Bowling for Columbine

Bowling for Columbine
Text Analysis

‘Bowling for Columbine’ juxtaposes the innocent pastime of bowling and the violence associated with Columbine. On April 20th 1999, the morning of the Columbine High School massacre Eric Harris and Dylan Kleebold went bowling. Mike Moore interviews two girls from Eric and Daniel’s bowling class. They stated that the boys were not very social and “they were chucking the ball down there, not really caring how they bowled”. Moore questions “Why wasn’t bowling blamed for warping the minds of Eric and Dylan to commit their evil deeds?”. He questions how going bowling wasn’t a plausible cause to murder opposed to the Music of Marilyn Manson. In the documentary the audience is shown that well known armed force the Michigan Militia use bowling pins as shooting target practice as they have similar proportions to a human figure and how this could have triggered the Columbine High School massacre. Moore shows the audience that Columbine is almost like a breeding ground for murderers, with Columbine High School not too far away from Lockheed Martin, an arms manufacturer for the US Military. Bowling for Columbine compares bowling and the tainted, violent reputation of Columbine as a town.

Mike Moore investigates America’s history of violence. America has the highest amount of gun deaths in the world; Moore investigates the possible causes of this. He links this to the second amendment- “The right to bear arms” and the constant state of fear, exacerbated by the American media the society is faced with. He supports his point of a violent and fearful American society by using various historic film footage, interviews and animations. An example of this is the animation “A Brief History of the USA” shown in the film demonstrating that the American’s were fearful of everything and protecting themselves with only with guns. He then presented that America had had 11,217 gun deaths. This number is substantially higher than other countries with violent histories such as Germany with 381 and Japan with 39 gun deaths. Moore comments in ‘Bowling for Columbine’ that American society is one that lives in constant fear of not only other societies but themselves causing them to want to defend themselves at every waking moment.

The film maker has a responsibility to present the truth at all costs. In this film Mike Moore presents an argument that tries to give American’s a better understanding of the fearful and violent society they live in. However Moore’s point is bias to the issue. He is trying to persuade the audience that gun laws need to be changed and that gun related deaths need to be lowered. All of his facts aren’t one hundred precent accurate. One example of this being Eric Harris and Dylan Kleebold allegedly skipped bowling on the morning of the Columbine High School when Moore states that the boy’s went bowling that morning. When an interview with Charlton Heston is shown how does the audience know that it hasn't been altered to support Moore’s viewpoint? Moore only shows what his audience will respond to in order to get his perspective across to the viewer. The American government is a targets Moore uses present his argument. He claims that by defending itself the country is influencing the people of America to become violent. Mike Moore uses various film footage and techniques to present his view point. Moore shows that as a child he was exposed to guns. At the age of 5 he was given his first toy gun, Moore narrated “I couldn't wait to shoot up the neighbourhood.” At the age of 16 he won an award from the National Rifle Association as a junior. These points were shown using old home videos. Moore also juxtaposes Louis Armstrong’s ‘Wonderful World’ with old war footage and scenes of bloodshed. CCTV footage of the Columbine High School massacre is shown to impact the viewer and empathize with those involved. The 911 call from Buell Elementary School where six year old Kayla was shot by one of her classmates is also shown. Whilst Kayla is mentioned typically sad music is played, once again influencing how members of the audience should feel. Moore also uses interviews Charlton Heston and Marilyn Manson, two influential people in America’s society to justify his viewpoint.