A Razorblade in Our Perspective

Grant Tabler
Greg Kelley
AHSS 2020
4 November 2010

A Razorblade in Our Perspective

Halloween is a time of year that is inherently conducive to a greater amount of freedom amongst its child participants. Children are able to dress up in costume, stay out late, and eat free candy that they receive from their neighbours on a night of general goodwill. However, when one hears of Halloween in the media, this childhood freedom is curtailed by some looming threat of malicious attackers out to hurt our vulnerable loved ones. Though there are numerous examples of this perspective, this paper will choose to focus on an analysis on this media phenomenon from a documentary. In “Bowling for Columbine”, filmmaker Michael Moore’s analysis of the media exemplifies their use of negativity, consonance, and typification to control the United States through fear.

The documentary is focused on a school shooting in Colorado. Moore argues that one of the motives is traceable to the American news industry. Moore focuses on the industry’s overwhelming negativity, the idea that the news shown is meant to scare people. He cites, Y2K, Killer Bee swarms that never came, along with Halloween and the razorblade in the apple story. Moore explains that, although the media industry jumped on this news of danger lurking in the gifts of strangers, there never was any razorblade in an apple. The film goes on to talk about the reasoning behind this unverified, fear-based, type of news. Near the end of this clip Moore asks the interviewee why he hears so many awful stories about South Central Los Angeles “They’re not making that up are they?” the interviewee replies, “No, they’re not making it up, but they’re choosing what to cover.” This starts Moore into his other themes of media bias, consonance and typification.

The argument Moore makes about the media is that they are focusing on the less common occurrences of violence, without covering the more positive aspects, because it makes for better news. This gives the impression that these are the only events that happen, a process called typification. He then explores the larger theme of stereotyping, showing that the media is attempting to pin the minority of African-Americans as evil doers because they represent a visible difference. The media then looks for negative stories about this minority because it fits with the established view of that group, this is called consonance. These aspects are both related to Moore’s earlier example of Halloween, as both of these things have been applied to this holiday.

The media clips he shows talk about Halloween as dangerous because that is the established viewpoint. They focus on this because it is negative, consonant, and it typifies unverified occurrences as the norm. This is the state of media coverage today, events like Halloween are covered based on stereotypes rather than proper journalism. People are unable to see past these media biases they now hold for Halloween. These biases serve as a fear, based on an event that never occurred, a razorblade in our perspective.

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Video Clip Source

Bowling For Columbine 6/12 Michael Moore Triphazer

The clip focused on in this paper starts at 6:30, reference is made to the continuation of the documentary in the clip below. Though watching this additional clip is not necessary.

Bowling For Columbine 7/12 Michael Moore Triphazer