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"It's funny how people who simply say "stand up for yourself" never, ever, tell you how to stand up for yourself. Even adults find it difficult to defend themselves against the onslaught of bullies, especially a serial bully."
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In Real Life, school bullying happens when a child knowingly tries to destroy another child by using various means (insults, bashing, rumours…) The Bully manipulates perceptions of adults and often manages to make them believe that his/her target is to be blamed. This can last for months, sometimes years, can be really traumatising and often leads to PTSD or suicidal thoughts. The term 'bullycide' defines what happens when these suicidal thoughts caused by bullying are put into action. Some kids may be bullied even though they have a black belt in karate, have a lot of friends, are very beautiful or have a great sense of humour.
Occasionally, there'll be a lighter, softer take on bullying, often in children's shows:
1. X bullies Y because Y is nasty, socially awkward or ugly. The viewers are supposed to side with X because X is better-looking or the narrator. Sometimes the bullying just stops just after Y stops acting like a geek (if male) or gets a makeover (if female).
2. X bullies Y but it turns out that X is secretly in love with Y or envious for any reason. Y decides to have a talk with X and at the end of the episode, X and Y become best friends forever.
3. X bullies Y until Y decides to learn kung fu or just says stop bullying me, I don’t like it. Then X gives up bullying forever.
4. Y mentions that he/she was bullied at school and was actually made stronger by the bullying. Y never suffers from any kind of trauma.
Also see Kids Are Cruel and The Bully.
Literature[]
- Harry Potter: Luna Lovegood just smiles and shrugs it off when people steal her things or give her nicknames, though her bedroom reveals that Harry & co.'s friendship is a bigger deal than she let on.
- Subverted with Severus Snape as he still hates his bully, James Potter, years afterwards, even after he stopped being a dick. As Sirius points out, Snape gave just as good as he got. By the point James had reformed, Snape joined the nascent Death Eaters, who bullied half-bloods and "mudbloods", turned into a blood purity organization that was basically a cross between the Nazi party and KKK, and Snape later turned into a Sadist Teacher.
- Done weirdly with Harry, who does not appear to suffer any lingering trauma from his Dickensian upbringing, but who does have a great deal of empathy for other bullied kids - to the point where he suffers a Heroic BSOD when he sees his father and godfather horribly bullying Snape in a Pensieve Flashback.
- Said Heroic BSOD may be due to the fact that, well, now he knew why Snape hated him so much.
- Judy Blume ’s Blubber describes kids' cruelty and lack of empathy very well.
Live Action TV[]
- Ashley from The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air gets bullied by another girl. It turns out that the bully had misunderstood her and they just exchange a few words and reconcile.
Western Animation[]
- In the French animated show Lou!, twelve-years-old Lou has been bullied by the same girl since kindergarten. However, Lou doesn’t suffer from any kind of trauma and her best friend is the only person who noticed anything. One day, Lou decides to tell the bully how fed up she feels, and the bullying stops, even though the girl is One Head Taller than Lou.
- Type three is shown in The Sonic Rainboom Episode of My Little Pony Friendship Is Magic.
- Another Type Three shows up in "Call of the Cutie".