The documentary, Bully, was directed by Lee Hirsch to capture
the reality behind bullying, the horrific actions and effects involved in it as
a way to educate children, parents and school administrators on how to prevent
the life threatening truths of bullying. Most schools educate children on the
harmful nature of bullying, yet it continues not only in schools but online as
well. With suicide in the top three causes to adolescent deaths, the need to
stop bullying once and for all is required. This documentary captures all
victims of bullying, not only the individuals but their family and friends as
well. It presents stories of a variety of severities; whether leading to
suicide, illegal actions or depression, Bully
portrayed it all. The victims of these terrible words or violent acts range
from age eleven to seventeen, yet no one story outweighs the others. All
stories of bullying are equal. This documentary carefully kept from alienating
schools and blaming any individual for bullying by presenting the view point of
an assistant principle and numerous parents to show efforts of all to stop
bullying as well as demonstrate the complexity of the issue at hand.
Bully is a well directed and edited film
that captures the complexity and horrific truths of bullying through its
organization and widespread prevalence.
The organization assisted in the effectiveness of this piece in two
ways, the organization of the entire film as well as the organization of each
individual story. The whole documentary began with the story of one boy,
portrayed originally as the normal but shy child who went on to commit suicide
at the age of seventeen after excessive verbal abuse by his classmates. A
horrific but honest story that immediately grabbed the viewers’ attention and
transitioned into the lives of other victims of bullying. From there multiple
other stories were presented featuring a boy suffering from physical and verbal
bullying but maintained shut off and viewed his bullies as friends, a girl who
brought as gun onto the bus to defend herself against bullies but lead her to a
juvenile detention center and an eleven year old boy that took his own life
after repetitive bullying instances. The end of the film featured the families
of the bullying victims, raising awareness to all on how to educate children on
bullying and prevent the life threatening effects.
As for the
organization of each individual story, they each began with the introduction to
the adolescent as a typical kid that did chores, went to school, and participated
in what interested them. By introducing the children as normal kids, it allowed
the audience to be even more sympathetic towards them. It is much easier to
connect to a typical kid rather then a bullying victim, once connected to this
seemingly normal child, seeing the terrible abuse they face on a daily basis is
even more impactful. By slowly adjusting to the effects that bullying had on
each child it allows for an increased appeal to pathos, the most prevalent tool
in this documentary.
It is not
only through the organization that Hirsch is able to present that severity of
bullying but he also harnesses the widespread nature of the issue. This
documentary provided not only a variety of “causes” for bullying but also
examples throughout the US. All across the country adolescents are being
bullied for a variety of reasons whether it be their looks, disabilities, or
sexual orientation. By presenting the audience with a variety of locations and “causes”
for bullying the large scale of this issue is clear. Bully was an extremely well developed piece on the horrors of
bullying that use the intense emotions involved in such terrible actions to
educate and emphasize the prevention of bullying for the good of the youth and
generations to come.
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| URL: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1682181/ |
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