I haven't yet seen Bully, so maybe I should wait to write this til after, but I don't think that will make a difference. I was looking online to see when the documentary will be coming out on DVD when I found this REVIEW. Now, I don't know anything about this website or the people who wrote this review other than it is some super conservative Christian group. And, what I read upset me a little.
First of all, when the movie came out there was a big hoopla about the rating of Bully and what not. But this is what this review said about the matter:
"BULLY also contains a fair amount of strong foul language, which the filmmakers so far have refused to bleep. How childish of them!"
Childish? Of them? Because they refuse to remove a few words? That is the stupidest thing I've ever heard! They are words; you won't go to hell if you hear them. And how is it childish of them for not censoring life? They are trying to show what kids go through when they are getting bullied. And if they hear the word "fuck", then what right do we have to remove that? The writers of the review are the childish ones; they need to mature beyond the point of being offended by a word. And would bleeping the word really make a difference? You may not actually hear the word but your brain is a smart thing and will fill in the blanks. And that brings to mind a quote from another REVIEW about Bully that I read a while ago. I've been wanting to share it, but felt weird doing so without a context. But now is my chance.
"And a film, with a few swears, that reveals a problem we know exists but do little to change, can hardly be called offensive. In that case the good surely outweighs the bad, and if we can’t see that, well, that’s most offensive of all."
And I agree with that statement wholeheartedly. It is sad that people get hooked up on the small things that they miss the big picture.
But, that's not even the main thing. Apparently one of the kids being bullied is a lesbian and this somehow makes the movie evil. Once again I copy and paste:
"The problem with the documentary is that one teenager featured in it is a girl who says she’s a lesbian. There are shots of the manly-looking girl with her slender “girlfriend” and lesbian friends. She and her parents complain that people in her school and in the community have shunned them because of this. However, unlike the other cases in the movie, they give no examples of physical abuse. Thus, there’s little reason to include this politically correct, Anti-Christian content."
She is not getting abused physically, therefore she shouldn't be included? What the hell? Does emotional abuse not warrant our attention? Just the physical? But, like I said, I have not seen Bully, so I don't know how this is really portrayed. But the reviewers seem to think that because one of the kids is a lesbian, that the filmmakers have some hidden agenda. It doesn't matter what she is, only that she is being abused. Is it ok to abuse gay people? The movie is not pro (or anti) LGBT but rather anti abuse, regardless of who is being abused. I find it idiotic that they can't looked past the fact that one person is openly a lesbian and see what truly is the problem.
So, basically, this is the most closed-minded, bigoted review of a movie (of a movie trying to help those in need, may I add) that I have ever read. True, we all have our beliefs and don't always agree with what other people do, but that does not mean we avoid them. They are people too.
But that's just my opinion...
Let me just say the part of the documentary that follows the lesbian girl, who this critic says does not receive physical abuse, the critic is wrong. Right when you meet the girl she tells the audience about how she was run over by fellow students...BY A CAR! I feel like that is enough "physical abuse" to matter.
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