Why?

Throughout the entire film, "Elephant", I was trying to figure out why two teenage boys would do something like this.I was hoping I would "crack the code" by the end of the movie. The movie ended and the question "why?" remained. I didn't stop and realize that nobody knows why. Not the parents, peers, teachers, governments, or media.

Scholars such as Mike Males in his article , "Myth : Teenage Violent Thugs", discuss issues such as school shootings and I believe the discourse around this article is created by asking that same question, WHY? Mike Males also examines the "who is to blame?" factor of school shootings such as columbine or teen violence in general. In this article and during the columbine shootings, President Clinton was sending troops to bomb foreign countries and practicing violence. This was displayed in the media on televisions where teenagers can tune in every day. Males believes as a role model, the president should be part of the "who is to blame?" aspect. Marilyn Manson was accused of ifluencing the teenage shooters of Columbine High School , in that his music was devilish and promoted anger. Here is Marilyn Mansons' reaction to this, and as you watch, notice what Manson says about the president at that time.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=90xJVOUuV-I


Mike Males mentions that "the distinctions between the mindsets of heavily armed urban gangs and heavily armed adult governments are not immediately evident". This statement shows that the least powerful are the most to blame, or seen to be blamed (in the media). The urban gangs obviously have less voice than adult governments , but Males says that there is almost no difference between their thoughts and plans. Society and the Media tend to "blame the teenagers" as we saw in Battle Royale. Perhaps we could be blaming the adults or at least examining their role in the weakness of these teenagers.

Personally , the audience for this film I believe were parents and teachers. I don't see how teenagers can enjoy this as a film. Elephant doesn't have any drama and doesnt illustrate teenage relativeness. The only part that does may be where three girls were talking about how cute a guy was. I feel that parents that watch this hear the children when they dont in reality. They don't understand what goes on in school, and this film shows that. It shows how teenagers are when they are loners, or bullied, or how hard it is that the principle doesn't understand what's going on. Three girls are heard discussing the annoyance of thier mother's looking through their room and explain why they dont like it and how they can negotiate trust with their mothers. Classical music may also portray that this movie is for adults, and its slow, close-up on the teenagers is something parents may not see everyday in thier children. A teacher watching this film will get effected and think again when demanding a shy girl to wear shorts.

sidenotes : I was shocked and confused as to why eric and dylan shoot people in the library? If their target were bullies and jocks, what did poor michelle have to do it? Most independent teens from my experience go to the library, and thats where most of the kids were killed. Its sad.

The date of the shooting was April 20th. 4-20?! Just throwing it out there.

"most of all have fun!"- dylan -- very disturbing quote before they went off to kill students.

I was also shocked at the fact that no hesitation was shown while eric and dylan were in the car on the way to school. No change of mind, nothing. I wonder why the director chose to do that. Maybe to illustrate the point to which dylan and eric had been planning this and how nothing ever gets better.

Interesting fact: the makers of south park are from littleton and went to columbine school before the shootings. Apparently, they were loners and hated it. I wonder if the anger of south park is how they took it all out?...I used to take it all out on my friends or parents. What if you dont really have any?..

I dont think we'll ever know exactly why but alot of things can help the WHY never exist.

1) stable family
2) no guns in the house
3) no bullying
4) a friendly high school
5) the list can go on..