ipl-logo

Columbine Shooting Analysis

550 Words3 Pages

America is a nation blossomed with prosperity, yet it is notorious for the proliferation of appalling violence and homicides. By focusing on the Columbine High School massacre, Michael Moore’s Bowling for Columbine explores the environment/causes that lead to shooting tragedies and exposes the culture of fear that governs the unstable American society. On April 20, 1999, two senior students, Erik Harris and Dylan Klebold, murdered 12 students and severely wounded 21 others with a 9mm carbine and a 12-gauge shotgun at Columbine High School. The bloodbath is directly related to the extensive accessibility of ammunitions. Through an investigation, Moore shockingly discovers that a Michigan local bank rewards free guns to customers who open new …show more content…

immediately increased by 140 percent. Submerged in tremendous fear and uneasiness, citizens even practiced shooting at models of Osama Bin Laden for future self-defence. The climate of fear have shaped Americans’ aggressive attitudes and formulated their unrestful behaviours. To delve deeper into this problem, Moore traces the origin of their fears. He states that while corporations use fear to stimulate consumption (i.e. firearms consumption after 9/11), the government uses fear to justify its political actions. In addition, media also repetitively displays crimes to produce sensationalism and attract more audiences. In other words, fear is effective used as an instrument to manipulate the public and to achieve personal gains. However, the side effect is a violent, unstable society. Michael Moore’s Bowling for Columbine begins as an investigation of gun abuses but then expands to explore the causes of customary violence in the United States. Under his camera, Moore reveals a society destabilized and paranoid by a culture of fear and distrust, providing an insightful and unprecedented explanation of the United States’ violence and shooting

Show More
Related

  • Examples Of Fallacies In Bowling For Columbine

    299 Words  | 2 Pages

    In the documentary “Bowling for Columbine”, which is directed by Michael Moore, there is an abundance of fallacious arguments. From the most obvious Post Hoc fallacies demonstrated to strengthen the director’s argument, to the numerous fallacies committed by Moore himself, there is no shortage from which to choose. The fallacies that I have chosen to focus on are the Post Hoc used by Moore’s “opponents” and his own hasty generalizations and composition fallacies. The title of the film “Bowling for Columbine” is and ode to the fallacious reasoning of the gun proponents that Moore encounters throughout the film. Many of these figures cite the music of alternative rock singer Marilyn Manson as a driving force behind the Columbine school shooting,

    Read More

  • Carried Out An Attack On Columbine By Dave Cullen

    1578 Words  | 7 Pages

    On April 20, 1999, Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold carried out an attack on Columbine High School in Littleton, Colorado. They fired guns towards students, killing thirteen people and injuring more than twenty. Afterwards, they turned the firearms on themselves. In his book ‘Columbine’, Dave Cullen analyses how and why Eric and Dylan massacred the victims at the school. When viewed in hindsight, events such as this are inspected to every minute detail; there are always ways in which the outcome could be changed.

    Read More

  • Rhetorical Analysis Of Mass Shootings By Derek Thompson

    602 Words  | 3 Pages

    Using loaded diction, the author drives in his point that explicit media coverage is harmful. He claims that the “public glorification” that comes after the mass shooting, encourages others that may want to do the same because they receive attention from millions of people. The use of the phrase “public glorification” suggests that these criminals have an unwavering desire for attention and a narcissistic mentality. Thompson claims that mass shootings have “inherent and unambiguous value” and that it would be “absurd” to not report on it. Claiming that the mass shootings have been permanently placed in news broadcasting, and also that it would be wrong or impossible to ask the reporters to disregard them suggests that there is no way to stop the spread of mass

    Read More

  • Examples Of Negative Sensationalism

    1640 Words  | 7 Pages

    Moore’s segment in the documentary Bowling for Columbine also supports Ehrenreich’s argument that the shows humiliate the lower class. Just as the clips of minorities arrested cause fear, they also give a sense of humiliation. The clips give viewers a sense of resignation when you see the restlessness of the lower class’ heads being forced against pavement. Both ideas presented by Moore and Ehrenreich suggest that these shows are negative sensationalism toward the lower

    Read More

  • Mass Shootings Research

    1081 Words  | 5 Pages

    Mass shooting episodes have increased over recent decade and received substantial media coverage during the last year. Multiple schools, clubs, and churches, and public places across the United States have been impacted, resulting in the deaths of innocent people. The United States has more mass shootings than any other country between 1966 and 2012. There has been shootings in public places receiving media coverage and giving the perception that they are becoming the new normal.

