3 - Rhetoric: The Art of Convincing

Bowling for Columbine & Capitalism: A Love Story & Class Notes
By: Lital, Katherine, and Evan

The documentary “Bowling for Columbine”, filmed in 2002, is a documentary which touches on a sensitive topic in the United States; the possession of guns. It is based on a shooting in Columbine High School on April 20^th, 1999, which affected many family and children of the USA. Michael Moore, the director of this documentary, also surfaces many issues related to guns and how American feel about this topic.

In this two hour documentary, Michael Moore goes out and searches for different answers on this controversial topic. He explores more of this topic through the shooting of 12 children from Columbine High School, in which he bases the majority of this film on. He starts off the film with his experience with guns because that is a tradition in his hometown of Michigan. Moore uses comedy, tragedy and anger to get his point across of fear and violence that most Americans experience because of the gun ownership. He interviews people from the media like Matt Stone, Marilyn Manson, James Nichols and Charlton Heston. Between all the varieties of people interviewed, the ideas of guns change from how guns promote evil to how it is protection of the poor. Moore brings us through a roller coaster of emotions by the footage of the Columbine shooting, the scene with kids that have targets attached to them, the scenes of all the recent violence that occurred in the USA and many more. Through this documentary, Michael Moore shows us how having a gun doesn’t always mean protection, guns are not safe to possess out of fear, we are not fully educated on guns and that living out of fear is corrupt.

The topic of the art of convincing, discussed in class, relates to the Michael Moore’s rhetoric views on the topic of guns in America. Rhetoric is when there is an organization of events to express oneself, convince and persuade people. We discussed forms of address used in rhetorical, which are logos, pathos and ethos. Logos is the reasoning to construct an argument, pathos is the appeal to emotions to alter feelings and judgement and ethos is the belief in someone based on their credibly because of their social position.  We learnt that rhetorical development can be reach through examples, definitions, cause and effect, circumstances and quotations. We also discussed propaganda which is a claim relating to reality and to truth. They use it to expose a point of view, to convince and to covert. Some of the techniques that are used by name calling, glittering generalities, transfer, false analogy, testimonial, plain folks, card stacking, bandwagon, either/or fallacies and faulty cause and effect. Lastly, we discussed the critical eye. The critical eye is an understanding that there is more than one to side to every story that we must be alert to uncover the techniques used to shape our understanding of a situation and to be able to make enlightened well informed choices.

In the documentary “Bowling for Columbine”, Moore uses a rhetorical image throughout the film; he persuades us by going back and forth with people pro guns and then the devastation involving guns. He makes the people who are for guns look extremely foolish by showing clips of the tragedy of guns soon after. Moore uses logos by the number of people who have died by guns in different countries per year and the last being the USA with 11,127 deaths; this also appeals to pathos. There is a use of ethos by Moore interviewing James Nichols and Matt Stone based on their credibly, ideas and rationality. He uses pathos by footage of dates and footage of events involving war and violence which the USA is included in, over the past 50 years and the song “what a wonderful world in the background”; this plays with our emotions. Michael Moore develops his arguments by using comparison, he shows two events that happened on April 20^th, first the bombing in Serbia by the USA and how they bombed elementary schools and hospitals and compared that to Columbine shooting; he proves that America is violent. He uses cause and effect by taking the causes of bowling, poverty, broken homes or violent pasts to trigger a school shooting by teenagers. He uses a quote by Marilyn Manson to emphasize one of his points in this documentary, he states “fear created in the media results in consumption.” Moore uses propaganda and uses a lot of ordinary people from his home town, people who work at the bank, ex-convicts of Michigan to expose his point of view on guns. He also uses faulty cause and effect going through the list of effects that cause violence from teenagers such as violence in the media, metal music, Satan, Marilyn Mason etc. By the end of the film, the one-sidedness becomes more relieved and it leaves the audience with knowledge of this side of the arguments on gun control in the USA.  

