The Tragedy of Columbine was caused by the social injustices inflicted upon two students; Alex Frost and Eric Deulen. This is the message Gus Van Sant portrays in his movie `Elephant.' These two characters are not part of the `in crowd' and are picked upon in school to the point that they come to school with guns. Present day schools are treating this issue incorrectly by not trying to relinquish the social injustices of high school.
Many schools today now completely cut off the school from the outside world in order to stop tragedies like Columbine from occurring. Security sets up controlled entry points on campus allowing only those they approve to enter. In theory this plan will restrict students from bringing guns to school. The new theory of tighter security equals less guns is an incorrect address to the problems of society that truly need to be dealt with.
`Elephant' portrays many social evils. Starting with the opening of John McFarland riding in an automobile with his obviously intoxicated father. John cries when he gets to a room where he is alone, showing that John is facing hardship in his own home. Many high school students are facing these same problems and Sant tries to show this in his portrayal of John.
Sant chooses random high school students and grants them the freedom to act as they want in this film. Not only do the students make the movie, but they add to it a humanization. Sant does not choose big name actors, he wants the audience to be moved by a character that they now as nobody else but the character they are playing in the film. We can not identify with a big name actor that we have seen play numerous other parts in movies. This strategy of Sant's is very a on target approach to captivatin...
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...tudent that gets along with everyone.
The tragic hero is Eric. Eric's tragic flaw is forgiveness, he has none. He kills all the students who picked on him and even his own lover Alex. The reason he kills Alex is not understood. In the finally Eric has Nathan and Kelly cornered in the freezer with an M-4 pointed at them. This is the close to the movie, leaving the audience with a huge impression of what can occur when people are picked upon.
Gus Van Sant's film creates a heavy impression of what can occur when students reach their limit. Some students can not deal with the social injustices of high school. Others deal with these injustices by picking upon other students, in the long run the whole system must be changed to deal with these issues. Schools must change their policies and develop new strategies to combat the social injustices occurring today.
...lms these students get away with murder and still go on to college. This simply does not happen in real life; therefore, looking to Hollywood films for the true colors of schools is not in the best of interests. We have to realize that directors produce these films in their vision of American culture. We as Americans always look to the American Dream of sometime “making it.” The films neglect to see the loser’s point of view, meaning Hollywood films only look to a positive ending because it is in our nature to believe in the American Dream. This book allows our society to actually look past the films fantasies and observe the true inequalities in school. Although Hollywood films do correctly show how urban, suburban, and private students behave in schools, they do not show the true outcomes of real life.
They attempted to evoke many different emotions mainly sympathy for the elephant population and a feeling of being surprised at the fact of how big the black market it is and how much of an influence the ivory trade is on people that live in China. One scene provided an excellent example of the pathos techniques is when Craig Miller is standing in the middle of a small group of elephants carcasses while the camera is floating around showing the carcasses while some mournful music plays and Craig talks about the attack that just took place, this scene can be found around the 18 min mark. This scene is effective at conveying emotions because it effectively displays the author's emotion towards poaching with the camera angles it gets on the carcasses of the elephants and the music that plays while it showing this grave brought the emotion of pity towards the elephants. Those elephants probably huddled up to protect the smallest of the elephants making it easier for the poachers to attack them. Poaching isn’t the only horrifying part about the ivory trade, due to the ivory trade being between Africa and China, China has become more dangerous with the government turning a blind eye to the trade and as well as corrupt government officials. At approximately 13 minutes into the movie it shows a man walking down a poorly lit alley way while ominous music is playing in the
Timothy Wheeler, talks about how guns can save lives in his essay “There’s A Reason They Choose Schools”. Wheeler writes that shooters choose schools because of the rules that are placed on campuses. Wheeler’s writes, “[t]he only solution is a prepared and brave defender with the proper lifesaving tool- and gun” (Wheeler, 657). But if everyone has a gun and a shooter comes into a college campus everyone will have a gun out. This means that when the police show up they will not know
When I was in elementary school, I never feared of having an intruder enter my school, nor did we ever prepare for a tragedy such as that. It was not until recent years that school shootings became more of a common and feared issue. As a future educator, it is a terrifying thought that my classroom could be invaded and it would be my responsibility to protect my students. Even with the number of school shootings rising every day, our government has yet to make it legal for teachers in every state and every school to carry a gun in the classroom. This essay will review and analyze the opinions of multiple scholars and their input on the issue of teachers carrying weapons in the classroom and protecting the safety of students. It will discuss
In this article Emmett Tyrell informs us about gun violence in schools and what the NRA has proposed to stop the gun violence, and mass shootings across America. While the gun control debate rages, many schools have become war zones, and all school zones are vulnerable. The National Rifle Association's has come up with a 225-page report contains dozens of recommendations to improve safety in our nation’s schools. The NRA’s National School Shield program will train and enable school personnel to carry firearms to protect our nation’s children.
