The "Antisocial" Bully:
- Big Bully
- Max Keeble's Big Move (Also featuring a bullying school principal)
- Back to the future (Biff, of course, but let's not forget Principal "No McFly has ever amounted to anything" Strickland)
- Three O'Clock High
- Sometimes They Come Back (Horror)
- Hearts in Atlantis
- Stand By Me
- My Bodyguard
- Carrie
- Let Me In (And the original, Let the Right One In.)
- Heathers
- Revenge of the Nerds
- Mean Girls
- Lucas
- School Ties (Exploring themes of anti-Semitism)
- Scent of a Woman
- Sky High (Administrators support a social order of "heroes" vs. "sidekicks"; also includes a pair of traditional student bullies.)
- The Karate Kid (Kids bullying kids, but the root of the problem is a bully turned karate instructor.)
- Mr. Woodcock (The gym teacher is a relentless bully; the movie takes the incredible view that many of his victims became grateful.)
- Matilta (Worst principal ever?)
- Ferris Bueller's Day Off (Principal Rooney)
- The Breakfast Club (Principal Vernon)
There are, of course, many more.
There are a lot of interesting personalities in education. You've got your narcissists who just want the thrill of having a roomful of kids staring at them, (in theory) paying rapt attention. You've got your women who just want to play mommy and just "love (their) kids" not really caring if they teach them anything or not (I inherited a caseload from a teacher like this...the kids are all 4 grades behind, but hey, they made lots of cookies & she bought them new clothes and toys all the time). Then of course you have your bullies, some of whom have always been bullied and some of whom were bullied. I would love to see a report/dissertation about bullying teachers...not sure how one could do this though b/c I'm sure some students would report teachers are "bullying" them when the teacher is simply demanding quality work or trying to discipline.
ReplyDeleteI "push in" to a math class with my special ed students and I see that math teacher bullying the students all the time. A science teacher (who is truly evil) bullies kids, especially the special ed kids (she is ass ugly and I presume she was bullied throughout life, so maybe this is her revenge?) My principal is nice but he won't do anything about it. Until and unless the kids report the abuse to their parents and their parents make a stink, nothing will change. And since I teach in a school district with minimal parent involvement, I think some of the teachers know they can get away with a lot more than they could in, say, West Bloomfield....
Back in high school, one of my courses involved my going into a grade five classroom to help a most unpleasant teacher with her class. She was particularly obnoxious toward a hearing impaired girl in her class, and had no interest I could detect in helping students who were falling behind keep up with their lessons. Lovely woman....
ReplyDeleteCarrie and Let me in
ReplyDeleteSome children's movies encourage bullying. "The Lorax" movie (2012) features the punchline "That's a woman?" when the titular bully tries to punch a woman in the face. It's meant to be hysterically funny, and is the high mark of all the trailers, ads, and clips.
ReplyDelete