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The Truth About "Bowling for Columbine" (thorough and devastating)
Hardylaw.net ^ | unkown | David T. Hardy

Posted on 04/04/2003 10:14:38 AM PST by E Rocc

BOWLING FOR COLUMBINE

Documentary or Fiction?

-David T. Hardy-

The first misconception to correct about Michael Moore's The Big One is that it is a documentary. It's not. Moore doesn't make those.

James Berardinelli

The Michael Moore production "Bowling for Columbine" just won the Oscar for best documentary. Unfortunately, it is not a documentary, by the Academy's own definition.

The injustice here is not so much to the viewer, as to the independent producers of real documentaries. These struggle in a field which (despite its real value) receives but a tiny fraction of the recognition and financing of the "entertainment industry." The award of the documentary Oscar to a $4 million entertainment piece is unjust to the legitimate competitors, disheartening to makers of real documentaries, and sets a precedent which may encourage inspire others to take similar liberties with their future projects.

Bowling makes its points by deceiving and by misleading the viewer. Statements are made which are false. Moore leads the reader to draw inferences which he must have known were wrong. Indeed, even speeches shown on screen are heavily edited, so that sentences are assembled in the speaker's voice, but which he never uttered.

These occur with such frequency and seriousness as to rule out unintentional error. Any polite description would be inadequate, so let me be blunt. Bowling uses deliberate deception as its primary tool of persuasion and effect.

A film which does this may be a commercial success. It may be amusing. But it is not a documentary. One need only consult Rule 12 of the rules for the Academy Award: a documentary must be non-fictional, and even re-enactments (much less doctoring of a speech) must stress fact and not fiction. To the Academy voters, some silly rules were not a bar to giving the award. The documentary category, the one refuge for works which educated and informed, is now no more than another sub-category of entertainment.

The point is not that Bowling is unfair, or incorrect. No, the point is that Bowling is deliberately, seriously, and consistently deceptive. A viewer cannot count upon any aspect of it, even when the viewer believes he is seeing video of an event occurring or a person speaking. Words are cheap. Let's look at the evidence.

(Excerpt) Read more at hardylaw.net ...


TOPICS: TV/Movies
KEYWORDS: fakedocumentary; michaelmoore; stupidwhiteman
Just the intro here, perhaps the most devastating slam on this so-called "documentary" I've seen so far.

-Eric

1 posted on 04/04/2003 10:14:38 AM PST by E Rocc
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To: E Rocc
Too bad Moore's "non-fiction" films are required viewing at some film schools and his "non-fiction" books are required reading in some college courses.
2 posted on 04/04/2003 10:24:14 AM PST by Commander8
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Comment #3 Removed by Moderator

To: LostRadical
How about making a film called "Michael & me" and giving him a taste of his own medicine?
4 posted on 04/04/2003 12:31:01 PM PST by TradicalRC (Fides quaerens intellectum.)
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