THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 13, 2003
FILM
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN = 11
Film causes firearms debate
By Courtney Parker
cparker@kansan.com
Jayplay staff writer
Although it has been months since Liberty Hall, 642 Massachusetts St., started showing Bowling for Columbine, the documentary is still attracting audiences and causing debates on campus about firearms.
Filmmaker Michael Moore's latest endeavor has brought the right to bear arms under fire and created a buzz throughout the country and in Lawrence.
One thing not being debated is ticket sales. Doug Redding, Liberty Hall employee, said the film had been playing at the theater since the beginning of the year, but sales hadn't reached as fevered a pitch as My Big Fat Greek Wedding, which also enjoyed a long run at Liberty Hall.
Redding said the film came in as Wedding was going out.
"My Big Fat Greek Wedding was just for fun." Cannon said. "Bowling for Columbine really attacks something and tries to raise questions." Cannon said.
Contributed art
Roger Moochie, Santa Fe, N.M., senior and member of the National Rifle Association, said he thought the film was propaganda.
"The Constitution is not for interpretation by new generations," he said.
Bowling for Columbine has Moore exploring the gun world's followers and its nay-sayers, looking at reasons for America's high rate of gun violence and a person's right to exercise the Second Amendment, which allows citizens to keep their weapons.
"The framers felt it was as important as any basic freedom," he said.
Moochie said this kind of "junk journalism" hadn't changed his views on gun control.
Leyia Cannon, Kansas City, Mo., freshman, took the film's message to heart.
"This movie has definitely opened my eyes," Cannon said. "I didn't know anything about gun control except that it was debated."
Cannon said that she had never understood why the United States had such a high murder rate compared to other countries in the world.
She said that while Moore's film hadn't provided concrete answers to many questions for her, it did highlight them for discussion.
In the film, Moore looks for the catalysts of the massacre at Columbine High School. He discusses the blame placed on musicians like Marilyn Manson. It suggests that violent video games or bad parenting could be blamed as causes for the incident as much as the shooters' bowling class.
Cannon said she couldn't see a solution to the problem.
"I hope that this film might make people more aware of the dangers of guns," she said.
— Edited by Lindsay Hanson
Review Film: a classic in the making aims to shock and thrill
Here's a second opportunity to see 2002's best little-seen movie, Roger Avary's ecstatically dark adaptation of Bret Easton Ellis' novel, The Rules of Attraction. James Van Der Beek stars as a drugged-out Lothario pining for Shannyn Sossamon's bohemian innocent. Any movie that's the brainchild of the irredeemable Ellis (see also American Psycho) must first aim to shock, but Avary also wants to thrill with his own pan of sexual sensibilities. No other college film has gotten this close to the debauchery. The Rules of Attraction is a classic in the making, a movie to be played on big-screen televisions at future mixers like a psychotic fun house mirror.
Stephen Shupe
RULES OF ATTRACTION . . A
Playing at 7 p.m. and 9:30 p.m.
tonight and tomorrow at Woodruff
Auditorium, Level 5, Kansas Union
Rated R for strong sexual content, drug use, language and violent images
- Starring: James Van Der Beek, Shannyn Sossamon and Jessica Biel