... a high school student, I don’t take much stock in the safety codes and drills in place to keep students safe in the event of a shooting. I would feel much safer knowing my teacher has the ability to protect the class, rather than hide and lock the door. An educator is responsible for the students in their class. They are responsible for their education and their safety while the children are in their classroom. The safety of fifteen or more students would be much more easily secured by one person if that person was armed. Promoting teachers to arm themselves also prevents school shootings; criminals don’t attack a victim that can fight back. At least 60% of school attacks would be prevented with an armed faculty warning sign. School faculty members should be armed to secure the safety of the countries students, and in hand prevent the majority of potential shootings.
Allowing students and faculty who are licensed to conceal and carry a handgun on campus will result in reduced school shootings and make campuses a safer place to be. The debate remains, will the student who carries a concealed weapon provide protection and deter possible criminal activity or could the well-intended individual escalate an explosive situation, causing more harm. Future statics of criminal activities from the campuses that allow students to carry concealed handguns will be the true test.
One such unlawful act came to be known as the Gun-Free School Zone Act of 1990” (Arnold 495). One must acknowledge that the Columbine shooting, and every other school shooting past 1990, took place after the Federal Gun-Free School Zone Act of 1990 was enacted. This law did nothing to prevent our children from being murdered, it merely established a framework by which one can be simply be prosecuted for violating the provisions contained within. Passing more laws aimed at prohibition are meaningless and ineffective. Unless the Colorado State Legislature provides each school district with the means to actually enforce the Federal provisions of the Gun-Free School Zone Act, beyond that of just prosecution when the law is breached, any individual is free to physically bring a firearm onto the campus. Compliance with this law, as any law is, is only applicable to those that voluntarily comply; prohibition of guns brought into K-12 campuses are an exercise in futility without the means, such as a metal detector, to enforce the federal
Since 1980 till now, there have been many school shootings. Many innocent lives have been taken. Schools have become less safe. People blame either bad parenting or video games. Bullying is another factor as to why students end up shooting at schools and then ending their own life. It is so tragic and must be stopped.
Over the past few years there have been many incidents when children bring guns to school and shoot their fellow classmate(s) and/or teacher(s). The most recent and probably most tragic happened in 1998 at Colombine High School in Colorado when a group of students entered the school and murdered several students and a teacher. The first thing that everyone wondered once they finally heard the news is how the children got the guns? Supporters of gun control believe that if there were harsher gun laws, a lot of the school shootings would have never taken plac...
However, schools could just prevent that my hiring a security guard or have one police officer on campus. This way the parents will be assured that their children are in a safe place and teachers also don’t have to worry about carrying a weapon with them all the time. By provoking teachers to carry concealed weapons, it will also save money for the schools because the teachers won’t have to take special lessons on the weapons and learn how to use
Although most security measures passively make schools safer, it is not nearly enough to prevent an individual who intends on creating mass violence from completing his or her task. State representatives, national organizations, school staff, and parents need to come together to figure out the most reliable ways to prevent an active shooter situation from occurring in their schools. One solution that has been active is many schools have partnered with local law enforcement agencies to provide a police officers to patrol school grounds....
The news of Columbine was all over the TV, newspapers, and in every social aspect of life. This left parents no choice but to discuss the incident with their children. After Columbine, there seemed to be more and more reports of school violence, more shooting, bombings, and knives being brought to school. As much as parents would like to protect their kids from hearing any of this they can't and the kids come home with questions. The more the kids hear the more they fear; after Columbine 41% of teens in a nation wide survey became afraid for their safety at school. Kids are now scared to go to school and their parents are scared to let them. Kids are now skipping school and pretending to be sick; not because they have a test or because they don't like their teacher. They a scared that something might happen to them. In a nation wide survey placed by www.usaweekend.com, 91% have seen kids get picked on, 85% have seen them argue loudly, 74% have seen physical fights, 29% have been threatened physically, 25% have been hit, 14% have been...
Elephant Man The Elephant Man, written by Bernard Pomerance, is a play about identity. It is a play about a man who is deformed, but constantly trying to live life as an ordinary person. The play begins with John Merrick, also known as the Elephant Man, performing in a carnival freak show in order to make a minute amount of money for living expenses. In Scene VI, Even on the Niger and Ceylon, Not This, Treves brings in Miss Sandwich to become Merricks nurse. He explains to her that he has been let down so far by the other nurses he has introduced to Merrick.
Experts have also said that most violent conflicts among school-age children can be traced back to long- simmering disputes (Apfel 21). Carrying guns and other weapons around schools is becoming more and more popular all around the world. People think that carrying guns around schools with them will make them cool or fit in with other people like themselves. They're wrong. More and more people who are carrying guns around schools today are getting caught and having them taken away. Since schools have gotten metal detectors and scanners, they have cut down the rate of having handguns in schools by nearly 58%(Glazer 5). Security experts have reported that there is no evidence that a metal detector will solve the problem of violence in schools, even though it offers a highly visible symbol to the community (Apfel 22). Even if the schools with all the gun violence in their schools do put in metal detectors at the front entrances of schools, their are many ways kids can sneak in weapons to school.