Exploring the Impact of Bullying Through the Film "Wonder
The film "Wonder" delves into the challenges faced by Auggie, a boy with a craniofacial malformation, as he navigates school life and experiences bullying. Through activities post-viewing, students are encouraged to embrace diversity, transform insecurities into strengths, and cultivate kindness. The narrative captures themes of friendship, empathy, and resilience, instilling lessons on standing up against bullying and embracing differences.
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BULLYING: Movie Activity During the school year, the theme of bullying has been discussed several times in the classroom. This is a very vast topic, so each time a particular aspect is highlighted. During the present activity, three films on bullying and cyberbullying were presented to students. After watching each film, students performed activities related to the film seen. 1stMovie WONDER
PLOT August "Auggie" Pullman is a 10-year-old boy with a craniofacial malformation, caused by Treacher Collins syndrome, which prevents him from a normal life. He has undergone about 27 surgeries and, a little for this and a little for fear of the reaction of other children, he never went to school in his life. When he has to get into sixth grade, the parents decide that the time has come for him to go to school with the other children, and have him visit the Beecher Prep School. The principal, Mr. Tushman, delegated to three students named Julian, Jack and Charlotte the task of making him visit the school. While Jack turns out to be friendly, Julian immediately proves to be overbearing, while Charlotte only talks about herself and her aspirations. Once at school Auggie turns out to be a good student, but he spends his days alone, and even during the lunch break, while all the tables are crowded, nobody sits at his table. At a certain point, however, Jack decided to approach him, and the two made a bond of friendship. Meanwhile, Julian targets Auggie with continuous jokes about his appearance, tormenting him along with two other companions, Henry and Miles. On Halloween, Auggie hears the despicable comments of his comrades, including those of Jack, who while talking to Julian claims to be only pretending to be August's friend at the headmaster's request, and therefore the two boys stop dating. Initially Jack didn't care, but then he realized that he hadn't made friends with August just to make the headmaster happy, but also because he really liked him; the boy apologizes and the two boys turn friends again. Towards the end of the year the classes go on a school trip, to which Julian does not participate because suspended because of bullying against August. During the trip, August and Jack are attacked by three older boys, but they are helped by Henry and Miles, Julian's friends. August, at the end of the school year, gets an important recognition from the principal: the marginalized boy has become an example and a friend of all.
ACTIVITIES Dear students, did you enjoy the film? Has it excited you? The following exercises will be useful to propagate the wonder and kindness beyond watching the movie. Exercise 1: Transforming problems into a resource "You can't hide if you were born to emerge" It is difficult to be yourself in front of comrades at 10; it's very difficult if you have a face like Auggie's to go to a new school for the first time, eat at the table in front of everyone, face looks of curiosity, disgust, pity. Each of us lives his daily insecurities and difficulties and each of us comes to terms with something he does not like, especially when he is growing up: Wonder pushes us to identify ourselves with diversity, but it makes us discover that everyone is different and unique. This is a difficult exercise, which requires a great deal of creativity, but which can be done by adults and children alike, and it is even better for children. Take a sheet, pencils and colored markers. Try to represent your defect with drawings and / or words: do it as if it were a caricature. When you have finished the difficult part comes: try to see the "positive" sides of this defect of yours. For example: I'm a little nosy, so I'll picture myself dressed as an inspector, with a nice magnifying glass in my hand. And now I try to see the positives: I am interested in people's stories, I ask many questions, I always discover and learn new things.
Exercise 2: The point of view of the other and empathy "If you don't like what you see, change your way of looking" Wonder not only tells the story of Auggie, but makes us see what different people think and feel in the same situation: there is his sister who feels she cannot give other worries to her parents, there is her sister's former best friend who is ashamed of some of his past mistakes, there are also bullies and their family histories. Let us practice imagining the world from the point of view of others, to remember who the others are and what they are facing in life. Here is a fun exercise to learn to look from other points of view: take a story and tell it from the antagonist's point of view. Exercise 3: "Everyone in the world at least once in his/her own life should receive a standing ovation" Auggie at the end of his journey arrives at this awareness.Are we convinced of this? Take a piece of paper and write to your classmate, or friend,... a reason why you appreciate him/her. Give him the ticket and see how you feel and how he feels.
2ndMovie CYBERBULLY PLOT After her parents divorced, seventeen-year-old Taylor begins to feel inferior to all the other high school classmates and takes advantage of the laptop computer her mother gave her to join a popular social network. Soon, however, she loses control over what happens online and ends up victim of some episodes of virtual bullying that undermine even her real existence, causing her to distance herself from friends and family, until a tragic event pushes her to ask the help of her classmates and of her mother, who undertakes a legal battle so that no one else lives the same ordeal experienced by her daughter. A very realistic film about the drama that teenagers experience when they are victims of cyberbullying and bullying at school. ACTIVITY After the vision of the film, students were invited to express their own opinion about cyberbullying. Luckily none of them experienced a such terrible situation.
3rdMovie AGIRL LIKE HER
PLOT It is a documentary film on female bullying, whose protagonist, tired of being targeted by one of her schoolmate, attempts suicide. The film shows the suffering of the victim and how far bullying can push. It's a strong film that all teenagers should see. Sixteen-year-old Jessica Burns has a secret she doesn't want to share with anyone except her best friend, Brian Slater. Throughout the last year, Jessica has been a victim of bullying by Avery Keller, a former friend of her, among the most popular students at South Brookdale High School. With the help of Brian and a hidden camera, evidence of Avery's persecutory and ruthless behavior will be brought to light, forcing both girls' families to come to terms with the truth. ACTIVITY At the end of the film, students had to fill in a small survey: Bullying is a problem in our community: Do you feel safe at school? Do you feel safe on your way to and from school? During this school year how often have you seen someone being bullied? During this school year how often have you been bullied at school? Who do you talk to when you have problems at school?
RESULTS MOVIESACTIVITIES We must not have prejudices against diversity but consider it as a source of comparison and enrichment for all of us; Internet should be considered as a positive means to share useful online materials and, if we are minors, we must use it under parental control; Any form of bullying, both against us and towards others, must absolutely be reported to adults who are part of our life (family, teachers, ...). The above mentioned activities have been submitted to all the second and third classes of our Institute.
