Morvelisa Lesson 2 Bowling for Columbine audience

Audience research for ‘Bowling for Columbine’

How much did the film make at the box office?
 - How do you feel the issue (s) it addresses may have impacted on the above?
 - Find an interview with Michael Moore about the film, and use some quotes that identify his own ideology on the topics involved.
 - Watch the trailer, and identify who it seems to be being targeted at and why?
 - Does Michael Moore's other films also give clues as to whom his films are targeted at? 
 - Watch a couple of trailers from some of his other films, and reference the titles.

I would say the documentary it was targeted at Americans who are concerned about violence but don’t have any clear ideas of what causes it or what to do about it. Beyond that, I would say that it targets young adults more than those more mature. Of course this doesn’t mean more mature viewers don’t watch it or like it. But its seems to me that the techniques are the type of thing to grab the attention of somebody who has a short attention span and limited life experience. It’s entertaining more than it is enlightening or instructive.

Moore attempts to capture his audience by using humour. For example, near the beginning of the documentary there is a clip from comedian Chris Rock talking about guns. It was a clip from one of his stand up comedy shows, and by showing this clip he managed to capture the audience’s attention through the use a comedic celebrity. Moore also used animated video to capture his audience as well, but the video was informative at the same time.

Of course it does bring out some interesting people and facts. Something that struck me deeply was the ambush interview with Charlton Heston, who was suffering the early effects of Alzheimer’s disease at the time. Moore pretended to be a “fan” and then asked Heston a number of questions he could not answer due to his mental condition. It isn’t fair, but to Moore it was a dramatic way of making some kind of point; but I fail to see what it was.  After all, you can’t expect a man suffering from dementia to explain what he did when he was in full possession of his faculties. In fact, Moore’s portrayal was demeaning. Whether or not I agree with Heston’s positions, I don’t like to see an ailing person exploited. Of course the young folks who don’t remember Heston when he was well, or who have no experience yet with ailing elderly relatives, won’t see this. Whatever high ground Moore may think he has due to his opposition to violence is lessened by his disrespect for human beings. As you see, I regard this film as interesting but morally impressive.

Michael Moore did an interview with Cynthia Fuchs titled “I want to see change in my Lifetime”

In this interview Michael Moore shows how he truly feels about gun violence.

Cynthia Fuchs: Bowling for Columbine argues that extreme acts of violence, for example, the Littleton shootings or the, are less deviant than they are produced by a culture based on fear. Can you say more about how you see that relationship, between violence and fear?
Michael Moore: I think that there's something in the American psyche, it's almost this kind of right or privilege, this sense of entitlement, to resolve our conflicts with violence. There's arrogance to that concept if you think about it. To actually have to sit down and talk, to listen, to compromise, that's hard work. To go for the gun, that's the cowardly act. My question is, why do we believe that way and other cultures don't? And I think it's because we do not feel a collective responsibility for each other. And we punish you if you end up as one of the have-nots, instead of embracing or helping you. A country that will still not, to this day, put into law that a child has the right to a doctor: we won't even say that our own children has the right to a doctor.It's why a lot of the world is pretty frightened of us, because they see how we treat each other. "Jeez, if they do that to their own, what will they do to us?".

Box Office

Budget:

 $4,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend:

 $6,738 (Hong Kong) (6 June 2003)

Gross:

 $312,914 (Brazil) (20 June 2003)