As the much-hyped documentary film ‘Bully’ began to roll out across North America, we took a look at local experiences
The Bully Project is the much-anticipated documentary film that follows stories of several kids who are being bullied or have been bullied. Director Lee Hirsch started filming The Bully Project in 2009, about a year before bullying fully came of age as a high-profile crisis with the launch of what became the It Gets Better project.
National Public Radio reports that what The Bully Project adds to the public conversation about bullying is an unflinching look at the stakes involved. At its center is the family of Tyler Long, a 17-year-old who had just recently hanged himself in a closet when filming started. It follows his anguished parents as they launch a community discussion of bullying in the wake of his death that it certainly appears the school doesn’t want to have.
Bullying is being redefined from being understood as “kids being kids” to the social problem it has become—and a movement has emerged that is working to stop bullying all together.
In November 2008 we spoke with Nanaimo school student Aaron Mishkin, who became the public face and spokesperson about—and against—the “kick a ginger” harassment that was delivered to red-haired pupils and students in schools across the country. We also spoke with Prince Rupert Secondary School teacher Tulani Ackerman, who witnessed the effects of this bullying.
We spoke again with Aaron Mishkin and Tulani Ackerman in April 2012 to see what may or may not have changed over the past few years.
