The Persuasive Techniques Used "In Bowling for Columbine".

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 persuasive piece was written on the Clint Eastwood film Sully. The objective of this piece was to persuade a friend to watch the film after reading the piece. To write this piece I had to use different persuasive techniques to convey the message. When writing I tried to ensure the theme was consistent throughout the piece. I could have chosen to write more about a particular part of the movie but felt it would be unnecessary and would downgrade the overall piece. The piece needed to both tell the reader what the film was but also why they should watch

The film utilises emotional appeals, or pathos, to convince its audience more so than probably any other technique. Perhaps the

In any given setting, the main objective of using of using rhetoric is to make the message more effective and convincing the audience to act or abide by the message being transmitted to them. Persuasion in television advertisement in television commercial is aimed at reaching millions of customers and potential customers. The state farm insurance company has not been left behind in trying to utilize the power of rhetoric in most of it television commercials to marketing their services and lure new customers to join the rest in using the company services. As we will see from the evidence later in this research, this state firm video "Like a Good Neighbor, state farm is there” utilizes a number of strategies that have been borrowed from the Compliance Gaining Theory its endeavor to effectively persuade its audience. According to the theory, Compliance gaining involves efforts put in place to gain customer loyalty by focusing on choices that people make about what has been said when trying to be persuaded to behave in predetermined manner about the massage sent to them (O'Shaughnessy and O'Shaughnessy 21). This research article is intended to show that yes the commercial video, “Just like a Good neighbor, state farm is there” is effective in transmitting the intended message to the

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.

The prominent appeals used in this video were pathos and logos. Michael Austin stated, “Most people are at least as governed by their emotions as they are by reason...they are even more likely to be motivated to adopt an opinion or course of action when logical appeals are combined with appeals that work on an emotional level” (661). The use of these two strategies is evident in the election where Adams and Jefferson were mudslinging each other in the newspapers. In a sense, this was to stimulate the minds of the citizens on their presidential choice, as well as incite concern in them with statements like “if you elect Jefferson, you will get murder...incest...your wives will lose their virtue” and also, “Adams is a hermaphrodite...Jefferson is dead”. These were specifically used because they would pull at the minds of the voters. However, pathos was a strong element is this video as it aimed to put shock in the viewers through language use or the reality of how ridiculous the mudslinging was during the election.

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.

Bowling for Columbine is a documentary about how guns are a bad influence and pollute the mind, rather than supplying safety, which is the real reason behind the possession of a gun being legalised. Michael Moore, the film maker, wrote and produced the film to emphasise his point on why guns should never be sold or purchased again. The main story Moore focused on was one that was absolutely shocking and could astonish you from start to finish: The Shooting at Columbine High School. The ordinary and average school was put through an attack by two absent minded children who destructively killed 1 teacher and 12 students, not including the many more they injured. Moore also tried interviewing people whose lives had been affected due to guns.

“Big Brother is watching you” (Orwell 2). This quote is from the novel 1984 by George Orwell. In this book, the society is controlled by an all powerful government that capsizes the people’s brain so that there is no independent thought. Citizens are constantly being watched and monitored while all they can do is support them and pour out hate to the enemy thinking the party is always right. Hope comes to a man named Winston, the protagonist, a lone man who secretly opposes the manipulation of the mind. After the plot unravels, Winston begins to show his opposition against the party. The party controls everything in the society and puts everything the way they want it to be, endlessly reminding people that they

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,

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

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.

The central route to persuasion requires high efforts of processing which occurs through a complex structure, thus leads to longer lasting effects of persuasion. However, if an audience is lacking in motivation, in which they are not analytical or involved with the message they are more likely to take the peripheral route to persuasion. In this case, peripheral cues are used in which these cues trigger an acceptance of the messages thus leading to persuasion, which is usually a temporary effect [Myers et al 2016 p190-191].