Bully is a documentary about bullying in schools. It follows the lives of three students, Alex, Kelby, and Je'Maya, all victims of bullying. It includes interviews from the victims and the victims' families, day to day lives in school, and steps taken to end bullying. This documentary makes clear the lack of initiative the schools have taken to end bullying. Through ignorance and even denial, the superintendents and teachers are strong contributors to the continued bullying that the students face. Truly allowing the audience to feel the pain and difficulty the victims endure, we gain a deep understanding of the horrible reality of high schools and push us to strive for change.
2. One of the rhetorical devices used by Hirsch is perspective. Specifically using the observational mode, the camera does not intrude on the happenings of the scene. When Alex is on the school bus and getting cursed at and physically harassed, the cameraman does not interfere. Instead, he shoots from a "fly on the wall" perspective and allows the events to happen. In order to create an ordinary environment, one which Alex faces everyday, the cameraman does not budge in. This allows the bullies to harass as they always have been, and allows the audience to view the crude scene of bullying that is commonplace in high schools nationwide. This use of perspective truly gives a wake up call to anyone that denied the existence of bullying in high schools, as the whole scene of hurtful remarks and physical abuse unfolds before their eyes.
Another rhetorical device used was editing. Including interviews from the victims and their families in casual settings, the interviews were segments of the documentary that generated much emotion. With the victims and their families revealing their true feelings of hurt, pain, and sadness, these emotions were able to transcend the screen and allow the audience to feel them, too. Carefully placed in between the documentary, the interviews had a large impact on allowing the audience to understand how terrible bullying is and how it must stop. Seeing those young children contemplate suicide and self-harm, and actually revealing such horrible feelings, really urges us as the audience to fight for change.
Bul
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