Task 2b - Bowling For Columbine (2002)

Bowling For Columbine (2002)

Summary

Bowling For Columbine is a documentary presenter by the famous American documentary filmmaker Michael Moore which explores America's gun laws and various acts of violence caused by guns being legal. The film aimed to explore at the possible reasons as to why the deadly Columbine Shooting occured and what Michael Moore believed is the main cause of shootings and violence in America.

Relation to the Reception Theory

Moore's desired readership from the audience would be the dominant or preferred viewer as he would want the viewers to agree with every point in made in the documentary completely, without any argument. The film attempts to convince viewers that the laws in America that allow people to buy guns for no designated reason is careless, dangerous and terrifying. Moore adopts a very condescending and sarcastic narration when talking about the gun laws, and attempts to suggest that instead of the main cause of gun violence in America being because of music, video games or movies that the actual cause of it is the excessive sensationalism caused by the media and the press. 

Dominant response

For the example of a dominant response to this documentary, I have picked a clip where Moore interviews singer/songwriter Marilyn Manson about the recent Columbine shooting and how the media have taken to start attacking Manson and pinning the blame on him simply because the two teens involved in the shooting listened to his music. Manson willingly admits he can understand why they would pick him as a target to blame, as he states he is "the poster-boy for fear" and that he represents what "everyone is afraid of" because he acts how he wants and speaks his mind. Manson also speaks about the fact that the two biproducts of the shooting that became hot topics in media were "violence in entertainment" and "gun control" yet at the time of the shooting, the US were bombing countries overseas and suggested that maybe the President should be a bigger target to blame for gun violence in America as he seems so to advocate it with overseas wars. Manson suggests that the President has a much strong influence on the lives of people in America than he does and it seems crazy to blame one artists for simply speaking his mind in his music. A dominant viewer who enjoys being able to chose what entertainment they can enjoy would wholly agree with this and say that we shouldn't be blaming violence in entertainment as the reason for shootings, but rather look deeper into other higher influences in people's lives such as their upbringing or the leader of their country. 


Bowling for Columbine - Marilyn Manson (Fear and Consumption)

Negotiated response

For the negotiated response example, I looked at the clip from the beginning of the film where Moore enters a bank that are offering a free gun for everyone who signs up for an account with them. In this clip, Moore goes to the North County Bank in Michigan state and asks to sign up for an account there. He fills out a few forms and is told that they need to do a background check to ensure he is not a criminal. As soon as you're cleared of the background check they hand you a gun directly from the bank. The negotiated response to this clip would be that on one hand, it is crazy for a bank of all places to be handing out rifles to people simply just for creating an account with them, however they do complete the proper procedures to ensure they aren't handing rifles to known criminals. In this clip, Moore is handed to the gun almost instantly after filling out his information, yet a criminal background check would usually take weeks to complete, so it is very bias against gun laws in that sense, but it does have some truth to it. Another stance the negotiated viewer might take is the fact that Moore is attempting to make this bank out a lot worse than it actually is by completely editing out the fact it would take weeks to receive the gun officially.


Bowling for Columbine: at the bank

 

Oppositional response

For the oppositional response example, I picked the clip from Bowling For Columbine where Moore interviews James Nichols, who is the brother of Terry Nichols, a man who had an instrumental involvement in the Oklahoma City Bombing terrorist attack. In the interview, James talks about how he believes that it is his right as an American citizen to bear arms, and proceeds to show Moore that he owns a .44 Magnum which he hides under his pillow as his "sword" incase the "pen" fails in his "the pen is mighter than the sword" analogy. The oppositional response to this clip would be that the viewer completely disagrees with what Nichols is saying and that he shouldn't own a gun and hide it under his pillow as a back up just in case all else fails. The whole argument of needing a gun to protect yourselves from other people with guns just further exacerbates the issue as more and more people arm themselves. America shouldn't be pushing for everyone to own a gun for protection, but instead be pushing to resolve the bigger issue and end gun violence.


Bowling for Columbine Interview with Nichols
 

 

 

Mean World Syndrome and Moral Panic

Mean World Syndrome is a term coined by George Gerbner that suggests that the media attempts to portray the world to be a much more violent and horrendous than it actually is. Moore plays upon this theory quite often throughout the documentary, aiming to use it as a way to convince viewers that the gun violence is a lot more prevelant than it actually is. Whilst there may still be violence occuring, and poor laws in place that allow for almost anyone to obtain a gun, there is still an order to it all and America thrives on gun trade as one of the largest profitable markets in their economy. Manson touches upon this Mean World Syndrome idea aswell in the interview as he states that the idea of blaming violence on the President because of the wars is "not the way the media wants to spin it and turn it into fear".

Moral Panic is the rise of fear being spread among a large group of people with a threat on their well-being, usually due to a story reported by the media. Media is often criticsed for blowing stories out of the water, and over-dramatising them for the sake of views, which is what causes the moral panic to arise and fear to break out. This fear is often treated with ignorance as people like to avoid responsibility and dealing with issues in front of them because it is easier to internalise and forget about problems. In the interview with Manson, he states that he would've sat down and actually listened to the Columbine shooters because it is something that no one else did. People like to avoid issues to feel comfortable in their environment and stay inside this metaphorical bubble and pretend like the world around them isn't there. This is likely why Dylan and Eric were ignored before the went on to become terrorists. For example, both Dylan and Eric worked on a video project together for school where they acted out shooting and killing students in the hallway, yet this sort of behaviour was ignored and unlikely questioned. So much of their behaviour leading up to the event suggested signs of homicidal tendencies, yet no action was taken towards it.