History YMMV / BowlingForColumbine

* TearJerker:
** An interview with one Colorado man who remembers the massacre (and starts openly weeping) brings this to mind.
** The emergency call from the Elementary School after the shooting of Kayla Rolland. It’s horrible hearing her voice: she's just frantic and hysterical the whole time, and praying to God to let her live.
*** That's only the beginning. It gets even worse once we find out the details of everything that led to the shooting - a boy found a gun in his drug dealer uncle's house, decided to take it to school, and accidentally shot Kayla in the middle of class. Evidently, the school's fate: closed down in 2002, demolished seven years later. It's not a cover-up. Just another shooting incident forgotten to time, like so many others.
*** Even worse, because the young boy was black, his case was subject to a lot of racist backlash. The official Moore speaks to about the incident (who happens to be white) looks so ''haunted'' by the response.
---->'''Moore:''' Was any of the response from the public racial in nature?
---->'''Official:''' Oh...[[ThousandYardStare oh yeah]]...
** During Moore's interview with Creator/CharltonHeston, Kayla's shooting is brought up, causing Heston to deem the interview over. Moore doesn't do anything else, he only leaves a picture of Kayla Rolland by his door. Even though it's clearly set up for the camera in order to make Heston look bad it's still touching. Made worse by the fact that Heston had Alzheimer's Disease during this period.
** Music/MarilynManson's statement when asked what he'd ask those affected by the shooting, which has [[SignatureLine since become the documentary's most famous and thought-provoking line]].
---> I wouldn't say a single word to them. I would listen to what they have to say. And that's what no one did.

* UnintentionallySympathetic: Moore clearly intended to set up Creator/CharltonHeston as the "bad guy" during his interview at the end of the documentary. However, viewers tend to have far more sympathy for Heston because he was already diagnosed with Alzheimer's. Moore's attempted hatchet-job is also [[ManipulativeEditing so obvious]] that even people who might otherwise agree with Moore's political views find it hard to defend him in that moment.

* CommonKnowledge: Creator/TreyParkerAndMattStone objected to the animated segment "A Brief History of the United States of America" on the grounds that it misled viewers into thinking it was their creation, as they claimed it immediately followed Matt Stone's interview and was ''WesternAnimation/SouthPark''-esque in animation style and vocals, which is why the duo killed off Michael Moore in ''Film/TeamAmericaWorldPolice''. However, the animated segment has a noticeably different art style from South Park and does not immediately follow the Stone interview as they claimed, but comes about ten minutes later with several other scenes in between. As a result of this criticism the home video release of this film placed Stone's interview later on in the film to avoid confusing people.

* CommonKnowledge: Creator/TreyParkerAndMattStone had nothing to do with the animated segment "A Brief History of the United States of America". However, many viewers mistook it for their creation because in the original theatrical release it immediately followed Matt Stone's interview and was ''WesternAnimation/SouthPark''-esque in animation style and vocals. Annoyed by this, the duo killed off Michael Moore in ''Film/TeamAmericaWorldPolice'' and the home video release of this film placed Stone's interview later on in the film to avoid confusing people.

** Music/MarilynManson's statement when asked what he'd ask those affected by the shooting.

* UnintentionallySympathetic: Moore clearly intended to set up Creator/CharltonHeston as the "bad guy" during his interview at the end of the documentary. However, viewers tend to have far more sympathy for Heston because he was already diagnosed with Alzheimer's. Moore's attempted hatchet-job is also so obvious that even people who might otherwise agree with Moore's political views find it hard to defend him in that moment.

* {{Anvilicious}}: Midway through there is a segment of America intervening in other countries while ignoring the atrocities those countries were responsible for, and you don't need to watch very far [[UsefulNotes/TheWarOnTerror to see where it is going.]] True enough, it cuts from saying UsefulNotes/OsamaBinLaden had American support to the September 11 terrorist attacks. However, Moore hits on gun violence and the culture around it in his typical blunt way. While guns may be a large symptom, he also cuts deeper and tries to look at the role of the media, the government, and the culture that leads to such violent acts like Columbine.

---> I wouldn't say a single word to them. [[WhamLine I would listen to what they have to say. And that's what no one did.]]

* StrawmanHasAPoint: Moore originally planned to criticize the National Rifle Association's "Guns Don't Kill, People Do" motto. He then learned that there were much higher gun ownership rates in countries other than America (which have much lower gun-related violence statistics), making him believe that their motto is more or less correct. He ultimately pins it down to mass media stoking up a climate of perpetual fear resulting in more gun deaths.

* {{Anvilicious}}: Midway through there is a segment of America intervening in other countries while ignoring the atrocities those countries were responsible for, and you don't need to watch very far [[UsefulNotes/TheWarOnTerror to see where it is going.]] True enough, it cuts from saying UsefulNotes/OsamaBinLaden had American support to the However, Moore hits on gun violence and the culture around it in his typical blunt way. While guns may be a large symptom, he also cuts deeper and tries to look at the role of the media, the government, and the culture that leads to such violent acts like Columbine.

* OvershadowedByControversy: This is a very polarizing movie, especially among right wing people who don't like it for the overall criticism on gun ownership and the fact that Creator/MichaelMoore made it. That said, [[DontShootTheMessage even some left wing people who favor gun control have mixed feelings about some scenes in the film]]. Namely, Moore using ManipulativeEditing and ambush-style interviews with Charlton Heston, Matt Stone, and others in the film did Moore no favors in trying to get his point across.

