How Does Michael Moore Use Satire In Bowling For Columbine

On April 20, 1999, the unimaginable occurred at Columbine High School in the small town of Littleton, Colorado. A school shooting, perpetrated by, then senior students, Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold took the entire community by storm. With 15 deaths, including the perpetrators, and 24 non-fatal injuries, the memories of this horrific massacre will forever resonate in minds of all. With a meticulously, thought out plan, the two shooters prepared guns and bombs before performing the sickening act. Families, the FBI, local officials, psychologists,

Use the guided analysis exercises within the lesson as a model for this part of the assignment.

Over the past couple of decades, school shooting have seemed to occur often-- continuously shocking the nation and reminding everyone that no community is exempt from such horror. One main contributor of this hysteria is found within the media. At the catalyst of this hysteria, lies the horrific Columbine shooting in 1999. Since then, school shootings have received ample coverage-- some argue that this has romanticized school shootings, others argue that is has provided condemning coverage of the often insane perpetrators. In the first year after the Columbine shooting, over 10,000 articles were written about the event, likely setting the stage for the nationwide desire for constant coverage of such events (Elsass et al, p. 445-446).

In the 21st century, raging riots are common in the United States of America. In fact, the diversity of opinions often leads to dissension and discord, and with these unstable circumstances, crimes of passion can occur quite frequently. Specifically, terrorists, murderers, bombers, and other mentally incompetent people remain discreet predators among the innocent. However, many would argue that guns, especially the rise of automatic weapons, have only led to the increase of such violence. Concisely, guns, whether hand guns, rifles, or shotguns, have led to a multitude of problems for both those that wield them and those that fear them because of the dangerous situations that can result.

It appears as though the repetitive and unfortunate tragedies of mass shootings have become incorporated into the everyday life of American culture. We are forced to live in a heightened degree of fear, skepticism, and hesitation concerning our public safety. This phenomenon could reasonably occur in response to the vast ineffectiveness of the country’s current gun laws. Time after time similar misfortunes arise, yet few major changes are implemented to prevent them from reoccurring in the future. We cannot let this trend continue any further. Though some claim that increased gun control is useless and infringes upon the Second Amendment, it limits civilians’ weapons grade, obstructs those deemed unfit to wield such lethal weapons, and insures a greater level of security, thus it should be executed.

It’s a new record for America on April 20th, 1999, a deadly mass shooting occurred in Columbine High School. Two years later, September 11, 2001, a terrorist assault was fulfilled in New York City. It was a new America, changed, and distraught. People sought out for guns and protection of all sorts; but while the American public was in a panic, Michael Moore saw an opportunity. He saw the epidemic spreading, invading the American people like an unwanted pest that couldn’t be shook. It is no new news that Americans are scared, but what does that fear do to a society? Through Michael Moore’s, Bowling for Columbine, he takes his audience on a ride–along through an America of desperate, frightened citizens to persuade his audience that America

In the United States of America the right to bear arms gave birth to a phenomenon called the “gun culture,” the term coined in 1970 by a historian Richard Hofstadter, which describes America’s heritage and affection for weapons(1). Not only did gun culture become an inseparable part of American democracy, but also it is considered to be synonymous with independence and freedom, the most important values for American society. Even though the crime rate and murder rate in the U.S. is higher than in any other developed country, U.S. citizens oppose every attempt made to pass gun control legislation(2). However, it may sound like a paradox, but the crime level in the most liberal states, when it comes to gun ownership, is the lowest in the

Beck divides Control into two parts: Part One: The Truth about Guns and Part Two: Winning Hearts and Minds. Part One’s main argument is that more gun control is not needed. In Part One, Beck lists a myth about guns, then gives at least one quote proving someone believes this myth and the date the quote was said, and then gives evidence on why this myth is wrong. Part two’s main argument is that guns are not causing violence, but violent television shows, books, movies, and video games are causing violence. Beck starts off this section of the book with a story about a student school shooter who “honed his shooting skills by playing hundreds of hours of video games” and whose locker contained Stephen King’s Rage, which is “a book about a student who brings a gun to school, kills his teacher, and holds his class hostage” (117). Beck then correlates violent video games with shooters in a list describing the video game habits of murderous gunmen. To prove his point is shared with others, Beck lists the times that many different organizations have stressed the dangerous link between media violence and aggression. Beck then further discusses example of different violent video games, televisions shows, and movies influencing aggressive behavior. Beck concludes with “The Way Forward,” a final plea of how America does not have a gun problem but instead has a violent media problem and should no longer let

Using personal anecdotes of being "born and raised in Michigan" and a proud member of the "national rifles association" Moore positons the audience to challenge their personal attitudes on gun involvement. Moore’s casual costuming visually symbolises a typical American aiming to undercover the nature of gun mentality.

This paper will explore the history of guns, myths and realities of gun violence. Gun violence is a hot topic in America today and some may believe that America was built on gun violence. This country was colonized by the use of violence with guns. We’ve had wars since the invasion of this country. The violence has been around also with the well-known 1775 speech from Patrick Henry, “Give me liberty or give me death” (Jr.). Give me death is a very strong statement that to me means this is of a violent nature. Since then violence with guns would only escalate from taking land to taking lives whether it be homicides, suicides or threats of violence against one another. With the violent history of gun violence in America and so many different opinions, who or what is responsible for the destruction on self and society and what are the some of the ways to discourage these behaviors.

The authors accuse the fear to make it pro-gun. This is not freedom. The authors also criticize the media by encouraging fear. The article claims that the communities most affected by violence approve the control of the guns, and the areas least affected by violence often celebrated the guns as emblematic of freedom.

Gun violence is a serious issue in America; over 30,000 people are killed each year with semi-automatic weapons, and yet steps to make firearms less accessible to the public have been slow-moving through the nation’s legislature. Many bills proposing background checks for anyone purchasing a firearm have been blocked by Congress in recent years, despite the fact that “[America has] a pattern now of mass shootings…that has no parallel anywhere else in the world” (Chalabi). In two different yet distinct videos, both Saturday Night Live and The Daily Show use Horatian satirical techniques such as understatement, burlesque, and repartee to draw attention to the need for stronger gun control in the United States.

To be honest, I’m afraid. I’ve been afraid for quite some time now. I am afraid to raise my children in this country. The likelihood of a crazy gunman armed with semi automatic rifle barging into my children’s school is probably miniscule. The chances of getting shot while driving on highways is negligible. The reality, however, is that these incidents are “routine” in America. In his recent contribution to New Yorker, Malcolm Gladwell calls the phenomenon of mass shootings “uniquely American.”

Filmmaker Michael Moore takes up the lane and splits the nation with his controversial documentary Bowling for Columbine. The Oscar winning film shows America and it’s gun culture within it. Made in 2002, a bit after the infamous columbine shooting, this movie was made to open up all discussions on media and gun control. By asking the question of why America is so violent compared to other civilized countries, Michael Moore successfully raises awareness of the causes of gun violence. But how does he raise awareness?

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.