Movies: “Get away freak, shut up zombie boy, you have the plague.” These statements are from the movie Wonder, but in West Ottawa, these types of things don’t happen.
There is a dramatic difference between typical movie bullying and the reality of bullying in West Ottawa.
An example of typical movie bullying is when popular kids knock books out of nerdy students’ hands, and those around them laugh, or when people are beaten up simply because of their appearance. An example of this is in the movie Wonder. The main character Auggie Pullman goes to the woods with his friend Jack Will, and after an older group of students sees them, they begin to make fun of them. When Auggie and Jack stand up for themselves, the older students threaten to beat them up.
Another example is in the movie Mean Girls. A movie that was made to represent high school and highlight social dynamics and things like fitting in shows girls creating a burn book that details hurtful things about students and teachers.
Clearly, this type of behavior isn’t commonly seen in schools like West Ottawa. In West Ottawa, just your appearance doesn’t automatically make you an outcast among your classmates. Students also don’t share books filled with deep secrets about teachers and other students in West Ottawa.
West Ottawa: The type of behavior seen in West Ottawa is not like what is often portrayed in movies. Movies tend to make bullying seem much worse and more prevalent than it is in schools like West Ottawa. The “bullying” seen here tends to be minor things like name-calling or talking behind someone’s back.
Other forms of bullying, such as excluding students from activities because of the way they talk or look, are rare.Sr. Kaelana Crame said, “In my four years of high school, I don’t think I’ve seen bullying. I’ve seen small things, like name-calling, but they usually look like friends just messing around.”
In typical high school movies, the popular kids bully others in hallways and in front of others. In West Ottawa, however, bullying is uncommon and much less visible. Crame isn’t the only person that hasn’t witnessed bullying. Jr. C.J. Traylor, someone who does lots of extracurricular sports, hasn’t witnessed bullying between his teammates or in school. “I would say sports is a place where we try to create a culture of understanding and respect for everyone, especially in football where we treat our team as family and hold each other to the standard every day.” This shows how bullying in West Ottawa is by no means like the movies. The team makes each other feel like family, evidently showing that no matter what you look like or how you act you will be loved and will not be bullied at WO.
Clearly, the movie’s high school expectations for bullying aren’t true for West Ottawa. A senior who has experienced all of high school and a student-athlete who is active in lots of extra-curricular activities who both have witnessed the opposite of the high school movie expectations. West Ottawa shows how the movie stereotype of bullying is over-exaggerated and shows the difference between WO’s community and movie stereotypes.
