How Does Michael Moore Use the Techniques of Satire in Bowling for Columbine to Achieve His Purpose?

1067 Words5 Pages
While no specific definition can encompass the whole of satire, it can be said to be the use of humour to expose and criticise humankind's folly, vice and stupidity and hold it up to ridicule. Satirists often use this technique to not only entertain the responder, but to bring about change by raising awareness of contemporary and historic issues and provoking action. Thus, while satirical texts are amusing, they also have a serious purpose. This is certainly the case in Michael Moore’s mockumentary Bowling for Columbine. He uses satire in his film to raise issues pertaining to the control of guns in America and find out the reasons why there is so much violence in America. He does this by exploring the American culture and history of violence, the unjustified white fear of blacks and the lack of justification for gun ownership. Moore believes that America has been responsible for a large number of wars and violent incidents around the world, culminating in the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Centre on September 11, 2001. He uses the What a Wonderful World montage to prove that Americans do not use weapons in self-defence, as some would argue, but use weapons aggressively. Just before the sequence of revealing images, Moore is shown conducting an interview with Evan McCollum, Director of Communications at a Lockheed Martin plant near Columbine, who says, “But we have to learn to deal with that annoyance or that anger or that frustration in appropriate ways. We don't get irritated with somebody and just ‘cause we’re mad at them, drop a bomb or shoot at them, or fire a missile at them.” This is juxtaposed with the following sequence of images and also creates irony, supporting Moore's view that there is a link between the worldwide wars and isolated incidents. Moore uses images of actual human corpses and extremely violent scenes, to try and persuade the responder

More about How Does Michael Moore Use the Techniques of Satire in Bowling for Columbine to Achieve His Purpose?

Open Document