Cinematically Columbine

1.Elephant

Watching Elephant, a 2003 film from director Gus Van Sant. From what I understand it’s largely based on Columbine, and has a more homoerotic interpretation of Eric Harris & Dylan Klebold’s dynamic. I find I highly probable, or possible that in reality the two engaged in some sort of homosexual exploratory activity and could have been some kind of killer-queer-duo in the end.

So far the film has opened on a shot of lights at what is presumably a football field in front of a grey-green overcast sky– as if a tornado is about to form by the color scheme. Then switching to a drunk parent driving, then pulled over by his choppy-haired bleach-blond son John; then trying to make-up with his child by talking about going hunting together over the weekend. Then cut to a photographer named Eli in a park photographing a punk couple. A tag-team football match in a field before what appears to be a more legitimate practice goes on in the background. Eric arrives at school and calls his brother to come pick up their hungover father, as the principal walks up behind him and sends him to the administrative office for tardiness. 

A brunette wearing a beach style necklace then walks into frame, putting on a red lifeguard hoodie; as the camera pans and proceeds to follow him across the campus where he stops to meet a girl, who he’s presumably dating, then walking into class with her after the viewer learns their names: Nathan and Carrie. John receives detention. 

Now to a shot of John crying, a girl kisses him on the cheek. She then goes to a Gay/Straight Alliance club meeting. Cut to the meeting where a never-changing youthful discussion about sexuality occurs. 

For the majority of this section I was under the impression John was an imitation of Eric Harris, based on the hair. However after stopping in the hall for Eli to take a picture of him, walks out the door where he is greeted by two armed students walking into the building, where their names are revealed: Eric and Alex. A bit on the nose. 

Two scenes in a row then with the Dylan Klebold representative, Alex. One of which depicts him going through the kitchen and cafeteria taking notes. When inquired about by a classmate answers in that which can only be known as foreboding by the audience, of she’ll just have to wait and see. 

Okay, I get it now. In terms of the focus on the mundane aspects of a school shooting: the elephant in an otherwise banal room. In that and with its focusing on the different perspectives it also likens in to the old parable about three blind men feeling an elephant, all with their own incorrect opinion and personal truth of feeling the large mammal. Personal, not statistical in its portrayal.

Now focusing on three girls, briefly shown as Nathan passed by them in his long walk scene. I think this is showing who will die side by side with who will be the reason why, and who will be negatively seen in the wake of their deadly actions. An interesting style of simultaneous one-shots. “I wanna live to get mine,” one of them remarks regarding a driver’s license as they walk from the cafeteria into a restroom; wherein they perform bulimic activities in side-by-side stalls. 

The Eric Harris caricature, succinctly named Eric, enters the scene as Alex/Dylan plays Beethoven on his piano. The Elephant in the room here clear as day, in that it’s a deconstruction of the idea music was to blame for Columbine. He comes in through some basement window and proceeds to hop on a bed, open a laptop computer and begin playing a Doom imitation. About half an hour left in the film now. Beethoven ceases and Alex joins Eric on a couch, taking the computer into his own jurisdiction and goes to a website selling guns. Then to a scene at night, storming while the camera slowly gives an overview of the room and two future perpetrators sleep. Waking up for a breakfast of pancakes, then ditching school to await the arrival of guns ordered two scenes prior; waiting in the living room watching a documentary on Nazi Germany until they do. Getting them, the narrator on TV flatly asks, “Peace, did Hitler say?” as they tore into the packaging of their newly purchased automatic weaponry. They then proceed to Alex’s garage where they practice shooting at a pile of accumulated fire wood there. 

Focus changes once again to a face shown prior but now given the name Michelle wearing a pinkish/red sweater half walking half jogging down the hall, passing by Eli as he snaps his pictures of John. She makes her way to the library where she signs in and begins work reshelving volumes. To Dylan once more, this time showering. Eric then joins and one comments, “I never kissed anybody,” and the two proceed to do just that under the running water. Cutting then to both dressed, tying their shoes and going over a map spliced with them setting up explosives in the cafeteria and moments yet to occur in the near future. 

“Most importantly, have fun man,” Alex tells Eric. A slient drive with in a car with a cracked front window as they go to their educational institution; where they encounter John on their way into the campus buildings. Following John then as he runs to warn others…

I stopped notation for the culmination of the event as the two conducted their sociopathic massacre. Eric ranting to the principal about actually listening to struggling, troubled kids, then shooting him numerous times in the back, after letting him run for personal amusement. Alex entering the bathroom with the three girls and killing them. Eventually meeting up with Alex again for a brief interaction with his partner in crime, who then shoots Eric too whilst discussing their kill count. Alex proceeds to the kitchen where he finds and corners Nathan and Carrie in the freezer, listlessly– albeit with a hint of personal bemusement– recites eenie meenie meine moe while waving the automatic rifle between the two, movie cutting back to the overcast grey-green sky where it began as he gets to the end, with no clear indication of who he shot next: just one or both? Himself too? The Elephant in the room.

