The other night I viewed a screening of Lee Hirsch’s critically-acclaimed documentary, Bully, at one of the few Chicagoland theaters who agreed to show the film. Going into the movie I was expecting to see 95-minutes of awkwardness, bad parenting, good parenting, ignorant authoritative figures and biased storytelling that is inherent in basically every documentary you will see in your life. I was also prepared to witness what we thought would be a highly controversial scene in the movie itself thanks to a certain level of build up prior to the movie’s release, supposedly focusing on a kid hanging himself.
From a documentary standpoint, the film was pretty weak in my opinion. Documentaries should present both points and counter-points to the audience so that the film-goer can formulate an educated opinion on the subject being presented. Bully not only falters in that area, but it seems to be more concerned about sending a “scared-straight” message focusing only on the story of the victims and nothing on the offenders. While I understand that the film was meant to shine a bright spotlight on how bullying can ruin the lives of our nation’s youth, I feel this message may have been amplified if we were able to see why the “bullies” acted out. An article on Grantland.com – written by a school teacher - echoes my sentiments:
Quote:
Hirsch’s film is at its most distressing when his cameras record these instances of repetitive abuse stemming from “asymmetrical power”; as the attacks on Alex escalated, Hirsch eventually chose to share his school-bus footage — with school administrators like Kim Lockwood. As many other critics have pointed out, though, Hirsch doesn’t (or perhaps couldn’t) interview any of the bullies who’ve made his subjects’ lives miserable. We never hear more from the noxious little sociopath with the fuzzed-out face who threatens to “end” Alex during one morning bus ride. Nor is there any further word from the Oklahoma teacher who allegedly mocked Kelby’s sexuality in front of her classmates. The lives and thoughts of the bullies are at least as important as the suffering they inflict on their targets; without trying to understand them, any preventative measures or attempts at reforming school and community culture are destined to fail.
Don’t get me wrong: I am entirely in favor of ending bullying in schools by any means possible.
But two factors regarding bullying seemed to jump out as not being covered as closely as I would have hoped in the film:
1) As mentioned above, understanding why kids become bullies would be very helpful in combating the issue in schools today. School teachers, principles, and even parents (to an extent) are often left out of the minds and issues surrounding aggressive children, thus prohibiting these potential authoritative helpers the chance to actually help the student. The bullies themselves can also be viewed as victims in this regard, and even they can benefit from any effort to abolish the practice.
2) Social media is the proverbial fuel added to the fire of bullying, and more needs to be done to address this issue. While people my age (and older) may have been bullied in the past, once we came home from school that pressure and threat stopped. Kids today don’t have that ability to escape, if even for a few hours, due to the suffocating reach of sites like Facebook, Twitter, and MySpace. At the risk of sounding hypocritical (as I am aware my thoughts are being shared on a public message board), the internet can be a scary place for these children by serving more as an extension of their fears as opposed to a resource for higher learning and socialization.
Unfortunately, no amount of good parenting can protect children at all times. At the end of the day some children will still get bullied. Films like Hirsch’s Bully is a step in the right direction; however more work needs to be done in order to truly reach the right audience: the children themselves.
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