Bullying

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Recommended: Peer pressure social issue

Girl In Progress is a fiction film directed by Patricia Riggen. Ansiedad is the main character in the coming of age film. However, her devoted best friend, Tavita, is the character that really endures the suffrage. Ansiedad's desperate endeavor to become popular consequently leads to her best friend, Tavita, being verbally antagonized and socially excluded by Valerie Litmickey, the so-called " ring leader" of the clique. This scene is a classic example of bullying. According to Emily Bazelon, bullying is defined as: "one person with more social status, lording it over another person, over and over again, to make them miserable." (para 6). In like manner, the social exclusion and belittling remarks that Tavita experienced is not only a classic characteristic of bullying, but also a deep seated issue that many other teens are facing today. It reminds us of the weightiness in our exchange of words and brings us to the forefront of this dystopia.
When high school cafeterias couple with mean girl mentalities, someone is bound to get burned. Aside from ridicule, the protagonist also experiences relational aggression, yet another characteristic of bullying. In an article published by Chicago Now, Kortney Peagram defines relational aggression as "social or emotional aggression between individuals in relationships, in these instances “the group” is used as a weapon to hurt others." (para 4). With this in mind, it is easy to recognize the ridicule and social exclusion taking place in a short scene from the film Girl In Progress. In the scene, Tavita follows eagerly behind her best friend, Ansiedad, as they approach the "cliques" lunch table. The bully welcomes Ansiedad to have a seat beside her, but in turn excludes Tavita in a very hum...

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...ar with mean girls jeering at me the moment I cross the threshold of the doorway. I remember being shamed, no matter how many times I preserved my virginity. I understand the epiphany that triggers when there are two hundred seats in the cafeteria, but you cannot find one seat in which you belong. I have tasted tears that are saltier than the lunchroom mashed potatoes I cried in.

It is moments like this, in which words are able to sink their teeth deeply into our morale. Without permission, those baleful words will travel into our adulthood; they'll ride in the back seat of our subconscious and torment us like noisy children that refuse to quiet down.

Works Cited

"Bully Boot Camp." Bullying…Understanding the Definition. N.p., n.d. Web. 24 Jan. 2014.
Bazelon, Emily. "Defining Bullying Down." Web log post. Www.nytimes.com. N.p., 11 Mar. 2013. Web. 24 Jan. 2014.

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