Five Movies About Bullying to Watch With Children and Teens
School bullying is a type of abuse that often occurs in young people and is a topic that’s currently being addressed in most educational centers. In fact, the problems it can cause are recognized all over the world. For this reason, movies, as a means of raising awareness of the issue can be extremely useful. Therefore, in this article, we give you five movies about bullying to watch with your own children and teens.
The media and the Internet are both platforms that are currently spreading the word about bullying. Thankfully, this subject, which was hidden for so many years, is finally being addressed.
Furthermore, some productions have been made on the big screen to explain to the viewer exactly what bullying is and its consequences. Let’s look at some of the most notable movies about bullying.
1.Bullying
The director of this film, Josetxo San Mateo, shows us the really nasty and vicious side of bullying. Jordi is a young student who arrives at a new high school where he ends up being severely bullied. After having recently lost his father, he wants to start a new life but instead encounters serious problems with his classmates.
Once the bullying starts, the harassment and aggression (which he conceals) become constant, in such a way that his daily life becomes hell. We see the image of a young man terrified by the situation in which he finds himself. In fact, the content is so realistic, that it could be taking place in any educational center.
It’s one of the most interesting movies about bullying to watch with your own children and teens.
“Bullying is a horrible thing. It sticks with you forever. It poisons you. But only if you let it.”
-Heather Brewer-
2. Disconnect
Directed by Henry Alex Rubin, this movie portrays one of the current trends of bullying, known as cyberbullying. We see Ben, a teenager who’s tricked into taking a compromising photograph that, ultimately, is spread around his school.
After being harassed for this fact and falling into the deepest despair, Ben tries to take his own life. Consequently, we see one of the severest consequences of bullying, a situation that’s all too familiar in reality.
3. Pay it Forward
In this movie, the director Mimi Leder presents us with another aspect of the social scourge of bullying: fear. Trevor is a young student who has a ‘pay it forward’ idea for a school project to benefit others. However, at the same time, he’s seeing how a classmate of his is being bullied and that nothing is being done about it. As part of his ‘pay it forward’ scheme, he eventually intervenes to help his friend and ends up being fatally stabbed.
The plot presents the idea of the fear of uncovering a bullying situation due to possible reprisals that may ensue. This is really common in high school classrooms. Classmates see everything that happens and are witnesses to bullying, but none of them dare take the step to denounce it. This movie encourages young people to view the uncovering of any situation of harassment as a measure and solution to the problem.
“You aren’t under their control. You are not theirs.”
-Salla Simukka-
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4. Cowards
José Corbacho and Juan Cruz present a realistic story in which Gaby, a young teenager, suffers from bullying at school. Fear, tension, and pain are ever-present in the life of this boy, who’s afraid to go to school because of the possible violence he may encounter.
This story tries to tell us that everything has a reason. It explains that those who bully often do so because they’re victims of similar behavior at home, or they mix with the wrong kinds of people. Nevertheless, it’s obviously unreasonable for them to take out their frustrations on a classmate. So this is a movie about bullying that leads us to reflect on and try to understand this all too frequent problem.
5. Wonder
Stephen Chbosky makes us think with his movie, which is also really enjoyable. It proposes another perspective of bullying, as we see a student with a facial deformity. He becomes the center of attention and the teasing begins, something that undoubtedly affects him on an emotional level.
However, over time we see the triumph of integration. Indeed, the movie demonstrates the idea that everyone deserves to be respected and not abused. Hence, the protagonist, named Auggie, achieves his goals and becomes accepted by his peers.
All cited sources were thoroughly reviewed by our team to ensure their quality, reliability, currency, and validity. The bibliography of this article was considered reliable and of academic or scientific accuracy.
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- Brank, E. M., Hoetger, L. A., & Hazen, K. P. (2012). Bullying. Annual Review of Law and Social Science, 8, 213-230.
- Cerezo, F. (2009). Bullying: análisis de la situación en las aulas españolas. International Journal of Psychology and Psychological Therapy, 9(3), 383-394.
- Cerezo, F. (2012). Bullying a través de las TIC. Boletín Científico Sapiens Research, 2(2), 24-29.