Bowling For Columbine

Bowling for Columbine is an American documentary that was created and produced by Michael Moore, who is a documentary film maker and author. The Film suggests what Moore believes are the main causes for the amounts of gun crime in America, but mainly focuses on the school shooting at Columbine high school, which is a very controversial subject over there.

Moore's preferred reading for this would be to support him in his dislike of guns. This is the whole reason for making the documentary and is why he focuses on the bad and stupid gun related policies in the US. His opening scene is him walking into a bank and applying for a bank account which then entitles him to a free gun. He shows this because in his opinion this is a very strange, amusing and inappropriate policy for a place that is given a lot of trust. What makes Moore's distaste for the current gun laws in place in America so obvious, is his reaction to each of the situations he finds himself in. His sarcastic comments are very obvious to the audience but are clearly not to the people he is interviewing, which makes it even more entertaining but shocking. People in Britain would agree with him because most disagree with the current law in America, where as, a lot of Americans don't wouldn't agree because they are so used to the concept of guns, so feel more scared without them. These people are opposed to the idea.

The opposition for the documentary are people that support the use of guns in the US, or don't believe that the gun laws are responsible for the high numbers of deaths and school shootings that happen much more frequently than in other developed countries. Moore tries to combat the different reasons that have been given by high political figures for the amount of gun violence with a montage, which ends with comments about violence in music, specifically Marilyn Manson. There is then an interview with Marilyn where he criticizes the president for in-sighting violence by bombing other countries. There is then a montage, comparing the reasons people believe America have higher crime rates and gun deaths with other Countries with worst or the same problems or history. This is just Moore reinforcing his own ideas on the audience by turning what they believe back around so they support him instead.

A negotiated audience would be unaffected or less affected by the content in the documentary. They are more likely to change Moore's facts and opinions to fit with their own ideas and thoughts on gun laws and the problems with guns in America. This is a fairly good way of seeing the documentary as although all the facts are true in the documentary, they are shown without any content from the other side of the story, which makes the whole thing quite biased towards Moore's opinions.

Mean World syndrome is a reoccurring theme throughout the documentary. MWS is a theory that the media make the world look worse than it is because they focus and report mostly on negative events around the world. This lack of variation means that it looks like we have disasters happening to everyone everywhere, when it's actually only a small proportion of the world that is affected by these disasters. This is criticized by Marilyn Manson because it creates fear that can be used to sell items and products. A lot of what is being said or advertised is very unlikely to happen, but because there is a very small chance that it does, it can be used to exploit people. In a way, Moore is also using Mean World Syndrome to sell this documentary because he is talking about school shootings which although do happen a lot in America, are not so common that it will affect everyone. He uses shocking facts and events to try and get the audience on his side, such as having over 11,000 gun related deaths each year in America and comparing that stat to other similarly developed countries. This is his way of telling America that America is an unsafe place to live.

Task 2 - Information on Theories

Passive and Active Consumption

This theory describes how different audiences react and engage with different media texts. Passive consumption is where the audience takes in information from the news and other sources without reacting, engaging or questioning what is being said. This is what media sources want to achieve, as people are submissively reading or hearing what they say and believing it without considering that they are being fed false information. Audiences were much more susceptible to this when there were fewer sources of information and they only had a radio.

Active consumption is when audiences take an active interest in the information that they are being given. Today people have so many different platforms to post and comment about different news stories and programs, that is becoming very difficult for individual news platforms to control what media, people consume. It doesn't have to oppose what they see, they just must take an active role in discussing or fining out more about what they have seen.

Passive and Active Consumption

A good example of this is, when people dislike a program on TV or on Radio, they would go online to either comment bout in on social media so that other people can see it and share their opinions about the program as well, or putting a comment on either the website of the company that broadcast the program or the Ofcom website, where they can take appropriate action.

Hypodermic Needle Theory

Hypodermic needle theory is a theory that suggests that when people see or hear the news or general information, they hear it and accept it without questioning. The name 'Needle' relates to the information being directly injected into the public and it having an immediate affect. The public cannot escape the medias influence and is therefore just waiting to receive the information.

Hypodermic Needle Theory

When the different media industries manipulate the viewers/ listeners to believe a story or an event. This was much easier in the 1930’s, 40’s and 50’s, before other forms of media were as mainstream. Radio was the only source of information for a lot of people. An example is the radio program ‘War of the Worlds’, was a story that was broadcast on the BBC. Some of the listeners thought the made up events in the story were really happening as it wasn’t clearly mentioned before and throughout the reading of it. This showed the media company that although not everyone did, many people believe anything that is said through the media because it's meant to be reliable. The theory itself is that people don’t have opinions and will all react to stories in the same way.

Uses and Gratification Theory

Uses and Gratification theory is a popular approach to understanding mass communication. The theory focuses more on the consumer than the message itself, as it questions 'what people do with media', not 'what the media does to people'. It relies on the audience not being passive in their use of media, but take an active role in interpreting and integrating media into their lives. This could be by using a topic that is currently mainstream news and using it as a topic of conversation.

Uses and Gratification Theory Diagram

A good example of this is through the cinema. Going to the cinema to watch a film is a great example of being impassive in the pursuit of entertaining media. This isn't just the experience of seeing the film but also the entire cinema experience which involves buying popcorn, watching the adverts etc. 

Reception Theory

Reception theory suggests that the way we interpret text differs depending on our background, upbringing and values. This means that two people with completely different lives will have different opinions on one subject, whereas, two people from the same place with the same values will think the same thing about a story. These different opinions can be split up into 4 different categories which identify each reaction to the text.

Reception Theory Diagram

1. Negotiated - The reader or viewer partially accepts the texts opinions, but will resist and modify these opinions to fit their own experiences and interests which will change bases on their locations and personality.

2. Dominant - This is when the reader or viewer fully accepts the texts code because they have very limited knowledge of the subject. This would seem very natural and agreeable to the reader because they sound beneficial. An example would be the government promising improvements to the NHS, as that is what most of the pubic want to hear.

3. Oppositional - This is when the audience recognizes the dominant message but rejects it due to their cultural opinions. An example of this would be watching a political parties promotional program and deciding to vote against them.

4. Preferred - This is how the director want the audience to see the text which is why it is often linked to the dominant category, as the audience is agreeing with the message that is being conveyed.

As an example for each of the categories in reception theory I have used Android phones. People have very different opinions about the type of phone. If there was an advertisement the dominant or preferred response would be that android phones are great because they have taken a strong liking to both the phone and the advert. It would also entice you to buy this android phone.

An oppositional view point would be that they don't like android, the advert will make no difference, they think the product is rubbish and would never own it. They might even be in favor of a rival product so they have a strong sense of brand loyalty.

A negotiated view point wouldn't have any strong feelings towards the advert, they wouldn't react positively and would probably forget it fairly quickly.