Investigating Gun Violence – “Bowling for Columbine”
On April 20, 1999, Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold opened fire on their school in Littleton, Colorado killing twelve students and one teacher and wounding twenty-one others. The massacre left America stunned and searching for answers as to why these two killed. Some blamed music, particularly Marilyn Manson. Other’s blamed video game violence, movie violence, lack of social skills, access to guns, America’s love for guns, etc. People, especially the media, were tireless in their quest to find answers. In the documentary film Bowling for Columbine, Michael Moore attempts to answer the questions surrounding why Harris and Klebold went on their shooting spree. He then broadens his task to discovering why America has the most gun violence out of any other developed country in the world.
Moore provides us with some incredible statistics. In the U.S. 11,127 people a year are killed in gun violence. The number two country for gun related deaths is Germany with, get this, 381 gun related deaths a year. It’s utterly shocking. Moore embarks on a quest across the U.S. and Canada, with 165 gun related deaths per year, to figure out why America is so violent. Is it because Canada has less guns? No. Canada is as enthusiastic about guns, if not more, as America.
Moore then investigates if it’s perhaps because of America’s violent history. Again, false. Germany and the Holocaust, the Roman Empire, European Colonialism, the French and Napoleon, etc. Well, may be it’s because Americans play more violent video games and watch more violent films. False. Canadians and the rest of the world are just as enthused about the next Hollywood slasher film or Arnold Schwarzenegger action film as Americans are. And Japan, who has 39 gun related deaths per year, manufactures most of the violent videogames Americans play!
After heavy investigation, Moore concludes, although not definitively, that Americans are paralyzed by fear. And fear makes us buy guns and shoot each other without thinking. And who manufactures this fear? The media. Over the years crime rates have declined significantly, but fear of crime has increased 600%! And media coverage in the last few years have increased their coverage of murder and crimes 140%. We should be afraid of non-descript black men, we should be afraid of brown people because they’re just waiting to blow us up. We should be afraid to walk outside at night because something bad is sure to happen. We should lock our doors at night so the boogie man won’t get us. Moore believes that we as a country we are controlled by fear that the media induces. In Canada, the news coverage is not run by the motto, “If it bleeds, it leads.” It’s news about the government and informative, thoughtful news. People in Toronto, one of the most heavily populated cities in Canada, even leave their doors unlocked at night.
So, how is Moore’s film related to feminism? A major focal point in the feminist movement is the elimination or near elimination of violence. Not only against women, but against our fellow human beings in general. I think many times women’s groups advocate against violent movies and videogames because either that’s the sole reason or the biggest reason for violence, which I’m skeptical about. Feminist groups also find that guns and the availability of guns causes violence, but guns are just as accessible in many other parts of the world as they are in the U.S., as Moore points out, and the gun violence in those places doesn’t even rival the gun violence in the U.S. I think Moore does an incredible job of forcing people to think about other reasons for the violence besides the ones we’re so quick to jump on and accuse. I think feminist groups can really benefit from this new perspective by taking up a cause in trying to change the media in other ways besides the elimination of violence in movies, music and videogames. Maybe the media really does make us extremely fearful and this fear causes us to act in violent ways. And maybe it doesn’t. But either way it’s an interesting point that Moore makes and I think the idea is worth feminist groups investigating it further themselves.