    Read More

  • Michael Moore Bowling For Columbine

    1088 Words  | 5 Pages

    "Bowling for Columbine" is a documentary about the controversial issue of legal firearms ownership in United States. Michael Moore investigates the reason for these events (purchase/sale of weapons, racism, poverty, fear, etc), addressing the government and mass media, as the main causes of these consequences. Throughout the documentary shows various scenarios that attempt to clarify why in US there is an extremely dependency on firearms. Facts and figures are presented, contrasted with rates of gun ownership and crime in other countries such as Canada. Moore interviews people questioned as the famous singer Marilyn Manson, who was accused of inducing violence at Columbine boys through their lyrics; or Charlton Heston, president of the National

    Read More

  • Rhetorical Analysis On School Shootings

    889 Words  | 4 Pages

    This article has great viewpoints, use of argumentative reasoning, and shows what truly happens in the hallways of a school shooting. The main person he explains is Eric Harris, who killed over two-thousand students and faculty in a Colorado high school in 1998. He set off bombs all over the school and used a semi-automatic

    Read More

  • Bowling For Columbine Analysis

    819 Words  | 4 Pages

    A gun, like almost every object, has the power to kill. Yet the gun is merely the instrument of death and destruction, only human beings are capable of pulling the trigger. Michael Moore is an inspirational documentarian that created Bowling for Columbine (2002) a contentious documentary that comments on the violence surrounding school shootings and gun laws that devastated America. Documentaries do not simply record the truth in a purely neutral, objectively disinterest manner” (Nowlan R 2010), but provide inspiration for social change by creating world-wide awareness of the gun laws in America and the way the American media creates fear in its people, however, his biased editing and use of film techniques did not reveal the ‘truth’, which is what you are expecting when you sit down to watch a documentary right?

    Read More

  • Bowling For Columbine Essay

    1458 Words  | 6 Pages

    Bowling for Columbine is a political documentary that was released in 2002. Directed, Produced, and narrated by Michael Moore, we follow him as he explores the causes to the Columbine High School massacre in 1999 as well as other acts of violence throughout America’s history. The film provides background information on the massacre as well as public opinions on the situation. It goes further in to compare America’s gun violence to other countries such as Canada, and poses reasons for this dramatic increase. This film provides the viewers with a lot of eye opening material on gun violence in America and will make any viewer question the gun laws of our society and how to make further change.

    Read More

  • The Horrific Massacre In Columbine, By Dave Cullen

    592 Words  | 3 Pages

    Columbine, by Dave Cullen is a non-fiction book documenting the horrific massacre which took place in Littleton, Colorado on April 20, 1999. Not only does the writer give great detail about the shooting itself, he also gives and in depth look into the lives of the killers, Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold, and their victims. The focus of this book is for the author to attempt to bring to light what really happened and hopefully gain better understanding as to why it all took place. Cullen, a journalist, begins an extensive nine year research in order to achieve awareness of the happenings before, during and after this tragic event. Entries from the perpetrators personal journals, stories from the ones who witnessed the shootings first hand, countless interviews from the victim’s families, as well as multiple other pieces of information give the reader an extremely up close and personal surrounding Columbine.

    Read More

  • Essay On Columbine High School Shooting

    841 Words  | 4 Pages

    Columbine High School was a school in the Jefferson County Public Schools. The school has a big history of events such as the Columbine Massacre. The Columbine Massacre was a school shooting that took place in Jefferson county, colorado. The shooting was caused by 2 boys, Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold. Eric was a 18 year old boy who had many physiological problems and he was bullied at school.

    Read More

  • Bowling For Columbine Scene Analysis

    799 Words  | 4 Pages

    The documentary ‘Bowling for Columbine’ was put into production shortly after the shooting at Columbine High school and in it Michael Moore explores the reasoning behind America’s violent nature. Moore’s belief as too why there are more shootings in America is due to the relaxed gun laws in place in America. To show his point of view he uses a variety of persuasive techniques such as: visuals, audio/music, use of archival footage, political agenda/bias and scenes from various other documentaries. All of which he expertly strings together to influence the facts and opinions of other people.

    Read More

  • Columbine High School Shooting Essay

    1136 Words  | 5 Pages

    The entire school shooting lasted for 45 minutes until the shooters commited suicide. The Columbine was one of the worst school shootings in U.S. history. The two shooters were students at Columbine High School. Columbine High School Shooting was a tragic event that could have been stopped even though the outcome of the shooting could have been much worse, the event that happened in the Columbine were horrific, and missed warning signs could have stopped the attack from ever happening.

    Read More

  • Bowling For Columbine Film Analysis

    1287 Words  | 6 Pages

    In 2002 a film titled Bowling for Columbine was released by Michael Moore, a well-known satirist and filmmaker. The film received the Academy Award for Best Documentary feature in 2003 as well as international awards. The film depicts America’s fascination with guns through a montage played to the Beatles’ “Happiness is a Warm Gun” and then presents the destructions caused from gun violence throughout the film. Thousands of people die each year due to gun violence. Many people blame the lack of gun control, musicians, video games and anger.

    Read More

  • Arguments Against Gun Ownership

    1390 Words  | 6 Pages

    Topic: Ownership of Guns for non-professional reasons should be illegal in the United States General Purpose: To argue. Specific Purpose: The specific purpose of this speech is to argue for outlawing private gun ownership in the United States. Central Idea/Thesis Statement: Private ownership of guns in the United States should be illegal. Various specific reasons are presented to support this statement: (1) Banning private ownership of firearms, and, their distribution, would save a large number of lives that are lost as the result of gun violence.

    Read More

More about Columbine Shooting Analysis

Open Document