Researching a bit and I learn that Gus Van Sants presentation of events was heavily inspired– as well as taking its title from– a 1989 BBC short film by Alan Clark, fittingly about murder as well. It depicts numerous, senseless acts of murder where rhyme and reason are stripped away. In a way it’s very Lynchian as is its imitation by Sant in their emphasis on long, uncut scenes following a character: allowing for the viewer to simply take it in and sit with, well: the elephant in the room. 

2.Zero Day

Starting Zero Day, an adaptation of the Columbine Massacre which came out in 2002, a year prior to Elephant. So far the movie has more of a found footage feel to it; seemingly imitating the real home videos created by Eric & Dylan. Opening with almost 1to1 physical embodiments of the class of ‘99 killers and introducing them as Calvin and Andre. In this it shows a birthday party for a five year old Calvin, sitting rather unamused and looking quite uncomfortable, it seems he’s portrayed in what would be today phrased as an ‘autistic’ way. Main introduction to the two however comes in a few minutes after these opening credits where the two and a friend set up their camera in front of their school, where Calvin gives a standard mockery of the whole, “best years of our lives” trope so often repeated by adults in regards to the teenage experience. 

At this point it would seem Calvin has a plan, whether Andre knows and is in on it beyond his scheming is unknown to the viewer. With direct allusion to real statements made by and written in the Diaries of Eric & Dylan, it’s a lot more on the nose about the coming violent event than Elephant; even with something like Alex taking notes in the cafeteria and making a reference only he and audience would understand. 

Footage cuts between dates and old-school teenage debauchery: lighting illegal fireworks at a lake on the 4th of July and using long since expired eggs to throw at a house in the middle of the night on Andre’s birthday; using a newly gifted camera to capture the moment. More redoing of the Columbine home movies; now confirming Andre knows the plan as he explains the plan for posthumous uncovering of their ‘tell-all’ footage. Opening a space in a nearby bank so as to prevent pre-mortem discovery. 

Calvin gets his bottom bracket of braces removed. Mundane spliced into what is generally viewed as insane. 

Going through Andre’s fathers’ gun collection which according to Andre, was used for hunting. He explains that in spite of being out of the room by his dad’s own design when he would go to grab the mobile artillery, he’s known where both safe and key where located since the 5th grade and was merely humoring his parent thereafter. Andre then constructs one of the rifles after sorting through the other guns. 

July turns into August, showing now Calvin exploring a cemetery with a girl named Rachel; who comments that she views Andre as violent and weird– and from what can be gathered the feeling of dislike between the two is quite mutual– having, “a lot of anger” unresolved that makes her uncomfortable. Calvin asks her about how she perceives their dynamic to which she says she views Andre as the more dominant and in charge of the two. She then takes the camera and asks Calvin as to why he films everything with no clear-cut answer given.

Then to a bit where Andre and Calvin are constructing untested pipe bombs, espousing detailed instructions on how to and the efficiency in certain techniques; much pulled directly from the online presence of Eric Harris. Cut to Calvin musing on the difference between mere suicide, which he notes while thousands do and in that he’s no different: what makes his case exceptional is his choice is his, “way of the samurai,” addition to it.

On another date the two discuss Andre’s cousin Chris and using him as an unbeknownst “patsy” to steal guns from for their “Zero Day” plan. Going out with an unsuspecting Chris to practice shooting; footage of which again harkening back to that taken by the real-life perpetrators in Littleton, Colorado. When back at his cousin’s place they inquire to him, in what to most would seem typical youthful morbid curiosity, which gun would be most optimal in use to kill a person, to which Chris responds that any would really do the trick.

Camping with Calvin’s family and a brief moment of joking around with his younger brother.

August becomes early September and Andre recites their plan, explaining why they have no set date except to wait until the temperature outside reaches exactly zero degrees fahrenheit; as it would be announced on the radio as the two wake up one morning. Going over their, “invasion plan,” then with a slide show on an old box computer, meant as layout for their own killing spree and outline for others to imitate. Eric expresses anticipation in a video on his own. Later on in the course of months the two go to a poetry reading at night, where Calvin gets on the stage in a military-style outfit and recites his own piece. Comparing himself to a bullet and the Third Reich, ending the limerick with, “and it’s a wasted life.” Getting offstage they heckle the next act and leave as Andre expresses annoyance and dramatically emphasizes that Calvin could have caused major social and personal repercussions from his reading being so topical.

September suddenly to New Years Eve and clearly nothing came of the reading. Cut then to January 10, where Calvin explains while the temperature had in fact reached zero their plan was forcefully postponed on account of Andre catching a stomach virus. Calvin then explains that while Andre has an ideal of some interschool/interstate spree after their own school is shot up, he at least knows he will be coming back out of the school in a body bag. Back at the bank they discuss leaving a trail to their box of video tapes, talking about the superficial blame which will undoubtedly be attributed to various influences from music to movies, which Calvin asserts as wrong because the idea is their own.

