Click here for the review of Bully

SPOILERS must be tagged with the "SPOILER" tag!

I'm kinda glad this turned out to be so good but kinda pissed at the same time because now I'm gonna lose 2 points. Anyway, I totally agree that this is the kind of film that needs to be shown to more young people, fuck the MPAA!

Glad I didn't go to a normal high school, at my school, the teachers did not tolerate bullying in any form, they kept kids in line. My elemntary school is another story though, I was picked on by quite a few kids, though it didn't tramautize me or anything, it was more of a mild annoyance then anything else.

Also, one aspect to keep in mind is the "why" behind kids bullying others, a lot of the time bullies are themselves verbally and physically abused by their own parents, so they take they're anger out on others to make them feel better about themselves, not saying it excuses their behavior, but it's still something to take into consideration.

Being white and middle class = nobody gives a shit what happens to you at school. Society thinks you're bullet proof. The snapping point for me was two fold: Being taunted when both my parents were seen turning up to the Head Masters office, and when a teacher blamed me for my own bruises. My going postal was limited to simply skipping classes and not giving a shit, hoping I'd pass the time until we left for good or it'd end quickly in the playground.

I'd go as far as to thank the people who made my five years of secondary school a living hell, since I'm now far more thick skinned than I've ever been. Probably also why I cannot take the 'issue' of internet bullying that seriously; you can only 'block' a fist so often before it cracks your rib.

When you went postal, did it involve firearms and/or other forms of physical violence? The issue in the U.S. is that the pent-up rage caused by bullying can be vented by putting a few hollow-point rounds into either the offending people's bodies or worse yet, those of people *perceived* to be offenders by the victims. Columbine seems to be a good example of the latter. Good parenting could help reduce the issue of bullying, but it seems to be less prevalent in today's society, unfortunately.


It works its magic on us all.

To imply that Columbine was in any way connected to bullying is to ignore the reasons behind Columbine. Though it may support the thesis, it isn't rooted in fact. Ragnarok73 had the wisdom to use the word "perceived" and "offenders", both accurate when describing the victims of Eric Harris, a psychopath who wanted to make a statement that reflected his amorality.

The opening of the review is dramatic but misinformed. Just a small point.

Okay, probably a bad choice of words on my part since the extent of my violent reprisal was a feeble punch in the face aimed at a guy who'd stolen my only working pen. Naturally, I was punished and the guy got off.



Joking aside, care to share some experiences?

The retaliator usually gets the punishment, since he/she is the only one that the authority figure happens to see most of the time.


To be more accurate: I didn't suffer from being a bullying victim as much as I wasn't one of the more popular kids in my early school years. In part, this was because I had anger management issues that meant that when I was picked on, I invariably resorted to the physical violence option. I'm not saying I was an ass-kicker, just someone who'd get into fights, win or lose. This led to my lack of popularity because people felt that they couldn't make even casual ribs because I was someone who couldn't tell the difference between those and genuinely hostile remarks.

Being raised by an over-protective mother and a violent father in a dysfunctional household probably contributed to that outlook, as it seriously impacted in a negative way on my early socialization. It didn't help that my parents couldn't and/or wouldn't understand my viewpoint due to their stance that older automatically means better. At least I didn't end up being a bully myself, as I could identify more with the outcasts than with the popular assholes who usually did the bullying. It also helped that my later school years had me being surrounded by better classmates in a school where there was no bullying problem.

I still have a temper, but it's mainly reserved for people I feel are ignorant or douchebaggy or both. I also have small patience with people who don't seem to be taking what they're doing seriously (like Gordon Ramsay does with some of the people he deals with in Hell's Kitchen).

Of course we'll never know the exact reasons behind Klebold and Harris' actions at Columbine. Thus, it's just as invalid to dismiss bullying as a possible factor as it would be to say that bullying was without any doubt the determining factor, which is indeed why I used the word "perceived".

When you look at cliques in high school and the behavior of the teens who belong to them, there are definite elements of bullying involved, though not necessarily physical. The victims of that bullying can react violently if pushed far enough, like most people can. There's a reason why the U.S. Secret Service concluded in 2000 that bullying was a factor in over 65% of premeditated school shootings.

Here's hoping this movie succeeds. Far too often, those who are bullied are often seen as "too sensitive" and "need to man up," as if its their own fault they get picked on.

It would be cathartic to make a documentary film about bullies getting their comeuppance.

AMC Defies MPAA Bullies: Will Show Unrated Documentary To Kids With Permission Slips

http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20120328/10242818279/amc-defies-mpaa-bullies-will-show-unrated-documentary-to-kids-with-permission-slips.shtml

Did Berardinelli have experiences with bullies?

Well he has mentioned that he was a nerd back in high school, so yeah, i'm guessing he has had experience in that area. I was a bit of an outcast myself, and did get into a few fights, though fortunately for me the staff was usually pretty fair about dealing with bullies, one kid attacked me for no reason in gym class, so I fought back and kicked his ass pretty good and he got in pretty big trouble.

So long as the correlation isn't assumed to be direct, there's no doubt.

We all have a threshold and what you've written is undeniably true. The definition of "bully" as well as "being bullied" is extremely broad and it's entirely possible that people who feel they're ignored would claim they're hated and mocked. The working definition is narrower.

There, fixed that for you.

I don't think the film is as irresponsible as Waiting for Superman, but I do find the total lack of attempts to understand the bullies disconcerting. I don't think it's really a good film in the normal sense, though it is occasionally powerful.



As long as that comeuppance involves teaching and understand. Demonizing bullies out-of-hand is no better than calling for the head of George Zimmerman.

Those are two totally different things though, with bullies like I said, there are often underlying circumstances for why they act the way they do towards others, and they're kids and kids someitmes just stupid shit, I did a lot of dumb things as a kid that I know look back at and ask "WTF was I thinking"?

With Zimmerman, there's no possible excuse that justifies him shooting an unarmed teen, so I would hardly blame anyone for wishing terrible things to happen to an asshole like that He deserbes whatever he gets.

Are you saying there were no underlying circumstances to Zimmerman's act? That cuts both ways.

I'm certainly not defending Zimmerman, and I believe he should be investigated and if necessary prosecuted to the fullest extent. But to call him "an asshole like that" and that "he deserves whatever he gets" without knowing all the facts (which no one alive besides Zimmerman does right now) is not much different from the state of mind that led Zimmerman to suspect and shoot an "unarmed" teen.

Next ReelThought (probably this weekend): "The Bully Pulpit." Autobiographical.