Ethics in Documentary Film
There has always been much debate regarding ethics in the film industry, in particular documentary film. This involves not only the nature of the content shown but also the involvement of the filmmaker and how their presence provokes certain scenes with in a film. In this essay I intend to analyse and discuss ethics with in Bowling For Columbine (Moore, 2002) and how the presence of the filmmaker influences the events with in the film. Bowling For Columbine is a documentary that explores the topic of gun violence in America, particularly focusing on the Columbine school shooting. The Columbine school shooting occurred on April 20th 1999, Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold entered their high school and fired on their unsuspecting classmates, killing 12 in total along with one teacher. This itself presents ethical issues with in the film from CCTV footage shown of the boys stalking their prey around the school, to interviewing inhabitants of the schools neighbouring town and witnessing their visual sadness about the event. It’s evident that it has rooted itself within the…show more content… A seemingly normal daily occurence, but with this visit Moore opens a bank account and with it receives a free gun. He even seemingly mocks the bank attendant on how unacceptably easy it is to walk in off the street and leave with a fire arms. This in itself raises ethical issues on the accessibility of fire arms to Americans. Although this posts as an obvious ethical issue, there is perhaps a far greater underlying ethical issue. It has been said by various sources, including the bank itself that it is not under any circumstances as easy to leave their premises with a gun on the day of setting up a bank account. It’s been said that the whole sequence that shows Moore leaving the premises with a fire arms with completely dramatised and not at all possible. James T Cornish, a contributor for the website What Culture