Another caption in this scene reads, ‘1998: Clinton Bombs ‘weapons factory’ in Sudan…’ Moore has cleverly accompanied the caption with a scene of total destruction. Moore then cuts to a picture of a soldier crying which shocks the audience because it is then backed up with a caption that reads, ‘Factory turns out to be making aspirin.’ The use of a crying soldier makes the viewer sympathise with the man and his loss. He is clearly a strong army soldier, but to see him reduced to tears immediately makes the viewer think that America has ruined these people’s lives and surroundings. Another way Moore has cunningly made America look stupid is by including in the scene, the sign saying ‘SHIFFA.’ This is a well-known pharmaceutical firm and Moore has included this large sign to make people think that ‘America must have known this was only a medicine factory’ and to add, using inverted commas just seems like it is an excuse to bomb the building. Moore has also made the scene seem ironic because the use of the word Aspirin, a painkiller, is juxtaposed with the dropping of the bomb, a pain inflictor. This is, once again, Moore’s perception of what was happening, because the building was probably not just making aspirin, and the soldier could have been crying for a number of other reasons and not just because of the factory bombing. This has influenced the viewer into thinking that America is bombing unnecessarily to gain power because Moore has intentionally shown scenes of devastation that he theoretically thinks America has caused.
The last scene of the series of clips is of the September eleventh attacks. The caption reads, ‘Sep 11 2001: Osama bin Laden uses his expert CIA training to murder 3000 people.’ At this scene, the music stops. Moore has cleverly ended the music to convey the message, ‘when it happens to America, stop the music, stop everything.’ This message is a clear opinion from Michael Moore, that America does not care about tragedies happening to other countries, but when it happens to them, everything else stops. Moore has cleverly positioned this scene at the end. This is to suggest that because of all the past violence against other nations and the supposed ‘training of the terrorists’, America has suffered the consequences and consequently lead to this scene.
The message from this whole scene is clearly transmitted to the viewer, that America is a corrupt, evil dictator that has control of wars and violence across the world. The whole scene was included by Moore, to suggest that the Columbine killers were influenced by the cruelty and murder that their own country has inflicted; therefore stating that America may be responsible for the boys’ actions.
Scene 2 reviews the CCTV and various other footage of the actual shooting at Columbine High School. The scene is the main part of the whole film and takes a more serious tone, unlike the rest of the film, which is highly sarcastic. The positioning of the scene is followed on from a scene showing America’s bombs hitting Serbia. President Bill Clinton’s speech has been cut, so that he first talks about the bombing in Serbia where hundreds of people are dead but then cuts to talking about a tragedy in Littleton. Moore has cleverly cut the scenes so that the president is shown to be more worried about the shooting than their bombs killing innocent people in Serbia.
During the whole scene, the quiet, sombre, guitar music has been used cunningly, as Moore has clearly juxtaposed the music and the scene, whilst the music is sombre and mournful and the scene is shocking and disturbing. The music being played is by Marylyn Manson, who was thought to be an influence on violence in America, but using this quiet, harmless music has obliterated Manson’s involvement. Moore has once again, given the impression that there is a much worse reason to the boys’ behaviour. Moore has also, slyly, used scenes that alter the viewer’s opinion, near the beginning of the scene, he has included the school motto, that says, ‘home of the rebels,’ and also showing a model soldier holding a gun. The use of these small, short clips suggests that, maybe the school has produced these ‘rebels’. The viewer is persuaded by the use of these simple scenes because Moore has made it easy to picture the boys becoming ‘rebels’ because of the school’s connection.
Whilst the scene progresses, the clip takes the audience through the school with clever camerawork. Moore has clearly added this part into the scene to make the audience feel as if they are actually walking themselves, because of the slight wobble of the camera and the realistic, walking up the stairs. This clever camera technique indirectly makes the viewer feel distressed. The scene ‘walks’ the viewer through empty hallways and dark areas of the school. Moore has used these morose scenes to convey his impression of, America has, once again, caused misery and disrupted a normal school life. The clips that have been used are made to look authentic and like a security office camera when showing the CCTV footage of the two boys attacking on a split multi-screen in black and white. The clip amplifies the confused view of the audience because Moore has made sure they are authentic.
