BULLY follows the lives of five kids and families affected by bullying, touching on both boys and girls being bullied, someone bullied for their sexual orientation, the bullied fighting back and the tragic results of bullying. Tyler Long, a Georgian boy who was full of life as a child but endured so much teasing and abuse as a teenager that he ended up hanging himself in his closet, is the first story we hear. Grief stricken, his parents direct their anger at their indifferent school system, inciting a strong response from their community who begin to put pressure on the schools and local authorities to take a more active role in responding to reports of bullying.
Kelby Johnson is a 16 year old who lives in Oklahoma and after coming out as a lesbian found her and her family shunned by most of her community. She is surprisingly optimistic about it all, refusing to move to a more open-minded town, believing that if just one person steps up and takes a stand then that can make a difference for others. In Mississippi there is Ja’Meya Jackson, who at age 14 got so tired of being bullied that she brought her mother’s loaded gun on the school bus threatening to hurt her attackers, resulting in her being sent to juvie.
The film’s main focus is on Alex Libby, a smart 12 year old and devoted big brother to his four siblings living in Iowa who has no friends and is constantly physically and verbally abused by his classmates for his “fish face.” Alex is disillusioned by the insults and abuse he receives, seeing his abusers as his friends and follows them around waiting for their next attack. Alex’s parents are disheartened by their son’s bullying and attempt to teach him how to stand up for himself but he isn’t entirely receptive.
Hirsch is given unrestricted permission to film inside of Alex’s school and bus and it’s here that we see just how violent the bullying can be and how infuriatingly blind the school’s administration is. On the bus Alex is choked, stabbed and literally threatened with “I will fucking kill you” multiple times for doing nothing. I couldn’t believe that such violence and anger could come from nowhere and from such young children. Where do they learn to be so brutal and abusive? Why are they so angry and aggressive that they feel violence is the solution? Unfortunately Hirsch doesn’t delve into this aspect of bullying, failing to speak with families whose children are the bullies to give some kind of insight as to how someone becomes a bully or even speaking to reformed bullies to find out what it was that finally changed their minds.
But my shock wasn’t just from the violence. Alex’s assistant principal refuses to acknowledge that the children are anything but harmless little angels, believing that “kids will be kids” and after Alex’s mother approaches her about her son’s constant bullying, she hardly makes attempts to correct the situation. Instead she tries to turn the blame on Alex. Why would an administrator so easily try to avoid doing their job and transfer the blame off of themselves and on to the victims? What happened to accepting responsibility and trying to create a safe learning environment for students? I know this doesn’t reflect the actions of all administrators but I couldn’t help but wonder if other administrators and even local authority have the same attitudes.
Even though the assistant principal is an easy villain, the film also considers the parents' roles in their children’s lives. Just how active of a role are parents taking in their kid’s lives? You can’t place all the blame on the administrators because kids not only learn how to act when they’re at school but also when they’re at home. Are parents teaching their kids to stand up for themselves? Are they teaching their kids to treat others with respect? Are they standing up for their kids? Alex’s parents make attempts to talk to him about the bullying he’s experiencing and that he needs to stop taking all the abuse but you can sense there’s some frustration in their interaction like their efforts are futile and they don’t know what else to do. Kelby’s parents were receptive to her coming out and came to accept that a majority of their friends cast them aside but it didn’t mention if they spoke with her about the town’s potential response or if they made attempts to speak with the church or school about the unfair treatment of their daughter. Ja’Meya’s mother only seemed to step into her daughter’s life after she was sent to juvenile detention.
One thing I would’ve liked to have seen is the inclusion of stories from coastal or bigger towns, some place outside of Middle America. Bigger towns might have included more out-spoken kids and shown how others have handled being bullied. Focusing on the Bible Belt played into a stereotype that those areas are small town, backwoods thinkers and already gave you the impression that the people you’d be seeing were ignorant. It doesn’t provide you with a look at both progressive and conservative communities, creating a more skewed perspective than I would’ve expected.
BULLY does try to end on a message of hope with “Stand for the Silent”. Bringing in the final story, “Stand For The Silent” is an anti-bullying organization that was started by the parents of Ty Smalley after he committed suicide due to bullying at the young age of 11. Rather than challenging the school district as the Long’s did, Ty’s parents held silent vigils to “Stand for the Silent”, teaching young people to be more considerate of their peers and to stand up to bullying, which quickly spread across the country and continues to grow in size. In telling Ty’s story Hirsch provided of the most touching stories and one of the strongest images. Hirsch interviews Ty’s best friend, Tyler, someone who used to be a bully until he realized how destructive he was being. Tyler reminisces about the fort they built in the woods, the rabbits they would hunt and what a strong person Ty was. His words emphasize that Ty was just a baby when this tragedy happened, showing that bullying can start and affect others at an extremely young age and it is something that needs to be addressed early in life. Tyler is also shown acting as a pallbearer at Ty’s funeral and breaking down at the sight of his dead best friend. Seeing such a young child carrying his best friend’s casket absolutely broke my heart. No child should ever have to endure that and it’s very hard to shake that image from my mind.
I’ve been following BULLY since its initial rating controversy earlier this year. It didn’t make sense that a film that was meant to educate the public on the cruel reality of bullying in today’s schools would be given an R rating because the word “fuck” was used a few too times than they approved of, thereby alienating the very audience it was meant to influence. Let’s not even get into the fact that the MPAA has no problem giving a film filled with violence a PG-13 but heaven forbid someone curses too much then it gets an R. While I was a bit upset that the Weinsteins eventually backed down from their stance to buck the establishment and release it unrated, instead making some minor edits to earn a PG-13, I’m glad that kids of all ages are now able to see Lee Hirsch’s upsetting and touching documentary.
BULLY is a powerful film in that it presents a very topical subject through sad and horrifying stories. It raises a lot of questions as well as pointing to the devastating effects of peer abuse but unfortunately falters a bit at trying to provide a more balanced look at the subject. It seems a bit too complacent pointing the blame at the school system and empathizing with the victims rather than taking a broader look at the topic. Nonetheless the film’s subjects are compelling and made me yearn for a better world for today’s kids. It opened my eyes to one of the many things I’ll have to be aware of and teach my children about in the future and hopefully BULLY awakens those in other cities as well as local, state and national governments to take bullying more seriously and realize what a huge effect it has on today’s society.
