Bully By Lee Hirsch: Movie Analysis

Summary The movie Bully by Lee Hirsch is an interesting take on the concept of bullying inside of an adolescent’s life. The main characters revolve around a couple of students who have faced much adversity throughout their time in school. Tyler, one of the people mentioned, was shown to have committed suicide due to the extent of the bullying that took place. The movie did bring into light something that occurs way to often that has been plaguing U.S schools for several years. The movie did a fair job at showing the realities that each kid may face through their time in school but it did fail to show some crucial information. Slate (Bazelon 2012) mentioned that the movie failed to show information regarding Tyler’s death and a suicide note left by him. Tyler was diagnosed with ADHD, bipolar disorder, and Asperger’s. He was also going to a psychologist at the time but parents failed to show the counselor information regarding a

In Erickson’s theory of development, mentioned in the Santrock textbook (2011), competence is the stage where bullying may affect the most. Erickson’s says that this where students ask themselves whether they can make in the world around them through people. Bullying affects this stage as the child would be stripped of acceptance in the social realm thus feeling inferior as a result. In regards to moral development, Kohlberg’s stages mentioned in Santrock textbook (2011), they may experience some sense of dissonance with their concept of reality. They would be in the conventional stage of moral development, which is determined by peers and authorities. Bullying would create such an imbalance within the student that they would be unable to grasp morality. They would also be disengaged with authority figures as they see the actions that are being placed and do nothing, per the student. This would also create another road block for a sense of