![]() ![]() Moore contends that this engendered some level of normalization of institutionalized violence within the town and likely produced, at least in part, the kind of people who could commit such a crime as Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold. As the largest defense contractor in the US, it employs many of the town’s inhabitants in manufacturing weaponry. Moore points towards the presence of Lockheed Martin in Littleton, Colorado, the town where the Columbine school shooting was perpetrated. Constant fear-mongering from the media and the glorification of violence by the government and large corporations is inevitably harmful to attempts to maintain peace among American citizens. However, the most central tenet of ‘Bowling’ seems to be the less easily understood idea that a country built upon violence and sustained by fear will inexorably beget a population both preoccupied with and victimized by gun crime and hatefulness. This is thus one means by which progress can be directly measured. Although mostly attempting to communicate the problems, choosing not to provide explicit policy-based solutions, it’s clear that Moore advocates for tighter gun control than was in place. They should not be available to buy just anywhere, and they certainly should not be available to just anyone. Perhaps the most lucidly comprehensible solution the documentary offers is to make guns less available. Later, he purchases ammunition from a barber and talks to a teenager who’s selling firearms for a dollar fifty on the street. ![]() Transparent photo gun in hand free#‘Bowling for Columbine’ opens with Michael Moore obtaining a free gun from a bank. Related video: Come Behind The Scenes of ‘Elvis’ | Austin Butler, Tom Hanks and Baz Luhrmann What Was Needed? Transparent photo gun in hand full#Related video: Full Rendezvous At the Premiere of ‘Elvis’ with Reactions from Stars | Austin Butler, Baz Luhrmann ![]() Related video: Full Commentary – Cast & Crew Spills Secrets on Making of ‘Elvis’ | In-Depth Scoop | Austin Butler In the context of how much time has elapsed since Columbine and indeed ‘Bowling for Columbine’, now is the time to provide that attention. Still, that very hideousness calls out for our renewed attention. Looking separately at the culture of fear and violence and then at national and state legislative levels, the picture may not be pretty. Indeed, during the process of making the documentary, Moore succeeded in pressuring KMart into no longer selling handgun ammunition simply by going up and asking them to.Īfter this, what changes have since occurred can be compared and weighed against the changes needed and desired. It’s a vital cultural artifact of a time before mass shootings felt inevitable, where solutions were offered without a weary sense of futility, when change was demanded and often received. After Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold showed America the worst that misplaced teenage disillusionment and direct access to firearms can produce, what was the response we believed was deserved? Going back and re-watching ‘Bowling’ is like unearthing a time capsule you forgot existed. What did we learn? Did we implement the changes we’d hoped to implement? Did they last? In fewer words, where are we now?īefore any of these questions can be answered, though, it’s essential to recall, clearly and distinctly, what exactly we wanted in the first place. It is for this reason that two decades after Michael Moore’s radical and passionate call for change was first released, it is worth taking stock. The passion and righteous fury that once stirred hearts is now diluted by disheartenment. These sorts of changes rarely happen all at once – policy shifts glacially, flattening progress in its path. Indeed, many gun laws have become looser, and rates of mass shootings have only risen. Michael Moore’s documentary ‘Bowling for Columbine’ turned 20 this year, and despite calling convincingly for a change in attitude to guns, little has been done.
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