500 Films: #7 An American Girl - Chrissa Stands Strong (Subtitle: Thoughts on Bullying)

A movie I caught on HBO, about a newly-moved fourth grader who starts at a new school and gets bullied by a group of mini-"Mean Girls" in her class. Two of whom are blonde. One is Indian. Guess which one grows a conscience later on in the movie.

I didn't watch this thoroughly the first time. Personally, I don't like movies that humiliate the lead characters. It stresses me out, emotionally, so I tend to avoid them. Paul finished watching it though, and he told me how the happy ending eventually came about. So when I switched to HBO a few days later and saw it on, I decided to stick around.

I won't talk so much about the movie anymore as I think most of the production values are moot for its type of film. It's a, I'm assuming, made-for-TV family drama. The point isn't how good it is, but how well it delivers its "moral lesson". In this case, the story was about being strong against bullying.

I grew up watching American shows, and bullying has always been an issue. They even have "caste systems" and labels: the jocks, the nerds, the geeks, the cheerleaders... which, I think, we didn't adopt or were really aware of until the internet made it widespread.

I guess I'm... lucky? In the sense that I didn't really experience bullying back in school, and when it comes up in movies or books or fanfiction, it baffles me a bit.

I remember in the movie, the lead character, Chrissa, was fortunate to have the guidance and support of her entire family unit, including her older brother, her grandmother and both parents.

I hope that when it's time to send my future children into the big bad mouth of school, they'll be as fortunate as me and not have any untoward experiences. If that won't be the case, I hope they'll be as disciplined and logical as their father in dealing with those kinds of people. And if the latter does happen, I hope that we'll be able to support them and give them sound advice that they'll listen to and consider.