Media Portrayal of the World by America and Canada - Research Paper Example

? ROLE OF MEDIA Introduction The documentary, “Bowling for Columbine” is directed by Michael Moore. It is a productive documentary that places the spectators to consider the reasons of the large number of deaths caused due to guns in the United States as compared to other nations such as European countries and Canada. The title of the documentary has been chosen in commemoration of the massacre at The Columbine High School, where the pupils Dylan Klebold and Eric Harris after killing thirteen individual in 1999 committed suicide. This documentary inquiries an assortment of variables that may have encouraged or have lead to the gun loving culture in America. Moreover, the spectators are placed to react negatively to the American soft gun laws which have necessarily lead to many deaths. The audience is intentionally led by Michael Moore by a deeply informative and emotional journey, distinctly spotlighting the frightening fact, that the gun culture in United States is grounded upon racism and feari. The documentary can be said to have covered variety of factors that have contributed to increased deaths within the United States due to gun violence. By making use of film techniques like juxtaposition, montage and satire, in an outstandingly powerful way, the viewers are invited by Moore to respond on the attitudes and values about human depravity and frailty as well as to inquire if the guns laws in the United States need more alterations. Moore talks about the views of different countries on violent history, poverty as well as on the breakup of the families. In the United States, the news programs telecasted on the television attempt to engrain terror into the hearts of the individuals. The news concentrate on death and violence, as mentioned by a news reporter who mentioned that he would prefer to cover a gun shooting incident before moving towards a drowning child. However, in the Canada, the news is more focused toward the incidents taking place within towns. The Canadian reporters don’t attempt to instill fear within the hearts and minds of their viewersii. The residents of United States charge for the violence faced by the country on their violent past quoting the examples of Indians and the Cowboys. However the other nations that have less violence in these days have gone through a much more violent past as experienced by the American citizens. For instance around a million people were exterminated by the Germans, The occupation of China by the Japanese, The Massacre in Algiers by France and the British butchery in the Subcontinent. The violent attitude of the American nation has been pasteurized by Moore in a way that provides both moods of sorrowfulness as well as hilarious and hence could be referred as a two-hour anecdoteiii. The American residents reside in a country where millions of handguns are available to general public. But the acquirement of these handguns by citizens is not the issue covered in the documentary instead the most often incidents of intended shooting incidents is the main problem highlighted in the movie. Moore's considerateness doesn't suppress the stunning set-pieces that have been devised to describe his main concern. Among various explanations provided by Michael Moore in the documentary for the increased deaths due to gun violence within the United States is the culture developed within the United States of intolerance. This intolerance and increased fear has been instilled within the hearts and minds of general public through the television media that focuses more on violence. The American nation has thus become more afraid, more chaotic and more uptight than the other nations of the world. These incidents of deaths due to gun violence in the United States result from the circumstances of chaos, fear and mere stupidity. Amongst the developed nations, no other country experiences such an increased rate of deaths due to gun violence as are experienced by the United States on annual basis although the number of guns is similar in other countries. Therefore the main factor contributing to such incidents is the intolerant psyche of American nation as expresses in the documentary. It seems that Americans tend to react instantly without considering the situation completely. Thus the instant reactions are violent resulting from frustration and anger. They may sort out the issues using other peaceful mechanisms of conflict resolution but all such means are undermined in incidents of violence.iv The documentary can be regarded as a mosaic of the confrontations of Moore and supplementary footage. The documentary also provides various solutions to the problem addressed in the movie. As mentioned by Chris Rock, the issue can be resolve by imposing taxes on bullets consequently causing an increase in their prices. There have been approximately 380 deaths recorded in Germany, 255 in France, 165 in Canada, 68 in United Kingdom, 39 in Japan while 11127 deaths in the United States recoded sue to gun violencev. This documentary name suggest that it might entail something related to the Columbine massacre but the documentary has just used the incident to portray the issue Moore wanted to discuss and inform the public regarding the issue. The issue of gun related violence has been used to discuss the basic underlying problems that are resulting into the increased deaths in the United States in contrast to other developed nations. It entails that the racism within the United States could be considered as a cause. Moreover the unfair treatment within the society can also be regarded as causing an increase in violence. However while going through the movie one may think that the two-sided picture of the issue has not been provided by Michael Moore and it only portrays his own belief and view of the problemvi. Conclusion Thus it can be colluded the documentary Bowling for Columbine is very successful attempt of Michael Moor to depict the increased number of deaths within the United States due to gun related violence. However more efforts are needed to cease the issues of killings, discrimination and fear within American society. Most of such incidents could have been avoided if individuals are stopped from being self-centered and paranoid. Moreover the government interventions in such case are quite essential since the trend is escalating and impacting the lives of U.S. citizens severely. Bibliography Brym, Robert J. and Lie, John. Sociology: Your Compass for a New World. Cengage Learning, 2006: p. 205. Cogan, Brian and Kelso, Tony. Encyclopedia of Politics, the Media, and Popular Culture. ABC-CLIO, 2009: p.32. DiMare, Philip C. Movies in American History: An Encyclopedia. ABC-CLIO, 2011: pp. 62-63. Rosenthal, Alan and John Corner. New Challenges for Documentary: Second Edition. Manchester University Press, 2005: pp.152-3. Scott, A. O. “Film Review; Seeking a Smoking Gun in U.S. Violence.” The NewYork Times. 11 Oct. 2012. http://www.nytimes.com/2002/10/11/movies/film-review-seeking-a-smoking-gun-in-us-violence.html Welsch, Janice R. and Adams, J. Q. Multicultural films: a reference guide. Greenwood Publishing Group, 2005, p.253. Read More