* {{Anvilicious}}: Midway through there is a segment of America intervening in other countries while ignoring the atrocities those countries were responsible for, and you don't need to watch very far [[UsefulNotes/TheWarOnTerror to see where it is going.]] True enough, it cuts from saying UsefulNotes/OsamaBinLaden had American support to the September 11 terrorist attacks.
** Administrivia/TropesAreTools, however: Moore hits on gun violence and the culture around it in his typical blunt way. While guns may be a large symptom, he also cuts deeper and tries to look at the role of the media, the government, and the culture that leads to such violent acts like Columbine.

** During Moore's interview with Creator/CharltonHeston, Kayla's murder is brought up, causing Heston to deem the interview over. Moore doesn't do anything else, he only leaves a picture of Kayla Rolland by his door. Even though it's clearly set up for the camera in order to make Heston look bad it's still touching. Made worse by the fact that Heston had Alzheimer's Disease during this period.

** Even worse, because the young boy was black, his case was subject to a lot of racist backlash. The official Moore speaks to about the incident (who happens to be white) looks so ''haunted'' by the response.
--->'''Moore:''' Was any of the response from the public racial in nature?
--->'''Official:''' Oh...[[ThousandYardStare oh yeah]]...

* SomeAnvilsNeedToBeDropped: Moore hits on gun violence and the culture around it in his typical blunt way. While guns may be a large symptom, he also cuts deeper and tries to look at the role of the media, the government, and the culture that leads to such violent acts like Columbine.

*** That's only the beginning. It gets even worse once we find out the details of everything that led to the shooting - a boy found a gun in his drug dealer uncle's house, decided to take it to school, and shot Kayla in the middle of class. Evidently, the school's fate: closed down in 2002, demolished seven years later. It's not a cover-up. Just another shooting incident forgotten to time, like so many others.

*** That's only the beginning. It gets even worse once we find out the details of everything that led to the shooting - a boy found a gun in his drug dealer uncle's house, decided to take it to school, and accidentally shot Kayla in the middle of class. Evidently, the school's fate: closed down in 2002, demolished seven years later. It's not a cover-up. Just another shooting incident forgotten to time, like so many others.

* SignatureScene: Music/MarilynManson's interview, widely recognized as the moment that the general public saw him for the intelligent, eloquent man he was underneath his dark and edgy music and stage persona and the resulting shock-rock bogeyman label that MoralGuardians gave him.

* ValuesResonance: The message remains relevant in TheNewTens, with further mass shootings and continued trouble crafting and passing laws that would supposedly prevent them.

* {{Anvilicious}}: Midway through there is a segment of America intervening in other countries while ignoring the atrocities those countries were responsible for, and you don't need to watch very far [[TheWarOnTerror to see where it is going.]] True enough, it cuts from saying UsefulNotes/OsamaBinLaden had American support to the September 11 terrorist attacks.

* {{Anvilicious}}: Midway through there is a segment of America intervening in other countries while ignoring the atrocities those countries were responsible for, and you don't need to watch very far [[TheWarOnTerror to see where it is going.]] True enough, it cuts from saying Bin Laden had American support to the September 11 terrorist attacks.
* CommonKnowledge: Trey Parker and Matt Stone had nothing to do with the animated segment "A Brief History of the United States of America". However, many viewers mistook it for their creation because in the original theatrical release it immediately followed Matt Stone's interview and was ''WesternAnimation/SouthPark''-esque in animation style and vocals. Annoyed by this, the duo killed off Michael Moore in ''Film/TeamAmericaWorldPolice'' and the home video release of this film placed Stone's interview later on in the film to avoid confusing people.

** During Moore's interview with Creator/CharltonHeston, Kayla's murder is brought up, causing Heston to deem the interview over. Moore doesn't do anything else, he only leaves a picture of Kayla Rolland by his door. Even though it's clearly set up for the camera in order to make Heston look bad it's still touching.

* {{Anvilicious}}: Mid way through there is a segment of America intervening in other countries while ignoring the atrocities those countries were responsible for, and you don't need to watch very far [[TheWarOnTerror to see where it is going.]] True enough, it cuts from saying Bin Laden had American support to the September 11 terrorist attacks.

* {{Anvilicious}}: Mid way through there is a segment of America intervening in other countries while ignoring the atrocities those countries were responsible for, and you don't need to watch very far [[TheWarOnTerror to see where it is going.]] True enough, it cuts from saying Bin Laden had American support to the September 11 terrorist attacks. Then again, SomeAnvilsNeedToBeDropped.

* {{Anvilicious}}: Mid way through there is a segment of America intervening in other countries while ignoring the atrocities those countries were responsible for, and you don't need to watch very far [[TheWarOnTerror to see where it is going.]] True enough, it cuts from saying Bin Laden had American support to the September 11 terrorist attacks.

* TearJerker: An interview with one Colorado man who remembers the massacre (and starts openly weeping) brings this to mind.

* StrawmanHasAPoint: Moore originally planned to criticize the National Rifle Association's "Guns Don't Kill, People Do" motto. He then learned that there were much higher gun ownership rates in countries other than America (which have much lower gun-related violence statistics), making him believe that their motto is more or less correct.

* ValuesResonance: The message remains relevant in TheNewTens, with further mass shootings and continued trouble crafting and passing laws that would actually prevent them.

** Music/MarilynManson's statement when asked what he'd ask the shooters.