Preview

Syriana Influence

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
715 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Syriana Influence
Our society today is a visual one that is inevitably influenced by the by the arts: painting, prints, photography, movies, television, and literature. Artists have used their medium as a way to influence people's opinions throughout history, for both noble and corrupt purposes. In doing so, the aim of the artist is to convey the facts of an issue and influence people's opinions to either garner support or disapproval for a particular cause.

In recent years the arts have become increasingly politicized, especially in cinema. So, for the purpose of this paper, I will focus mainly on that medium. Take for example the movie Syriana, an Academy Award winning geopolitical thriller. Syriana, adapted from former CIA agent Robert Baer's memoir, See No Evil, focuses on the vast influence of the oil industry's political, economic, legal, and social effects, such as corruption, poverty, and terrorism. Ultimately, the film tries to illustrate the United States dependence on foreign oil and the ill effects of multinational corporations manipulating global politics for their own profit.
…show more content…
In the movie Moore tries to explore the reasons and causes for the Columbine High School massacre, other acts of gun violence, and why the United States has higher rates of violent crimes than other developed nation in the world. The movie focuses on the background and environment in which the massacre took place, and some common public opinions and assumptions regarding gun violence. The film uses an informal, artistic look into the nature of gun violence in the United States, focusing on guns as the controversial symbol of American freedom and its possible paradoxical

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    Bowling for Columbine

    • 1920 Words
    • 5 Pages

    1. Example: Many examples are used throughout this film to prove the overall thesis of Americans revolve around gun violence. For example, Moore went to a bank, opened up an account and received a free gun. This symbolizes the absurd love for guns Americans have. A bank handing out guns that people can turn around and rob the bank with is a terrible idea, but thats the logic of the United States. Kids growing up around violence can be influenced to try other destructive methods like bombs. Brent and DJ from Oscoda shared their personal experiences with Moore. Brent was expelled from school because he pulled a 9mm on a kid. DJ’s name was upon a list of the most dangerous, and most likely to bomb after the Columbine attack. He made this list because he has made several little bombs, and owns a book called “The Anarchists Cookbook” that shows step by step how to make bombs. Lastly, John Nichols shows how violent Americans can be. He sleeps with a 44 magnum under his pillow, and cocked the gun to his temple while showing it off to Moore. John is nicknamed radical and a wild man because of his behaviour, and his speculated assistance with the Oklahoma Federal Building bomb attack. All three of these examples prove that American’s love their guns, and depend on them for person security, and destruction.…

    • 1920 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Beck writes, “After someone is shot, the story starts with details about the kind of gun used, the capacity of its magazine, and a rundown of how it was acquired” (10). Although people are blamed for the crime, Beck realizes that it is not the person that is investigated for media purposes, but the gun used in the crime. This book is primarily revolved around myths such as this one and others that are commonly linked to the discussion of guns gun control, but he also includes different twists and turns as well. While reading this book, the reader is able to learn more about the right to bear arms, given to them by the Founding Fathers of the United States, and the on-going issue of homicide, armed violence and overall gun…

    • 1121 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Michael Moore trains his humorous eye on America's obsession with guns and violence in his documentary, which gets its title from a pair of loosely related incidents. On April 20, 1999, shortly before they began their infamous killing spree at Columbine High School in Littleton, Eric and Dylan attended their favorite class, a no-credit bowling course held at a bowling alley near the school. While thinking of these events, Moore humorously considers the link between random violence and the game of ten pins. Those two boys were bullied in school so they decided to take out their anger by shooting everyone in school then shooting themselves since they excluded from their school community they lost their sense of belonging so they had to create a group for themselves the called it trenchcoat mafia and that’s how they felt that they belonged to something compare to the creators of south park they decide to take their anger by creating a TV show and they found their sense of belonging…

    • 514 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The lives of many were to change on the day of April 20th, 1999, at Columbine High School. With the death of twelve students and one teacher, it was to be the deadliest mass murder committed on an American high school campus. The massacre, committed by senior students Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold, sparked debate over gun control laws; whether the availability of guns across the United States, especially to young people such as these, was socially acceptable. This event is what sparked Moore to create his documentary, ‘Bowling for Columbine’.…

    • 767 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The film tries to unearth the answers as to why the massacre ever happened and as to why the USA’s gun-related crime figures are significantly worse than other first world…

    • 1156 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    typology

    • 496 Words
    • 2 Pages

    An initial requirement is to define the phenomenon of school shootings and the subcategories of incidents, teasing out the varying motives and identities of the perpetrators of school shootings. While rampage attacks are the variety of school shooting incidents that have captured the lion’s share of mass media attention in the last decade, a broader historical perspective reveals a variety of school-related shooting incidents. As detailed in Table 1, this article offers a typology, including five varieties of school related shooting incidents: rampage shootings, school-related mass murders, terrorist attacks on schools or school children, school-related targeted shootings,…

    • 496 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Do Games Kill

    • 3612 Words
    • 15 Pages

    In 2000 the FBI issued a report on school rampage shootings, finding that their rarity prohibits the construction of a useful profile of a "typical" shooter. In the absence of a simple explanation, the public symbolically linked these rare and complex events to the shooters' alleged interest in video games, finding in them a catchall explanation for what seemed unexplainable--the white, middle-class school shooter. However, the concern about video games is out of proportion to their actual threat.…

