Bowling for Columbine
Watching the documentary Bowling for Columbine (2002). Hah, I’m not surprised the organic farmer gun-nut had no idea who Gandhi was when Moore offered his way as an alternative to his idea. His wisdom: “I use the pen. Because the pen is mightier than the sword. But you almost must keep a sword handy, for when the pen fails.” He literally sleeps with a loaded hand gun under his pillow. Ahahaha.
A law requiring all residents to own guns in a city. Did I hear that right? A blind guy who loves assault rifles.
;DD An official demonstration video advocating for school uniforms to prevent concealed weapons: They boy takes out like 10 small pistols from his pockets and just when I’m mildly amused, he takes an uzi and a clip for it from his backside belt, and as I’m about to recover, he pulls a fucking rifle from his trouser leg.
Hate protests in the school shooting city against Marilyn Manson coming to tour because the killers liked the artist.
Marilyn Manson seems actually rather cool guy, at least discussing here with Moore. I need to check out him and his music someday. Of course I know the name from before, but I’ve never actually taken the time to associate what are songs produced by him and what he does.
I have seen some Moore documentaries long time ago, but only this one is fresh on my mind. It seems like his style is “show, don’t tell”. There is very little commentary from Moore himself, only interviews and video material. In the interviews, he seems to be leading the subjects quite a bit, but I don’t think he is really manipulating anyone to say things they don’t mean, as some seem to be accusing him of doing. Additionally, I think it is the viewer’s job to take into account the possible bias in any documentaries. There are far greater biases involved in things like choosing who to interview or what level of detail to go into.
Moore interviews director (or something) of American show Cops, which shows footage of cops catching (usually black) street criminals. Moore pitches him the alternative idea to do a show called Corporate Cops where white white-collar criminals are caught. He says people would love to see the image of their boss get caught like that. The person rather convincingly explains that when someone steals $85 from a lady on the street, police chasing the man down is an appropriate response, whereas the upper class white who swindled $85 million is instead going to be peacefully arrested in his home or workplace with no cameras present. “It just wouldn’t be exciting.”
Canadians don’t lock their doors? Even I find that really strange. I’m definitely been raised to always lock the doors and my bike. But no, I’ve never heard anybody’s house being burglarized in that town. Bikes or computers being stolen, yes. But for example at workplace cafeterias people seem comfortable leaving their cellphones and wallets on the table.
Haha, Moore actually went to open people’s doors in the middle of the day to see if they were really unlocked. “Hi. Sorry. :D”
A reporter who speaks touchingly about the death of a 6 year old on air, and then with the cameras paused curses about technical problems and tells he needs hairspray because his hair is funny in the wind. Back on air, he instantly switches back to stern speak, and then immediately after back to his hair. Sitting in their van, he comments to Moore of tragedy driven the news business is. I love this guy. True to the world.
“Years ago, the people named the streets in this part of city after Ivy League Schools, as if they were hoping for a bright future.”
I didn’t like how forced the end of the film was. Taking disabled kids to return bullets extracted from their bodies to the shops where they were bought. Apparently it had effect on the bullet selling policy of the whole chain or so though, so that’s a good reason to include it in the film. The last interview of the gun-nut association leader’s home was annoying too. Moore continued to press about one issue, not getting much opinion out of the man. Then he tried forcibly shaming him with the death of the 6 year old that he disgraced by immediately holding association meeting in the city (did the same after the school shooting). I think Moore wanted to anger him because being forced out of the house looked good on the film.
Overall, a good documentary film, definitely. Thought-provoking. Varied content that was well arranged. Not too extreme, letting the viewer form his own opinion, although there certainly was lots of leading.