A Girl Like Her Essay

Films are used for many different reasons, they can entertain, educate, and even bring forward social issues. In the Film, “A Girl Like her” by Amy Weber is used to depict the consequences of bullying. In this film, the main character, Jessica Burns, recruits her best friend, Brian Slater, to document and capture the endless bullying and torment that is being done by her former friend, Avery Keller, which is one of the High Schools “Popular Girls”. Throughout this film, you watch as Jessica secretly undergoes torment from Avery Keller inside of school, and outside of school through social media, afraid to tell anyone this secret, she confides in Brian. With his help and the help of hidden, disguised cameras they document the endless harassment

This film brings forth both sides of the truth centered around bullying, while revealing the disheartening cycle of it from start to finish and the horrifying truth of how such harmful bullying can lead to an innocent person’s suicide attempt. Jessica Burns, the bullying victim, portrays the mental illness that is Major Depressive Disorder throughout this film. In an article named “What is Depression?” by Dr. Craig Sawchuk, a Clinical Psychologist at Mayo Clinic, states that depression is “a mood disorder that causes a persistent feeling of sadness and loss of interest. Also called major depressive disorder or clinical depression, it affects how you feel, think, and behave and can lead to a variety of emotional and physical problems. You may have trouble doing normal day-to-day

Dr. Sawchuk also states in his article the symptoms of depression in teens, which are as stated, “sadness, irritability, feeling negative and worthless, anger, poor performance or poor attendance at school, feeling misunderstood and extremely sensitive, using recreational drugs or alcohol, eating or sleeping too much, self-harm, loss of interest in normal activities, and avoidance of social interaction” (Sawchuk, 2022). Many of these symptoms can be seen throughout Jessica in this film. Jessica visibly portrays the symptoms that are sadness and feelings of worthlessness throughout the majority of time during the film. This can be seen when she is at school, her house, and with her friend, Brian. Another symptom of depression that Jessica portrays is her loss of interest in activities, which becomes known to us when the film shows a moment Jessica has holding old ballet slippers, with tears in her eyes as she puts them away. You can also see that Jessica is portraying avoidance of social interaction, this is from the constant bullying and harassment she has endured. You can see her portraying this symptom when she chooses to take different routes in school to try to avoid Avery and when she keeps her head down in class to try to avoid attention being drawn to her. The last and most crucial symptom Jessica portrayed was self-harm, you see this in the beginning of