Introduction to Capitalism: A Love Story

A documentary film very similar to “Bowling for Columbine” is “Capitalism: A Love Story”. It was written, directed and produced by Michael Moore in 2009. The movie is about two hours long and was filmed in the United States. Moore brings us into a history class and explains to us how the Roman Empire had its own greedy flaws, just like today. As time progresses, Moore brings us to the post WWII era. The era where the US’s rivals, Japan and Germany, were busy cleaning up their destroyed cities. While Japan’s and Germany’s economy was in the toilet, Americans were thriving with heaps of money. The President, Franklin D. Roosevelt was going to introduce the Second Bill of Rights, which would ensure that everyone in the United-States would be happy. So why aren’t Americans happy right now? Well Moore thinks it’s because Roosevelt died before introducing the Rights, politicians made alliances with billion-dollar corporations and that Wall Street was abolishing millions of jobs and health-care for their own benefit. Moore explains how President Ronald Reagan was controlled by Wall Street, which enabled them to do anything they wanted, even steal money from the poor. Moore shows all sorts of examples of how everyday people are getting robbed of their wealth and homes. For example he shows a clip of an evicted family refusing to leave their home. With the support of their neighbors, the authorities didn’t intervene. Moore also showed a take-over by employees of a company. They wouldn’t leave the factory grounds until the company owners gave them what they wanted. With the event making the news, the employees were given support by thousands of people. According to Moore, ‘support’ seems to be a huge problem for Wall Street. In fact Moore explains that the poor have one advantage over the rich: the number of individuals. Moore explains that if the poor get together and vote for a politician that seeks to destroy Wall Street’s dream, then the billionaires we know today won’t be as rich as they were yesterday.

If you don’t quite know a lot about Wall Street, this article might inform you about it:

http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-wall-street.htm

The two main concepts that were covered in class were rhetoric and propaganda. This film displays a lot of techniques associated with both concepts. The first rhetoric form is logos, which is when someone uses reasoning to construct arguments (using facts, numbers etc…) “Bowling for Columbine” showed many facts and numbers to get a point across. In fact “Capitalism: A love Story” did the exact same thing. Michael Moore send out a bunch or pretty looking numbers that made some popular and rich people look bad. Although the audience has no clue where Moore is getting his numbers from, they could be made up just so Moore can make a point. For example Moore tells his audience that personal bankruptcies increased by 610% since the 1980s. Yet these numbers aren’t referenced, so how is the audience supposed to know Moore isn’t exaggerating a bit?

The second rhetoric form is ethos. The documentary didn’t necessarily interview anybody because of their credibility or of their social position, but it did show video clips of different presidents talking to the American people. The third rhetoric is pathos. In “Bowling for Columbine”, pathos was used quite often to get Moore’s audience to agree with his points and it is exactly the same in “Capitalism: A Love Story”. Moore shows video clips of the terrible conditions the lower class have to live in. Families of twelve would be living in a truck, thousands of families were evicted from their homes and it also showed how organizations bet on their own employee’s deaths:

Or even how pilots only get paid 19 000$ a year:

Many propaganda techniques were used throughout the film. The most common technique was Name Calling and Card Stacking. Throughout the whole film, the rich and powerful were portrayed as greedy and evil. That it was their fault for what has happened to the United-States economically and politically, and Moore did a great job at pointing his finger. If the movie wasn’t showing the audience clips of the lower class, it was bashing the rich for what they’ve done.  Plain Folks was used throughout the film. For example there were two farmers who were getting their house evicted. The farmers explained their side of the story which made the scene very biased because Moore didn’t interview why the bank evicted the farm. Maybe the farmers weren’t paying their bills, or owed the bank a large amount of money, the audience just doesn’t know. The propaganda technique Testimonial was used to make Ronald Reagan the 40th president of the United-States. Before his presidency, Reagan was originally a Hollywood star and corporate spokesman before convincing Americans he was right for the White House. Which, as Moore tells his audience, was the beginning of the end of capitalism.

