Many times you will witness one of the characters being repeatedly bullied by a popular student, until the point that they might even contemplate or attempt suicide. Then, towards the end of the movie, there is a shift in the narrative.
The bully is now being portrayed as a victim of ignorance and circumstances, and the character they once bullied is saddled with the onus of forgiving them and accepting them. Often, they even get romantically involved with them.
This bullying can happen between two people of the same sex, two people of opposite sex, or between a homophobe and a homosexual person.
I am mostly concerned with the bullying that occurs between two people of the opposite sex and homophobic bullies.
it is totally unacceptable to promote the idea that not only do you have to forgive your bully, but you also have to accept their suppressed romantic feelings in order to maintain your status as a good person.
In Glee, Karofsky bullied Kurt so much that the poor boy had to change school. Then Karofsky comes out as gay and kisses Kurt. He becomes friends with him and later goes on to date kurt's one and only true love.
In Sex Education, Adam bullied Eric. He made coming to school a terrifying experience for him, then Adam finds out that he is bisexual and the person he decides to romantically links up with is, guess who, Eric?
Are they for real?
Please, bullying is a serious issue and these TV series need to stop promoting the idea that if you do not forgive your bully, then you are a bad person. You are not a bad a person. Your bully is the bad person.
There is more than just ignorance and self hatred when it comes to bullying. There is usually an underlying psychological issue that will not be resolved by the survivor's forgiveness or kiss. This is not a freaking fairytale.
Bullies need to be held responsible for their actions. They should be treated as criminals because that's what they are. What do these boys and girls do, that is different from what adults to that gets them locked up in jail?
The last episode of Sex Education left me totally pissed off.
Survivors of bullying, boys, girls, and members of the LGBTQ community deserve more respect.
No comments:
Post a Comment