As a teenager living on the other side of the world to the United States and knowing nothing about Mike Moore and his film “Bowling for Columbine”, there seemed little to get excited about when I was told we would be studying this documentary as part of our Year 12 English Course. For me, the word “documentary” conjures up a rather boring and uninspiring picture of an informative, news-like text that explores issues of very little interest to me. The title did nothing to excite me either, as I was led to believe that this film was about bowling! Given that I was only eleven when the Columbine Massacre occurred I really knew nothing about it. Unlike an adult, my mind was not filled with images of dying teenagers when I heard the word ‘Columbine’. I am probably a fairly typical teenager in that I am quite indifferent to the issue that Moore explores in this text. To be honest, I don’t really care much about guns in America. I don’t greatly admire Americans, or their culture; I see them as quite an arrogant and overly-patriotic race that take pleasure in being the world’s only real super power. I don’t admire the way they seem to be exploiting the situation in Iraq and feel quite cynical about the reasons they gave for going to war in the first place. So in many ways I do share Mike Moore’s negativity towards American culture. Overall though, what appealed the most to me about this documentary was not the issue it explored (although I found myself enjoying Mike Moore’s mockery of his culture) but the irony of many of the situations Moore presented and its fast paced, confronting style.
Mike Moore’s, “Bowling for Columbine, What a Wonderful World” is centered around a school massacre in Columbine, on the morning of April 20 1999. Moore establishes his position early in the documentary against the policy in America that everyone has the right to bear arms and he makes a link between the massacre and the ease with which people can carry, and use, guns. He goes on...