEC-9) pistol, two Savage 12-gauge shotguns, and as many as ninety-five explosive devices, Harris and Klebold enter the school near the cafeteria. Upon doing so, they are met with the words that God commanded unto Moses on Mount Sinai: Thou Shall Not Kill. Harris and Klebold tremble in fear and shame for what they have come to accomplish. Dropping their weapons, the boys fall to their knees, bow their heads in penance, and pray to God for forgiveness.

In the film, Michael Moore displays how easy it is to obtain a gun in current times with the example of the North County Bank. This Michigan Bank was offering a gun to the customer when they opened and account with them. Moore himself went to the bank and tried to open an account. One of the associates in the bank told Moore that they had a selection of more than 500 guns to choose from and, after a simple application and background check, the selected gun would be handed to him. Moore followed the procedure and he himself was able to walk out of the bank with the gun that same day he opened the account.

This is clearly evident as Moore explains that he grew up in Michigan and has been around a lot of people who own guns. Furthermore, he clarifies that as a child, he was brought up around guns and has earned multiple awards for his keen marksmanship. Moore then goes on to reveal that he is a lifetime member of the NRA himself, although conversely demanding control of guns in America; prompting the audience to trust that he knows what he’s talking about when it comes to guns and believe that he is a ‘good guy’.

To offer an explanation as to how America got to this “barbaric stage”, an animated short, courtesy of Matt Stone is played, which takes a satirical approach to the story of America’s gun laws. The general idea put across from this segment is that America’s obsession with guns has transpired from a fear of the black man; where it even went as far to suggest that the KKK negotiated with the NRA to restrict black people’s possession of a firearm. Moore then proposes that this fear has appeared in many different forms, and that of which has been orchestrated by the government and large corporations to boost consumerism. A hypothesis like this does seem plausible, however there is no tangible evidence to reinforce this claim, just a lot of emotional appeal.

It was a day of mourning in Littleton, Colorado after Columbine High School suffered a deadly shooting, leaving 12 students and 1 teacher dead along with 24 others injured. Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold are the perpetrators responsible for the massacre, both students in their last year at the school. Many people are left curious as to why the two boys did what they did. Was the intent to kill as many people as they could? Investigators later found that around 11:10am the pair walked into the cafeteria and placed 2 duffel bags each containing a 20 pound propane bomb set to explode at 11:17am. The boys then went back outside to wait for the bombs to go off. When the bombs failed to detonate, Eric and Dylan began their shooting spree. “Do You

Chaos erupted on the Virginia Tech campus as the actions of a lone gunman claimed the lives of 33 innocent students on April 16, 2007. What if 5 or 10 of those 33 people had a weapon on them at the time of the shooting? Would it have changed the outcome? In the last few years, there has been growing violence on US campuses. For example, the Columbine High massacre in 1999, where two students killed 13 and wounded many others. Another example is the University of Iowa shooting where a former student shot and killed four students and wounded one. The campuses of America need to be secured. Students should be able to secure their campus “home” and exercise their 2nd amendment rights in the event of an attack on their campus.

At first glance, Michael Moore’s documentary “Bowling for Columbine” appears to highlight the ubiquitous issue of gun violence in the United States. However, in actuality, the documentary exposes the fear mongering that exacerbates Americans’ affinity for violence through the use of satire in cartoons and interviews. To begin, Moore summarizes the history of America with a satirical cartoon that depicts Americans as cowardly people. It is evident from the cartoon that America has a history of fear mongering since citizens are always fearful of something, whether it be the Aboriginals or African Americans disrupting the picturesque Caucasian suburbia, all without a probable cause. As a result, citizens utilize this mentality of fear to justify

The first question we need to answer about the every growing epidemic about gun violence in America is why! Why does the United States of America have one of the highest murder and death rate by fire arms? Michael Moore tried to explain this throughout his whole documentary. Moore explored every possible reason behind this, from violent video games to the Americans blood covered history. Moore as well as myself couldn’t understand why this is. The real ground breaker for me while watching Bowling for Columbine was when Mr Moore visited Canada. For New Zealanders alike the USA and Canada seem like pretty similar countries, both large land mases with a love for sports and hunting but this is where the similarities stop. “The U.S. suffered a total of 8,813

Michael Moore opens his documentary to depict inseparable relationship US citizens have with guns. He portrays his visit to North Country Bank to open a bank account, and in turn receive a free

Throughout the film Michael Moore throws many cold facts on the screen that makes it obvious that the strong nation of America is unruly. One of the facts that stand out the most is the number of deaths caused by guns in America per year. In comparison to the other countries, America has an outstanding of 11,127 gun related deaths a year. This is ten times

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.

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

In the documentary Bowling for Columbine by Michael Moore, talks about the root cause of gun violence in the United States of America. The documentary shows how more than 11, 127 people die every year from guns whereas 381 in Germany, 255 in France, 165 in Canada, 68 in the United Kingdom, 65 in Australia, and 39 in Japan. Many say that violent movies, video games, and violent rock artists such as Marilyn Manson contribute to gun violence in America but violent movies are seen in France, violent video games are from Japan, and Marilyn Manson is heard in Germany. Also, guns in America are easy to obtain as in the documentary Moore got a free gun as he signed up for an account and only required to get a background check. However, fear is the root cause of America gun violence as people fear getting killed it leads to others getting killed. For example, in the documentary Moore shows that the media promotes fear in the American news program as they only focus on negative news such as violence and death such as in the news they state, “Tonight in South Central, a drive-by shooting”. It makes people fear certain places such as going to South Central as they portray it to be a dangerous place to go to as the news shows all the negative things that happen there such as crimes which make people fear to go there. Where in Canada news are positive and focus on what is going around town.