Radio Talk Show Host, Rush Limbaugh

Bowling for Columbine is a documentary directed by American filmmaker and activist, Michael Moore. The political documentary focuses on the 1999 school shootings that occurred in Columbine, Colorado, and Flint, Michigan and the correlation of guns to the high homicide rates in America. Moore argues that the number one problem the United States faces is gun control. Moore effectively uses ethos, pathos, and logos appeals to present an unbiased and informational view of the issue of gun violence in America. He also uses the fallacious argumentative strategy, ad hominem. Moore does not put his own direct bias into the film, he instead shows both sides of the argument to allow the viewer to decide for themselves which side they are on.

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.

The movie "Bowling for Columbine" was made after the shooting in Columbine high school and tries to explore the reasons for America's violent nature. Moore believes that there is one main reason for this, the fact that there are relaxed gun laws in America. Therefore, Moore uses a number of different persuasive techniques in order to try and persuade the viewer to believe that this is the case. He uses certain visuals, music, sequences the scenes in a specific order and uses facts and opinions to achieve this.

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.

Michael Moore’s heavy use of omissions throughout Bowling for Columbine, highlights the obvious biased created through manipulation of facts and this deteriorates the value and significance of his message. This leaves the audience questioning his

While both Michael Moore as well as John Stossel made compelling arguments, both were filled with flaws, however, I believe Michael Moore made the more compelling argument. Michael Moore in his film Bowling for Columbine was analyzing why the gun crime rate in the United States is much higher than other industrialized countries and he primarily focuses on Canada. Before establishing this relationship between the US and Canada he does this by addressing some common misconceptions that people believe lead to an increased amount of gun violence. These include access to violent video games, a history of violence as well as heavy metal music such as Marylyn Manson. Most people would shrug these off as not having to deal with gun violence but Michael

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.

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’.

Michael Moore tries to bring some extremely imperative points and the closer view of American culture and to some degree succeeds. In order to achieve this, Moore utilizes particular references to it and utilizes rhetorical and convincing devices to develop his contention for changing weapon laws; thus, one unmistakable expository request he utilizes as a part of the film is, besides the recurrent pathos, ethos. In any case, by controlling distinctive things and misleading the viewer in this film make it disputable to completely concur with what he needs to say. The presentation of Bowling is a purported footage from a NRA film, declaring that the viewer is going to see a National Rifle Association film. Clearly, Bowling is not a NRA film,

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?

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.

The point of Bowling for Columbine isn’t to be biased as Michael Moore would want you to believe, no, the point is that Bowling is purposefully, and consistently deceptive. After the tragic shooting at Columbine, the documentary shows haunting vision of distraught children outside of the school, then, cuts quickly to a billboard advertising a NRA meeting in Littleton, Denver. Moore then narrates “Just ten days after the Columbine killings, despite the pleas of the mourning community,

Michael Moore is an American documentary filmmaker, who is best known for his line of controversial documentaries exploring and addressing political and social issues in the US. Moore has a number of films, including 9/11: Fahrenheit, Sicko and Roger and Me for example. In particular, he has produced and directed “Bowling for Columbine” which I will be close viewing for my 3.9 report. During this film he raises and explores the issue of gun violence in the United States and uses a variety of techniques to showcase his thinking. In the two excerpts “Columbine” and “Fear of Black Men”, I will be discussing how he uses archival footage (stock footage) and nondiegetic sound to help to steer his audience into thinking a certain way or to make them feel connected while watching.

Bowling For Columbine is a documentary that was produced by Michael Moore which focusses primarily on the relationship between the crime rates throughout various regions. After learning that Canada and the United States had a very similar ratio when it came to households and guns, Michael was intrigued that Canada had a substantially lower rate of gun related crimes. This documentary became a tool for Michael to delve into the questions that were raised; although he was unable to extract a specific answer as to why Canada had a lower rate of gun related crime, he was still able to create some life altering changes.

A more complex and positive definition of citizen journalism by Courtney C. Radsch, suggests public journalism is an ‘activist’ form of newsgathering that could be an ‘alternative’ to mainstream media. Citizen journalism is ‘reporting that functions outside mainstream media institutions, often as a response to shortcoming in the professional journalistic field, that uses similar journalistic practices but is driven by different objectives and ideals and relies on alternative sources of legitimacy than traditional or mainstream journalism.’ (Jljtan005.blogspot.co.uk, 2014) In the view of Radsch then, citizen journalists, without the constraints of working for a commercially driven outlet, are able to make up for shortcomings present in traditional media and are able to offer news that previously wouldn’t have existed.