This afternoon I
watched the documentary ‘Bully' a movie that successfully captures how real the
problem of bullying in America really is. The movie follows five different
adolescent students whom are all victimized by bullies on a day-to-day basis. To
say the movie is moving would be an understatement, as a commenter proclaims "Hirsch
(producer) gives voice to the voiceless, and his movie dispels forever the myth
that "kids-will-be-kids" and bullying is a harmless rite of passage.
"BULLY" will move you while you’re watching it and long
afterwards". I truly believe that this movie has huge potential to
improve the problem of Bullying thought America. For if every student
watched this movie awareness of the impact bullying can have would greatly rise;
yet the movie is rated R. The movie was originally given such a harsh
rating due to language. As Reuters the direct states, "Never in a million years did I think we would have
an R-rated movie. The spirit of it never felt R-rated. We set out to show what
really happens, what these kids go through and what bullying looks like. (The
curse words) are incredibly meaningful in the context of the film. Language
carries power. That's how bullying takes place". It’s important to note that the
film’s distributors had the option of removing controversial aspects of the
film. Which in turn would have resulted in a broader audience due to less sever
ratings and therefore leading to more profit. Yet the distributers were
not concerned about money instead they were concerned about the message of the
film,"(the message) needs to be made available to children and teens in as
pure a form as possible, and sanitizing the language serves to strip the film
of some of its meaning. Bullying is harsh, and the language of bullying is
equally so". The fact that this film was rated R is in turn meaning it’s inappropriate
for children, but this is what children deal with every day! This is reality. The
fact that children are being shielded on TV from what goes on at their own
school is laughable.Sunday
R Rated Reality
This afternoon I
watched the documentary ‘Bully' a movie that successfully captures how real the
problem of bullying in America really is. The movie follows five different
adolescent students whom are all victimized by bullies on a day-to-day basis. To
say the movie is moving would be an understatement, as a commenter proclaims "Hirsch
(producer) gives voice to the voiceless, and his movie dispels forever the myth
that "kids-will-be-kids" and bullying is a harmless rite of passage.
"BULLY" will move you while you’re watching it and long
afterwards". I truly believe that this movie has huge potential to
improve the problem of Bullying thought America. For if every student
watched this movie awareness of the impact bullying can have would greatly rise;
yet the movie is rated R. The movie was originally given such a harsh
rating due to language. As Reuters the direct states, "Never in a million years did I think we would have
an R-rated movie. The spirit of it never felt R-rated. We set out to show what
really happens, what these kids go through and what bullying looks like. (The
curse words) are incredibly meaningful in the context of the film. Language
carries power. That's how bullying takes place". It’s important to note that the
film’s distributors had the option of removing controversial aspects of the
film. Which in turn would have resulted in a broader audience due to less sever
ratings and therefore leading to more profit. Yet the distributers were
not concerned about money instead they were concerned about the message of the
film,"(the message) needs to be made available to children and teens in as
pure a form as possible, and sanitizing the language serves to strip the film
of some of its meaning. Bullying is harsh, and the language of bullying is
equally so". The fact that this film was rated R is in turn meaning it’s inappropriate
for children, but this is what children deal with every day! This is reality. The
fact that children are being shielded on TV from what goes on at their own
school is laughable.
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Assuming that, as you state, the movie "show[s] what really happens", I find this juxtaposition more enlightening and potentially mobilizing than a thousand statistics on the rise and repercussions of bullying. If a national ratings bureau has declared that children should not be experiencing this... well.
ReplyDeleteThe one question I have is whether the movie provides any possible solutions to the problem it highlights so effectively. All the publicity and public awareness in the world doesn't do much good without a direction to move in.