Bowling for Columbine

What issue are the documentary addressing?

In this documentary the director discuss the issues about the school shooting in columbine. In the part that we watched he talks more about the American governments. He also talks about how American using and building bombs to attack another countries are affecting children and teenagers to uses weapons and violence when a problem occurs. The director also talks about Americans use guns because of fear. The media and news are also showing negative broadcasts which makes American paranoid and think that they need guns to protect them. He also address the fear of black men in America. The media show black men as criminals and to cause the most crimes in America when in fact white Americans in the suburbs.

What different techniques does the director use to persuade?

 The director uses a large amount of footage to help persuade his argument. He uses footage of the actual school shooting and the students and parents talking about incident. He also uses footage of the pros and cons of talking about guns. He uses a organisation who agrees with guns and a father who son got shot in the Columbine shooting, I think he does this so we can feel more sympathetic towards the father who lost his son rather than the organise trying to encourage more guns in the country. He also shows footage of the after effects of the school shooting. These footage showed student getting search before entering school and also students getting suspend over little things e.g dying hair a different colour, point chicken strip at a teaching saying 'pow pow' because they are prevent any type of behaviour that could result into another school shooting. The director shows other countries using the products and things that Americans are saying are influencing children to be violence and other countries gun killings are way lower than America. He also uses humour to show that Americans are very paranoid, he does this by showing a south park type of cartoon of the American history.

What do you feel the target audience for the documentary is?

This seems like it is aimed at teenagers/young adults because they are more likely to visit the cinema and also the stuff he features in the documentary e.g cartoon, humour/sarcasm would interest teenagers and young adults more. This documentary can also be aimed at Americans in generals because he is taking about an American habit and he is trying to break this gun cycle in America.