Bowling For Columbine example essay topic

In "Bowling for Columbine", writer-director (and often provocateur) Michael Moore travels North America in search of an answer to a genuine puzzler: Why does the United States lead the world in gun-related deaths? In the course of this enlightening, frequently uproarious and often shocking collection of real-life vignettes, Moore sorts through theory after theory -- our country's blood-spattered history, too many violent movies, widespread paranoia, wicked rock stars, etc. -- and reveals a country with a schizoid soul. Moore sees a nation that extols the glories of "family values" while millions line up to see "Jackass: The Movie" and a place where crime rates are on the decline, yet many people insist there's evil around every corner. Whether you agree with his tactics and findings or not, there's no denying he's assembled a thought-provoking piece of work here. "Bowling for Columbine" (the title refers to Columbine massacre organizers Dylan Kle bold and Eric Harris visiting a bowling alley before they shot up their high school) finds Moore casting a wide net and hauling in everyone from Michigan Militia members to Marilyn Manson for questioning. Several sources, of course, are more credible than others; some are downright frightening.

It's impossible not to feel a chill upon seeing the eagerness in the eyes of self-professed "tofu farmer" James Nichols (brother of convicted Oklahoma City bomber Terry Nichols) as he excitedly chats about his distrust of the government. Meanwhile, a former producer of the Fox show "Cops" inspires revulsion when he denies the program demonizes black and Hispanic men; asked how he would go about counteracting the negative images of minorities "Cops" regularly dishes out, the producer casually comments, "I don't know how to tell that story". TV -- particularly the news -- frequently comes under fire in "Columbine" for encouraging racist thoughts (a ghastly montage of snippets from various reports points out how often African-American males are trotted out as objects of suspicion) and for exploiting the public's often unfounded fears: One of Moore's choice clips from a Detroit newscast warns that your next escalator ride could be a "stairway to danger!" Anyone who thinks Moore is being too hard on the medium should reflect on last week's programming on CNN, which became "all sniper, all the time" for several days, or the Fox News Channel, where insufferable anchorman Shepard Smith hinted that sniper suspects John Allen Muhammad and John Lee Malo constituted a terrorist cell because "last time I checked, two was a group."Columbine" also goes after National Rifle Association president Charlton Heston, who presided over a convention near Columbine 10 days after the massacre and dropped in to Flint almost immediately after 6-year-old Kayla Rolland was killed by a handgun brought to school by one of her classmates. (Incidentally, Heston is continuing this pattern: He was reportedly headed to Tucson only 48 hours after a student killed three professors and himself.) Even if you agree with Heston's opinions, it's tough to defend his timing, and when the actor tells Moore he didn't know about Kayla's death during the time he was in Flint, it's not one of his most convincing performances.

Moore's critics have justifiably pointed out the filmmaker is prone to grandstanding or to badgering defenseless types (P.R. flacks, secretaries, etc.) who stand between him and the powers that be. "Columbine" includes a couple such attacks and Moore's attempts to wring answers about Michigan's Welfare to Work program out of Dick Clark (whose company owned the Auburn Hills restaurant where Tamar la Owens, the mother of Kayla's killer, was working) seem cruel; why not go after Gov. John Engler instead? Still, whatever its faults may be, "Bowling for Columbine" has a surplus of guts, conviction and insight, qualities that are too rarely seen in movies these days. Perhaps you " ll love it, perhaps you " ll detest it, but you won't quickly forget it.