Bowling For Columbine
The first image of ‘Bowling for Columbine’ is from a film promoting the National Rifle Association. A man dressed in an Army uniform says, “The National Rifle Association has produced a film which you are sure to find of great interest. Let’s look at it.” Then Michael Moore starts to talk, against images of people at work in America. It sounds like a “typical morning in America” spiel, but one of the images shows bombed out buildings as Moore says, “and the President bombed another country whose name we couldn’t pronounce,” and then he refers to “the little town in Colorado two boys went bowling at six in the morning”, it cuts to the bowling and then to a cute chick in a swimsuit as she holds up an M-16. Dissolve to the Statue of Liberty. Moore’s voice-over: “It was a typical day in the United States of America”.
…show more content…
The film begins with ordinary people doing their jobs and going to work, but then extraordinary things happen, though Moore still calls this “a typical day in America”.
As Moore tells us “the president bombed another country” which Moore thought was “typical”, it created the message that America was a violent country and had a violent government. When it cuts to two boys went bowling at six in the morning, it made people curious and made people wonder if the bowling had a connection with the title, and maybe even the massacre in Columbine. It showed irony when the Statue of Liberty – which was supposed to represent freedom and is a symbol of welcoming immigrants coming to America – appeared, but as Moore goes throughout the film, it showed American’s fear and hatred of Blackman, and racism in
America.
Expository footage is used in the film. As Moore spoke, harmonica music was playing. The music creates a sense of relaxed, casual, small-town life with connections to cowboys and the Wild West. Moore’s tone was calm and casual which made a contrast between the content shown on the screen, especially when bombed-out buildings and a chick in a swimsuit with an M-16 appeared.
This scene showed a series of ordinary and extraordinary things that happened in America on a “typical day". The first scene was a foreshadowing for what’s going to happen in the film. There were normal things that happen in everyday life, but after showing violent incidents, it gave evidence that America is dangerous and has a lot of gun problems, which questions people if there should be a tighter gun control, this successfully achieved Moore’s purpose of the film.
The scenes of a NRA representative’s short speech, foreshadowing the NRA’s negative impacts to America’s gun control, a chick holding up an M-16 which seems like an ad for guns, they fit into Moore’s overall argument that “Americans live in a culture of fear, created by the media and politicians”.
The film begins with ordinary people doing their jobs and going to work, but then extraordinary things happen, though Moore still calls this “a typical day in America”.
As Moore tells us “the president bombed another country” which Moore thought was “typical”, it created the message that America was a violent country and had a violent government. When it cuts to two boys went bowling at six in the morning, it made people curious and made people wonder if the bowling had a connection with the title, and maybe even the massacre in Columbine. It showed irony when the Statue of Liberty – which was supposed to represent freedom and is a symbol of welcoming immigrants coming to America – appeared, but as Moore goes throughout the film, it showed American’s fear and hatred of Blackman, and racism in
America.
Expository footage is used in the film. As Moore spoke, harmonica music was playing. The music creates a sense of relaxed, casual, small-town life with connections to cowboys and the Wild West. Moore’s tone was calm and casual which made a contrast between the content shown on the screen, especially when bombed-out buildings and a chick in a swimsuit with an M-16 appeared.
This scene showed a series of ordinary and extraordinary things that happened in America on a “typical day". The first scene was a foreshadowing for what’s going to happen in the film. There were normal things that happen in everyday life, but after showing violent incidents, it gave evidence that America is dangerous and has a lot of gun problems, which questions people if there should be a tighter gun control, this successfully achieved Moore’s purpose of the film.
The scenes of a NRA representative’s short speech, foreshadowing the NRA’s negative impacts to America’s gun control, a chick holding up an M-16 which seems like an ad for guns, they fit into Moore’s overall argument that “Americans live in a culture of fear, created by the media and politicians”.