Personal Response to Bowling for Columbine

Bowling for Columbine is a documentary that is all about showing Moore’s opinion about guns and their relation to violence. We can learn a lot about society and ourselves in general, as the documentary reflects the easy accessibility to weapons and munitions. This accessibility shows that different outlets, such as the news, violence in movies, television, video games, and the media influence us and instill fear within us. The emphasis on fear is central in Moore's film, showing the psychological effects these outlets have on our minds, and the impact of such an acute phenomenon that is a plague to our well being. These means of expression, become our means of expression, teaching us to mimic what it is we see; creating paranoia and enabling people to make irrational decisions. It is important to see how such tragic events such as the Columbine high school shooting, create a globally controlling hold on many individuals. Some become a part of the violence, while others seek protection from it by purchasing a gun. Even for those that do buy weapons for their own protection, this action creates a dualistic approach to the situation. On one hand, it is strictly for the means of feeling more sheltered and in control of any possible violent interaction, and on the other, it reflects a sad reality of what this world has succumbed to, agony and terror, rather than peace and unison. What this world needs is to validate the human race and accept that we are all human born under one God.  We must learn to open our eyes and learn that in the end, the ones we hurt are each other. This influence depicts the disparity between those that are weak and controlled by the influence of the media, and those that choose not to become victimized by it.

Personal Response to Capitalism: A Love Story

 This documentary explores capitalism as a corporate authority on the everyday lives of individuals. We learn that people pay the price with their homes, savings and current employment opportunities. Moore examines the homes of other people, and the devastation that their infatuation with capitalism has created, destruction that has accompanied and burned their lives in the name of love. Our world is filled with greed where in relation to youth today, there is more interest in finance than in science. This documentary portrays the evil in capitalism, which Moore concludes should be replaced by democracy and ruled by the people, rather than by the money. In reference to control, the money controls the lives of individuals and creates the robbery of their innocent and fragile lives. Goods and services are only provided for those who are capable of paying for them, leaving out the sick, the old, the young, and those that are incapable of working. Ironically, the documentary begins with footage of armed robberies, which in my perception is a representation of capitalism in society today; where money controls and oppresses the lives of its victims. After seeing the documentary and examining the title: “A Love Story,” capitalism cannot be lived with or without. The vicious money hungry cycle that perpetuates our global economy is indeed a love story, even when it may not necessarily be right or beneficial.

 Links Between Bowing for Columbine and Capitalism: A Love Story

When examining both films, Moore depicts gun violence and those that fall prey to its plague as a means of attention and expression. Meanwhile, to those that choose not to succumb to the violence, there is still a great sense of fear that is instilled within us due to the platform such outlets create for us. Whether it instills fear or is a gateway to acquiring attention, violence is an emotion and a ploy for attention. Moore explores capitalism as a weapon itself, leading to the destruction of our own well beings, by perpetuating greed and following a vicious cycle that is dominated by finance and the idea of money as what makes the world go around. Money does make this world function and revolve, however it centers around the idea of dominance and power over individuals. The liaison between both articles is the concept of dominance, whether it is fear or attention when it comes to violence in general, or how we choose to invest our money. The central brain of this operation is the dominance of the media and its other mediums, social outlets that have a big role in instigating and influencing our thoughts, perceptions and beliefs, which are replaced by their expressions that soon become ultimately ours. In relation to both articles, infatuation of anything leads to its ultimate control and supremacy, where balance is no longer a priority.

In conclusion, both films were incredible and are recommended to all those who seek to explore the global phenomenon of gun violence and capitalism. There are lessons to be learned from these films, and anybody could benefit by watching them and developing their own thoughts and perception on them. The main themes make us all re-evaluate the world we live in today, and the fear that is being instilled within us through the media and its outlets. Things have changed and will continue to change as time goes on, and we all have to adapt to these new changes. The concept of gun violence and capitalism as two factors that contribute to an investment of falsity and negativity, the issues, thoughts and concerns surrounding them we essential in the development and understanding of the two films.  

                                                    Capitalism: A Love Story(Trailer)