The speech in the background is the 911 calls to the police, calls from distressed parents and the media to do with the shooting. Moore has chosen the phone calls specifically. One woman is on the phone, calling from CNN to a police office. She is asking for numbers of people hurt and other details about the shooting, she says, ‘Oh hi, it’s Wendy. We are just taking in number right now for the press, Ok, yes, But fox has somebody now.’ The way in which had made this woman seem selfish and heartless by using the clip of her complaining that she has no one to give her numbers conveys the callous attitude of America’s media. This phone call is juxtaposed with a distressed man trying to get a hold of his child, which completely changes the emotion of the viewer from angry at the media, to sympathise towards the victims. Moore’s use of these phone calls suggests that, in his opinion, the media in the USA are selfish, heartless people who do not care about the victims.
At the end of the scene, footage of the pupils from the school distraught and crying is shown. Moore has only included scenes of women crying to suggest that the victims are all woman and that even the most vulnerable are being attacked in this situation. Moore’s voiceover follows, giving large figures of deaths and injuries and information about the guns. However, what disturbs the viewer more is the scene after. Moore has positioned this scene just before footage of Charlton Heston saying the NRA motto, ‘from my cold dead hands.’ Putting this footage after the devastating scene suggests that Heston has, straight after the shooting, promoted guns further by holding a rally. Moore has, once more, given his opinion, that the National Rifle Association, is a selfish, cold-blooded organisation by positioning the scene here.
The whole scene is used to give the impression that America has actually produced these boys, but this is only Moore’s opinion being shown, but he has cleverly used various clips and cutting
The third scene being examined, explains to the viewer about the statistics for gun crime in other countries. The scene contains clips of humourous scenes and the number of deaths from gun crime in a few countries. The position of the scene follows on from the history of violence by other nations. Moore has ingeniously included this scene because it removes the argument of America having a violent past and does this by showing short scenes of other violent fights and wars that different countries have had. The very short small clips that Moore has included, gives a terrifying message to Americans. The clips in this scene are shown with a figure of gun crime in each country, each number scrolls up from zero to the correct number of deaths. First Germany is shown. The caption says, ‘385’ deaths from guns. The clip shows happy Germans that are dancing, which reflects the fact that the figure is not to be taken seriously. Then France with ‘255 deaths’ showing a clip of harmless lovers by a pool and then a humorous scene showing a woman who looks confused when she shoots the gun at the mans backside. This reflects the fact that France is harmless with its low figure and gives the viewer a perception that, any death by guns in France may just be an accident. It is then followed by Canada with ‘165 deaths’ and UK with ’68 deaths’ with a scene of Prince Charles happy and smiling, suggesting that the UK do not cause much harm and are not in any danger because an important person is at ease. It is then followed by Australia with ‘65’ deaths and Japan with ‘39’ deaths. Moore has juxtaposed the amusing clips with the equally laughable figures of gun crime in these countries. He has cleverly used the cutting of scenes to depict his view on gun crime rates. Lastly, America is shown. Unlike the rest of the countries, America has no scrolling numbers from zero, no comical clips and the music becomes grim and louder. The scene only shows the flag and the large number ’11,127’ which becomes larger as Moore states the figure himself. This creates an image to the viewer that America’s figure is not funny and is fixed at that. Moore has cleverly, not included percentages of gun crime against population and just given a raw figure. This technique pulls the viewer into Moore’s opinion that America has the worst gun crime in the whole world. He has also shrewdly juxtaposed the lowest figure of Japan with the very high figure for USA to give a wrong impression to the viewer. The overall impact of the scene conveys the message from Moore that, all the other countries gun crime rate is laughable or unnecessary, and in some cases, just accidents. However, when it comes to America, there is no joke and no accidents, because Moore suggests that America has bought the violence in itself.
To conclude, the techniques used by Moore to manipulate the viewer’s perception of America has raised the question of whether or not the film is legitimate. The techniques, mainly positioning, cutting, audio, visual and tone have been used by Moore to create what may be a film based on opinion and not on facts. Because at any point where something may seem factual, no source of the facts are cited which reduces the validity of the film. The way, in which Moore has made America look like a super powered, violent country using the techniques has raised concern on the validity of the film. In most parts of the film, Moore has used his directorial skills to cut and position scenes that will manipulate the viewers thinking into that he is right, when, in fact, at many points of the film he is only telling the viewer his opinion. Consequently concluding that Moore has made the film into a mainly fictional ‘telling’ of his opinions, rather than pure facts.