Bowling for Columbine: Target Audience Profile Evaluation Draft

Bowling for Columbine: Target Audience

 Profile Evaluation.

Bowling for Columbine seems to be aimed at a numerous amount of people. In the evaluation I am going to be talking about who and the type of people that would watch this documentary. When I first started watching this documentary I thought that this documentary would be aimed at teenagers and young adults because of the fact that teenagers and young adults mostly dominate the cinema industry cause they have time and money spare. Another reason I thought that this documentary was aimed at teenagers and young adults was because most of the documentary was biased around these two boys who shot people that attended their school and also had interviews with teenagers showing their point of view on the school shooting and gun control for example there is a scene where Michael Moore is interviewing a teenager that has been in trouble with the law for making bombs and you see a middle shot of him so you can see the boy's face and body reaction when Michael Moore asks him certain questions. In the scene it also has random cuts and high shots of the teenagers playing pool and playing arcades games to show that even though he has been in trouble with law for having firearms and creating bombs, he is still a teenager.  This documentary also includes humour e.g. the south park style cartoon, to show how much American feared everything. This can also appeal to teenagers. But when I asked people in my questionnaire 'Have you ever been to the cinema to watch a documentary? if not, why?' and everybody answered no. One person I asked said it was because ' I've never seen them being advertised in my area, especially seeing as they're usually shown at film festivals, so I never really hear about them.' and also because they don't find it interesting or have the attention span to watch documentaries in the cinema.

When I finish the documentary I started to realise that this was more aimed towards adults ages 25+ because of the fact that documentaries are aimed at a adult audience because teenagers tend to go to the cinema to watch a Hollywood blockbuster, whereas documentaries are have more of a niche audience which are mostly adults. I think it's also targeted at adults because he suggest in a interview where there is a middle shot of manager of the bomb factory and also it cuts to a wide shot and close ups of different bombs and also the manager showing different types of bombs they have in the factory. It also uses ambient sounds so you can hear the bombs makes noise in the background while the interview was going on. This suggest that children can be influence to put up and gun and start using it, and also he thinks that parents are a major influence on the children and to stop these children from making violent discussion you have to inform and educate the parents first on the effect that guns can have.

This documentary is aimed at both females and males but mostly at males. A reason why I think that this documentary is aimed mostly at males is because all of the school shootings occur in American are done by males and also near all of the teenager boys that Michael Moore interviewed in this documentary had use a gun and the negative effects that guns have had on their lives. I think Michael Moore is trying to show the male audience that it is not ‘cool’ or safe to carry or use a gun because they're major consequences that could happen when using a gun like facing prison, having a record and also the effect you can have on other people's lives. Also when I  asked people in my questionnaire 'What is your views on gun control in America?' majority of the people answer that america need stricter gun control law and I feel that gun laws in America should be limited and that guns should only be for their law enforcement and the military, only for defence. Bowling for columbine is also aimed at a all types of ethnicity because in the documentary  Michael Moore talks about the racist issues in American for example he had a interview with one of the producers from the show 'Cops' because the major of the criminal featured in this program are black or Latino and this is giving out the idea that these races are major threats. 

Bowling for Columbine could be target at all types of educational background as long as you are interested in the topic. Personally I think that it is more likely for somebody with a higher educational background to be more interested in this type of documentary because they want to know more about the world whereas other people would prefer to watch Hollywood movies. This doesn't mean that other people who haven't got higher educational background wouldn't be interested in this documentary because this film made $58,008,423 in the box offices and I doubt that all this money was made by people with higher educational. 

Americans are the major target audience for bowling for columbine, I know this because he is talking about events happening in American and also  habits that Michael Moore is trying to change an issue in America. For example when Michael Moore and the 2 school shot out victims went to K-Mart to show how easy it is to purchase guns and bullets for guns
the handheld camera was shot at long shot so the employees in K Mart couldn't see, in this scene it had natural lighting. Then it cuts to handheld middle shot of one of the victims holding a 2 bags of K Marts bullets, this was in order to protest so K Mart would stop selling bullets in their stores. Also this documentary was set in America all the location  Even though this documentary is aimed at Americans, Germany gross $6,412,679, in Finland it made $4,911,174 and Australia it made $2,565,433.

Bowling for Columbine is also targeted at people that also agree with Michael Moore because these are the people that are going to go out and buy or watch this. This is also targeted at liberals in America who agree that there is an issue with guns. Michael Moore's main target audience for this documentary is for people with the same ideology as him. The people I asked to fill out my questionnaire would people interested in this documentary because when asked  ' What's your views on Gun control?' they replied that 'They need stricter controls' and ' I feel that gun laws in America should be limited and that guns should only be for their law enforcement and the military, only for defences'. Everyone that filled out my questionnaire agreed with Michael Moore's ideology about gun control in America.

James Davis

James Davis is a working class 25 year old male he lives in New York and is a Liberal. This is the sort of person Michael Moore is aiming at. The reason I have said that 'James' is a working class is because I think that is one of the main group of people Michael Moore is trying to target at in Bowling for Columbine, this because most of the people involved and effected in the shootings were working class people. For example in the documentary they interviewed working class people  The reason I made James live in New York because those are the areas that have a no gun law and I think will be more open to listen to this documentary whereas other states like Texas are so use to having guns around, I don't think many of them will agree with Michael Moore and will not go and see this documentary.

James Davis works in a office job from 9 to 5. He lives with his wife, Carolina and his 2 children ages 2 and 5. I have said this because in Bowling for Columbine they talk a lot about families and how people use guns because they are trying to protect their families. James Davis is also a opened minded person who is interested in the current affairs. He often watches the news and reads the newspaper on the subway on his way to work. He is also very opinionated. I have said this because for you to watch a documentary like Bowling for Columbine you have to be very opened minded to listen to other people's views without being to judgmental but also have an opinion on the matter so you can share with others on what you think about the matter. James watching the news and reading the shows that he is fully aware of these going on in America so anything in Bowling for Columbine wouldn't be too surprising for him and will expanded his knowledge. James Davis also has a good sense of humor, this is a good trait for a person that is watching bowling for columbine because Michael Moore does use a bit of humor to show ridiculous  and fearful Americans can be e.g. the south park style cartoon.

A owcher that James Davis is that he has a small attention span so this could be a problem watching Bowling for Columbine because he might pay full attention to what Michael Moore is trying to say in this documentary. Another owcher is that he prefer to watch Hollywood action movies which means he might not watch this documentary in the cinemas. Wowchers is that James Davis knows about Michael Moore and has watch previous documentary which is good because there is more of a chance that he will watch Bowling for Columbine. James Davis is also interested in western culture, which is a good aspect because Bowling for Columbine is all about western problems (guns).

James Davis appreciates other culture and is also married to Carolina who is originally from Mexico, this is a great aspect because Michael Moore talks about racism like when he shows us how 'Cops' portrays Black, Latinos and Mexicans in the show and how some American think these races are threatening. James is a roman catholic but is very open to listen to other people;'s views but has very strong values and beliefs. James enjoys going to a stand up comedy club in his spare time which show that he has a great sense of humour. He is also a fan of Indie pop music and also a bit of country music.