Michael Moore Documentaries:
· Often open with humour
· Uses his voice to narrate
· Conflict of narration
· Archive footage
· CCTV footage
· Focuses on his beliefs and opinions
Essay Question:
‘Michael Moore’s documentaries have brought the genre into the mainstream and are innovative in their style. Discuss.'
The genres of Michael Moore’s documentaries are often investigative and follow a similar structure. He is always the narrator and his films quickly rely on his voice over for additional information. He asks the audience rhetorical questions, instantaneously followed with his own opinions, which further enforces the ‘God’ like status of Michael Moore within his own film. The use of archive footage is always prominent in his documentaries and they are often heavily discussion based using interviews to portray two sides of an argument.
The investigative documentary is a genre that illustrates and investigates a real life subject using facts and archive footage to show the audience ‘first hand’ the point they are trying to make. Michael Moore’s investigative documentaries, like many others, attempt to discover the truth, often regarding political, medical and media issues.
I have seen two of Michael Moore’s documentaries; the first was ‘Bowling for Columbine’, a film about a high school massacre and other acts of violence, mainly with guns. The film’s title comes from the story of Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold, the two students responsible for the Columbine High School massacre, who attended a school bowling class before they committed the attack at the school.
In Moore’s documentary he engages in discussions with various people such as South Park creator Matt Stone, National Rifle Association’s then-president Charlton Heston and musician Marilyn Manson as well as members of the school. He tries to find the truth behind why the Columbine massacre occurred and why the United States has such a high violent crime rate, compared with other countries such as Canada and The United Kingdom.
The second documentary I watch was Fahrenheit 9/11. The film takes a critical look at George Bush and the war on terrorism, and in particularly the coverage on American news.
This documentary again has a discussion-based theme with several conspiracy theories being argued. The documentary speaks to those who believe the American Government allowed or helped the attacks on the world trade centre and the pentagon. Michael Moore travels across the United States to investigate, speaking eye to eye with witnesses and tries to establish the truth.
The investigative documentary is a genre that illustrates and investigates a real life subject using facts and archive footage to show the audience ‘first hand’ the point they are trying to make. Michael Moore’s investigative documentaries, like many others, attempt to discover the truth, often regarding political, medical and media issues.
I have seen two of Michael Moore’s documentaries; the first was ‘Bowling for Columbine’, a film about a high school massacre and other acts of violence, mainly with guns. The film’s title comes from the story of Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold, the two students responsible for the Columbine High School massacre, who attended a school bowling class before they committed the attack at the school.
In Moore’s documentary he engages in discussions with various people such as South Park creator Matt Stone, National Rifle Association’s then-president Charlton Heston and musician Marilyn Manson as well as members of the school. He tries to find the truth behind why the Columbine massacre occurred and why the United States has such a high violent crime rate, compared with other countries such as Canada and The United Kingdom.
The second documentary I watch was Fahrenheit 9/11. The film takes a critical look at George Bush and the war on terrorism, and in particularly the coverage on American news.
This documentary again has a discussion-based theme with several conspiracy theories being argued. The documentary speaks to those who believe the American Government allowed or helped the attacks on the world trade centre and the pentagon. Michael Moore travels across the United States to investigate, speaking eye to eye with witnesses and tries to establish the truth.
Bowling for columbine won numerous awards, including Academy Award for best documentary feature and a special 55th anniversary prize at the Cannes film festival. Fahrenheit 9/11 was controversial but debuted at the 2004 Cannes film festival and received a 20-minute standing ovation, which was the longest in the festivals history.
The fact that Michael Moore’s documentaries have been so successful brings them into the mainstream. They have been acknowledged by many and so they become more popular. The documentary genre is not a popular genre but Michaels Moore’s have become an exception, as they are innovative and unique in their style. The documentaries are styled differently to many investigative types with the use of humour prominent throughout. Michael Moore also uses humour to prove his point/opinion on subjects/people. He does this using editing and manipulation of footage to work in his favour and is often biased towards his point of view. Moore has often been criticised for appearing too much in his documentaries making the focus on him rather than the subject being investigated. His use of archive footage is extremely effective. Many scenes of archive footage go on for quite a while, for instance the blank screen and the 911 calls in Fahrenheit 9/11 and the CCTV footage and emergency calls played over the top in bowling for columbine. These scenes where unusually long but worked effectively as they allowed emotional interaction between the audience and what was on the screen. These scenes really prolonged the agony, helping us to engage with the people affected.
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