Bullying: Film Analysis

In a 2012 film named “Bully”, there were statistics mentioned that stated that 13 million children were victims to bullying, just in that one year. The purpose of the film was to bring forth awareness of the issue of bullying, that although it has been in existence for centuries, it has become an uprising issue in the United States. The focus of the film was demonstrated in a young boy, Alex Libby, who was a victim of bullying, that lead to cyber bullying, causing for inaction to turn into action, in prevention of cases such as his. Receiving multiple messages both in school and on social media cites, such as Facebook, Libby was told from his classmates to ‘kill himself’, leading Libby with insecurity, fear and with the thought of suicide,

The introduction of electronics, especially the Internet, seems to be the cause for the evolution of bullying that evidently lead to cyberbullying. Bullying has always existed in one way or another, although with modern day technology, cyberbullying has become the most efficient way to bully another individual whether the bully has never met them before or has known them their whole life. Cyberbullying has created an even bigger impact on the victim(s), due to its lack of prevention. Cyberbullying has given the bully the advantage to no longer need to taunt the victim face-to-face, for the bully’s ability to terrorize the victim is now limitless. With the development of the Internet, that lead to young generations to create the social media world, victims can now be harassed, threatened, or humiliated through these means. What bullies aren’t aware of is that everything that gets posted on the Internet, permanently stays there. Aftab, psychologist and internet and security expert, who has extensively studied cyberbullying, made a

There is a larger participant level. Cyberbullying has higher impacts of depression. The victim of cyberbullying cannot hide from the bully, there is no way out, no escape. Rumors reach millions and cyberbullying focuses mostly on adolescents and children. Such rumors can be passed along both verbally and digitally, for instance, through text messaging and online discussion comments. Although, text messages are more private, phone companies will keep a record of past and recent messages people have sent and received. At any time, individuals can see exactly what appears on the screens of others, no matter what computer or electronic device they may be on. In a discussion on how has bullying changed, Phillip C. McGraw, mostly known as “Dr. Phil”, stated, “In the past, a bully had physical size and words. Now, the cyberbully has Facebook, Myspace, Email, Texting, Web Postings, blocked calling via the Internet, Instant messaging, and Chatrooms” (Cyberbullying 20). There is a wide range of access that cyberbullies can use to target their victims, making the Internet unsafe. Although, some may argue that technology may be a good and necessary resource for protection. For some, it is not the foundation of the Internet that is at fault, rather it is the individual who misuses it. Marriage and family therapist, Ronald Alexander states that a possible explanation for the bullying is due to a human’s lack of