Bowling For Columbine Propaganda Essay

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Ideology and propaganda within documentaries paying specific attention to ‘Bowling for Columbine’ by Michael Moore.
This essay will analyse how and if an individual’s own ideological beliefs can shape the making and message of documentary films and television programmes. The essay will draw from the conclusions of Bill Nichols, Simon Cottle and Erik Barnouw. This essay will be using Michael Moore’s documentary ‘Bowling for Columbine’ (2002) as a case study.

The definition of documentary given by the Oxford dictionary is ‘A film or television or radio programme that provides a factual report on a particular subject.’ (Oxford, Online) Documentaries are carefully constructed to present the reality of a variety of situations. The aim of the documentary …show more content…

Within the film ‘Bowling for Columbine’ Michael Moore propagates his ideological beliefs by having interviews and confrontations with people involved with the situation of gun violence. Moore himself is a member of NRA which is the National Rifle Association. This association is fronted by the actor Charlton Heston whose members can store ammunition at their homes. Nichols states that ‘propaganda is not as far away as one might think; ideology is always in the air, and the” free subject” is itself a concept of debatable soundness.’ Moore shows that there is very easy access to weapons such as guns and that violent entertainment such as games and movies are not the only reasons for high rates in violence within the USA. Michael Moore remains somewhat biased throughout; he interviews powerful elite figures such as Charlton Heston and K-Mart and the police man in the beginning trying to show them as crazy gun lovers who may not be taking the increase in violent gun crimes seriously. He uses this to create propaganda that persuades the audience that gun crimes are wrong and that people can still own guns but don’t have to be violent with them. Moore uses elements of propaganda to persuade the audience to support his views against the NRA of which will subsequently paint Charlton Heston as one of the

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