Bowling for Columbine Analysis

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All media are constructed by their creators to create either some sort of opinion in the viewer or show off certain values or beliefs. Bowling for Columbine is just one example of a type of media. Produced by Michael Moore, this film provides a satirical view of the gun control debate in the United States and muses over why the Columbine shooting actually happened. In Bowling for Columbine, the media is constructed to be a documentary, but is it really one? Dictionary.com says a documentary is “based on or re-creating an actual event, era, life story, etc., that purports to be factually accurate and contains no fictional elements”. In the case of Michael Moore’s “documentary” I don’t think this is the case. Through the use of persuasive techniques, Moore creates a certain atmosphere during the movie to make a viewer think that his opinion is the correct one, but if you actually look at the facts you may be surprised. Michael Moore clearly uses technical components such as voice overs and montages, as well as clever camera work and editing to twist the truth into his favor. One example of this would be when he said the NRA hosted a meeting in Denver 10 days after the Littleton shooting, and then jumped to a scene of the leader of the NRA hoisting a gun over his head yelling “Over my dead body!”. To a viewer this statement would seem quite offensive and without tact, but when researching the facts behind the story, I learned that the statement he made right after saying the NRA hosted a meeting 10 days after the shooting actually was made 2 years after April 20th 1999. This kind of camera editing and voice -overs are used to deceive the viewer into making Moore’s argument more believable. For this reason, I do not believe this is truly a documentary, but more of a heavily biased propaganda video, somewhat like those campaign election ads telling you of how horrible of

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