January then cuts to April where the two have a bonfire. Burning their books, video games and movies so as to emphasize that the idea was truly of their own scheming. Calvin reading a kindhearted note Andre saved from a girl in the 8th grade, to his dismay. In burning all their shit they realize now they ‘have to’ act quickly. Then they talk about prom, Andre detailing his disdain of Rachel. Banal teenage drama. Turning then to the topic of who was leader in the coming escapade, lightly mocking the notion. 

In a limo all of a sudden with a person named Josh filming, picking Calvin and Rachel up. Andre not present as he exclaimed a scene prior he wouldn’t stoop so low. Young adults enthusiastic with menial adolescent babble. Then showing Andre, filmed by his dad on the camera he bought his son for his birthday at the beginning of the movie, surprising him at work then riding in the car with him while expressing pride in him as they make a final pizza delivery, heading home after. Back to the limo less around an hour later, post-prom and the party more rowdy than before– likely a bit intoxicated. Calvin has the driver take him to Andre’s to be dropped off.

“We acted alone,” Calvin emphasized once again. An hour after arriving to Andre’s the two talk of how it was all an act of their own volition and even if they had been discovered earlier, would have done it eventually nonetheless. “Could you blame them for not noticing?” whilst pinning the responsibility on the world around them for molding them into doing the soon to commence shooting; relating it to a duel like in the old days, a way to squash beef. Relating themselves as deities in human form for their ability to choose life and death of their classmates, and their whole point in the act was, “respect and love for fellow man,” acknowledging the seeming contradiction in their perpetration and doing away with it being to teach people to value life. They then finally go back to Chris’ house to steal the weaponry, only slightly complicated by a party across the street; leaving the clueless cousin a note they had merely borrowed the guns to use in a home movie.

Turn to May first, the morning after, and they park in the school lot preparing their firearms. Expressing nervousness and debating who gets/wants what gun, and how instrumental each other were to the act. They then exit the vehicle, leaving the camera rolling on the dashboard as they make their way into the school.

From there it shows black and white security camera footage as 911 calls are overlayed over the chaos unfolding. Throughout the bloody ordeal the operator on a phone left on attempts to make herself audible to Andre, whose name she learned from someone yelling it, repeatedly attempting to reason to unhearing ears. Describing what she heard in the room– a library– from the landline audio until the two simultaneously blow their brains out. The film then cuts to 9 days after their attack, with some other adolescents sneaking onto the campus grounds where crosses had been erected to the dead youth, including Calvin and Andre. Already vandalized, the troupe proceeds to light them on fire, drive away and the movie ends.

3. Collected Considerations

I was discussing with a friend once regarding the epidemic of school shootings, stating I personally doubt such events would cease anytime soon– more likely it is that they will evolve into another form. The school shooter, as Calvin noted and Shane Bugbee has explained to me evolved out of strings of suicides which would start with one kid, then run through a school and then infect another nearby. Such base never yet going away either, given the many perpetrators in such events in the end of their murderous moment take themselves out. 

Both films explore the mundane aspect of the murders, even with the central reference point of Columbine, which in of itself is banal. As a result of Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold it’s an eyesore, whereas had the events of April 20, 1999 not occurred, it would be passed by like any other educational institution is on the road. 

In a bit of irony to it all, like Calvin and Andre relating themselves to deities and Eric Harris’ shirt on the day of the massacre reading, “Natural Selection,” none of it would seem so. Harkoning back to the 1989 inspiration for the 2003 Elephant adaptation, what’s presented is senseless and without meaning beyond likenability to the three blind men feeling around. None of it is done over food, shelter or any resources beyond a vague motif of ‘revenge’. Certainly, other species such as Dolphins engage in the activity of killing for sport. The fittest blowing their brains out with their victims; only achieving their goal posthumously in getting on the cover of Time magazine. Another case to be gawked at, grappled with and grabbed onto with mortal fascination and/or imitation.

A contrasting view to the violence depicted in these films, and mundane surrounding them all, I think of Gregg Araki’s Teenage Apocalypse Trilogy. Namely, the second installment The Doom Generation. Portraying in this movie a wild ride of a night three adolescents share, going through a ringer of violence and bisexual exploration, which culminates in Jamie Duval’s character having his penis chopped off by a gang of Neo Nazis, dying from shock and blood loss as the leader of the group proceeds to rape Rose McGowan’s character… They then in turn get killed and Rose escapes outside with the other still-alive young adult, driving off as if nothing ever happened. She lights a cigarette, a minor but constant dissociative self-medication throughout the movie, beginning and ending with said action so simple and everyday. The difference in nihilistic violence portrayed by Araki in his films is that while senseless, is often enacted upon the youth by older forces; while in Zero Day, Elephant and Columbine the gore is caused by the youth brutalizing the youth. 

The full answer however, is there is none as I told my friend once. It’s, as Gus Van Sant and his predecessor implored: an elephant in the mundane malaise.