    • 3612 Words
    • 15 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    The sunrise signaled the start of a new day as many teens got ready for school. The hallways filled with the hundreds of students that attended school that day. It was like any other day; however, this was not the case as Columbine High School would end up being the site of a school shooting that would haunt the nation for years to come. Bowling for Columbine, is a documentary by Michael Moore covering the events that transpired at Columbine High School. After viewing Bowling for Columbine, I was shocked. Moore’s video examines a number of issues involving gun ownership. What follows is a summary of the points made in the film, my thoughtful reactions, and the aftermath of Columbine. There were a number of issues covered in the documentary.…

    • 1462 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Media Portrays Violence

    • 1399 Words
    • 6 Pages

    April 20th 1999 the massacre caused by two students, Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold, killed twelve students as well as one teacher only to kill themselves after.(1Moore) The event had pushed the media to question the abuse of firearms availability and the troubles of youth. Apparently though the guns that Harris and Klebold had used were legally purchased at stores and gun shows. The bullets were purchased at a local K-mart in Littleton. This example shows how the media portrayals today affect the minds of youth giving them violent solutions to ideas that should not be solved in such manners. They think, well it’s in video games we see it all over television it must be okay right? And only after realizing the situation they were truly in did they feel the guilt and attempted suicides. Personally I would not be able to live a trouble free life with the fact that someone died because of me running through my…

    • 1399 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    In the United States of America, one of the biggest controversial topics is gun control and how much control is too much control. The fact of the matter is that as a nation the U.S. has the highest death by gun rate among many industrial countries. In Mallory Simon’s article she writes the article through many different perspectives to show how many different people’s lives can be affected by one simple gunshot. In the beginning she writes through an Indian man’s, Amardeep Kaleka’s, viewpoint who has just watched his father be shot and killed on their Sikh temple floor along with five other victims who fell to the gun fire. In her article Simon’s quotes what Amardeep saw saying, “Satwant Singh Kaleka had been shot five times while wrestling…

    • 807 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    School Shooting

    • 1201 Words
    • 5 Pages

    Although the investigation is at an early state, this most recent act of violence raises three interconnected issues that the United States needs to focus on. The primary discussion will be on the availability of guns in the United States. But to blame these violent acts simply on the availability of handguns is disingenuous.…

    • 1201 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Gun Control Behavior

    • 863 Words
    • 4 Pages

    The opposition argue that the United States should tighten gun laws because the Columbine shooter, “had no difficulty obtaining the high-capacity assault weapons that was used in his rampage” (Blek 3). However, these supporters of gun laws must understand that in these types of murders, the killer does not obtain their weapon legally, in fact the Columbine shooter stole the guns from his mother’s house. The opposition also argues that, “Large capacity firearms magazines enable murderers to kill large numbers of victims” (Wright 1). However, these opponents need to note that, “It is what is in the heart of a mass murderer, not what is in their hand, that determines their lethality” (Wright 1). Even if the United States tightens gun laws, mass murders will still take place because it is what is in the murderer’s heart that makes them deadly and they do not obtain their weapons legally most of the…

    • 863 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    Cultural Literacy Essay

    • 1439 Words
    • 6 Pages

    Imagine America without the artifacts that reflect and influence our culture. Society would lack the entities that have made America what it is today. In recent years, one could make the argument that cultural artifacts have negatively and positively influenced society. Through mediums of survival, crime and controversy, guns have had a substantial impact on American culture. Guns have had an apparent connection to the legal system that reflects and influences American culture. As a result of recent incidents, like the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting, many of the typical arguments for and against gun violence are again in public view. One contributing factor largely remains in the background of this controversy and relates to America’s cultural literacy. The gun has come to symbolize nostalgia for the ideal image of frontier life in America.…

    • 1439 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    Value of Art in Society

    • 527 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Art is a very powerful means of expressing one 's self, and it can be viewed either very positively or very negatively. Art has a way of bringing people together by portraying an idea that everyone can relate to. It has the ability to have a big impact on society, but it 's just a matter of getting people appreciate the value of it. (Lawrence 1). Suzanne Lacy created a chart of artist 's roles to show you the different steps an artist can take from being private or public. There is the artist as an experiencer, the artist as a reporter, and artist as an analyst, and the artist as an activist. As Suzzanne Lacy puts it, "Artists as reporters represent their world. Artists as experiencers give tangible form to their feelings about the world. Artists as analysts look beyond the immediate to reveal hidden universal truths. And artists as activists help us see the world in new ways." (Sayre 66). The activists even expect their work to impact the world. They believe they can affect the world and change it for the better. (Sayre 66).…

    • 527 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    We all know that opinions are mostly personal. But when it comes to society, our personal opinions do not really matter in the public eye. The only few opinions that are accepted into the social world are the ones set by the policy makers of society. These perspectives are mostly advertised through television or any kind of social networks that heeds the public. For this reason alone, people are blindly attracted by the ‘social magnet’ to follow this so-called social quo. Without realizing, we as social butterflies, stand under the one who controls our strings in society. This functions perfectly for Artists, since they have the advantage to create the ultimate theme or setting for certain periods of time in society with the help of their subjective nature of perspective. This is proven over time; Artists have created themes that develop from renaissance to abstract, to pop…

    • 973 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays